# Question on soldering track sections...



## ampracing99 (Jun 17, 2008)

Hi guys i have a question i was thinking about soldering all my track sections together where they meet each section not alot of solder just enough to flow smooth i have silver solder and flux, i will be doing this on my Tyco track for my new layout i though this might help for contact and track would be smoother at sections. I will be sanding very lightly afterwards, then painting my track grey. would this work okay if i did this or should i set up a small track to try it out first? please let me know, also was wondering if this would help with the voltage current to each section to flow evenly thru my track.

please let me know, thanks, Shon:thumbsup:


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## Scafremon (Dec 11, 2006)

I'd recommend waiting on soldering your track. I'm not familiar with Tyco track, but I believe lots of guys have Tyco tracks that run fine without solder. Of course, if you enjoy soldering, then once you have the layout that you feel pretty confident is a keeper, then solder away! With the Tomy tracks I've built, I've never seen a need for soldering. But, if it was something I enjoyed doing, I could see myself soldering it.

I would have the same recommendation on painting your track. While I do like the look of a painted track (so much so that I painted most all of my Tomy track pieces), I do regret it now - now that the track has been dis-assembled, and I have a tub full of painted track pieces. I enjoyed the process of painting a bunch of track, but I know it won't be as much fun when I have to paint just a few pieces to complete a new layout. 

You'll see a lot of posts from veterans here advising to run a particular layout for quite a while, before you start doing some major permanent mods. They told me these things when I started out a couple years ago. I pretty much ignored them, because I knew what I wanted. 

Lesson learned - they were right.


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## ampracing99 (Jun 17, 2008)

Scafremon said:


> I'd recommend waiting on soldering your track. I'm not familiar with Tyco track, but I believe lots of guys have Tyco tracks that run fine without solder. Of course, if you enjoy soldering, then once you have the layout that you feel pretty confident is a keeper, then solder away! With the Tomy tracks I've built, I've never seen a need for soldering. But, if it was something I enjoyed doing, I could see myself soldering it.
> 
> I would have the same recommendation on painting your track. While I do like the look of a painted track (so much so that I painted most all of my Tomy track pieces), I do regret it now - now that the track has been dis-assembled, and I have a tub full of painted track pieces. I enjoyed the process of painting a bunch of track, but I know it won't be as much fun when I have to paint just a few pieces to complete a new layout.
> 
> ...


I think your right i have to decide if i want to do this or not i thought if it would help, but i just took a good look at my Tyco track and they seen to be pretty smooth already, good contact, and the thought of having to de-solder everything to take it apart is another thing. 

For painting my track grey i heard some guys saying primer and other saying semi gloss ect. primer because it is a little dusty, trying to figure out what to use and the thought of this scraping my rails not comfortable on this, i do have a steady hand and i have patience. I think i really do want to paint, just trying to find the wheter to use semi gloss or primer, or primer and then a clear coat over it, and maybe scraping the rails isn't to bad of a deal. i just dont want to mess up my track at all, i'm still a rookie,lol. i'm just having fun and really like the grey track.

But you have a very good point. thank you, Shon:thumbsup:


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## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

I've found that painting a track a light color really makes all the gaps, joints, mounting holes, slots, and other such indicators of slotly snap togetherness ... really pop out at you. This may be aesthetically detrimental to you, depending on what you are hoping to achieve with your overall layout. Filling all the gaps, sanding, surface refinishing, and painting over those gaps and holes is an option and a labor of love for some. Not me. I'd be more inclined to dump money into a custom or large format sectional instead. Black is almost always the path of least resistance so I'd need a compelling reason to add more work to the build. 

There are still cases where I think painting is warranted, gaps or not. If you are doing a scenic'd layout with a light theme, like a southwestern desert or semi arid mountainous region, or even a dirt/clay track, black track will create an inappropriate level of contrast and detract from the overall appearance a bit. But for greener themes, I happen to prefer the black track or a very dark gray at the lightest. So you may want to think about the track color and contrast in the overall scheme. However, people still do buy and paint bright white tracks with big wide festive lane markings and put them on purple tables, resulting in something that looks like massive candy cane fusion (or it that fission?). It's always a personal preference, so always do what YOU want. There are probably people who still lament the fact that later versions of Windows dropped the infamous "Hot Dog Stand" color theme from Windows 3.x. Not me.

P.S. For all you kiddies out there who missed out on Hot Dog Stand nirvana/insanity ... http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000341.html


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## roffutt (Jun 30, 2006)

AfxToo said:


> P.S. For all you kiddies out there who missed out on Hot Dog Stand nirvana/insanity ... http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000341.html


ooow.. I clicked the link.. even being subjected to the bad windows 3.1 color schemes before.. I couldn't help it (insanity).. that image will forever be burned into my eye retinas! :freak:

-Robbie


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## roffutt (Jun 30, 2006)

Shon, 

The other issue with soldering track sections.. depending on climate.. the rail sometimes needs to be able to expand and contract. I've seen post of tracks where the entire rail as popped out because the track got too hot and rail could not expand. 

