Newbie; Solder or not? Help

[Anonymous]

I'm assuming your soldering skills are zero or border line zero and hence your reluctance to solder. Don't be upset at this comment, until recently soldering was something else other people did. Now that I have installed one third of my layout track (about 110 feet) I am now good at soldering. After about your sixth solder attempt, and having melted 4 rail road ties, you get good at it quickly.

Here is the quick and dirty way to do it. First forget everything you have read about a clean iron and filed before you start - not necessary. The secret of good soldering isn't the solder but the flux. I solder in N scale which is even more challenging than HO. I have decided that real men solder in N...lol.

Okay. Tin your wire, which means add flux to it (I use liquid Rosen flux), put the wire end on the solder, heat the wire end, not the solder. The solder will flow into the wire (I use stranded wire). Next, some will say to tin the rail, don't do this - you could end up with a mess and it isn't necessary.

Now paint the rail on the outside with your liquid flux, tip the tinned tip into the liquid flux (prior to all of this bend the tinned wire tip so there is a 90 degree bend). Now this next part sounds hard but is easy. Put the wire where you painted the rail with flux. Puth the tip of the iron on top of rail, directly over the tinned wire touching the rail and flux. Now bend the iron down so that it touches the tinned wire. The solder will flow from the tinned wire into the rail, remove iron as soon as solder has melted, hold wire for about 5 seconds. And you are done.

More feeders is better than one set of feeders. If it were me on a 4 by 8, I would have at least 6 to 8 feeders; too many is better than not enough.

[Anonymous]

I believe that many modelers prefer to solder because the reliability of each connection is much greater over time. There is no risk of two soldered sections of track becoming seperated and therefore your modeling enjoyment is increased. Another reason, I think, is that it increases the reliability of the electrical current flow. I wouldn't suggest wiring each rail section as this would be much more difficult and time consuming than soldering. Additionally, with the increase in wiring and connections there would be an increase in the possibility of something going wrong in the current flow to the layout. If you are using a DCC system to power your layout, many people suggest placing bus lines to the track from the main current flow wires every four or more feet.

[Anonymous]

I believe that many modelers prefer to solder because the reliability of each connection is much greater over time. There is no risk of two soldered sections of track becoming seperated and therefore your modeling enjoyment is increased. Another reason, I think, is that it increases the reliability of the electrical current flow. I wouldn't suggest wiring each rail section as this would be much more difficult and time consuming than soldering. Additionally, with the increase in wiring and connections there would be an increase in the possibility of something going wrong in the current flow to the layout. If you are using a DCC system to power your layout, many people suggest placing bus lines to the track from the main current flow wires every four or more feet.

[Anonymous]

Well, this is my first layout in 30 years, and the first one wasn't that successful. I'd like to have more fun this time!

I have done the benchwork and layed the track about 2 months ago on a 4x8, and now I am wondering about whether I would be better off to solder the rail joints or wire each rail section. I origionally assumed that the rail joiners would be sufficient for regular operations.

From what I've read, soldering was glossed over a bit, but I assumed it was for the more ambitious and, well, picky (there's another word for it, but it probably wouldn't get by the filters).

So what is the hazard of NOT soldering or wiring each section?

Larry W.

[Anonymous]

Well, this is my first layout in 30 years, and the first one wasn't that successful. I'd like to have more fun this time!

I have done the benchwork and layed the track about 2 months ago on a 4x8, and now I am wondering about whether I would be better off to solder the rail joints or wire each rail section. I origionally assumed that the rail joiners would be sufficient for regular operations.

From what I've read, soldering was glossed over a bit, but I assumed it was for the more ambitious and, well, picky (there's another word for it, but it probably wouldn't get by the filters).

So what is the hazard of NOT soldering or wiring each section?

Larry W.