Soldering Ez Track?

[ftherrmann]

The N gauge Ez Track is described as "Nickel silver track".   Normally you can't solder to nickel using ordinary rosin core solder.  I have however seen lots of posts that talk about soldering the outside edge of the track connections for a permanent installation. 

Is the "Nickel silver track" just a description of the color?  Based on what I've read it's obviously solderable using rosin solder.

Thanks,

Fred

[skipgear]

It is a  Nickle - Silver alloy. It is very easy to solder with a good hot soldering iron. Make sure you have a good iron, the hotter the better. It will not be easy to solder with a radioshack $10 pencil iron. For a pencil iron, make sure you have a 40W or more. For a gun, 150W or more. I use a temperature controled solder station and keep the temp around 800 degrees.

[ftherrmann]

Thanks for the info.  I guessed it was an alloy...   

[James in FL]

Hi ftherrmann,

Nickel Silver is about 60% copper, 20% nickel, and 20% zinc.
Silver only by color, hence the name.

What amounts of each are in our rails, is anybody's guess coming from China.

The trick is to get in, and get out quick before the roadbed gets damaged.
To do this, you need a very hot iron and some heat sinks.
It's not for the faint of heart, it takes a bit of skill.

Good luck

[Desertdweller]

Don't get carried away soldering EZ-Track.  Be sure to leave your track switches unsoldered so they can be removed from the track if you ever have to work on them.

And be certain the joints are made correctly (no rails overriding rail joiners) before soldering.

The reasons for soldering rail joints are to assure good electrical contact, and to assure good mechanical alignment between segments.  With the EZ-Track joining system, the mechanical alignment pretty much takes care of itself.

Soldering power leads directly to the rails is a good idea, in my opinion, for a permanent track arrangement.  I do this myself.

I use a pencil-style soldering iron with a chisel tip.  My soldering gun gets hotter faster, but the tip is too large to use for this purpose.  Take your time and let the iron get good and hot before doing anything.

Tin both the rail side and the wire end before trying to attach the wire.  This involves heating the clean surfaces and transferring a little solder to them.  Then hold the wire in place and apply the hot iron to the wire.  Hold it long enough for the solder on both pieces to melt together.  Remember to keep the wire in place for a few seconds after removing the iron, to allow the solder to cool.

A good solder joint will be shiny silver.  If it is dull, it is called a "cold joint" and will not hold for long.

As you have noticed, the biggest problem in soldering EZ-Track is to get the job done quickly with a hot iron, before the heat transfers to the plastic parts and melts them.  Things like metal bobby pins can be attached to the track to act as heat sinks to draw the heat away from the plastic.

Les