Point clips

[crazypotter]

Hi All. I am currently getting prepared to wire up my small branch line layout for dcc. I will be attempting to do a bit of soldering (reluctantly) to put I some droppers. My question would be do I need droppers on the points and sidings or do these point clips do the job and keep the sidings and points powered?. Don't know much about them really. Cheers.

[Ironduke]

Point clips are specific to Hornby set track. Personally I'd prefer to solder extra power feeds but I quite like soldering.

[Flashbang]

I agree with Ironduke.

Learn to solder on a scrap piece of track, Practice as they say makes perfect! There are plenty of tutorials to read and watch on the art of soldering. However, the main things are a good soldering iron with a good quality tip of the size needed I would not use any iron with less than 25 watt output and higher if possible. Use rosin cored solder and if at all possible only use 60/40 lead content solder, try to avoid lead free solder which needs a higher iron tip temperature to flow correctly. There is normally no need for any added flux, but if flux is used ensure its made for electrical work and doesn't contain acid which has to be washed off with water! Ensure both items to be soldered together are spotlessly clean - Use a fibre pencil to clean the areas to be soldered. If you haven't got a fibre pencil (Well worth investing in one) use a fine grade of wet and dry paper or similar to clean the areas. Don't take the solder to the joint via the irons tip, but do coat the tip in fresh solder before soldering. Apply tip onto the cleaned area and wait a few seconds for the heat to transfer and then feed cored solder onto the area so as it flows freely, once solder is applied remove iron and wipe tip on a damp sponge. Once both items are soldered tinned place them together and apply fresh coating of solder to the irons tip. Place tip onto the joint and allow heat to transfer into the joint. Feed more cored solder into the joint if necessary. Remove iron and hold joint still and steady for at least five seconds or until the solder has become solid. Wipe irons tip on damp sponge. Job done!

[RAF96]

Point clips work fine for passing power to a siding or two, but be aware they are basically iron wire staples so not terribly good conductivity wise as the thin gauge will not pass much current. Do not rely on them to pass power to an extensive range of track past a point. Use droppers to bypass this load.