I was an electronics technologist for over 50 years and know a little about soldering techniques. But I am in a situation where a lot of tracks are close to the walls and I cannot see the far rail to solder the feeder ( I'm in a wheelchair).
I could solder to the inner part of the rail but the wire might catch on a wheel flange with code 83 track.
I could also use the rail joiners with the wire soldered to it but I do'nt like the long term effect of a loose connection. I have also thought of pre wiring the track before laying it down but I just don't know how well that would work.
Any other suggestions out there?
73
Bruce in the Peg
Blind Bruce I was an electronics technologist for over 50 years and know a little about soldering techniques. But I am in a situation where a lot of tracks are close to the walls and I cannot see the far rail to solder the feeder ( I'm in a wheelchair). I could solder to the inner part of the rail but the wire might catch on a wheel flange with code 83 track. I could also use the rail joiners with the wire soldered to it but I do'nt like the long term effect of a loose connection. I have also thought of pre wiring the track before laying it down but I just don't know how well that would work. Any other suggestions out there?
Bruce,
Don't dismiss your own suggestion so easily. The idea of soldering feeder wires onto the bottom of the rail joiners is my tried and true technique. I have never had a loose connection problem with that technique. Give it a try. Even with zero soldering experience, it is hard to go wrong with this approach.
Rich
Alton Junction
Also, forget about soldering the feeder wire to the inside of the rail. It will cause derailing problems. For me, it is the outside of the rail, or not at all.
I also use feeders soldered to the rail joiners. I like doing that because I can do it on the bench. If I'm at all worried about a loose connection, I can heat the joiner and just sweat in a bit of solder after the track is laid.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Hi Bruce: You could drill a small hole in the base of the rail, and solder a feeder there. I've done all my feeders like that. DJ.
Quick and dirty - use two different melting point solders.
Solder your feeder to the rail joiner with 50/50 (plumbing) solder. Then solder the joiner with 60/40 or 63/37 (electronic) solder. If you pre-tin rail and joiner, just momentary application of the soldering tool will fuse them together, without anything getting hot enough to loosen the wire from the joiner.
OTOH, I take exception to those who think that it's impossible to solder a feeder to the inside of a rail. Of course I use small, solid wire, not oversize stranded cable. Careful pre-installation (including using pre-tinned wire) results in a joint that's no higher than a flex track spike, yet is plenty strong enough to survive moving modules (and even major sections of a layout,) from Tennessee to Nevada. The trick is to solder to the edge of the rail base, not the top of the web just under the railhead.
To improve visibility, a mirror on a flexible mount and a carefully-positioned worklight can do wonders! It just takes a bit of practice to coordinate your actions to what you can see in that mirror.
Hope this has been helpful.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Hi Bruce,
I solder all of the feeders at my work bench before laying the track.
Bob
Don't Ever Give Up
You can either solder feeders to the rail joiners or buy them not sure but I think Atlas offers such a product. then solder the rail joiner to the rail only on one side to allow for expansion and contraction.
Allegheny2-6-6-6You can either solder feeders to the rail joiners or buy them not sure but I think Atlas offers such a product.
Atlas does "offer" this product, but they are extremely overpriced. In addition, the wire they use is very, very small, and I wouldn't recommend it for feeders unless you use an awful lot of them. You'll get a better product for a lot less money if you make them yourself.
Another thing no one has mentioned - make half of them with red wire and half with black, or use your own choice of color-coding. That way it's easier to tell which is which when you're under the bench. Since I have a continuous-loop track plan, I use the convention of red-wire-to-outer-rail all the way around. For a point-to-point, you might use red-wire-towards-the-wall or something similar.
This is what I do, make up batched at the bench., I cna make several dozen pairs for what Atlas charges for one pair. I use such powered joiners for EVERY rail joint - such as all 3 legs of a turnout. Even if there's only a short 5" 'filler' piece of track. EVERY joiner is a 'powered' one, and I've never had problems, even after painting the rails and painting right over the joiners. I use only fresh joiners - open a pack of joiners, solder wires to a bunch of them, and the only time they get used is when actually installing the track. FOr curves I solder two pieces of flex track together so the joint doesn't kink. In such cases I also do this at the bench, not on the layout. I clip a couple of ties off each piece of flex, then connect them with new joiners, and solder the track joint. Then I solder the feeder wires to the bottom of the joiners.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
rrinker This is what I do, make up batched at the bench., I cna make several dozen pairs for what Atlas charges for one pair. I use such powered joiners for EVERY rail joint - such as all 3 legs of a turnout. Even if there's only a short 5" 'filler' piece of track. EVERY joiner is a 'powered' one, and I've never had problems, even after painting the rails and painting right over the joiners. I use only fresh joiners - open a pack of joiners, solder wires to a bunch of them, and the only time they get used is when actually installing the track. FOr curves I solder two pieces of flex track together so the joint doesn't kink. In such cases I also do this at the bench, not on the layout. I clip a couple of ties off each piece of flex, then connect them with new joiners, and solder the track joint. Then I solder the feeder wires to the bottom of the joiners. --Randy
Thanks for suggesting this.. I am about to go DCC on my layout and I was not happy about spending a small fortune on the Atlas terminal joiners. I will give this a try first.
Thanks
I's super easy, and you don;t really have to worry about too much heat melting anything since there is only the wire and the metal joiner involved. Do it assembly-line fashion - cut a pile of wire to length, then strip off the end of each piece, then cut the rail joiners apart (new ones, at least Atlas, come in groups of 4 all fastened together). I have one of those 'helping hands' bases with a pair of jointed alligator clips that can hold the joiner and wire in place, another method that works well for me is to just lay the joiner face down, dip the bare end of the wire in my jar of flux, and put a bead of solder ont he tip of the iron. So I only have to old 2 things - the soldering iron and the wire. Touch wire to joiner, touch soldering iron to joint, when it heats the ball will flow from the tip of iron over the wire and joiner, Happens fast, in less time than it takes to read this, and elminates the awkward attempt to hold a piece of wire, a sodlering iron, and a piece of solder all with only 2 hands. I crank out a dozen pairs in a few minutes. The only cost is the wire, since you'd have to use joiners anyway. I use #20 that comes as a pair loosely twisted with a red and white wire, 500 foot spool of it isn't terribly expensive at Home Depot. I pull off lengths, usually a foot to 18", untwist them (in a foot or so it's only 2-3 twists), strip the ends, and bend it over at a right angle. The proceed to the soldering step. You'll need a lot, they go pretty quickly if you use the wired ones at every joint - especially a crossover where there is a short length of track between the diverging legs of the turnouts to set the track spacing properly. Such a situation uses 6 pais of joiners even though the short section between the diverging legs may only be an inch or so long. Still cheap at any price - that 500 foot spool of wire is good for up to 500 pairs of joiners, which is enough for quite a large layout.