In a post the other day I asked the question about soldering feeder wires to the rail.
One poster suggested I solder the feeder wire to the bottom of the rail joiners if the track has not already been put down. I would like to do this but was wondering about how to do it. This is my question:
If you solder the feeder wire to the bottom of the rail joiner and then lay the track, many suggest that the rail joiners should be soldered (except maybe at turnouts) for better electrical contacts.
Now if you heat the rail joiner to apply the solder so it flows into it, won’t you melt the solder that is holding the feeder wire in place below it and destroy that connection.
Maybe this won’t happen or maybe I’m misinterpreting how to do this. Does anyone have experience doing this?
I don’t know if this will help but I’m using atlas termianl joiners (wire is already soldered to the joiner) and then solder the joiner to the track. It seems to make the process easier.
I make my own “terminal joiners” and I have no problems with the wire coming off. I use foam roadbed, so the wire is actually pressed fairly well against the bottom of the joiner. If the solder melts, it then cools again with the wire still in place.
The Atlas ones would have the same problem, if there were to be a problem. They might actually be worse, because they use a very thin wire which wouldn’t be pressed up as tightly as the roadbed. I make my own because I’d rather spend my money on something I can see, like engines and rolling stock, than on the overpriced Atlas terminal joiners.
I do the same thing. It is easy to make your own joiner. You can also use a larger gauge wire than Atlas does and use whatever color you want. I do not solder my track together. I would think you could wedge something under it while you solder so the wire is held tight if you are concerned about it coming apart.
The bottom of the railjoiner is actually the underside of the railjoiner. It should not be neccessary (in terms of electrical reliability) to also solder the rails together since each rail will receive power from two railjoiners at either end. This would be a good metheod to use around your turnouts where it might be necessary to replace them at a later date.
Operational reliability can be achieved by soldering the rails together to avoid gaps and misalignments. In this case, drill a hole in the middle of the bottom of the railjoiner so that the feeder wire can be fed through it just enough to reach the top of the rail head. Assemble the track and solder the joint with the feeder wire between the rails.
When the solder cools, the bulge can be filed down to create a smoothe joint. This gives you both a bullet proof and invisible connection.
I have also used the Atlas joiner on part of my pike. I have had no trouble with the soldered wire coming loose when I have soldered the rail and joiners.
BTW, I now make my own for all the above stated reasons (heaver wire, color coded, price) and haven’t experienced a problem the home-made ones either.
Some time back, I asked this forum about soldering track sections…After reading the responses, I came to the conclusion that most soldering wasn’t necessary. Actually Leon addresses that question here too, making a great point regarding the need to solder the joints, if the joiner it self is powered.
Slightly better then half of my Sawyer Lumber Division is all soldered (bullet proof, one would suspect) and has caused a few problems with “warped” track on a long straight section and with a turnout. When it’s all soldered solid…Having to cut out a turnout (with rail nipper or cut off wheel) or a section of problem track is frustrating, and you’ll be paying the high price of labor too.
I no longer solder every joint and never solder any of my turnouts, allowing ease of R&R if and when needed and some expansion and contraction room too.
It should be mentioned that I use flextrack and the only exception to my NO SOLDER rule is on curves, where I do find it necessary to solder the sections together to assure a smooth, constant radius.