Fastrack connecting pins issue

Just take a pair of needle-nose pliers and gently squeeze the outer rail openings to grip the pins better.  I do it from the end, and GENTLE is the order of the day, you just want to slightly reduce the width, too much and you put a hump on the top of the track.  You don't have to bend them far to solve the problem.

Thanks.  I suspected that might be the solution, but wanted to hear it from a pro.��

Another possibility - if the track is already secured and the problem arises - is to use Copper Foil Tape to straddle the gap on the rail side.  Easily hidden from view.  

Both sides of the tape are conductive and it is available in widths as narrow as 1/8" (or perhaps even narrower).  My roll is 36 yds long and the price up north here in Canada was Cdn. $8.95.  The tape is made in the USA  (hence cheaper) and has a multitude of uses including slot car drag strips for my grandchildren and the creation of slot car layouts using a router on plywood.  

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Just take a pair of needle-nose pliers and gently squeeze the outer rail openings to grip the pins better.  I do it from the end, and GENTLE is the order of the day, you just want to slightly reduce the width, too much and you put a hump on the top of the track.  You don't have to bend them far to solve the problem.

John,

          You mention gentle is the order of the day, while you know more to this than I do (I just set up my fastrack carpet layout for the first time) I had to squeeze my outer and center rail tightly to get continuity. Now I don't mean super tight, but tightly so I could register continuity on my meter. Any harm I could have caused for the future in resetting them up? I haven't taken then down yet, but what a pain it was just to get everything tight so my CC engines would work on the track. My PW F3's GP's and C&O #230 worked fine with the track the way it was, but the newer engines gave me the most trouble. Thoughts, advice?

Ireland posted:

Another possibility - if the track is already secured and the problem arises - is to use Copper Foil Tape to straddle the gap on the rail side.  Easily hidden from view.  

Both sides of the tape are conductive and it is available in widths as narrow as 1/8" (or perhaps even narrower).  My roll is 36 yds long and the price up north here in Canada was Cdn. $8.95.  The tape is made in the USA  (hence cheaper) and has a multitude of uses including slot car drag strips for my grandchildren and the creation of slot car layouts using a router on plywood.  

Thanks.  Have ordered a 1/4"w roll.  I made sure the tape has conductive adhesive.  Of course, the strips will have to be removed when the layout is stored for another year.  The layout board is made of 3 sections of 4" closed cell foam.  Therefore, the track must be removed before storage.

I run about 75 feet of track for my Christmas layout in my solarium where the tree lives.  I had two power feeds, one on each side of the room.  Other than making sure each piece fit snugly and doing the Mike Reagan fix for the center pin, I just put the track together.  Everything ran just fine with that setup.

What is the Mike Reagan fix?

Hmmm, wish I could be that lucky, not so. I crimp every section of track, outer and inner rail(s) and although I have gotten total continuity on the inner rail, the outer rails still give me problems. I will crimp every piece only to check it once done and find I have an open somewhere on both rails. So then it's back to checking every joint again with the meter until I find the offending piece. I squeeze it down hard and re-check continuity. And while my center rail reads near 0, my outer rails still read high. Since it's a temp carpet layout I can live with it, but not all my CC engines can, So I run mostly my PW NYC 2354's, they don't care, they just want electricity and lots of it.

cjack posted:

What is the Mike Reagan fix?

Mike posted a video showing how to bend the center rail pins slightly away from the engagement on each section of track.  This has the effect of giving them some tension against the sides of the center rail mating piece.

That sounds good. I have often noticed the lack of tightness of some of the pins and generally have just replaced sections until I got better results. I'll try that. Thanks.

I just posted elsewhere about some problems I had with a Lionel loop.  I, too, took needle nose pliers to my center pins.  But I also wondered about the "play" that I saw in the outer pins -- so thanks for the tip.  Part of my problem turned out to be related to uneven flooring.  It made those track sections more vulnerable. It may be worth checking for flexing but it sounds like your crimping is tight.

Good luck with the setup.

Tomlinson Run Railroad

GunrunnerJohn or others ... for the crimping the outside pin solution, would inserting a metal shim of some sort work for those who don't want to risk over sqeezing and making the top of the track pop-up?  If so, what would be a good conductive metal/source that wouldn't corrode?

Tin snips at the ready ... thanks.

TRRR

I've never considered adding a shim, and I'd be afraid that it would expand the joint and exacerbate the problem for the future.  I wouldn't personally recommend that course of action.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

I've never considered adding a shim, and I'd be afraid that it would expand the joint and exacerbate the problem for the future.  I wouldn't personally recommend that course of action.

Thanks for your thoughts, GunRunnerJohn.

I have messed with Fastrack quite a bit and never had an issues with the outer rails. I know you said the track is new, but have you cleaned the rails on the track in question? This is where I find most of my issues when setting up track that has been in storage for a few months. My other recommendations is a little conductive grease. I have done the "bend the center conductor" trick and still had issues. My solution is a little silicone conductive grease, purchased from my local auto parts store (like the kind you use on your battery terminals to prevent corrossion). It is messy, but works.

I use DeoxIT D5, less messy and does a similar job.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

I use DeoxIT D5, less messy and does a similar job.

John, there were quite a few diverse options listed on your link. Which one do you use and how? I thought the pen option looked convenient, but I'm not sure if I'm missing a disadvantage.

Also, is this product available other than direct sales online?

I'd use DeoxIT®, #DN5S-6N, it's safe on plastics.  However, here's an application tip, the spray can is really not suitable for how I use it.  So, what I do is take a needle applicator bottle, turn the spray volume to the lowest setting, and just fill the bottle half full from the spray dispenser.  Then I can apply it sparingly, a drop goes a long ways.  It also lasts much longer that way, you don't waste 95% of it spraying everything in sight.  I've been using the same spray can for about a year, still have some in it.

Yes, the spray can has some incredible pressure. A slight push of the thing results in a major shower. I've always sprayed a little into the cap, but still wasteful. I'm going to do the applicator bottle idea.

When you fill the bottle, don't fill it all the way, about half way.  You'll also have to wait for the bubbles to die down a few times in the process in any case.

Ah yes, sounds good. I should have done this years ago, but I still have a couple of pretty full cans. This could be a life time supply.