Exactly!

The ones in the videos are 1.5” but I also have a number of smaller 1.25” long ones. I mainly use the larger ones. You can usually find these in hobby shops and mail order vendors that deal in RC airplane kits and supplies-in the USA, Hobbytown.

Thanks!!! I need to pick some up.

Amazon has many different assortments too.

Do a web search on . Click on "Images." There are several different vendors who offer a clip on product similar to those that Larry uses. You will also find other types of clip-on heat sinks. Some might be more suitable than others, depending on the specific situation. It's always good to have more than one tool in the tool box.

I suggest using the ones that come with it if long enough for your installation. However with my 1” thick subroadbed and the cork roadbed mine is a tad bit too thick so I use K&E 0.032” dia steel music wire from the hobby shop. They have a distinctive display of red cardboard tubes holding the wire in just about all US hobby shops

When you search look for heat sink soldering clips. I found some just like those in the video on Amazon at www.amazon.com/Amplified_Parts-Heat-Sink/dp/B009VNUZYS/ref=sr_1_12?crid=14COGBW56JENE&dchild=1&keywords=soldering+heat+sink+clips&qid=1605538866&sprefix=soldering+heat+sink%2Caps%2C211&sr=8-12 You can also use a pair of hemostats like the one I used for gripping the Blue Point wire. Another common version are metal alligator clips. You should be able to find those many places.

@@TheDCCGuy Thanks, Larry.

When you search look for heat sink soldering clips. I found some just like those in the video on Amazon at www.amazon.com/Amplified_Parts-Heat-Sink/dp/B009VNUZYS/ref=sr_1_12?crid=14COGBW56JENE&dchild=1&keywords=soldering+heat+sink+clips&qid=1605538866&sprefix=soldering+heat+sink%2Caps%2C211&sr=8-12 You can also use a pair of hemostats like the one I used for gripping the Blue Point wire. Another common version are metal alligator clips. You should be able to find those many places.

@@TheDCCGuy Brilliant, thanks Larry

I just cut them out with a Dremel too and then heat the ends to remove the joiners.

Yes, it’s easier to see that after you’ve finished doing the filming and the work ! Un fortunately shooting from the other side would meant folks would not be able to see what I an doing on my side. Having a film crew would be the way to go.

There are a lot of variables when setting the temp. Thin pencil tips need higher temps than large flat ones. And som irons have temp sensors to maintain a certain point whereas others do not. So you really need to experiment with your setup. Since I often use a pencil tip I leave it on 800 degrees F plus I use heat sinks and work as fast as possible to avoid melting plastic ties and spikes/chairs. Although I do use rosin core solder I often add paste flux to guarantee I don’t burn it all off with a lot of heat. It was very helpful when installing the Rail Aligners in my most recent video.

Hi Again Larry, Thanks for the very prompt and helpful reply. I also use solder paste and am blessed with a new variable temp soldering station. Will be experimenting to get the best results with a pencil tip, instead of the narrow chisel used so far. Have a Safe and Peaceful Christmas. Happy Modelling everyone! T 🚂

The wire to power the frog-because frogs are green!

Yes, and you can easily make them yourself. However I prefer to use a larger wire than is available on the prefab units I have seen.

Assuming you drop a feeder from every piece of rail connected by fishplates (rail joiners) then there is no need to solder them.I do it because I only connect feeders about every 6 feet with code 75 rail. On the Piedmont Southern which is mainly code 83 I drop feeders about every 8 feet. Naturally this means that since flextrack is no more than 3 feet long I have to have rail joiners in there and they need to be soldered for reliable electrical continuity or I would need more feeders. On something like a yard ladder some stock rails can be essentially continuous for 3 feet whereas some are no longer than a turnout or two so instead of dropping a bunch of feeders I just solder the rail joiners. Basically I prefer to soldier the rail joiners instead of having a lot of feeders to connect to the power bus under the layout-I find it a lot easier on my back to not have to crawl around down there!

Peco makes solenoid machines that are designed to work with their turnouts exactly that way. I guess you could do that with the Blue Points or Tortoises but they are designed with this method in mind so it is easier if you plan ahead and follow the instructions. The problem comes when the turnouts are laid first and then cannot be reached from the bottom and top at the same time.

I saw an article a while back, I think in Model Railroader, pertinent to installing Tortoise switch machines, wherein the author used a piece of double-sided tape on the joining face of the switch machine, to hold it in place on the bottom of the layout, after he "stabbed" the spring wire through the hole in the throwbar. This seemed sufficient to hold the switch machine in place while he secured it with screws.

Yes, that is the method they are designed for. I have heard of folks who try to drill the holes afterwards and it can easily result in damage to the points if the drill goes too far. However, as one manufacturer once told me, real men don’t read or follow instructions!

