So as not to hijack a recent post I'll start a new one. When soldering rail joiners, I assume that rosin-core solder is ok for nickel-silver track. David Popp also used "rosin flux" to prep his rails in the Oct 08 MR article on his project. Has anyone else found that it is necessary/helpful to use flux prior to soldering joiners?
I found out years ago that trying to solder joiners without using flux is like herding cats. Here's what I do. I put a little flux into each joiner then join the track pieces together. I heat the joiner and apply the solder. The flux pulls the solder into the joiner and the rails and joiner are solidly bonded together.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
If at first you don't suceede, Flux it.
Commish, forgive my question............
Are you actually soldering rail joiners, or jumper feed wires between sections?
If you should decide to make a change in track your track arrangement later on, there would be more work involved in taking apart soldered rail joints.
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
When soldering rail, or anything else, the metal parts to be joined need to be cleaned properly. New does not equal clean. What I've found works best is to assemble the track, then before soldering, buff the area to be soldered with a typing eraser, the kind you sharpen like a pencil. Use flux VERY SPARINGLY (flux is a final cleaner and has to vaporize before the solder will melt, it is very caustic, so don't breathe the fumes). Touch the solder to the joint and it should flow in freely.
PS: it should have taken you longer to read this than to do it. The heat should be applied for only a second or two.
AntonioFP45 Commish, forgive my question............ Are you actually soldering rail joiners, or jumper feed wires between sections? If you should decide to make a change in track your track arrangement later on, there would be more work involved in taking apart soldered rail joints.
I second the question, but for a different reason. My layout lives in a non-climate-controlled space (Permanent condition, thanks to local building codes) and will see 100-degree temperature swings over a year and as much as 55 degree swings over the course of 24 hours. Soldered rail joints are a non-starter - the gaps can vary as much as 1mm/yard, and that much unrelieved stress would do nasty things to track alignment. My solution is to leave the joiners loose and solder jumper wires around them.
I also assemble my specialwork from raw rail. In all cases, I touch the (cleaned up) joint area with a dab of rosin paste flux, applied with the tip of a toothpick. That, plus pre-tinning the wire and using a HOT soldering tool, just about guarantees a solid, permanent soldered joint.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
tomikawaTTSoldered rail joints are a non-starter - the gaps can vary as much as 1mm/yard, and that much unrelieved stress would do nasty things to track alignment. My solution is to leave the joiners loose and solder jumper wires around them.
I very much agree with Chuck on this one. Unless it's a really short piece, I have been leaving them unsoldered.
It's good practice to drop a new rail feeder to each new track piece any way.
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
All who replied,
I actually was going to solder rail joints together due to pesky track voltage drops in certain places, which I am pretty certain are due to loosening of rail joiners (I used Atlas sectional track with terminal track for power...hey, it's my first layout!). But perhaps that is not the best way around the problem. I am running DC at the moment. If I would stay DC, it sounds like running jumper wires might be a better solution, although that would take alot of effort to tie together the several trouble spots. But was already planning on upgrading to DCC anyway, so maybe I'll just use this as my excuse to rewire the track and upgrade now. Tearing up the sectional track and re-laying new track doesn't excite me, so maybe running frequent bus feeders in the problem areas would be the solution if I upgrade. Agree? Any other hints/tips? Thaks all who replied.
If you're going to go that route then I suggest jumpers for every six foot area of track with two feeders to each six feet. This assure that a train at the back of the layout gets the same amount of power as a train at the front would.