Soldering track

[laney]

Just a quick question, hopefully in the right section.

Trying to connect power supply leads, from a dcc power unit, and also decoder leads to LGB and Aristo track. Been trying without success to solder to the track. I know its possible and its recommended elsewhere, but how do you do it?

Tried with a 40 watt electric iron and a gas 50watt -if anyone has done this what did you use????

 

[KleineDicke]

[*]You need lots of heat - 40-50 watts probably isn't enough. There's a lot of metal to heat up and unless you get the metal hot enough, you can melt solder all day long and it won't adhere.[*]Make sure the track is clean; use flux to clean it well for soldering.

 

[Madman]

It helps to drill a small hole in the web of the rail. Then clean the area around the hole with a Dremmel tool, or a good stiff brass wire toothbrush. I use a 300 Watt soldering iron. It needs alot of heat to get the rail hot enough to melt the solder. Hold the tip of the gun against the rail where the wire passes through the hole. As the tip gets hot, touch it with the solder. Rosin core works the best for me. Watch it closely and you will see that at first the solder melts, but doesn't stick to the rail. Keep the heat on and watch the solder flow onto the brass. A tip that I learned through experience is to solder short pieces of wire to the rails on with the sections of track on the workbench. This way you are heating up less brass. I have soldered jumpers across every rail joint on my garden railway. This brainstorm came to me after I had most of my track laid. Believe me, it is a longer process soldering the jumpers in place rather than bench soldering them. So a couple of years ago I started soldering short pieces of wire to each and every piece of track I purchased. All four rail ends. Then when I lay the track I simply solder the jumpers to one another. Its a hell of alot quicker this way.

 

[dumpy]

Just a quick question, hopefully in the right section.

Trying to connect power supply leads, from a dcc power unit, and also decoder leads to LGB and Aristo track. Been trying without success to solder to the track. I know its possible and its recommended elsewhere, but how do you do it?

Tried with a 40 watt electric iron and a gas 50watt -if anyone has done this what did you use????

My alternative to soldering is to use a section of isolating track. These have 4 connections to the track inside the box and you can feed the wires in through the sides/bottom and then hide the wires in the ballast if running outdoors. I have found that the connectors at the track ends make good contact providing you put in a blob of graphite paste. Mine have been out for two years now through all that summer rain and this latest bout of snow with no problems. Have had a bit of a problem where the track has a slight grade change but I just use rail clamps at these points. In short I just have the one power connection point for my 150ft of track. Works fine.

 

[trammayo]

Hi,
I haven't tried soldering because my iron isn't big enough. I use the Aristo screws which hold the rails in position underneath the sleepers and these make a very good mechanical connection.
Mick

 

[coyote97]

generally soldering lifes or dies with the right temperature of the working-piece (here: rail)

the only chance to solder a wire to a gardenrailroad-rail ist to use an iron that is pretty powerfull, to be able to bring in temperature VERY fast, solder and then let it cool out immediately.

If not, al the ties and plates will melt off!

With an iron too weak u have
either
1.) no chance to get the temperature EVER
or
2.) need too much time to bring temperature up, so in the end the whole rail is heated.

When u think about how much energy is transported away from the soldering-place by the rail itself, u will get a clue of the problem!


As said before, soldering needs additionally chemically clean surfaces to work.


I dont like soldering on the tracks directly.
On the one hand its difficult and the results are questionable.

On the other hand there´s no real need to do it. Its much better to use connectors of brass:
take a narrow stripe of brass and solder a wire on (easy).
Make a hole in it and bolt it on the rail (Nut and bolt: M2 or M2,5 here in Germany)
boring the rail is easy, too.
clean the touching-surface properly and put some corrosion-pervention on (there is a special grease for car-battery-poles..thats the best!!!!)
Screw the brass-connector to the rail, and u have a solution that lasts for years.
whenever u have a problem, screw it off and clean it....3 minutes and it is back on duty!


I once thought of a complete soldering of rails because of electrical connection, but that is as worse as other soldering trys on the brass rails.


fix it seperatly...thats the better way!


Frank

 

[Woderwick]

Like Mick said, me too. I also use a smear of copperslip at the connection with the screw. I have two rings of wire buried under the ballast that feed in to the track at each piece, a bit like a ring main.

Seemples

 

[railwayman198]

All the above methods are good but there are other 'quick and dirty' methods that can work surprisingly well. On LGB track you can just use a small screwdriver to prise the plastic web from the underside of the rail and poke the exposed end of your track feed into the gap. Remove the screwdriver and the plastic web will clamp your wire to the base of the rail nice and tight. I used this method extensively on my indoor railway for years and the contacts never failed. Even outdoors such connections work fine for a year or so. The other easy way is to use the LGB track feeds designed for the purpose (as found in starter sets and the like). A bit bulky but they do work.

 

[chris m01]

Hi,
I haven't tried soldering because my iron isn't big enough. I use the Aristo screws which hold the rails in position underneath the sleepers and these make a very good mechanical connection.
Mick

Thats what I do. If you have Aristo track this is by far the simplest and most reliable method - the connections I have made this way heve never given me any grief.