They are manual.

First, since I solder the cut rails to the running rails it does not weaken them, if anything it makes them stronger. Now the reason I do it is because in the operating sessions I have attended where Peco turnouts like these are used, I have noticed that operators tend creep up as close to the frog as they can get while waiting for a train to pass on the other track and to run past the insulated rail joiners on a too frequent basis and the resulting short shuts down the layout. By simply cutting them back to just before the frog that does not happen. If you look at other brands of turnouts that is how they are designed. It also is how the new Peco Unifrog turnouts are designed, they seem to agree with me!!

@@TheDCCGuy Well that makes sense.Thanks for answering.

The video, is coming hopefully in the next week.

If you have a bus wire system, what i do is solder 2 droppers onto the small metal pieces of wire that Larry fitted on the under side the point and connect these to the bus wire, no need to solder the fishplates. You can therefore leave an expansion gap, if needed.

Yes, you could do that but on those electrically isolated sections I add feeders or droppers to each rail and then connect them to the DCC power bus as I showed previously. This means having to solder more feeders but it gives reliable power. Loose, unsoldered rail joiners can lose electrical continuity due to oxidation, paint, and glue getting in. Some rail joiners are initially tight and can give an electrical connection which then fails or is only intermittent over time-very hard to diagnose. Soldering all but a limited number of joiners guarantees an electrical connection for the lifetime of the layout or owner whichever comes first.

Some do, some don’t. I usually do even though I use solder with flux in it already.

Peco says their SL-110 joiners are sized for both code 75 and code 83 rails. Also are you using their code 83 turnouts for American protoypes or their UK turnouts?

@@TheDCCGuy I have found that the SL-110 joiners are too small for Atlas code 83 super-flex track. The cross section of the Atlas rail, particularly at the base, is much thicker than the Peco rail. Yes you can force the SL-110 onto the Atlas track but it is touch and go at best and the chances of bending the joiner is pretty high. Experience has shown me that the Atlas code 100/83 rail joiners are better if you gently squeeze them down a small amount on the side that will go onto the Peco track/switch.

Depends on what the instructions say, have you checked them?

I have not received my blue points yet, but I was wondering I guess if you’re using 2 inch foam board a hollow core door shouldn’t be no problem I just thought I’d ask thanks

You may need to provide longer throw rods made from music wire available at hobby shops. Some folks who have used 2” foam recess the switch machines into the bottom. Most hollow core doors are only an inch thick though.

What are rails clamps? At any rate I recommend soldi g rail joiners to get bullet proof electrical continuity. Otherwise the connections at rails in the garden tend to oxidize and get fouled with leaf litter, dirt, etc., and you locos stop running unless you connect feeder wires to each section of track.

@@TheDCCGuyI’m using piko style clamps

OK, LGB size clamps, now I see what you mean. If I ever put in a garden railway I think I would use Blunami decoder and go with battery power.

@@TheDCCGuy my dc locos already have sound cards, not sure I could do battery switch, I just bought a lgb 20283 loco, it works fine but no smoke till I run dcc, a lot of money for not being able to atleast get the smoke option

Here is an Amazon link www.amazon.com/Amplified_Parts-Heat-Sink/dp/B009VNUZYS/ref=sr_1_12?crid=14COGBW56JENE&dchild=1&keywords=soldering+heat+sink+clips&qid=1605538866&sprefix=soldering+heat+sink%2Caps%2C211&sr=8-12

@@TheDCCGuy Thanks so much I couldnt find them. got them now.

Those are Peco rail joiners on Peco track and turnouts.

@@TheDCCGuy I only use code 100 track so maybe there is only one joiner for all sizes of track.

I know they make a different one for code 100. However this SL-110 is sized for both code 75 and 83 so the might have added a little wiggle room for the code 83 rail.

@@TheDCCGuy I learn more every day Larry. Looking forward to the next episode.

You don’t have to listen just scroll past it.

Sorry, I thought I had done that back in an earlier video but I didn’t. At this point all the turnouts are in place on the modules but I still have a lot to install on the Piedmont Southern so I will do a special video on that, just as soon as I can.

That depends on how much room you have and the size of the equipment to be operated there. No. 4 turnouts allow a compact yard but may not be adequate for long cars or locomotives. While you could use no. 4 easily in coal hopper marshaling yards larger turnouts would be necessary for a coach yard. I use no. 5 in some yards but no. 6 in my main yard. MicroEnigneering has a new type of turnout in their yard series designed to give more compact yards and yet accommodate larger equipment. John Armstrong’s book “Track Planning for Realistic Operation” is a great resource on this topic.