I know there have been several discussions on this and have read some of them but couldn’t find answer to my questions.here goes.I have started a helex in ho with a 24/26 radius going up 14 and a half inches high.My question is where do connect the wires sence it is over 12 foot around and over 3 times around ? I have both 18 and 14 gage wires that I can connect to the tracks.I have soldered two flex track togeather and was wondering if I should solder every track togeather on the helex?I have tried to get back into photobucket to have a picture in here but can’t get sizned into it.Thank everyone that answers this and can help.
slow train Ed
when we built a helix for my brother-in-laws layout we mounted the buss wire for the tracks right under the plywood we used. Once we connected all of the drops we epoxied the buss wire to the plywood. This kept everything tight and orderly. The drops we put in were at every other rail joint so two sections of flex were supplied by one feeder. The feeder was soldered in at the joint and the two sections of track were also soldered. I did the feeder arraingemnt this way on my layout and I have no trouble at all with power. As for soldering every section of track…there have been many heated discussions on the forum about this. some recomend every section to be soldered and some recomend you leave some expansion joints unsoldered. the nice thing about a helix is it is a constant curve that will allow for expansion without kinking like a straight section would.
I am planning on making some changes to my layout that will eliminate the duckunders I have (2 crossings in one section) and it will require a helix. I plan to solder all the track sections together.
Dan
[:-^]
Hi Ed,
My Helix is slightly larger than yours and I decided to solder every piece of flex track, I am in a location (the layout that is) that isn’t affected by temp or humidity changes. I solder feeders in the same place on each of the loops (5) so I have nice consistant power on the whole hill, and very short feeders as well.
Johnboy out…
May the Rails never be silent…
Hi all
thank you guys for the answers .I will try what you said but I think I will go up the inside to each level with each wire. It won’t be seen from the outside. if any others want to comment I would like to know.
slow train Ed
My new layout will have a helix to allow trains to go from the staging level to both levels of he layout. What about running the bus on the outside of the helix and just having he drop wires run under the plywood? This would leave a little more headroom between loops.
Ed, My helix design is quite similar to yours, although I am still a month or two away from starting construction on the actual helix (the base was just completed). The layout is in a completely climate controlled environment and I plan on soldering all flextrack joints inside the helix. I also plan on having feeders to both tracks (double track helix) on every turn; the feeders will be connected to bus wires that run vertically inside the helix. Your construction progress so far looks very good, by the way, everything looks like it is fitting together nicely. Are you laminating (gluing) the two layers of plywood together that make up the sub roadbed? Jamie
I would try every other piece of flex track, hook everything up, and if it isn’t enough power, put a feeder on every one.
Hope this helps,
MadSinger
just an up date for who wants to know. finally can see something being done.