Fantastic shots and these will be a great help. My new bench work shipped on the 13th from Mianne and will be here on the 19th so here we go. Thanks all. Steve
Well the new bench work has arrived. If your not a wood worker or dont have bench work skills give Mianne a call its all modular and their stuff is great. Only about 2 hours for assembly of the entire bench work layout all I needed was a hammer, and phillips screw driver. The link to their site is below. I will be keeping you all posted. Thanks Steve http://www.miannebenchwork.com/default.htm
I will have to take some pictures but the new bench work is in assembled and the lower level of the layout is down. 11 #6 switches and 2 dual crossover's. All DCC power run and I have actually been able to run big motive power and a large consist and go figure no derails. Things are looking up on the CWRR. So far I have a dual-main a sorting yard and a motive power yard. There is a inner loop also. I have used Kato products for everything the power and the switches. Pictures coming soon Steve
Steve -any updates on your layout? You said you powered all of your switches to DCC but you didn't mention which decoder you used. Care to share your experiences, lessons learned, etc? Any pictures of the wiring?
Dave I just posted a update. I might have incorrectly worded my postings but I don't have any of my switches wired to decoders I have seen some posts on the board of it being done but I just power on all sides of my switches and they are all Kato #6 and I have not had any trouble. Thanks Steve
I do not have experience soldering. Would oil or grease used on hair clippers (conducts electrical current) be preventive step? I am planning my first N scale layout and am using KATO UNITRACK AND TURNOUTS. I also want to program the switching of the turnouts. The locomotives which I have are DCC. I was impressed with the engineering of the connections of the KATO pieces. v.harry
I do not have experience soldering. Would oil or grease used on hair clippers (conducts electrical current) be preventive step? I am planning my first N scale layout and am using KATO UNITRACK AND TURNOUTS. I also want to program the switching of the turnouts. The locomotives which I have are DCC. I was impressed with the engineering of the connections of the KATO pieces. v.harry
If you do not want to solder, you can either use the Kato terminal unijoiners (unijoiners with wires presoldered to them), or, you can try the method of inserting a fine wire (24 - 28 gauge) under the unijoiner. You do not want to use grease or oil with clips, as that will cause all sorts of other problems. There are also the Kato terminal pieces. Basically 62mm straight sections with a plug for their power strip
I think that is a myth (oils are generally insulators and why would clipper oil need to be conductive?) Some people use that oil on the top of the rails as they find/believe it keeps the dust/dirt from sticking to the rails and wheels and blocking the electrical path. This use has been extensively discussed (argued ) in other threads, but I don't believe the principle is valid for rail joints in nickle-silver track. (If you used steel track/joiners where corrosion could be a problem it would be useful, but there the oil would be a corrosion inhibitor, not a conductor.)
v.Harry, I've used both these types of Kato power connectors and they work well but if you add lots then the price will add up. The terminal pieces aren't in my view worth the extra cash, the terminal unijoiners work well though I have found I needed to file a small part of the underside of the roadbed to make the wire passage work better, and produce a nice flat finish to the track - you don't want it bulging upwards because of an ill fitting connector. I too was a little nervous of soldering to the Kato unitrack but have started to do that in some areas, started in some hidden sections where a bit of melted track bed wouldn't be noticed and reserved the Kato connectors for more obvious areas. Worth persevering with the soldering.
If you don't want to go through the roadbed, you can also solder underneath. I've been putting 24 AWG wire into the two "long" spots right behind the unijoiners at one end. Very simple and easy, and doesn't ruin the roadbed or have unsightly soldering along the rail (I did some of those at first and now regret it).
After doing as much reading on this issue as I can find, this appears to me to be the best method so far. The "unijoiner" feeders seem a bit delicate & fiddly to me. Can I ask whether the 24 ga. wire is stranded or solid?