Just tried soldering a #22 solid wire feeder to an Atlas frog for the first time. Seemed straight forward enough to do, except that I can't seem to get the solder to stick to the frog. I'm trying to attach it to the hole provided next to the frog. Tried scraping the paint down to bare metal and used flux as well. Just can't seem to get the solder to adhere to it.
Also tried tapping a small brass 2-56 screw into the hole and soldering to that. I did get the solder to stick better to the brass, but I'm not satisfied with the results with the unsightly screw head sticking in there.
What am I doing wrong that I can't get the wire soldered to the frog without using a screw?
Doug,
I don't know for sure but the frog is probably made of something like pot metal that solder won't adhere to (at least using conventional methods). How about drilling and tapping for the screw from the underside of the turnout. You would need to rout out the road bed a bit to provide space for the screw head so the turnout would still lie flat.
Good luck.
Roger is correct,,,the frog is a metal casting,,also his suggestion about the screw,,,use a self tapping,brass machine thread screw and use 60-40,rosin core solder,with a little flux on the head of the brass screw..
Cheers,
Frank
Roger and Frank are right. Solder won't stick to the Atlas frog. The best bet is to do as you have done and tap in a brass screw and solder to it. Put the screw in from the bottom and plow out an indentation in the roadbed to clear the screw head. Instead of soldering to the screw you could attach your wire to the screw via a small ring type connector. A small piece of brass with a hole fro the screw and a tab to solder the wire to would also work. I've done this several times. Just make sure to tighten the screw well.
Joe
Atlas at least came to its senses with the #8 HO turnouts, and provided a lug off to the side of the ties that will accept solder and allows for easy powering of the frog without a screw.
Rob Spangler
A clarifying question regarding this- what Atlas turnouts are you using? Mine all have black on the top, but when I tried to sand one I could expose metal. Is this what you are doing?
The metal used does not readily accept solder - even if you polish off the plating. What I did was get some small brass screws, 1-72 I think, and turn them into the holw provided alongside the frog casting> The metal is soft - the screws I have aren;t even self-tapping and they go in pretty easily. I screw them in from the bottom, so you don;t see the screw head, flush with the top of the hole, then solder a wire to the screw head.
One of the Atlas undertable machines comes with bras bars and screws to wire up frog power - you can buy the electrical parts seperately from Atlas, as an alternative. But the simple brass screws have worked for me. When painting the rails, I paint the visible round circle of the brass screw and it effectively disappears.
Of course, I did this to every turnout BEFORE I put it in place - if they are already in place you may have no option but to drive the screw in from the top. And of course, having done all this, even my smallest loco doesn;t stall on the frgos - despite the fact that every one of the wires I attached is just hanging there under the layout and not connected for any power routing. Had I NOT made provisions for the frog power, you can bet I'd have even my bigger locos stalling on the frogs.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Thanks guys for the quick responses. Looks like I have some tapping to do, which sucks since the track is already laid. I anticipated just being able to install the frog feeders like I did the track feeders. No biggie - I'll trade the look of the screws for the stalling locos any day.
Thanks for the tip on the smaller screws, Randy. They may save me the hassle of tapping, as well as have a lower profile than what I'm looking at now with the 2-56 pan heads.
NP01 - These are the code 83 Custom Line turnouts, with a blackened metal frog that apparently doesn't like solder.
I only have (had) one atlas turnout on my layout and I had no problem soldering a wire to the underside of the frog casting. I scraped it with a wire brush (the small pencil type from Micro Mark), put some flux on it and had my wire already tinned. I didn't take much to get it to stick. I don't remember which line of turnouts it was (most likely custom line) but I have since removed it from the layout for other operational issues.
-Bob
Life is what happens while you are making other plans!
Bob,
If you recall the thread about,powering the frog on ME turnouts,this is really the same thing on Atlas turnouts,,some people are able to do it and some aren't,even putting screws in the ME turnouts,don't work for some people,,,Why??.I can't answer,,,I was able to solder two crossover Atlas turnout frogs,,the other 43 have the screws..Mixture of #4 and#6..
A #1,brass round head wood screw,,will also work in the hole,that is already there..