Copper pipe for layouts

[nitroboy]

Has anyone used copper pipe for the neutral(or ground) on their layouts?

On my last layout, I used 10 gauge bare copper wire and ran it all the way around under my layout. I would then drop feeder wires and solder them right to it. The wire then went right to my neutral post on the transformers. At over $5 per 5 ft of bare copper wire, wouldn't cheap copper pipe work just as well?

Am I crazy, or just spend the money for the wire?

Dave

[lionelsoni]

You're paying way too much for that wire.  You can get 10/2 for less than that; and it has two insulated wires along with the bare wire.

("Neutral" is usually the wrong term for the layout common.  A neutral is a common return carrying out-of-phase current from multiple circuits.  The white wire feeding your house wiring is a grounded neutral, but the layout common is almost never a neutral.  "Ground" is a little better term, even if the layout common is not literally grounded, although grounding is a good idea.  I rationalize "ground" as a model of a prototype electric railroad's grounded rails.)

[palallin]

Not in this neck of the woods, you can't.  Copper has gone through the roof (as my mother used to say), and the pipe isn't cheap, either, unfortunately. 

[Anonymous]

Sure you can... you just have to order it and have it shipped:

http://electrical.hardwarestore.com/14-48-building-wire-nm/handiwire-building-wire-113414.aspx

This comes out to 70cents per foot...

If you simply want 10 gauge bare wire...

http://www.whimsie.com/copper%20craft%20wire.html

Comes out to 73cents per foot

[marxalot]

Really that #10 NM building wire is the much better deal. You are getting 3 conductors for every foot.

[FJ and G]

I've successfully used Romex, the cheapest stuff available at HD/Lowes. Gauge 12 or 14. You get 2 sheathed wires and one bare copper grounding wire. You will never have a problem overloading that thick of a wire and as long as you don't go crazy and twist it around, it won't brake.

To open the romex, just use a razor lengthwise. I've even used the sheathing as rail insulation gaps

 

its the best kept secret

 

(also used the copper grounding wire as the center rail as photo'd here)