ME C55 Rail Joiners

[Boilerman]

Atlas makes a tool for installing rail joiners, you might look in to one and see if it will work.

[NtheBasement]

I use Peco joiners on ME flex.  They are pretty tight, not sure if they are looser than ME.

[OldEastRR]

You'd think ME would adjust the crimping machine that folds the metal over to make the joiner. Since they sell the joiners for both HO and N scale track it's not just part of their overall joiner production. Has anybody written them about this too tight situation?

[ednadolski]

Has anybody written them about this too tight situation?

It’s a feature not a bug

Anyways ME is a very small operation with very limited resources, so asking for anything new or different is basically wishful thinking.

Ed

[rodsup9000]

 I really like how the ME joiner fit. I take a triangle file and file the flanges and web to a point and then take a piece of scrap 1X2 pine and using the end grain, shove the joiner about half way onto the rail. Cut the next piece and file the ends and slide it on. At times, I have to use a hobby knife's back edge and slide it where I need it to be. All but the staging and helix on my RR is ME track. I even use ME joiners to join Atlas turnouts to the ME track. I, like Bob, (@robert3985) have been using Railcraft/ME code 55 and 40 track since it was introduced and have installed a couple of thousand feet of it over the years. 

[Hansel]

I've used hundreds of ME C55 railjoiners for decades, but as with all other brands of railjoiners, I don't see any reason, particularly for stiff ME flextrack, for the railjoiner to be so long and have that sharp little "tongue" on either end.

(1) I solder every rail joint, for only the mechanical alignment that soldering with a silver bearing solder and using a tight ME C55 rail joiner give me since my layout is portable...meaning it gets jarred around much more than a layout that's not going to travel in a large UHaul trailer, and in the back of my 3/4 ton Suburban.

(2) I attach a feeder to each and every piece of rail on my layout, near the middle, so those thin little railjoiners, being made from very unconductive Nickel Silver, aren't relied on for anything electrical.

(3) However, they don't have to be as long as they are...not nearly.  I snip the deadly little "tongues" off of each end with my sharp flush cutter, and mount an ME C55 railjoiner on a scrap piece of ME C55 rail that I've chamfered the end, so the joiner will slide on as easily as it can. 

(4) Using my sharp flush cutters, I cut two, maybe three short rail joiners from one normal sized rail joiner, cutting through both the mounted rail joiner and the rail it's mounted on at the same time so the rail joiner isn't crushed, each short rail joiner being the length (or a bit shorter) than the space between ME C55 ties.

(5) I dress the joiner ends, both when they're still mounted on the scrap rail and when they're off, with fine jeweler's files and a fine sanding disk on my Dremel.  You can figure out how to do it.  Sliding the rail joiner back on the rail also gets rid of some of the burrs.

(6) I also dress the ends of the rails they're going to slide on to, cutting each rail so that the cuts I'm making are as close to the middle of the space between ties as I can eyeball 'em, then dress the flush-cut rail ends with files and a fine sanding disk...and sand an angle into the sharp corners of each cut rail at the joint...not removing very much metal, just enough to make it easy to start the very short rail joiners onto the rails.

(7) I cut away the between-tie spacers under the rail feet from 3 or 4 ties closest to the ends of the rails I've just cut, and slide the ties back from the cut rail ends.

Photo (1) - 4 ties with cut tie spacers slid back away from what is about to be soldered:


( 8 ) I mount the shortened rail joiners on each rail and slide them back a bit, and bring the rails together and slide one mounted, short rail joiner carefully so it's positioned centered between the two rails being joined.

(9) I flux and solder one rail at a time, then check the alignment of the newly soldered joint, and make any corrections I feel are necessary, then double check...then position the other rail joiner as in step ( 8 ) , flux and solder it....then check the rail alignment again and make any corrections that I think are necessary.  If you can't see the top and sides of the rail joint easily, use your finger after the rail has cooled, sliding your most uncallused fingertip along the new joint (top and sides) to feel for any excessive protrusions or misalignment.  This is an old machinist's trick and it works very well. Final inspection should be using the M4 Eyeball Method, sighting along the rails at a low angle, which magnifies any imperfections...then test with your most finicky car.  Taking time NOW to get it right will save you from a lot of headaches later.

