Thanks everyone for the replies! Aluminum foil! Why didn't I think of that? ( another "dooh!" moment)
Thanks again!
Earl
I once caught a train in my pajama's. How it got in my pajama's I'll never know... (sorry, Groucho)
Hi "ds,"
You're using the PCB tie for a switch rod, right? (What model railroaders call a "throw bar.") I've had exactly the same experience. My solution is to cut a narrow strip of tracing paper, a little wider than the PCB switch rod, and thread it between the PCB switch rod and the bottom of the stock rail. Then I bend it up so it separates the point from the stock rail. I solder the point to the switch rod and then remove the paper. This not only prevents soldering the switch solid, it allows enough clearance between the stock rail and the switch rod for easy movement of the points.
Good luck with your turnouts,
Andy
Andy Sperandeo MODEL RAILROADER Magazine
donhalshanksAny other tricks?
Use hinged points and don't solder them to the throwbar.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
I have been using the PCB throwbars for many years and found a method that seems to work well. I take a small piece of common aluminum foil and thread it under the stock rail between the throwbar. Then I bend it up and over the stock rail and over the top. I use my finger to mold it to the the stock rail. I then push the point up tight against the stock rail with the foil acting as a barrier between the point and stock rail. I then use flux and solder the point to the PCB throwbar. Solder will not stick to the foil,so there is no danger of soldering the point or the PCB throwbar to the stock rail. After the solder cools,just remove the foil and you're done. This method also allows me to get the point as tight against the stock rail as possible.
Tom
ds137Crandell- Paste Solder? That seems like it would give me more precise control over where I place the solder. Do you still need to add wire solder to the joint to make a solid weld or is the paste solder enough?
If I said paste solder above (I haven't checked), I meant paste flux....sorry. I have found that pre-tinning the solder iron covers a multitude of sins. I lay a thin covering of the paste flux, and narrow at that, just three or four hairs worth on a tiny artist's brush. I press the point rail over the paste smear, and then touch the iron to the base of the point rail. You'll get a hot finger if you don't have it covered with something, but you have to let the rail cool so that the solder holds well. What I sometimes resorted to doing was using the points filing jig, that heavy steel block, sitting balanced on some adjacent wood and protruding across the stock rail and keeping the point in place. Great heat sink, too.
Obviously you need a fairly fine tip for this.
-Crandell
This is a great question because the only problem I have in handlaying all of my track and turnouts, is soldering the points. Great responses for this. Thanks for the thread. Any other tricks?
Hal
I have been using a scrap tie to provide gap between the point and the stock rail, but I hadn't thought of useing a wet paper towel or Teflon tape. I have made several curved turnouts and about 10 turnouts with tangent stock rails and have been able to clean up any collateral solder with a small file. This project that is giving me fits is a #5 double slip switch, (code 100) which doesn't leave much room to get a file in there to get at the offending solder.
Chuck - I am curious about your method of securing your points to the throw-bar tie. Have you posted a how-to on this Forum? I had searched the forum about 6 months ago and had not found one. I like the idea of having the points able to free-float, especially with the short length of the points/running rail involved in a double slip switch.
Crandell- Paste Solder? That seems like it would give me more precise control over where I place the solder. Do you still need to add wire solder to the joint to make a solid weld or is the paste solder enough?
Hi from Belgium,
I handlaid my own turnouts in Nscale using Fastracks jigs and in the beginning I have the same trouble.
Here is the way I do: First wash your hands because moisture is acid and could interfere in the quality of the solder or use rubber gloves to manipulate the ties.
Before soldering the points to the PC tie, brush the tie with a fine file to obtain a very clean tie.
The wet piece of paper is a good idea, use very thin solder or even a solder paste and of course little of it. Put the flux with a thoothpick as little as possible and use a soldering iron with a very fine pine. A 35 watt is all you need and wash the pine before each solder. A tie between the stock rail and the point rail is all you need to have a good flange space.
In good condition the solder is neat, and strong.
