# soldering Ez track.



## bigal232baja (Jan 31, 2019)

Seems how I can't get a answer from Bachmann. Was wanting to know if anyone is soldering rail joints on ez track? I know not to do all joints so they can expand and contract. And has anybody soldered wire to track joiners.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Honestly? I don't think too many modelers who are concerned with bullet proof track work are using EZ Track. There is no reason you COULDN'T, except that there are a lot of joints to solder given the length of the sections compared to a section of flex track. You would need a lot of heat sinks to avoid melting the roadbed, though. 

Concerns about expansion and contraction of the track are hugely overblown. Unless your layout is in a completely uninsulated space and is subject to enormous swings in temperature, the length of track in the average layout doesn't expand or contract enough to matter. It's really the underlying wood bench work that is the problem. If your track isn't glued down, it won't be an issue.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*Soldering*



bigal232baja said:


> Seems how I can't get a answer from Bachmann. Was wanting to know if anyone is soldering rail joints on ez track? I know not to do all joints so they can expand and contract. And has anybody soldered wire to track joiners.


bigal;

While I don't use EZ-track, I've soldered plenty of rail joiners, and feeder wires. If Bachmann EZ-track has nickle-silver rails (and I believe it does), then soldering to the rails themselves, or to the rail joiners, shouldn't be a problem. Nickle-silver rail, and metal rail joiners, both solder easily.
Long ago some model railroad track was made with steel rail. I don't think anyone still makes steel rail (which can't be soldered) but there's an easy test. Hold a magnet against your rail. If the magnet sticks to the rail, then the rail is steel. If it won't stick, then the rail is definitely not steel; and most likely is nickle-silver. 

Where you might run into a problem with EZ-track is with the close proximity of the plastic roadbed piece attached to the bottom of the track, and extending under the rail joints. Soldering close to the plastic may melt it out of shape.

Perhaps it may be possible to remove the plastic roadbed while you do your soldering, and then put it back on, after the two track sections are soldered together. I use flex track, not EZ-track, so I'll leave advice on whether this idea is practical,or not, to folks who do use EZ-track.

If it is not practical to remove the roadbed, then you might protect the plastic from melting with a "heat sink." A heat sink is any device that can absorb heat and isolate a temperature-sensitive component from heat. There are may common items that can be used as heat sinks. Two that might be useful in protecting the plastic roadbed of your EZ-track, from the heat of your soldering iron, are aluminum foil, and paper.

First lay paper towels, soaked in cold water, on top of the track, on either side of the rail joint to be soldered. This will protect the rest of your track from any possible heat damage.
Next, slide a small piece of aluminum foil, topped by a small piece of common printer paper, under the rail joiner. Once they're in place, put a drop of water on the paper. Then go ahead and solder the joiner to both the rails inside it. The wet paper will absorb some heat. Because it's wet, It won't brown and try to burn. The smoke that would be given off by heated dry paper could deposit chemicals on the rails that might interfere with the soldering process. The aluminum foil acts as an additional heat shield to protect the plastic. Having the paper layer on top keeps the aluminum from pulling heat away from the pieces that you are trying to solder, and possibly spoiling the solder joint. I use a form of this trick when I make my turnouts, and it works quite well.

Any metal to be soldered needs to be very clean. A bit of soldering flux helps clean the metal. Most solder has flux inside it. The best solder for this kind of work is "60/40 rosin core solder." This is the solder used for making electrical connections. Never use "acid core solder." Both the solder, and the separate can of flux, can be found at Home Depot. The tip of your soldering iron needs to be kept constantly clean too. I use a bit of 3M Scotchbrite/sponge scouring pad, soaked with water, to clean my iron before each soldering attempt. The tip also needs to be covered in a thin layer of solder. ("tinned')

As for soldering wires to rail joiners, yes it can be done, in fact, you can even buy joiners with wires already soldered onto them. I am not crazy about this practice though. In my opinion, it's much better to solder feeder wires directly to the outside of the rail, rather than to a rail joiner. Think about it. Isn't the main reason behind soldering rail joiners in the first place to make a permanently reliable electrical connection between the two rail ends inside the joiner?

Over time non-soldered rail joiners can corrode, or collect enough dirt, to make them poor conductors of electricity. If you used rail joiners with wires attached, to feed power to your track, then when those "power feeding" joiners corroded, they would no longer be reliable electrical connections between their wires and the rails inside the joiners.
The only time it might be "OK" (sort of) to use rail joiners with feeder wires soldered onto them, would be if those joiners were to be soldered to the two rails that they joined. However, during the soldering process, the feeder wire soldered to the bottom of the rail joiner would likely be heated enough to unsolder itself, rendering that feeder wire completely useless. 

I suggest this method of attaching feeder wires. Drill a small (1/16") hole between two ties, and right outside the rail, in the middle area of a section of your EZ-track. Then lay cold water soaked paper towels on top of the track on either side of the hole you just drilled. Drill right through the plastic roadbed and on down through the table, if your track is permanently mounted.
Run about 6"-10" of small (22-28 ga.) wire down through the hole. Leave about 2"-3" above the track, for now. Clean the outside of the rail with a miniature file, then put a dab of flux on it, and heat the rail enough to put a thin layer of solder on the outside surface of the rail. This process is called "tinning", and its a very good idea for any soldering job.

Strip the insulation off the wire, and tin the bare end with solder. Bend the end of the wire to a 90 degree angle. Hold the insulated part near the end of the wire with pliers, and hold the tinned, angled, part along the outside of the rail. Touch the wire end with your soldering iron and melt a tiny amount of additional solder onto the joint. Let everything cool down. Then test your new solder joint by pulling on the wire. It should not pull off the rail. Also the solder joint should look shiny and silver, not dull and gray.
Finally pull the slack wire down through the hole. Repeat the same process for any additional feeder wires. The feeder wires should then be attached to longer ("buss") wires that connect back to either the DC power pack, or DCC controller, that you use to run your trains. On a small layout, one or two pairs of feeder wires will be enough to keep things rolling.

good luck;

Traction Fan:smilie_daumenpos:


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## bigal232baja (Jan 31, 2019)

Thank you for advice. Just did some testing on soldering track together. Doing fine been laying wet paper towels on each side of joint success. I did accidently touch a tie whoops. Thanks again.


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## bigal232baja (Jan 31, 2019)

Thank you it's going good so far. Appreciate the help. This Forum is so great.


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## Viperjim1 (Mar 19, 2015)

*Soldering track*

You can also use a alligator clip Next to where you are soldering as this is like a heat sink and will absorb the heat from the ties.


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## bigal232baja (Jan 31, 2019)

great tip Viper Jim. Thanks


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