Electrical continuity

[Tom]

Every year I seem to have to relay sections of track because when the loco meets these sections, the power drops dramatically. Is there anything I can do to improve and maintain good continuity. We are already using brass joiners and graphite paste.
Many thanks,
Tom

 

[dragon]

I use small s/steel self tapping screws. Two to each joiner. An idea Neil came up with. Works fine.

 

[Tom]

Thanks for the reply. I don't suppose you have a picture of your joiners, or a link to someone's who's done that?
Cheers

 

[Neil Robinson]

http://www.gscalecentral.net/tm?m=1245&high=bonding < Link To http://www.gscalecentral....ding

 

[Tom]

Perfect, thanks

 

[Neil Robinson]

Tom, just in case you missed it in the text, it's best to drill at about 45 degrees and start where the rail web meets the foot. That way you don't have to have the drill right down on the ground and any extra screw length goes under the track where it's not seen and can't foul any wheel flanges.

 

[Bram]

When you put the joiners on use a blob of vaseline, works wonders for the elecy continuity and is impervious to water and cheaper than the LGB stuff

 

[The Devonian]

Tom did not specify which manufacturers track he has.
I have solely Aristo-Craft: which comprises a large circuit with passing loop and a few sidings. The siding are usually dead electrically when not in use.
I have never experienced any electrical continuity issues, in the five years the track has been in use, as the small screws and metal rail joiners maintain good contact. I check periodically to ensure that the screws are still tight.

 

[Madman]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, remember them? A number of garden railroaders solder jumpers at each and every rail joint. It's hard work but well worth the effort.

 

[tramcar trev]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, remember them? A number of garden railroaders solder jumpers at each and every rail joint. It's hard work but well worth the effort.

Maybe a job to do but damned good practise I would think....and use lead free solder it dosent corrode away in the weather....

 

[Glengrant]

This is a very interesting thing (thread?), along with Neil's reference to the earlier er thing. I don't have electrical breaks but do suffer from the voltage drop syndrome. At present all I have is just the fishplate connections but I think what I will try is the self tapping screw without wire to begin with. The screws easily available are 10 mil by 3.5 mil, and they look suitable. The big problem though is how to fit them. We are talking about a layout which is well bedded in, and the thought of lifting track to do the job frightens me. Look at the two pics. How the heck am I going to get a drill and screwdriver in there?

 

[trammayo]

As Neil suggests in his post No.6? I tried lifting the track a little and tilting so I could drill it. I have one of those "Dremmel" type things but the easiest is to drill into the corner of the web.

Mick

 

[Glengrant]

Yes it's going to be a bit of a suck it an see thing Mick. I have got a pal who has got a flexi thing which goes between the chuck and the drill bit, haven't seen it yet so not sure how it works. Possibly as you suggest drilling at an angle of about 45 degrees into the base of the fishplate might work

 

[Glengrant]

I see that Neil in his earlier post had in fact done just that, saves the screw ends protruding into the track, he does a good illustration.

 

[supagav]

Hi,

Sorry to throw my tuppence into the mix but I really must sing the praises of railclamps from guys like Hillmans. I know they might not be the cheapest option, that is certain, but they really have made a massive difference on our line when we started slowly changing most of our old LGB style railjoiners. The can also be used for power connections too, as eye hole solder tabs can be connected onto the screw terminals. The following few photos show how we used Hillman clamps on a fairly new section of track that had a massoth reverse loop module and switch decoder hooked up. The track will be painted on this section which will help blend in the clamps, when we can get round to it!

Thanks,
All the best,
Gavin

 

[supagav]

Sorry, can't seem to find the image upload bit that used to appear?

G

 

[Glengrant]

Select the paperclip on the taskbar and proceed as before

 

[supagav]

Apologies, stupid me! Thanks very much!

Here are the photos. The first shows the location of the boxes next to the track, the second shows the difference after a little scenic detail! The final shows the clamps where the rails join. (The small half sized clamps are the power outputs to the DCC modules:

 

[ntpntpntp]

I've used a few of the power connector clamps.
My only concerns about using rail clamps throughout is the problem of expansion with temperature variation - doesn't clamping mean you've effectively made very long continuous lengths and the rail's got nowhere to go as it expands?

My own line has the track secured to wooden frames (screwed through the sleepers), but I leave the rail joiners as-is, so that the rail can move a little if it wants to. No jumper wires needed. A small amount of graphite paste in each joiner to keep the water out (not for any electrical conductivity properties as none of the pastes I've sampled have shown any noticeable conductivity).

 

[tram47]

in france :