What kind of cars do you plan? 

-Robbie


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## ampracing99 (Jun 17, 2008)

roffutt said:


> Shon,
> 
> The other issue with soldering track sections.. depending on climate.. the rail sometimes needs to be able to expand and contract. I've seen post of tracks where the entire rail as popped out because the track got too hot and rail could not expand.
> 
> ...


The car i will be running are Tyco 440's and AFX super G, but do plan on getting some Jets and also a mega G.

I think i will pass on the soldering for now,lol. i'd hate to mess up the track sections. You guys have a point, thanks, Shon:thumbsup:


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

Before you solder, determine if you really have a problem with electrical contact. I am using all Mattel style track with 65 pieces per lane. When I was testing the layout with only one terminal track, I didn't notice any dropoff in power anywhere. I am now using only two power taps per lane and everything seems to be fine.

This is different than when I was using Aurora L&J track. With that track, I needed a lot more jumpers or the power losses were quite noticeable.

If you want to cut down on rail noise, you might want to file down the ends of the rails to either round them off or make them even from piece to piece.

Also, determine from where your joint noise is coming. Is it the rails or the slot? With the flare in the Tyco/Mattel slot, you get a lot of banging at the track joints, especially with steel guide pins.

Joe


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## ampracing99 (Jun 17, 2008)

Grandcheapskate said:


> Before you solder, determine if you really have a problem with electrical contact. I am using all Mattel style track with 65 pieces per lane. When I was testing the layout with only one terminal track, I didn't notice any dropoff in power anywhere. I am now using only two power taps per lane and everything seems to be fine.
> 
> This is different than when I was using Aurora L&J track. With that track, I needed a lot more jumpers or the power losses were quite noticeable.
> 
> ...


Hi Joe, thanks for the information your right about Tyco they do seem to have good contact i took a good look at it and i think i wont have a problem i'm glad i posted this thread for my research on this topic and it may help other newbies like me with wild ideahs,lol. And you mention file on rails that meet each other good ideah, i do have a few spots that need this and once i nail or screw down my track i think it would be even better. 

I also want to thank everyone else who wrote on this thread it gives me more things to look out for, i also have seen a few topics on power tapping i dont know if its just me but i really want to do this but not quite sure the easyest (sorry for the speeling) way of doing this, I know you attach wires from the power termanal i will be using two high performance Tyco wall warts. trying to find the cheapest way of doing this that will bring good power everywhere. I do notice sometimes when i used to use my basic wall wart it losses power the father the cars went or if someone was on the other lane and i'm on one lane it losses power, would this help?

thanks again, guys, Shon:thumbsup:


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## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

> the rail sometimes needs to be able to expand and contract


I have personally never seen this happen to a serious extent, but given that plastic and steel have different coefficients of thermal expansion some movement is to be expected. It seems like continuous rail customs would be prone to this. I do know that when a track experiences a temperature change its handling can change, sometimes quite dramatically, even though the reasons are not apparent to the naked eye. I've seen racers practice for hours on end on a track the night before the race, getting their cars totally dialed in. Then they'll go home or back to the hotel for the night, return in the morning the day of the race, and their handling is junk. Doh!

The one case where I have seen massive movement and buckling of track had to do with the table deck wood buckling in a humid basement. I think it was OSB but it can happen to any wood sheathing if the conditions are right. It's always a good idea to let any wood to be used in a construction project acclimate to the environment where it will be used for 24 hours or so before it will be used. I'd also seal all the wood surfaces used in your table with paint or polyurethane either before or after construction. For sheathing materials used for the table deck, make sure you follow the manufacturer's recommendations for gaps and glue and screw the deck to the framework.


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## Scafremon (Dec 11, 2006)

Shon,

Here is a tread I started when I began the process of painting my track. You may find something in here useful to you.

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=206158

I agree with AfxToo's comments about the joints and such standing out when you paint the track. They weren't a concern to me, but they were visible as you might notice in some of the above pics. Cleaning rail tops were not a big problem for me.

One nice thing about unpainted track is that the pre-race track cleaning is pretty straight-forward. On unpainted track, I would go over it once with a vacuum, then wipe it lightly with a cloth. On my painted track, wiping down the track was not an option. This was primarily because of the kind of top-coat paint I used.

My painted track was only up for a couple weeks. I sincerly hope that when I go to build my next track using the painted track, that I am happy with it. I spent a lot of money on track sets to get all the track I needed, and painting most all of it was an irreversible step.


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