Hello everyone,
I have see this stuff online called wire glue. It is suppose to be a conductive adhesive. I was wondering if anyone has use this stuff before? I was thinking if this stuff does work could you use it on rail joiners instead of solder?
Later
Interesting stuff, I see it on the website of a local store. Maybe it’d work, and at $6 for a jar, it wouldn’t hurt much to try it out.
However I notice that it says glued connections are brittle and fragile. I’d be concerned that even slight track movements from humidity expansion/contraction, moving your layout, etc could break the glue joint. If your track is painted, ballasted and scenicked, that’d be super annoying to fix. If your track isn’t painted, ballasted or scenicked, then you probably don’t need the glue anyways, the rail joiner will do fine.
If you decide to experiment with it, please update with what you find, I’m curious
Here’s a discussion about the product:
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/threads/conductive-wire-glue-a-soldering-substitue.95539/
Ed
Hi cpcolin,
The fact that the wire glue forms a weak bond tells me all I need to know. In fact, I can see it becoming a recipe for disaster on a model train layout.
Soldering can create weak bonds too, but that is entirely avoidable if you use proper soldering techniques. Yes, you can reinforce the wire glue with better epoxys, but that seems like a whole lot of fussy, sticky messing around when solder will make a very solid joint in a couple of seconds.
Many people are intimidated by soldering, and if you struggle to get decent joints at first, you are in common with a large number of rookie solderers. It does take a bit of practice and it does require the right tools and materials, but in very little time you can learn to make clean, solid joints.
If you want help with soldering please ask. You will likely be inundated with advice and all of it will be good!
Cheers!!
Dave
Since the rail joiner provides mechanical strength this conductive glue seems ideal for improving the conductivity of any suspect rail joint. Plus, if it really is low strength taking the joint apart should be easier than if metal soldered.
Of more interest might be the very low temperature “solder” used in modern low voltage wiring connectors such as might be used for a trailer brake light wiring harness, for example. Apparently this melts and makes the connection at heat gun temperatures.
I agree with Dave. The best thing to do is to learn how to solder. It does take a little practice to learn to do it well but it will pay dividends for you in the long run.
Tom
This kind of thing: