Is soldering power feeds to track necessary?

[snowplough]

Is there any other way to get power to the track than soldering? Has anyone tried or thought of anything else? I'm just not that good at soldering: I can get it done, but I end up with an unsightly ball of solder that looks hard to hide or disguise.

Has anyone tried gripping the bottom of the rail with tiny alligator clips, or pushing against it with spring-loaded contacts? Is there anything commerically available that is aesthetically acceptable?


snowplough

[WANF-11--->Chaser]

You can get sections of track (from Atlas for example) with screw down terminals on them to feed power to your rails.

Although I plan on soldering feeders to mine, I put a pair of rail joiners on a stub ended spur, bent them 90 degrees upright and clip on alligator clips as a temporary solution.

Otherwise with soldering, practice makes perfect.

Be sure you heat up your iron long enough and get good contact to the rails and wire, the solder should flow right on.

Hope that's helpful.

[dti406]

I do not know if these are still available, but when I worked for a Hobby Shop we sold rail joiners with the wire presoldered to the joiner.

Rick

[steemtrayn]

If you don't mind spending a few bucks, you might want to consider a resistance soldering outfit. The first time I used mine I got quick, clean connections with no globs of solder, and since the heat is concentrated at the joint for a short period of time, you don't end up with a blob of melted ties.

[Otto Vondrak]

You can get rail joiners that have feeders already soldered to them... or you can use what is called a "terminal" section that has two screws you can attach power leads to. Both are available from Atlas, if I remember right.

[jwb1323]

Actually, experienced layout builders are likely to say that EVERY contact between a feeder and a rail needs to have a solder joint. You are talking about something that ought to last for years, in environments where you are likely to have dust, dirt, and expansion-contraction due to temperature changes. A solder joint to a rail joiner leaves open the contact between the joiner and two rails. A layout where rails are connected just with joiners and no solder joints, and only feeders here and there, will suffer when the joiners start to loosen after a couple of years, if not earlier due to dirt creeping in.

This is something that periodically comes up on forums, along with questions like do you need to screw on coupler boxes. If you're young, if you're starting out, you can run trains OK for a while without doing those things. But --

[scrag104]

Ok, here is what you need to do to get good, small solder joints without ties warping.

Please excuse the idiot approach as I want to help any beginners as well. Also, if you can swing it, practice, practice, practice on scrap track.

- First get two needle nose pliers - preferably small ones but any will do.
- Next take two rubber bands and wrap one around the handle of each needle nose, make sure that the bands aren't too strong as they could cause deformity's in the rail heads. Test on a scrap piece of track.
- After testing attach one of the pliers to a side of the track (as close to the solder area as possible) and the other use to hold the wire in place.
- The pliers will act as heat sinks and prevent the irons heat from melting or warping the ties as well as holding the wire in place. This will also keep you from burning your fingers.


- Now as for soldering you will need the iron, flux and Q-tip or cheap model paint brush, extremely thin solder (.022" thickness), Brake cleaner/Q-tips and a wet sponge.
- After plugging in the iron give it atleast ten minutes to get nice and hot, test the irons' heat by appling some solder to it.
- With the wire in place take the Q-tip or brush and dip it in the flux and then apply it to where you want to solder. Flux, when heated, cleans the areas that are to be soldered making for a good joint.
- Before you go to do any soldering (at any point in the job) run the iron across the wet sponge rotating the iron as you drag it. This will "shock" the iron and clean off any and all junk that is on or has burned on to the iron.
- Now solder! Touch the iron to the joint and quickly place the solder at where the iron is meeting the rail, the thin solder will melt in less then a second and you will be done. Also give a few blows on the joint to help hasten the cool down.
- If there is any extra flux left at the solder area take the brake cleaner and Q-tips and clean up the flux. Flux does conduct electricity and could cause problems elsewhere on your layout.

That should do it, again I sincerely apologize if I'm insulting anyones intelligence. I wanted to write it so that beginners would be able to easily follow. I hope that this works out for you snowplough.


Scott

[snowplough]

Many thanks, all, for the helpful suggestions. I now have enough information to make another go at it, with good reason to expect better results.

I'll do my experimenting on the tunnel sections, where it doesn't matter how the solder joints look.

Still, it strikes me as strange that manufacturers haven't come up with a better solution.


snowplough

[scopelliti]

Good stuff scrag104

One thing to add.. make sure the soldering iron is a big enough iron. While low wattage is good for electronics, the goal here is to get the spot where you want to solder hot as fast as you can to prevent spreading heat into the surrounding area. Small, low wattage irons tend to lose too much heat too fast.

[jwb1323]

Actually, I think Kato Unitrack may overcome some of the problems of rail joiners, so those who want to have a manufacturer take care of some of the busy work do have that alternative. I think Unitrack relies on contacts other than rail joiners to pass current through, as it's designed for layouts that are disassembled a lot, as apparently some modelers in Japan do.

[rockytop]

Another note for those new to soldering - DON'T use acid flux. Don't buy the flux in the plumbing department, buy it from somewhere like Radio Shack or other electronics store. And if you are using separtely applied flux use solid solder, not "rosin core" or "acid core".

Charles

[keeper1616]

another good tool for keeping the wire against the rail while soldering is a pair of hemostats from your local medial supply store (those locking clamps)

http://www.widgetsupply.com/miva/mercha ... p-serrated

I have several pairs that work for lots of things