Soldering Feeder Wires To Track

Solder the feeder to the track with the wire just to the inside of the track.

Soldering feeder wires to track. It won t change the world but it may assist some folk to get a be. The easiest way is to solder the feeders to the tracks before laying them down. In general soldered track lengths should not exceed 6 feet 2 pieces of flex track. Modelers who lay their own track may flatten and shape the end of a feeder wire to look like a spike head.

Pull excess wire back down. An aluminum soldering tool comes in handy to hold the soldered wire tight against the rail for the few seconds it takes for the joint to cool. Good electrical connections are key to a smooth running model railroad and one way to help achieve this is with feeder wires. But it they are already layed down what you have describe so far is the way to go.

Each 6 ft piece should have droppers. Adding feeder wires to the track feeder wires should be added about every 3 feet to assure that all sections of your track get an adequate amount of amperage to run your trains smoothly. This is just a quick how to video on track soldering and feeder wire soldering. The feeder wire should come up through a drilled hole from the bottom of the layout to the outside rail between the ties.

It is easy to figure where the holes should be. Mark the track so you won t forget where you want to cut the plastic. Feed the wire through the hole bend the 3 16 tip 45 degrees so you have room to solder solder then bend another 45 degrees for a total of 90. With the track section in position like in n scale figure where you want the feeders to go through mark the roadbed on the inside up against the rail.

Long soldered lengths will cause problems due to length changes in the rails due to temperature or movement of the benchwork with humidity changes.