soldering feeder wires on rails

[Steelman65]

ok, how do you get the feeder wire to stay in contact with the rail, hold the solder and hold the solder gun with two hands? I know someone has to have some good tips out there  thank you

[Knowcents]

I always take needle nose plyers and grip wire end and bend a 90 degree the width of pylers. Then a make a slight bend like a dog leg so the wire has pressure against the rail. Have done this for 20 years and almost never fails.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I place the bare end of the wire against the outside edge of the rail and use a small piece of electrical tape to hold it in place, making sure that it doesn't cover the part I'm going to solder. A little paste flux helps to stick the wire in place a little.

[ndbprr]

In the past I have tinned the wire and the rail separately.  Then you can hold the wire against the solder on the rail with the iron until it melts together. By holding the wire either by hand or with a weight until it cools will join them. I will be trying the method of drilling a hole in the base completely through the rail and then soldering them iin the future.

[dstarr]

 I use a pair of Radio Shack alligator clips to hold the stripped end of the feeder wire flat against the web of the rail.  They hold the feeder wire in place, AND serve as heat sinks to prevent tie melting from the heat of the soldering iron or gun.

 

[G Paine]

You can get soldering tools at Radio Shack. They include pointed metal probes with plastic handles. They have a solder resistant coating, so solder will not stick. I have an old one made of aluminum, but have not seen another one like it for many years.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062756&cp=2032058.2032236.2032313&pg=1&searchSort=TRUE&retainProdsInSession=1&retainProdsInSession=1&y=12&y=8&x=13&x=11&s=A-StorePrice-RSK&parentPage=family

[tstage]

Marty,

Here's a another thread on the topic:

http://cs.trains.com/forums/1516243/ShowPost.aspx

Tom

[OhioRailroader]

Pretty much everyone has answewrd your question, but I just finished this last night so I thought I'd chime in.

Since my base is 2" foam and my rails were already fixed to the roadbed, I used piece of an old coat hanger that was about the same thickness as my 22 AWG wire and poked through the roadbed and foam as close to the outside of the rail as I could. Then I shoved the wire through the hole and pulled through enough to reach my bus line and left abot 2" above the rai. I then stripped the wire enough that there would not be any insulation showing, about 1/4". Then I bent an 1/8" hook in the bare end and bent the wire above the rail in half so that the hook would have pressure against the rail. This held it so I could solder, and the pressure of the iron helped hold it as well. After it got hot enough, and before it deformed the ties I put the solder to it and removed the iron and solder spool. Viola, I have my wires soldered.

One thing I wish I would have done was do this before gloing the track down and solder the wire to the bottom of the rail so none of it was exposed.

[Seamonster]

I seem to be using a combination of many methods listed here.  I make a little bend in the end of the wire to go against the web.  I bend the wire where it comes out of the hole in the layout so that it's sort of jammed between the rail and the back edge of the hole.  I tin both the wire and the rail beforehand.  If I have to hold the wire against the rail I use a toothpick.  I use a little flux on the rail.  And a 30 watt iron with a 1/8" chisel tip does the job nicely without any kind of heat sink or tie melting.

 

[selector]

Same here.  An L-bend, with an elbow below the L so that, when snugged up against the rail web, the bared horizontal bit lies flush against the rail web with clearance around the foot.  I pre-tin the bared bit, and use a needle file or a bamboo shish kabob skewer to keep the bared bit tight to the rail while I heat it with the other hand.

[UpNorth]

The magic words ...

"  I use a little flux on the rail  "

Get flux on both the wire and the rail, bent the wire so it sits snug against the rail.  The flux cleans the surfaces and the heat will transfer faster.

[ClinchValleySD40]

I just bend the wire, it stays just fine.   Ninety degree bend once I feed it up through the roadbed, then a forty five so it presses against the rail.   I also do not use any separate flux, just use self fluxing solder.  

 If you are anywhere near Holly in Michigan, contact me off line.

[JulesB]

Used to use a gun and .015 dia., solder for fast melting etc. A 40-45 watt gun with a pencil tip is what most guy's use. A small chisel tip works ok too.

I bought a resistanc unit. I set it at 25 (out of 250) and use a thicker solder now. I found if I cut a piece of solder about 1/16" and hold it in between the 20 gauge wire and the bottom of the rail and then step on the pedal the wire is almost instantly soldered to the rail.I flatten the solder out by rolling it out with a big socket on the anvil. With the resistance unit the heat is generated beween the tweesers so it is totaly localized. It almost works too fast!

I don't know why the same idea wouldn't work with an iron and the right sort of clip to hold stuff in place. The problem would be finding a cliip with some sort of coating to prevent the solder from sticking to it. If you know some one that does ceramics and has an oven etc., they could dip the clip and fire it along with some dishes or whatever??

