Hey hope everybody is having fun. I need help, I need to buy a file to take care of some over soldering of rail joints. I just don’t know what to look for. Do I get one that helps with turnouts aswell. Or do I get one for the job at hand. Thanks everyone.
Classypete
Go to a tool specialty shop, one that sells all sorts of hammers, pliers, power tools, etc., and ask for a set of needle files. Also, you should have a medium sixed flat file, the kind you’d use on metal to smooth or abrade the metal. It is also called a rattail type file, and a wooden or plastic handle may be purchased seperately to force over the long tine or rattail for a better grip.
I use jewler’s files. They’re small and since the teeth are so small, they don’t slice into the metal like regular files do. They leave a very smooth surface. You can get a set with a couple of flat files, a round file and a half-round file. It would be best to have two sets–one for metal work and one for plastic work for kit building. Also get a brass brush or file card to clean the debris out of the files after using them or you could scratch the next thing you use the file on. You can get jewler’s files at you LHS or from Micro Mart.
Here I go, swimming against the current again…
For my rail shaping, solder prep and solder cleanup on hand-built specialwork I use a 10" flat mill file, about an inch wide! It’s ten times faster than a jeweler’s needle file, and a lot easier for me to control.
The only thing it can’t do is get down into the flangeways of frogs and guard rails. For that I use a chisel-point scraper - filed out of a piece of scrap rail with the mill file. OTOH, the mill file does a good job of taking burrs and sharp corners off the steel studs I use for layout framing.
I own a full set of jeweler’s files, which get a lot of use in kitbashing projects. I just don’t use them on rails.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)