I have tried for 30 min to correctly cut track and join the pieces together without any luck! There’s still a gap between the pieces when they are matched up with a rail joiner. I filed the pieces down to get a smooth finish, but ALWAYS notice that one side is slightly longer than the other ever AFTER filing and cutting more track w/ the nipper.
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Any ideas how to get the tracks to meet up w/o a gap? I will solder them once I no longer have gaps.
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When to secure to track to the cork roadbed? Before or after I solder the rail joiners together?
Cheers,
Lee
If I had to guess, it might be because your curvature when you measure, especially at the last 2-3" of the section(s) of track, is different from the curve you form when you actually make the join. Flextrack is notorious for being essentially curveless on either side of a mechanical join for about the first inch or two. The solution, as most of us eventually come to accept and practise, is to solder the joins while both sections are flat and as close to tangent as we can get them on a planar surface. Then, take up the two pieces that are now one, and place them along your pre-drawn centerline. You will have wanted to measure the last tangential approach just short so that the mechanical join you make will continue tangentially for a couple of inches or five, and then you can commence your curve without fearing that the soldered one you just made will allow a kink. I’m not suggesting a kink is your problem, but maybe its precursor sort-of-is.
If that seems to be something you’d rather not do, try just cutting the ends a bit long, and then fitting them together a test fit at a time. Each time you take it up, don’t use nippers, but use a filing disk or a metal file and try to reduce it no more than 1/32" at a time. Mark the rail web with a hard scribing tool or a fine marker at 1/32" back from the current end, and grind it back until that mark is gone…and no more. At some point your join will be most gratifying.
I’d like to add, though, that flextrack has a sliding rail to obviate a lot of this problem. No matter which rail is too far away for your liking, it can be slid closer to close the gap. Just lift the whole section if it is the non-sliding rail and nudge it closer. If it is the sliding rail, slide the rail end closer.