Foam road Bed

[LenPinaud]

I use an 1/8" installer's drill bit. They are usually 8 to 12 inches long and have a hole in the bit end. After the hole is drilled and the bit is still in the work, you push a small wire through the hole in the bit, twist it so it wont pull out, then pull the installers bit back out of the hole. Works exactly like its supposed to! These drill bits are available at most large hardware stores. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Thanx for all the ideas. It's been a great help.

[Medina1128]

To save myself some grief, once I pull the wire through for structures, I use a mini plug (available at Radio Shack), and permanently wire it, to the power supply. Then, when I have to replace a bulb, or whatever, I don't have to refeed the wire every time, just plug it into the plug. [:)]

[dougraildh1]

first I drill ahole through the cork or homabed road bed, then I take a foot long section of HO rail and twist it through the foam. I learned this method when I could not find my extended length drill bit. It works very well, and ballasting on top of it is fine.

Doug

[rrinker]

A wire, sure. The skewers I have to make uncoupling picks out of are much too large for a hole to contain a single #20 wire. I prefer a smaller hole, although in the end once ballasted it probably doesn't matter too much.

--Randy

[chateauricher]

Why not use long metal or bamboo shish-kebab skewers (spelling?) to poke holes in your foam? They should be more than long enough to go through just about any thickness of foam.

An awl is another alternative. Even a straigthened-out wire coat-hanger could work.

For larger diameter holes, a pen or pencil might do.

[rrinker]

I use WS foam roadbed on top of 2" extruded foam insulation board. For my wire holes, I take an ordinary drill bit and turn it in by hand, with my fingers. It's not quite long enough to go all the way through, but my #20 solid feeder wires can easily poke the little extra themselves.

--Randy

[selector]

Jim, I answered you elsewhere, but I feel I should tell you a bit about my experience that is somewhat different from WickhamMan's experience. His bits might have been considerably smaller than the one I favour, so the foam he used could indeed have closed up again. Mine was a 1/4" drill that left a visible orifice in both the extruded foam and the plwyood below it. I did not want to fight my 22 guage wire feeders down or up through a too-small hole, so the 1/4" did the trick. I found that the orifice stayed pretty much as I had intended it to be...no closing up. If I felt, after completing the wiring, that the hole was now objectionable, all I had to do was carve a shard of foam, or a plug, and wedge it in. It was easily trimmed to be flush with the surrounding terrain, and easily scenicked thereafter. I didn't even glue the plug in case I wanted to redo the wiring later. It stays put.

Also, my experience in ballasting, if not extensive, was enough to convince me that plugging those holes is a must. My ballast kept running down the holes, and onto the floor until I plugged the holes.

By the way, if you need to poke holes in the foam to place 'trees' in it, use a thin Philips screwdriver. It pierces the foam sruface nicely, but also wedges it apart in all directions as you depress the shank. This reduces the closing in that WILL otherwise happen before you attempt to press the tree trunk into the hole.

[WickhamMan]

I have my foad roadbed on a plywood base. I used a drill with a smallish bit to go through both the foad and plywood. The nice thing about the foam is that it "closes up" around the hole you make (drill or otherwise) so there's no gap around the wiring. However, given that I'm ballasting the track afterward anyway, the hole would likely not be an issue.

[MisterBeasley]

What's the roadbed mounted on? I glue it to 2-inch insulation foam, so an ice pick makes a nice hole all the way through, and I can push a stiff wire through easily. Plywood would be a different problem altogether.

[Medina1128]

I use a long screwdriver with a string taped to the tip of the blade and just push it through. After you've made the whole, cut the string off below the bottom level of foam and hold it as you pull out the screwdriver so it won't come back out with the screwdriver. When you're ready to feed the wires, tape the wires to the end on top of the foam and pull it through from the bottom. Voila! A trick I learned as an electician when rewiring a box.

[Anonymous]

What is the recommended method for drilling holes in foam road bed for wireing?