I am having problems from my spiker. It seems to be spiking on one side of the rail when it wants to spike at all. Lately, the spiikes seem to jam. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Switch to a pair of spiking needle nose pliers. Some swear by the Kadee spiker but never had any luck or control. Various spikes can cause jamming. You’ve been spoiled by a good old tool, hope you can get it working again or you will be using the pliers like me.
Bob K.
You may be using spikes that are not the right size for the Kadee tool. I used one of them way back in the 1960’s to assemble some Tru-Scale turnouts, and seem to recall that there were some brands and sizes of spikes that it didn’t like.
The Kadee Spiker is a specialized tool that resembles a staple gun and does not put in regular spikes. It uses what looks like a narrow staple and it is cut just before the top of it exits the spiker. These are the only thing it’s designed to operate with and they’re still available from Kadee.
It does require periodic cleaning and lubrication. The instructions should be in the manual you received with the spiker.