I am planning to use 2 inch foam on top of 1/2 inch plywood bench work. My problem is how do you pass feeder wires from the top down through the bench to buss wires beneath the bench? I was planning on sodering feeder wire to the track before installing the track on cord road bed. If one uses solid wire, one should be able to push it through the foam, but lining up the hole through the plywood seems like a problem. Any solutions or suggestions would be appreciated. The foam has not been installed as of this writing. Maybe I won’t use foam, that looks like the easiest solution, but then it would be more difficult to add scenery details below track level. Maybe I have already answered my problem.
I’ve got a homosote on plywood table. I marked the location that I would drop feeders on the track and table. Then remove the track to solder the feeders and while it was out, drilled holes down through the top for the wires. I would imagine it’s possible to drill the foam, or maybe punch through it with a heated rod? I used 20 gauge stranded wire for the feeders, which tolerated the bending needed to slip the track onto the joiners. I have feeders from basically every piece of track.
It is almost impossible to just push the wire thru the foam, the blue foam is too dense and the wire will snag. It is actually quite hard to thread the wires thru a small drilled hole also as the end of the wire will catch and hang up. The straw method works very well. If the hole is oversized, just plug it with some foam before ballasting to avoid the sink-hole effect.
I use 2" of styrofoam sheet over 1/2" plywood, so I had the same problem. I solved it by drilling a 1/4" wide hole down through the foam and plywood. I then used a slightly larger bit to make the hole in the plywood slightly bigger by drilling it out from the bottom. This allowed the wire to go down through the foam and plywood without snagging.
If the wires are snagging, you can use the old redneck easy version I use to gte stuff through tight spaces. Take an old coat hanger and straighten it. next feed it up from the bottom. Tape the feeper wire to the coat hanger with electrical tape and pull it back through. the foam will expand a little as you pull it through, but should expand back out to regular shape so you dont have a large hole to contend with. hope this helps some.
Jeffrey, I did it the same way except I purchased 1/4" corks at craft store and sealed hole from bottom and filled them with WS Foam Putty from the top. Don
Get a piece of brass or aluminum tubing from your nearest Ace or other well stocked hardware store. These are usually in 24 inch lengths. Cut it in half. Put one piece down each hole if you are going to drill holes under or near each rail. Push your feeder wires through the tubing, and then pull the tubing out from below.
I have 8" foam on top of 1/4" plywood. I purchased a 3/16" dia long bit from Lowes for about $8. I drill down thru the foam and plywood. Then push a stiff wire, with the end looped over itself, up thru from the bottom, push my electrical wire thru the loop, and pull the stiff wire back down thru. Works like a champ.
As for wire snagging, How bout not stripping the end until it’s pushed through?
I personally use 20 gauge wire, so it’s pretty easy to push through. HArder to hide, but it’s not gonna break.
If you go with that brass tube approch, you could just use that as your conductor. Solder a very short lead from track to tub, then solder a wire to the tube on the bottom.
An electrician’s drill bit is very long and has a hole in the end to attach a snake. You can use the hole for stranded wire too. Once it is pulled up, you can solder it together and then pull down to hide it. If you feel you need to backfill the hole, shredded paper towel and dilute glue topped with ballast should hide it all.