(10) Using a stiff, small wire brush, I burnish the joint so it's relatively bright, and slide the ties on both pieces of flex towards the soldered joint, with the two short rail joiners positioned between ties.

Photo (2) - Shortened rail joiners soldered but not yet burnished and ties roughly slid back to their original positions:


Sounds like a lot of work, but it goes quickly, and looks really excellent.  Also, it's a lot easier to get the small joiners on the ends of the rails, and they don't stab me.

Here's a photo I've posted before of the shortened rail joiners, showing how they virtually disappear, with no funky ties inserted underneath them.

Photo (3) - Shortened rail joiners after burnishing and painting on Rail-Craft C55:


As I always do, I highly recommend at least a 35W iron with a clean and tinned tip, and 96/4 tin/silver solder (which is 7 times stronger than lead/tin solder) and Superior Supersafe No. 30 gel flux, which is self-neutralizing and the best flux you'll ever use for track and brass/nickel silver/bronze fabrication.  It's all available here:  https://www.hnflux.com/page2.html  ...and here: https://www.hnflux.com/page5.html

As an alternate method, look into not using rail joiners at all, achieved by sliding properly chamfered and cut rails into empty plastic ties on alternate pieces of flex.  This works particularly well with ME C55 because of the tight spikeheads, and if you have feeders on every piece of rail, the rail joiners are only necessary where kinking might be a problem, such as on really tight radii, or uneven trackwork.

Personally, if I'm going to use rail joiners on floppy Atlas track, I want them to be tight. (I don't use Atlas or Peco track on any of my layouts...just on customers' layouts if that's what they insist on using) If my rail joiners are loose, then they need to be soldered with silver-bearing solder so they'll keep the rail ends aligned.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

How do make a joint on a curve?

[dem34]

Carefully, either fix the joint before laying the rail or bend the rail and run the slider rail of one piece into the tie spikes of the other rails slider rail gap.

[ednadolski]

How do make a joint on a curve?

Work the curve into the paper as you roll.

Ed

[MK]

Work the curve into the paper as you roll.

Ed

No, no, no!  Keep one eye on the joint and one eye on the track!   

[Ed Kapuscinski]

This thread reminded me about the joinerless technique and that's what I appreciates about it.

[wazzou]

This thread reminded me about the joinerless technique and that's what I appreciates about it.

I like the plurality of your appreciation.   

[Santa Fe Guy]

Well to really help this poor sole out, you need to join both sections of track whilst they are straight using rail joiners. Then I solder the joint. Once done, gradually curve the track to the desired radius bit by bit from the soldered joint.

[robert3985]

How do make a joint on a curve?

Since ME flex is fairly stiff, I do a close approximation of the curvature centerline I'm working with...which is usually indicated by the seam down the middle of my cork roadbed...meaning I bend both pieces of flex to a close approximation...not perfect but close.

then, I cut the rail like I've written about, making the cuts as close the center of the space between ties as I can eyeball 'em...then I solder the outside rail/joiner first...and bend the flex into a more perfect alignment.  Sometimes I gotta adjust the length of the inside rails so they line up properly (meaning they remain centered in the gap between ties) and I do that using my Dremel and two sanding disks on the same arbor with the grit of each disk facing opposite directions.  This seems to make it easier to keep the joint centered between the ties.  Since the ends of the flex haven't been glued down yet (I use CA and Accelerator) you can lift 'em up to get the right angle (ideally 90 deg) on the sanding disks relative to the rail ends. 

I've found that where you have to be careful is to not remove too much of the inside rail, which will cause a gap, which may be too wide.  Ideally, you want the ends to just kiss each other, with the curve pretty much perfectly aligned according to your M4 Eyeball Method of checking it.

I suppose you could use a Tracksetta of an appropriate radius to get the length of the inside rail just right, but I just eyeball it.

Takes longer to describe it than to do it...

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore