is there any way to connect this WITHOUT soldering it? I'm talking Peco code 80. My soldering iron is broken, and I can't afford another one right now.
Rail joiners will sort of work, won't they? Of course, if you don't have a working soldering iron you might not be able to get good power to the rails. Atlas has rail joiners with drops pre-soldered to them. That might be a temporary option.
Alternative connectors will probably cost as much as a new soldering iron. Check out ebay for deals( buy a name brand not a knock off)......dave
Yes you can and that's the good news. You will need to use rail joiners. Take a small brad (nail) and drive it into the foam or board. Push it in against the rail joiner and it will hold the rail in place temporarily. A little super glue, gap filling, will do the same thing. You will have to hold the rail in place until the glue sets. Be careful with foam, as some CYA's (Super Glue) will melt the foam and you don't need that problem. Have fun!
I connect my flex tracks with railjoiners. A nail to hold the rail in place while the glue is setting. And when the glue has set, I remove the nail. And it works fine, I never have had any problems with the tracks.
There are now (noting that it is 14 years after the origin of this thread) electrically conductive epoxies that one can load while assembling rail joiners. Its consistency during its working time is more like a grease than a conventional epoxy - no strings or glops. Files away easily after it hardens. Great when soldering isn’t possible, or for the “soldering challenged.” (‘Repeating for a friend’) Has about a 15-minute working time, enough to lay three sections of Atlas flex track, or two sections of infernal Peco stuff.
