Joining Flextrack Sections
Norman W Cramer
: This must be too obvious, otherwise it would already be in
: the FAQ...
: I am a newbie, building up a layout with my 7 year old,
: using mostly Atlas snap-track.
: So how does one join sections of Flextrack together?
: There seems to be no way to get rail joiners onto the
: ends of the track, unless one cuts off several ties from
: the ends of both sections to be joined.
: Joe Sestrich
What I do is use an exacto knife to cut away the plastic spikes that hold the
rail to the ties. Then the railjoiner can slip between the ties and the track.
Sometimes I go ahead and remove the tie at the end and cut the spikes off then
put the tie back under the track after it is nailed down and joined. I think
it looks unrealistic to leave the tie off.
Hope this helps.
Clark Cooper
<sest...@timeplex.com> wrote:
> This must be too obvious, otherwise it would already be in
> the FAQ...
>
> I am a newbie, building up a layout with my 7 year old,
> using mostly Atlas snap-track.
> So how does one join sections of Flextrack together?
> There seems to be no way to get rail joiners onto the
> ends of the track, unless one cuts off several ties from
> the ends of both sections to be joined.
That is correct. Pretty much. What must happen is the the plastic tie
material must be removed to allow for the joiner to slide onto the end of
the rail. The easiest thing to do is to remove two ties from the end of
the flextrack. After you have the flextrack attached to the roadbed, but
before any ballast, reinstall the removed ties under the rail joiners to
restore the proper appearance of the track. You will need to shave off the
molded "spikes" from the tops of these two ties, so they will fit under the
rail joiners without raising the track above the roadbed. Then, you secure
the two ties with some adhesive so they don't slide back out. Finally, you
weather/ballast the track as you see fit.
Joe Sestrich
This must be too obvious, otherwise it would already be in
the FAQ...
I am a newbie, building up a layout with my 7 year old,
using mostly Atlas snap-track.
So how does one join sections of Flextrack together?
There seems to be no way to get rail joiners onto the
ends of the track, unless one cuts off several ties from
the ends of both sections to be joined.
Joe Sestrich
david d `zoo' zuhn
Most flex track has one "fixed" rail and one "movable" rail.
When laying the track, I'll take the movable rail, slide it about
halfway down the pice of flextrack, then slide the movable rail from
the next piece down into the tie plates just vacated. This means I
still have a rail joiner every 36" or so,but they're staggered on each
rail by around 18", so there is much less chance for kinks along the
curves.
I still have to cut some of the plastic off of the ties to fit the
rail joiners.
This has really helped the long sweeping curves on my club's layout.
Kink-free.
--
david d `zoo' zuhn | Armadillo Zoo Enterprises, St. Paul, MN
z...@armadillo.com | unix generalist (and occasional specialist)
| http://www.armadillo.com/ for more info
Modelling the MRL (and NP) at the Hennepin Overland Railway Historical Society
Dennis Rockwell
> So how does one join sections of Flextrack together?
> There seems to be no way to get rail joiners onto the
> ends of the track, unless one cuts off several ties from
> the ends of both sections to be joined.
In addition to the other comments, you can completely cut
out the portion of the tie under the joiner and glue the
remaining three pieces in place, purely for looks. We have
done this with N scale PECO code 55, because the rail
extends well below the tops of the ties. This will get even
less visible after ballasting, but it's hard to find in any
case.
--
Dennis Rockwell den...@osf.org
Open Software Foundation
Research Institute +1-617-621-7268
Cambridge, MA +1-617-621-8696 (fax)
_______ _______ _______ _______ _______ _______
####(|oo=oo||_______||_______||_______||_______||_______||_______)#####
RDono48115
down due to the thickness of the joiner. This will keep you from getting a
mini-hump in the track and make the joint less obvious.
The balsa wood sounds like a good idea.
If you use the AMI rubber roadbed under your track you can eliminate the
shaving by pressing the tie into the road bed.
dura,john j
david d `zoo' zuhn <z...@armadillo.com> wrote:
>Along the lines of the flextrack laying, I'd like to add my tip:
>
>Most flex track has one "fixed" rail and one "movable" rail.
>
>I still have to cut some of the plastic off of the ties to fit the
>rail joiners.
>
royal pain, especially where I used insulating joiners. Lately I've come
up with a little better (easier) method. I completely remove the plastic
ties in the area of a joint. (I definitely recommend staggering the joints,
which is bound to happen on a curve anyway.) Then instead of sanding,
carving, etc. the plastic ties and slipping them back under, I take a
piece of 1/8 x 1/16 balsa strip, cut it to length, paint it Accu-flex flat
black, and glue it in place under the rails. It is very difficult to see
the difference in ties, especially after ballasting.
John Dura
jd...@nestor.bellcore.com
William E. Plourde
two ties from the end of each track. I then take tow of the ties and
place them back on the track with one end of one rail and the opposite
end of the other rail. Therefore, I have two ties between the joints in
each rail. I find that this keeps the track from kinking when it is
bent. I then place ties underneath the joints after I have secured the
track to the sub-roadbed. This creates a very realistic looking
trackwork and it also cuts derailments and gauge problems to an absolute
minimum. I hope this helps. Aloha no.
