Old dog, new trick - wiring through 2-inch foam

[Phoebe Vet]

I took a old peice of rail and soldered an alligator clip to one end.............

[reklein]

Stand your door with the foam on it on edge. Get a .22 rifle with scope. Back off about 20 feet and drill away. Hole in bottom gauranteed to be bigger and directly below the upper one. Use a fish wire to bring the wire thru. Thats how the big boys do it when wiring a house.

[rrinker]

 Since I don;t haev any wood under the foam, I just push through with a drill bit, even if it isn't al ong one that goes all the way through. Ifi t gets halfway through, the solid feeder wires I use are strong enough to punch the rest of the way through. I considered an awl and tries a skewer - they work great, but the hole is too big, or at least I though so - each hole only has to pass a single #20 wire, I point both feeder to the indise of the rail so they are less visible and thus both wires don;t go through a single hole.

 

                                        --Randy
 

[dadret]

I've been using a tip from an old MR article and it works great.  Punch a hole through the foam with an awl then drill a 1/4" or so hole in the base then feed a drinking straw through the hole and feed the wires down through the straw.  You can pull the straw out from underneath or just leave it there.

[tomikawaTT]

Chuck

I talked with the NCE & Digitrax DCC folks, including Mr. Loy of Loy's Toys, extensively at the national train show this past summer. i was real interested in the max length and gage of wires that could be used for feeders for my new layout. I was very encouraged by them all that #20 or #22 wire (telephone cable) is more than adequate for feeders as long as you keep the length at 15/18" or less from the Buss wire to the track. Maybe these lengths would help you get around those pesky steel studs we both use. 

While I appreciate the information, I'm one of those fossils still using analog DC (modified form of Ed Ravenscroft's MZL system.)  There are no busses under my layout - only a 'tree' consisting of heavy wires for common rail (RCom) and switch machine power common (TCom.)  Everything else is small-diameter connections from local control panels to rails and switch machines, and equally small diameter communications links between panels.  Instead of one main power supply, I have a plethora of single-train locomotive controllers, one-zone turnout power transformers and local lighting power sources.

Some of the steel studs I have to wire through, not around, are configured as long 'through girder bridges' under (around) tangent hidden tracks.  Where I have to go through the steel, I open up the hole and give it an extra liner - insulation stripped off heavy solid wire left over from installation of a couple of 30A circuits.

If I was starting from scratch today, I would almost certainly go with DCC.  OTOH, I already have a large fleet of decoder-free motive power units (steam, diesel and catenary locos, DMU and EMU) and a LOT of wire, mostly salvaged communications cable.  I also have experience with the system I use, which allows me to operate a rather complex schedule on a rather complex railroad without either a platoon of dedicated operators or a computer programmed with a hundred thousand lines of layout-specific code.

Still, using steel studs frees up time for installing my electricals...

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with 1974 control technology)

[jjackso8]

Chuck

I talked with the NCE & Digitrax DCC folks, including Mr. Loy of Loy's Toys, extensively at the national train show this past summer. i was real interested in the max length and gage of wires that could be used for feeders for my new layout. I was very encouraged by them all that #20 or #22 wire (telephone cable) is more than adequate for feeders as long as you keep the length at 15/18" or less from the Buss wire to the track. Maybe these lengths would help you get around those pesky steel studs we both use. 

[UP2CSX]

I've found the easiest way to get wires through foam and whatever's underneath is the good old fish method. Next time you're at a craft store, get some stiff florist wire. It's the unpainted variety, not the thin green wire. Take the lamp wire, twist, and attach to the tip of the florist wire using a little electrical tape. Drill your hole, push the florist wire down through the hole, crawl under, remove the lamp wires, and pull the florist wire down through the hole. I've just done about 45 street lights using this method. My holes weren't big enough for straws without making an overly large hole in the sidewalk so the fish method saved a lot of hair pulling.  

[tomikawaTT]

Always ready with an alternative solution.

Have you considered using a large, straight upholstery needle?  Methinks would be quicker than the icepick and straw approach - just thread, equalize the wires and push the needle through.

I can't use this much myself.  The foam isn't the problem, it's the layers of plywood or steel underneath the foam.  I did punch #20 feeders through the foam and a hole in the steel stud trough (hole manufactured in) where I could, but that only helped for two of 30+ (so far) feeders.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[loathar]

That was a tip published in MR about two years ago. (but still a good tip)

[galaxy]

Spacemouse Chip gave me the straw hint once...only for a hollow core door. Imagine trying to thread wires through the top little hole into empty space and then have it come out the bottom little hole. I also learned that for said hollow core door I could cut a hole saw hole larger in the bottom to reach in and pull some wires through. Doesn't seem to damage the integrity of the door either.

I could be wrong. I've been known to be wrong before.

Have a great day

[MisterBeasley]

I've been wiring some Walthers streetlamps through my 2-inch foam base.  These are very thin, flexible wires, so I needed a better way to get them through the foam.

I took a plastic coffee stirrer, one of the thin plastic tubular ones about an eighth of an inch across, and about 6 inches long.  I threaded the wire through the stirrer, punched a hole in the foam with an ice pick, and then just slid the stirrer through the hole.  Then I crawled under the layout and pulled it through, leaving the wire in place.

If the wire is co-operative, you can just cut a 2-inch length of this tube and leave it in place, running the wire right through.