I haven't tried to solder LGB track but I have succesfully soldered wires to gauge 1 track. My rather less technical explanation is yes you need an iron with decent power but the important thing is to have a big bit. The bit gets heated by the iron slowly and then transfers the heat to the item being soldered quickly. The only way to solder larger items is to have a bit big enough to hold enough heat to transfer.

Oh dear I think I've just admitted that size is important.

 

[korm kormsen]

i have no pic of it yet, but i'd like to propose an alternative.
if you look at your curtains at home, you will see, that at the ends of the curtainrails there are stoppers.
normally consisting of a piece of metall with four little hooked feet and a screw in the middle.

weld your feeder cable to the stopper, shove the stopper upside-down under the foot of your rail, screw tight - done.

somewhere i got lying a bagfull of these things, to replace the clamps made by our smith, i had been using on my last layout.

 

[railwayman198]

i have no pic of it yet, but i'd like to propose an alternative.
if you look at your curtains at home, you will see, that at the ends of the curtainrails there are stoppers.
normally consisting of a piece of metall with four little hooked feet and a screw in the middle.

weld your feeder cable to the stopper, shove the stopper upside-down under the foot of your rail, screw tight - done.

somewhere i got lying a bagfull of these things, to replace the clamps made by our smith, i had been using on my last layout.

That's a good suggestion Korm but sadly brass curtain rails of that type are hard to find now in the U.K. Most have long ago been replaced by plastic or powder coated steel.

 

[supagav]

Hi guys,

I know its a little bit more expensive than traditional soldering, but I've just started using the Powerclamps by Hillman and they are fantastic! I used to solder our track outside, but every spring I have to go round and re-solder a few sections that have come loose due to the cold and frost. I have replaced many of these old joints with new powerclamps and its really made a big difference. I now just solder the wire on to a connecting terminal with heatshrink over the top, and this is then screwed on to the clamp. I also apply a small bit of LGB paste just to seal it all up. Works brilliantly!

All the best,
Gavin

 

[laney]

Those clamps look ideal. Should have checked the replies first before going into B&Q this morning. Now the owner of a 100watt soldering iron. Gonna give that a go first, but will keep the other suggestions in mind if it fails.

 

[coyote97]

LOL

Hi Steve,


a whole business lives with the fact of their customers beeing impatient!!!!

When i am thinking about how much money i burned with "fast" actions.......LOL!!


Dont be angry about...it seems to be part of the whole thing!


Frank

 

[Elmtree Line]

I use these...

http://www.gardenrailwaycentres.info/shop/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=1053 < Link To http://www.gardenrailwayc...rod&productId=1053

 

[Wobbleboxer]

I use Peco track which has separate fishplates which I solder the connecting wires to. A lot less metal to heat up and I can do it on the workbench. Ultimately, the connection has to be sound from each fishplate to the adjoining track otherwise you'd never get a circuit. I've never had a problem with this method.

 

[ntpntpntp]

Indoors on my workbench with just a section of track or a point I find I can solder directly to LGB rail with a Maplin 50w soldering station (takes a few seconds to get the rail heated until the solder flows nicely), but outdoors I've usually had to resort to a 180w soldering gun - that really can pump some heat into the rail quickly.

To be honest there's definitely a lot to be recommended in soldering your feed wires to some form of tag or clip and then screwing that to the track. It allows for easy future maintenance of the track, as power feeds can be easily removed while you lift a section of track, and refitted afterward. This is the way I'll do it in future.

 

[korm kormsen]

i have no pic of it yet, but i'd like to propose an alternative.
if you look at your curtains at home, you will see, that at the ends of the curtainrails there are stoppers.
normally consisting of a piece of metall with four little hooked feet and a screw in the middle.

weld your feeder cable to the stopper, shove the stopper upside-down under the foot of your rail, screw tight - done.

somewhere i got lying a bagfull of these things, to replace the clamps made by our smith, i had been using on my last layout.

That's a good suggestion Korm but sadly brass curtain rails of that type are hard to find now in the U.K. Most have long ago been replaced by plastic or powder coated steel.

i think, there is a missunderstanding.
the curtainrails, that i use(d) are simply from iron, no brass. (as those in the lower part of the pic.)

i was talking about cheap and easy current feeders for "normal" rails. (LGB, aristo, whatever)
a thourough search unearthed the stoppers, i am writing about.
maybe, the following pic explains better what i want to express, than my words.

 

[coyote97]

Hi Korm,

...i saw less fine connectors! Very good idea!

Frank

 

[Gizzy]

Tips for soldering brass track;

1. It's much easier to solder indoors, rather than outside, if possible. It's usually cooler or breezy outside.

2. Use a flux for soldering brass. Carrs make one which should be available from your local model shop.

3. 100 Watt Iron is recommended. Do not leave the iron on for more than 5 seconds. (I count aloud to myself!)

4. Consider soldering to the underside of fishplates. A smaller thin piece of metal is much easier to heat up, than a thick long brass rail....