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spot weld track ?

StefanoC All Messages By This Member #97682 hi fellas ? has somebody tried to spot weld the rail to the PCBs ties ? I have a bunch of fast trak jigs and most of turnout parts dont need adjustment after installation. Fusing copper to nickel-silver (nickel-copper alloy) would create a much stronger bond that the solder joint (lead-tin normal or silver hardened if using higher temp) and lack of flux would prevent corrosion.. I can see some manufacturers spot welding wires to joiners already. ? thanks Stefano ?
Ken Harstine Member Profile All Messages By This Member #97683 开云体育 Interesting idea. The only weak place for the soldered turnouts that I have found is on the throw bar.? This should not need adjustment and so is a prime candidate. I created a line of PCB ties that uses a loop of wire as a back stop. The first image shows my first pass and the points were much too wide.? That has been corrected going forward. I am in the process of testing the use of a surface mount resister instead of the wire as above. Here is a cheap spot welding tool. No idea how well it works. Best Regards, Ken Harstine DBA Voltscooter.com On 3/12/2025 2:17 PM, StefanoC via groups.io wrote: toggle quoted message Show quoted text hi fellas ? has somebody tried to spot weld the rail to the PCBs ties ? I have a bunch of fast trak jigs and most of turnout parts dont need adjustment after installation. Fusing copper to nickel-silver (nickel-copper alloy) would create a much stronger bond that the solder joint (lead-tin normal or silver hardened if using higher temp) and lack of flux would prevent corrosion.. I can see some manufacturers spot welding wires to joiners already. ? thanks Stefano ?
StefanoC All Messages By This Member #97684 Ken? ? I was thinking to spotweld the outside rails… the ones that get a lot of welds and therefore flux. good idea for the throwbars.? The throw bars are weak because solder is very thin under the points. I always thought I can design pcbs and put two large vias, 0.7mm hole exactly under the points and then fill up the vias from the bottom with silver bearing leaded solder. Once the whole columns are full, the joints are very strong upon pull and shear. You don’t need 0.7mm necessarily. Solder will enter per capillarity if hole is at least 0.25mm but the larger the better but not too large otherwise the throw bar becomes weak. ? i could even put an extra pad hole for the tortoise. ? wanna experiments ? Maybe time for an order at jlcpcb !
Ken Harstine Member Profile All Messages By This Member #97685 开云体育 Hi Stefano, You will have to diagram what you suggest as I cannot imagine one that would make a difference. I was taught that you should not use solder for mechanical purposes. The throw bar primary has reliability problems because it is under pressure and flexed every time you throw the turnout.? Solder works best in sheer but is still vulnerable to failure by fatigue.? The idea of using copper or wire or a surface mount resistor is to put something stiff and durable to take the side forces of pushing the points against the stock rails. Only time will tell as to whether what I am doing works better.? So far I only have one turnout with the wire and no turnouts built with the resistors.? Got about three months on the wire far.? So at least it seems that it is not reducing reliability. All the other solders are not under pressure and rarely get flexed.? I have never seen one of these joints fail. Best, Ken Harstine On 3/13/2025 7:44 PM, StefanoC via groups.io wrote: toggle quoted message Show quoted text Ken? ? I was thinking to spotweld the outside rails… the ones that get a lot of welds and therefore flux. good idea for the throwbars.? The throw bars are weak because solder is very thin under the points. I always thought I can design pcbs and put two large vias, 0.7mm hole exactly under the points and then fill up the vias from the bottom with silver bearing leaded solder. Once the whole columns are full, the joints are very strong upon pull and shear. You don’t need 0.7mm necessarily. Solder will enter per capillarity if hole is at least 0.25mm but the larger the better but not too large otherwise the throw bar becomes weak. ? i could even put an extra pad hole for the tortoise. ? wanna experiments ? Maybe time for an order at jlcpcb !

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