Rail Joiners

wrote

Whatever way works, but if you can't get the *final* joiner in then why not leave it out? Track pins will hold the point in alignment and you can bridge the gap electrically by soldering some wire across where the joiner is missing.

John.

That was on my options to do but wasn't sure how acceptable a solution that was. Also my soldering isn't brilliant and didn't want to pump too much heat into a set of points.

Kevin

Try this: - Cut away the moulded rail fixing pins on the track (not on the points) above the first two sleepers, and push the rail joiners fully along it, over those two sleepers. Drop the point in place, then push the rail joiners the other way, onto the point rails.

Cheers, Allan Brown

wrote

I've often reinstalled pointwork without *any* rail-joiners with perfectly acceptable results.

Soldering is something you'll only improve on by doing it. It's dead easy, but then I've been soldering for around 40 years. :-(

John.

Key: a hot iron ((100 watt is good) and let it heat _fully_. Never apply a cold iron to the work, it must be as hot as it can get. Touch to railjoiner and rail, touch the solder to the rail next to the joiner, and remove iron as soon as solder starts to flow into the rail joiner. Use fine electronic solder, it will melt almost instantly.

NB that a lower wattage iron will have to be held to the rail longer, and hence heat will have time to travel along the rail and begin to melt the plastic sleepers. Speed is of the essence, hence a hot iron is better. (The rate at which heat flows increases with the temperature difference.)

Soldering guns are OK if they have a 100 watt setting _and_ have a big enough tip - a solid 1/4" x1/4" is a minimum. Make sure you let the gun heat fully before applying to rail (about 30 seconds from a cold start, maybe more.)

If doubtful, place chunks of 1/2" steel across the rails about 1/2" from either side of the joint - they will absorb heat, and reduce chance of melting the sleepers. They act as kind of heat barrier wherever they are placed.

All above based on my experience.

The only way I have succeeded is by cutting a normal length fishplate/rail joiner in two using a Dremel drill and cutting disk. Any manual method of cutting leaves you with horribly bent sheet metal :-) I suppost it would be possible to slide the fishplate onto a discarded length of rail and cut fishplate and rail together, but I've never tried that technique. Another option would be to solder the rail ends together, but this doesn't sound like the situation for a first attempt!

Regards, Greg.P.

It actually works!

Old solderers never die, they just go into flux. ;-)

Only if you reverse the polarity of the neutron flux and re-route it through the deflector shields.

I guess you'll just continue soldering on for the foreseeable future then, John!

Steve

"Christopher A. Lee" wrote

I'll have to get my refound friends to have words with you ................................

EX--TER--MIN--ATE.

John.

"Steve W" wrote

Do I have to? :-(

John.

Allan Brown's solution of cutting away a few chairs and pushing fishplates fully onto a rail, dropping the turnout into place and then pushing the fishplates across the gap is the solution I would use. It results in a nice tidy finish and no unsightly solder globules or melted sleepers. I cannot stand seeing solder on the sides of rails - it is so common on most layouts and it looks apalling and very unrealistic. All of my soldering is done to the _undersides_ of rails _before_ track is laid. This of course requires an electrical plan to be done _before_ track laying. Trouble is, most people consider electrical wiring as an unfortunate unnecessary evil to be done after the fact rather than an integral component which should be done during track laying.

Graham Plowman