I am using atlas terminal jointers every 3 feet or so throughout my dcc layout. The wire on these look to be very small gauge wire, I would imagine it is 24 gauge. Is it ok to use these as feeders? I am going to try to keep them 4" or shorter in length. There are a couple of spaces that will be close to 6 though.
It is ok to use them as feeders, but a very expensive way to go. Cheaper would be to solder small gauge stranded wire directly to the rails. 4" to 6" is a good length. I assume you are using DCC with that many feeders?
Andrew
That is a high price for feeders ,I think you should use 20 or 22 soild wire for feeders …easy to solder if you tin the wire and rail
Using the Atlas terminal joiners should pose no problems for you as long as the joiners fit snugly on the rails.
As masonjar and woodmiser421 point out, using them every three feet could get expensive and you would waste a lot of wire cutting them to 4 or 6 inches in length (which is a good length for feeders). To help save your modeling dollars, you can use the cut off wire to make more feeders. You can solder the wire to the bottom of regular rail joiners to make more feeders, or you can solder the wires directly to the bottom or outside of your rails.
I suspect that the reason why you are using the terminal joiners is because you don’t like soldering or don’t have soldering tools. Now is a good time to get the tools and learn to solder or practice your soldering skills. Make sure all your parts are clean, use soldering flux and rosin core solder. A 40 watt soldering iron is sufficient for this purpose. Keep the soldering iron tip clean by wiping with a damp cloth or sponge and always melt a dab of solder onto the iron tip after cleaning. You can make lots of feeders from the length of wire on Atlas terminal joiners.
Hope these suggestions help.
Darrell, hotly quiet…for now
I agree. I make my own terminal joiners from wire and plain rail joiners, too. From my bag of tricks:
Do half of them with red wire, and half with black. It’s a lot easier figuring out who is who down below that way. I use the same colors for my track bus wiring below the layout, and it’s hard to make mistakes that way. (Not impossible, just hard.)
Get a small piece of scrap track (I use one about 4-5 inches long, but size doesn’t matter here.) Put one joiner loosely on each rail on each end, and then flip it upside down. This gives you a nice solid working platform for soldering the wires. Then, lay the wire across the bottom of the joiner and hold it down with a small weight so it stays in place. Do NOT lay it along the length of the joiner, or bend it in an L so it runs down the track. Straight across is sufficient. If you run it lengthwise, you’ll find it much more difficult to slide extra ties under the tie-gap when you use flex-track. Do one wire at a time. Touch the iron to the joint, add a bit of solder, remove the iron and you’re done.
The soldering iron and anything that comes in contact with it is hot. You will burn your fingers again and again before this sinks in. I’ve been soldering for over 40 years now, and it hasn’t sunk in yet. But for you, there is always hope. Be careful, but not paranoid.
Atlas told me that the terminal joiners are 28 gauge.
I was wondering what to do with them also … a buddy gave me all his atlas track, and he had a whole box of these things.
Jim
busteed,
Buying the terminal joiners from Atlas can get expensive on a large layout. I make my own terminal joiners with track joiners and copper wire and use them mostly on sidings. The feeders to the main lines are soldered directly to the track. Both methods work.
Soldering isn’t hard. The descriptions above give you a starting point. Radio Shack or any electronics supply house will have rosin core solder and rosin flux. I use RS, Item No. 64-017E, .032" diameter rosin core solder. You can buy a 40 watt soldering pencil/iron at Big Lots for under $5.00. Mine is going on 4-years old. I recently bought a spare for a dollar at a train show. With a little practice, most people can learn to solder well enough for most MRR projects in an evening or two. Give it a try. Good Luck!