roythebus1 Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 My local MRC had a quantity of 00 scale bullhead flexible track. We found it was impossible to solder anything to it. It was near impossible to cut the rails. I found it was stainless steel rail and was made by Legacy. Has anyone else herd of this make and who made it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheatley Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 Sounds like the DCC Concepts stuff. https://www.dccconcepts.com/product-tag/legacy-track/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roythebus1 Posted January 27, 2023 Author Share Posted January 27, 2023 Yes, that's it. It's all but impossible to solder anything to the stainless steel rail so the club has had to bin a box full of it. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derekl Posted January 27, 2023 Share Posted January 27, 2023 Why didn't you ask DCC Concepts for advice on cutting and soldering? Or did you and they didn't have any useful ideas? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grovenor Posted January 27, 2023 Share Posted January 27, 2023 They sell what they claim to be special solder for it. And claim that its easy to solder! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium njee20 Posted January 27, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 27, 2023 “Had to” bin it? you definitely didn’t have to. That seems a crying shame if that was the genuine outcome. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junctionmad Posted January 28, 2023 Share Posted January 28, 2023 I gave up on the dcc stainless it is difficult to solder a d very hard to file or cut. It’s simply too much hassle. I now use hi-Ni and it’s better and looks well Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted January 28, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 28, 2023 12 hours ago, njee20 said: “Had to” bin it? you definitely didn’t have to. That seems a crying shame if that was the genuine outcome. Saving the bases and using "normal" rail would have been my route as a Yorkshireman. Mike. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Freeman Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 Normal flux and solder should be good enough, the problem is using an iron that gets hot enough, you definitely need a min 50w temperature controlled one set at maximum with a decent sized bit. Cutting it is another matter, Xuron cutters? forget them! Best to use a minidrill cutting disc, preferably with the diamond discs. The other main problem is that it bends very easily, too easily in my opinion. Is it worth it? Well go and have a look at the prototype rail and see if you agree that it actually looks more like it than the others, to my mind it does and personally I have no problem using it for my own purposes but at at a premium for everybody else. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Alex TM Posted January 30, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 30, 2023 On 28/01/2023 at 09:26, Enterprisingwestern said: Saving the bases and using "normal" rail would have been my route as a Yorkshireman. And I, as a Scot, too! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roythebus1 Posted January 30, 2023 Author Share Posted January 30, 2023 I re-used the bases and fitted n/s rail which I had in stock at home. As the club was donated the box of track a few years back they weren't to know. We only needed a short bit to complete the rebuilding of their layout from EM to 00! One of the club members had his soldering iron set to 500c and even that whouldn't make solder stick to the s/s rail! And nobody had any s/s solder. :) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Freeman Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 TSC920 flux and Lead-free solder works with iron at 480c, though the other important parameter is the size of the bit, larger the better. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cctransuk Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 1 minute ago, Stephen Freeman said: TSC920 flux and Lead-free solder works with iron at 480c, though the other important parameter is the size of the bit, larger the better. Does this amount of heat energy not compromise the plastic sleeper bases? CJI. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Freeman Posted January 31, 2023 Share Posted January 31, 2023 Not if you are quick, having a hot enough iron means you can get in and out quick before damaging it, of course heatsinks help too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain_Mumbles Posted October 2, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 2, 2023 I bought the legacy track and the chairs. Three soldering irons later I decided I can't solder it either. Having said that I might be able to now that I have built a lot of points. As for the legacy chairs they needed to be filed so the rails would go in. E v e r y s i n g l e one. This is probably OK if you have a small shelf of box layout, and the product would no doubt be gorgeous if you can pull it off, but I have a lot to do so I just ended up buying Peco Bullhead flex track and take the rails out. I use a chisel ended scalpel blade to slice the chairs off and reuse those to. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tankstage Posted October 2, 2023 Share Posted October 2, 2023 I have built my whole layout with the DCC Concepts Stainless Steel track. I tried the flux that DCC sell, but it didn't work for me. I ended up buying some "propper" stainless steel flux (from china) and silver solder. Brush the track bottom with a fiberglass pen, flux it then tin it with a hot iron. You can then reheat it to solder on the wire. I have even replaced most of the supplied NS track (not the switchblades) in the Finetrax kits with it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Freeman Posted October 7, 2023 Share Posted October 7, 2023 On 02/10/2023 at 10:56, Captain_Mumbles said: I bought the legacy track and the chairs. Three soldering irons later I decided I can't solder it either. Having said that I might be able to now that I have built a lot of points. As for the legacy chairs they needed to be filed so the rails would go in. E v e r y s i n g l e one. This is probably OK if you have a small shelf of box layout, and the product would no doubt be gorgeous if you can pull it off, but I have a lot to do so I just ended up buying Peco Bullhead flex track and take the rails out. I use a chisel ended scalpel blade to slice the chairs off and reuse those to. As far as the so-called Legacy chairs are concerned, I did understand that they were in fact Bridge Chairs, apart from their use on Longitudinal sleepers such as on bridges (hence the name) they can be found in small numbers in pointwork where space won't allow the use of a normal chair. It seems an odd choice to produce. In any event, chairs from C&L or Exactoscale can be used, which will be a easier to fit on the rail and be a more correct pattern. Exactoscale have a wider range of chairs but only available to members of Scalefour or EMGS. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Solo Posted October 12, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 12, 2023 Didn't DCC Concepts change the spec of the rail on their current flexitrack so that it is no longer stainless steel? I thought the latest stuff was made from nickel silver, and I think the link at the top of this page refers to that. I only mention it because (assuming it's now easier to solder to) the track is very nice indeed. The sleepers are also thinner than Peco, which makes it easier to ballast 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roythebus1 Posted October 15, 2023 Author Share Posted October 15, 2023 If you're planning on using Finetrax pointwork you need to match your plain track to their rail height. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Freeman Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 On 12/10/2023 at 21:45, Solo said: Didn't DCC Concepts change the spec of the rail on their current flexitrack so that it is no longer stainless steel? I thought the latest stuff was made from nickel silver, and I think the link at the top of this page refers to that. I only mention it because (assuming it's now easier to solder to) the track is very nice indeed. The sleepers are also thinner than Peco, which makes it easier to ballast Your guess is as good as mine, it is described as "realistic steel" but in the same breathe says it has a high nickel content. Do we take that to mean HiNi? Interestingly they are still selling the stainless steel version in plain rail, no doubt when (?) stocks run out that will change. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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