Karhedron Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Looks like I was not sufficiently careful ensuring connectivity between the rails on my N gauge layout. After I laid the track, it all worked fine. After I added the ballast and glued it down, there are lots of dead sections. Looks like my only option is rub the paint off the sides of the rails and solder extra connections to the dead sections. What is the easiest way of doing this? Should I just rub the side with sandpaper or is it worth getting a wire brush head for my dremel? I am guessing that I will find it impossible to solder to the rail sides in their current, painted state. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold beast66606 Posted May 15, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 15, 2012 Fibre glass brush. Did you look at the method I suggested for using under rail droppers ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted May 15, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 15, 2012 Fibre glass brush. But make sure you carefully vacuum it afterwards - bits come off those brushes as they do their job and while they're great for this the detritus they leave can be a nuisance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted May 15, 2012 Author Share Posted May 15, 2012 Did you look at the method I suggested for using under rail droppers ? I did, thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately there is no way I would be able to get to the underside of the rails to solder without ripping the track up. Firstly it is Peco code 55 which means that about a third of the rail is buried in the plastic sleepers anyway. Secondly, the the baseboard is made of 12mm thick sundeala, I would have to drill a very wide hole to be able to fit the soldering iron and the solder down, even if I could expose the underside of the rail. At least I will know how to solder the droppers on better next time. Any suggestions on wheer to get a fibreglass brush? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold beast66606 Posted May 15, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 15, 2012 At least I will know how to solder the droppers on better next time. Any suggestions on wheer to get a fibreglass brush? Any of your favourite tool specialists - Modelex, Squires, etc. - possibly your local model shop. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted May 15, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 15, 2012 I noticed at Saturday at Reading that Squires currently have them available in various diameters. In my opinion the 'propelling pencil' version are next to useless apart from their ability to deposit tiny bits of glass fibre everywhere you don't want them. The best ones I have come across are the ones tightly wrapped in cloth tape as they are very firm and work well (but alas Bonds O'Euston Road who used to sell this type are no longer around); the Squires type are wrapped in a sort of string but they are excellent for cleaning paint etc off rail - I used one to do exactly that a couple of weeks ago. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted May 15, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 15, 2012 Use liquid flux applied with a small paint brush to the fishplates. Then sparingly put in some solder into the joint between the fishplates and the rails. This should improve conductivity along the rail joints Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcm@gwr Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 With respect to the 'propelling pencil' type, if you soak it in weak PVA/water mix [50/50], and let it dry before you use it, it will hardly shed any fibres. It also works better, in the abrasive sense, and lasts longer. Cheers, Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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