Peco Double Slip repair

[GEOEng03]

HI, 

 

I just wanted to see if anyone has had the same issue i have with regards to repairing the dropper wire for points.  IN this instance, one of the dropper feeds for my double slip has come off.  What is the best way of trying to rejoin this wire, or is there another part of the point that will allow the bus wire to connect.  

 

Cheers

 

20210305_105454 by Bryn Jones, on Flickr

[Mick Bonwick]

More than once!

 

Too much flexing of these droppers causes them to fracture. The solution is to tin the wires on the double slip, tin the end of a piece of bell wire, touch the two together and apply the soldering iron.

 

As long as you don't hold the soldering iron in place for too long the problem is solved. During manufacture, whatever method they use for attaching the wires through the plastic will resist melting from the heat of a 25w iron. In my experience!

[GEOEng03]

Thanks for this Mick.  Sorry, I had missed the reply.  

 

Sorry, i am trying to understand how what you are suggesting will allow the wires to reattach within the base of the point without melting such a large part of the under sleeper... I don't suppose you have any pictures do you? 

 

Agreed that the things are so flippin fragile. Barely touch it and it and then the second one fell off! 

Cheers

[Mick Bonwick]

1 hour ago, GEOEng03 said:

 

Sorry, i am trying to understand how what you are suggesting will allow the wires to reattach within the base of the point without melting such a large part of the under sleeper... I don't suppose you have any pictures do you? 

 

 

No pictures of the double slip at the moment and that and the points are installed on the layout, so inaccessible. Give me a day or two and I'll see what I can find in my archives.

[GEOEng03]

Thanks Mike. 

Cheers

Bryn

[Mick Bonwick]

It didn't take as long as I thought it would! The photographs show the process that I use for improving the electrical continuity of the points on my layout.

 

All of the places where soldering will be done are cleaned with a glass fibre brush. Although the place where you need to solder is not included here, you can see it in the photograph, but with the wire links removed.

 

 

 

 

All of these cleaned areas are then tinned with a small 'blob' of solder.

 

 

The wires that are to be used as droppers are also tinned. In your case it will be the wire that you will be using to replace the broken one. I use bell wire (single core) for my droppers, but some people prefer more flexible (multi-core) wire.

 

 

The tinned dropper is then placed in contact with the tinned track and the soldering iron touched to the join. The solder will melt very quickly and the joint is made.

 

 

 

 

You will notice that some of the sleeper moulding has melted, but not enough to show once the point is laid in place. These point sleeper bases are pretty thick and very tough, so the small amount of damage doesn't harm their integrity. It is best to use the smallest soldering iron bit that you can find. The one I would use for this job is a pointed bit on a 25W iron, so that there is plenty of heat available, meaning that the bit does not maintain contact with the material for too long.

 

I hope that that is of some use.