That's worth a heehaw! From the other side of the counter... I heard the same "Cash" response when I would asked the obligatory question of "Name and Address". Don't think I ever heard "I just walk the line"...that is good. My favorite was Donald Duck, only it was spelled Donald Duche. About the catalogue. I don't believe they used the addresses given to send out the catalogue. I had people complain they never got one. I think it was more of a study having to do with where the customer is coming from and where can they put up their next corner cafe. Have fun!
Hey y'all, I've been enjoying the thread. I've got a newbie to soldering question. How do you go about tinning something? I've been practicing with some extra rail pieces and am not too sure if I'm doing it right. I've melted a few rails and not gotten the best solder joints. Your input is appreciated. Dan
Buying wire is one of those areas where you might just want to step back from the keyboard and go to whatever place your local electricians all get their gear. Go in, look purposeful, pick out what you want, check the price and make sure it's within reason, pay for it, and go. You won't get loads of customer service at some of these places, but who cares? It's just wire, right? Paying shipping on wire is a killer.
Tinning- Dip the end of the wire into some paste flux. Melt some solder onto the tip of the wire. You will not get an ugly blob IF you use the very thinnest solder available at Radio Shack. Don't give them your real name.
A common mistake in soldering, is trying to melt the solder, and apply that melted solder to whatever it is you are trying to tin, or solder. Do not heat the solder with your iron. heat the object that you are trying to apply the solder. Solder will follow the heat. For example, like said, dip the stripped wire end in a paste flux, apply the iron tip TO the wire. After a second or two, the wire should be hot assuming your iron is set correctly for the job. As your wire end heats up, then touch the wire end with the solder, and the solder should melt, and flow into the strands and down to the heat source. Be sure to tin your iron tip as well before you start. This entire thing should only be a couple, to a few seconds. Too much time, and or heat will melt surrounding plastic, or other stuff. Try to centralize the heat to the area you are soldering the best you can. For the type of soldering we do in our hobby, the thin solder does work best, because it doesnt take as much heat to get it to flow. Be sure to tin all areas you are soldering, be it the wire, as well as what you are soldering the wire to. Another common mistake is blowing on the solder to cool it. This is a NO NO. I mentioned this before in a soldering thread. What this does is cool the solder too fast, as well as introduce contamination to the solder from your breath. This causing a "cold solder joint". A CSJ is brittle and is contaminated causing higher resistance thus causing heat in some cases, and poor electrical flow through it. A CSJ is identified by it's texture and color. They tend to be rougher texture, and flat gray in color. A proper solder joint should be smoother with a bright silvery finish, and not "globbed". Let the solder cool natually. Once it cools enough to solidify, you can take a damp sponge and dab it to cool it on down to handling temps. Sponge mentioned, always have a good sponge, (not one of those poly sponges) dampend. Use the damp sponge to shock your iron, and wipe it on the sponge to keep it clean. Keep the tinned iron tip also bright silver in color, by wiping it on the damp sponge before you apply it to your parts.
I might also add, that if you are worried about melting surrounding plastics or burning something up that you dont want to. Use a "heat sink". I use medical hemostats all the time. You can also use smaller metal clamps like a "Gator" type clamp. they are better if they dont have the "Teeth" tho, and have more of a flat surface for surface to object contact. You can clip said instruments or devices just to the outside of where you want the solder to be on the metal outside of the solder area. The areas you DONT want to get so hot. These items will take on the heat, and transfer it up the clamp, or other type of heat sink, in lue of letting it get past to the other parts.
I don’t know how complicated you wiring is, but I recently bought some 7 wire sprinkler cable at Home Depot and was impressed. I don’t remember what gauge it was. But it’s at least 20 gage solid copper wires. I used stranded, but I like the solid much better because it’s so much easier to solder. I also like the 7 colors which keeps it easy to keep track of. After struggling with the stranded automotive wire on my old layout, I decided to use some doorbell wire that was left over from when I did house wiring for a living. After a while it became harder to keep track of what wire went where. I’m planning to use it on my next layout.
Solid copper wire is sobject to breakage from vibration, but I have yet to see a layout HO or smaller that ever vibrated enough to break wires, unlessiit was sitting on top of an idleing Harley Davidson before they had counterballanced motors!! LOL. Oh, and I own one of those H.Ds / Giant vibrators so I know how much they vibrate! Hmm Fantacy pike- HD Lines! Heh Heh.:tb-shocked::tb-cool:
I wouldn't worry too much about copper wire breaking on your layout, like the last poster just said. If your layout is vibrating that much then maybe you need to move off the fault line. The solder joints are probably more likely to fail than the actual wire. Solid copper is pretty robust. Solid aluminum wire, however, is another story. There's a reason that solid aluminum is either banned or highly discouraged in new installations most places in North America.
I used solid copper 22 gauge wire on the JJJ&E for all the feeders. The wire held up nicely for over nine yaers before the JJJ&E was dismantled. Just buy the wire and wire your layout.................
You may have not noticed, but I purchased the wire back on post #17, thanked everyone and haven't responded since. Can't really wire the layout till it get's here though. LOL