Jules

 

[n2mopac]

I posted a thread on how I do this a couple of years ago--complete with photographs. Here is a link to that thread.

http://cs.trains.com/forums/1520511/ShowPost.aspx#1520511

Hope this is some help to someone out there.

Ron

[DeadheadGreg]

The magic words ...

"  I use a little flux on the rail  "

Get flux on both the wire and the rail, bent the wire so it sits snug against the rail.  The flux cleans the surfaces and the heat will transfer faster.

 

Truer words were never spoken!  haha.  Its amazing how easily flux makes everything....  like, seriously.  If you're not using flux, well...  thats just pretty stupid, lol.  Plus, it adds an audio element to the process to help you know when the connection has been made, because it makes this zappy hiss noise when the solder flows and makes the joint. 

 

Also, I find it very strange that nobody here has mentioned turning their feeder wires into 'spikes'.  I saw this in the Coal Fork Extension article about laying and wiring the track....  its such a genius idea, because nothing kills realism more than seeing this giant wire coming out of the ground and running horizontal along the rail.  Anyway...  just take the very end of the bare wire and make an L shape, with the bent, short end of the L the size of a spike head.  Then, just clamp the very end of the wire in your pliers, and squeeeeeeze as hard as you can.  It will flatten it, and turn it into a veritable spike!  Excess solder can be cleaned off with dental picks, etc. 

 

Theres lots of good ideas here that i'm going to try in regards to keeping the wire firmly against the rail.  First off, TIN THE END OF THE FEEDER FIRST.  Seriously.  Its just so much easier.  Radio Shack has this great stuff thats called like Tip Tinner/Cleaner.  its this...  i donno what kind of material it is, but when you dip the hot iron tip into it, the stuff melts and tins the tip of your soldering iron for you.  Such a help.  You can apply some flux to the wire before you tin it to help the solder flow better. 

Then, make sure you apply some flux to the rail.  THE RAIL MUST BE CLEAN.  You can't solder stuff thats gunked up with crap on top...  you've gotta make sure the area you're going to solder the wire to is clean and shiny.  Pretty much anything abrasive will work. 

Now, I seem to have figured out a different approach to keeping the wire against the rail....  right now, I've just been soldering wires to the frogs of my turnouts, but what I do is get the spike-a-fied feeder pulled down on the rail web, and then wrap the wire around the turnout so that it holds itself in place. 

 

I think that taping it down is the best way...because you don't have to hold it in place with your hands.  Regardless of what you do, if you aren't tinning your feeder and iron tip, and applying flux to the rail, you're giving yourself extra hassle.  If your tip and feeders are tinned, all you have to do is hold the iron tip against the rail where the feeder is, because the heat will get the solder to flow wherever the flux is, and you don't need to hold any solder in your other hand. 

[Rotorranch]

The magic words ...

"  I use a little flux on the rail  "

Get flux on both the wire and the rail, bent the wire so it sits snug against the rail.  The flux cleans the surfaces and the heat will transfer faster.

Flux is solders little helper. Don't rely on the solders core. The rosin flux transfers helps transfer heat to, and cleans the work, making the solder flow better.

Flux is the most overlooked aspect of good joints.

Rotor 

[NSlover92]

Well there are alot of methods listed already thats for sure I am not sure if mine is or not, but what i do is I take my solder I dip it in my flux, then I hold it to the rail where i want to put the wire (not wire this time around) and I touch the hot iron or gun to it to boil then I take my iron (a good hot iron is the best thing) and i get some solder melted on it in liquid form, and then i hold my iron with one hand and the wire with another and then I touch it to it and the solder just flows right to it, and I mean it takes practice, I started my layout when I was 14 I am now going ot be 16 in sep, and you know I have learned tons but most importantly three things, 1.Practice makes perfect you will mess things up but learn from it 2.Everyone has their own technique find yours, no one is more right then anyone else if it works do it. Finally, just take your time and enjoy it, rushing does nothing but screw stuff up. Hope It was helpful, Mike

[jimp]

I use rail joiners with feeder wires already attached, so no need to solder which I am not good at anyway.

[tomikawaTT]

I use rail joiners with feeder wires already attached, so no need to solder which I am not good at anyway.

If you rely on rail joiners to deliver power, whether from the feeder wire or an adjacent rail, you will eventually have to develop your soldering skills to contend with the unplanned open circuits.

That said, I pre-tin the (#22 solid) wire, use paste flux, only need one hand to hold the biggest soldering gun Weller ever made (325 watt!) and carry a droplet of solder to the joint on the tip of the gun's heating element.  One hand on the wireholder (Radio Shack type,) one hand on the preheated gun, one second contact, solid solder joint that will hold for decades.

Decades?  I have a module in service with track laid in 1980.  I've never had to re-solder a rail feeder and the ones I can see look as if they were just soldered last week.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[gandydancer19]

Don't use ACID flux.  Only rosin flux.

I also use a small metal scratch brush to clean the side of the rail before fluxing and soldering.