William
--
William E. Plourde Sacred Hearts Academy
Theology Teacher/Choral Director 3253 Waialae Avenue
w...@pixi.com Honolulu, HI 96816
Pertti Tapola
the flexitrack, do it when the track is straight. Use normal joiners,
but in addition to that *solder* the two tracks together. This makes
the electrical contact very good, but in addition to that: when you
bend the track, the curve will stay smooth and even.
However, there is a but: be very fast with the soldering so that
the plastic does not melt. If it does, there will be a change in the
gauge which will cause more troubles than the soldering will eliminate.
Most - but not all - tracks can be soldered. Just make an experiment
first. And do not use too much of solder: just enough to fill the small
space between the joiner and the rail and between the rails of the
two tracks.
Perhaps this method only suits to people with enough soldering experience
(I've soldered electronics for 20 years).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pertti Tapola pertti...@ntc.nokia.com (in Finland, by the way)
Customer's problem = our opportunity.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
gand...@freenet.vcu.edu
> RE: JOINING FLEXTRACK SECTIONS
>
> 8 Mar 1995 06:50:27 GMT
> Nokia Telecommunications
> Post a followup article to newsgroup(s)
> Send email reply to author: Pertti Tapola
> References:
> <3j4o1v$7...@nestor.cc.bellcore.com>
> <3j4r5l$r...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>
CAUTIONARY NOTE TO THE ABOVE:
It will work BUT one must be careful about overall track length
ESPECIALLY in areas that are susceptible to humidity changes as
the sub-road bed can change and all sorts of interesting kinks
will develop.
I've used the solder method to lengthen curves (N gauage) and
it works but I've also allowed for expansion/contraction in the
adjolining tangent.
Damp rags just beyond solder point alleviate the melting ties
to a large extent.
--
Gordon Joshin Andrews omnia mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis...
Rich Weyand
>I've used the solder method to lengthen curves (N gauage) and
>it works but I've also allowed for expansion/contraction in the
>adjolining tangent.
>Damp rags just beyond solder point alleviate the melting ties
>to a large extent.
X-acto makes some little heat sink clips that are perfect for snapping
onto the rail on either side of the joint to save the ties. Work great.
Rich Weyand | _______ ___,---. ---+_______:_ |Rich Weyand
Weyand Associates| |_N_&_W_| |_N_&_W_| |__|________|_ |TracTronics
Comm Consultants | ooo ooo ~ ooo ooo ~ oOOOO- OOOO=o\ |Model RR Electronics
wey...@mcs.com | http://www.mcs.net/~weyand/ |wey...@mcs.com
Jennifer Marie Parisi
Damp rags or wet cotton balls. Oh, by the way this little "invention" has
been around for years. Sorry!
-James A. Powell
NCR/NMRA
Paul Pavlinovich
>In article <3jq3cg$g...@freenet.vcu.edu> gand...@freenet.vcu.edu writes:
>>I've used the solder method to lengthen curves (N gauage) and
>>it works but I've also allowed for expansion/contraction in the
>>adjolining tangent.
>>Damp rags just beyond solder point alleviate the melting ties
>>to a large extent.
>X-acto makes some little heat sink clips that are perfect for snapping
>onto the rail on either side of the joint to save the ties. Work great.
I obtained two large radiating heat sinks from an electronics store (they
are meant to have a power transistor mounted on them - I riveted (don't
solder them!) to large alligator clips which I connect to the track being
soldered. They radiate most of the heat away nicely. They cost about
$AU4.00 for the clips and heatsinks, and about 10 minutes to make them up.
cu
Paul
Ian
pertti...@ntc.nokia.com "Pertti Tapola" writes:
> Nobody has yet mentioned an idea that I've invented: when joining
> the flexitrack, do it when the track is straight. Use normal joiners,
> but in addition to that *solder* the two tracks together. This makes
> the electrical contact very good, but in addition to that: when you
> bend the track, the curve will stay smooth and even.
>
In addition to the dangers of a hot soldering iron, you have to add the danger
of multiplying the coefficient of expansion over two or three rail lengths. A
system I've used successfully (in 'N' gauge) is to offset the joints by about
2-3 inches. This does mean preforming the curve - you then find that the
inside rail naturally extends. Its then a case of cutting the next length of
track to match, and passing the exposed rail lengths through their respective
chairs and adding the joiners.
--
Ian Barefoot
All opinions quoted above are my own. Possibly.
Personally, I have a prediliction for not meeting trouble halfway - which is
really a polite name for laziness.
John Colombo
>wey...@mcs.com (Rich Weyand) writes:
>cu
>Paul
Why all the fancy heat sinks? Look, you tin the wires prior to soldering,
don't have to worry about meltage (?) there. Then you tin the track (touch a
good & hot iron to the track in between ties and deposit a small drop of
solder there, two seconds max). Then place the pre-tinned wire against the
pre-tinned track, touch it with a hot iron, and presto, a solid connection, no
melted ties, no fancy heatsinks (and I do mean touch - the whole process of
soldering the pre-tinned wire to the pre-tinned track should take two seconds).
I, too, use the technique of soldering sections of flextrack together before
laying a curve. What I generally do is lay out one section of track on the
curve, leaving about the last six inches or so straight. I then solder the
next section to the straight end, lay the curve, etc. This technique does
ensure that the joints on curves are smooth and not kinked. And this has been
described in any number of books and articles on basic model railroading (I
think I first read about it when I was in high school, some . . . . well, a
lot of years ago).
John Colombo
jcol...@law.uiuc.edu