Eventually the cooper can get away with the heat, so following a technique used by Tim Warris the owner of Fastrack you can make your own strong point ties using small handlaid track nails. For more information about it and technique for handlaid track I suggest You to take a visit to Tim website and his blog about his layout the "Bronx Terminal". www.handlaidtrack.com
Good luck.
Marc
Here is what I resorted to doing. First ensure the throwbar is shorter than the slot is sits in in the jig by about 3/16 - 1/4". You need this difference because you will have to shove the throwbar to close that gap when you go to solder the second point to the throwbar.
So, with throwbar jammed to one side of its slot, solder the opposite point to it, leaving a nice flange path...say 1/8", or a weeeeeeee bit less...careful or you'll end up having to alter the gauges of a bunch of axles to accomodate a tight clearance for just this one turnout. Otherwise, you'll have to heat the weld and slip the nice job you did to get a better clearance.
Let the joint cool, confirm a solid weld, and then jam the throwbar across the slot. Solder the other point with the same clearance. Ideally, you would only move the throwbar enough in the slot to get the first soldered point tight against its stock rail. Pinching the two together, then you perform the solder for the second point with it gapped from its stock rail for flange clearance.
I use paste solder, and just a slight skiff of it, very narrow. With the resin cored wire, something looking like 20 gauge wire or less, a wee bit of flux is all that is needed...almost a hint of it. Clean your tip and tin it. Make sure it is up to proper temps, and then touch it to the point rail base. It should weld it in about 1 second, probably less.
Now, when it cools, and you clear away everything, the points should slide back and forth cleanly and be able to shimmy tight up to their stock rails.
I take it, as a final point, that you did grind away the foot of the stock rails for about 1.5". To help prevent any accidental soldering to the stock rails if I got tired and sloppy, I actually ground even more away so that the web of the rail was almost left suspended. Not that bad, but I mean I ground more than the visible foot flange away...I got another 1/32" or so in case a solder blob needed the room under there.
Oh, I just remembered on possible cure for you. Use the thin grinding stone that comes with many Dremel type tools. It would be maybe 3/32" on its edge, and mine is a pale green IRCC. Using good light and a visor (eye protection and magnification), touch the stone to the solder between the point and the stock rail. Just let them kiss a couple of times and then check to see if the clearance tightens. I even resorted to using needle files to tidy up some blobs and it worked well. Be gentle, be patient, and be persistent. It finally closes for you and you haven't ruined the weld or the fine point rail.
Solder the points to the throwbar before you lay the stock rails.
Or
Don't put the points against the stock rails when you solder the points. Put a piece of strip wood or balsa between the stock rail and the point.
Wrap the stock rail in teflon tape.
Try slipping a scrap of paper towel under the stock rail between the headblock ties. Moisten it with a drop of water. Even if the flux runs under the stock rail, the solder won't follow it into cold country (and even 212 degrees F is cold when speaking of solder.)
One question. Are you soldering the PCB with the points pressed against the stock rail? If so, make sure that paper towel projects all the way up the rail, higher than the railheads. A better method is to solder the point in the open position, held there with a scrap wood tie. That, plus the wet paper towel, should cure your problem.
(I hand-lay specialwork, but don't solder my points to the throwbar. I pivot them with bits of wire soldered to the points and passed down through holes in the throwbar. The butt ends of the points are pivoted by soldering them to vertical wire nails in pre-drilled holes that go all the way to the sub-roadbed.)
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with hand-laid specialwork)
I have been building my own turnouts lately and have run into a problem with soldering the switch points to the Printed circuit board ties. I apply as little flux to the tie as I can using a small paint brush but when the iron is applied the flux "runs" under the point rail and then to the stock rail. The solder then flows to the stock rail and sometimes solders the pcb tie to the stock rail. I have been using a piece of scrap pcb tie to maintain a gap between the points and the stock rail. I am useing paste type rosin flux. I was wondering if liquid flux would run less and make soldering the points without soldering the stock rail to the tie or if there is some other trick to making this critical solder joint? I thought about fileing away the copper cladding between the point and the stock rail before making the solder joint to keep the flux from flowing and sweating the solder with it, but I am afraid this would make the cladding peel off under the point solder joint and then the switch point wouldn't be anchored to the tie.