I just purchased the Gargraves pigtail connectors with the pins and I would have to say it is such a huge improvement over soldering. Since the pins with the connectors are short by 8 inches long, I was only able to do my outer loop and not my inner loop or trolley layout. I was told by a guy at my local hobby store that they can be extended. Is there any way to do that?
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Add more wire. Add a loop of 12 gauge wire for both the Center rail and outside rail under each loop of track. Solder the GG pigtails to the wire or use suitcase connectors or wire nuts,
Keith, the problem is that I am not allowed to solder since my layout is 5x9 on a ping pong table with a grass mat. I have connected the pigtails from the track pins to the back of the transformer and on the bottom of the pigtails, there are these sections which you can expand the wiring by connecting a separate wire to it.
I made a post here awhile back on how sometimes Gargraves is just impossible to solder to so these pigtails are a good deal. I never have bought them but I will. Could you lay a piece of scrap sheet metal down and solder to extend the pigtails on top of that?
The pigtail wire is simply soldered to the track pin, so un-solder the short wire and solder a longer one that will reach your transformer. I did this many times on my old layout. Now I just solder to the track directly, but going to the pin is easy as well.
The sheet metal shield is a safe way to solder on the layout. as long as there is an air gap under the metal. Bending a slight V, an iron wont roll off either.
But any means of splicing the wires will work fine, including European style terminal blocks. (the tiny plastic ones with set screws. Usually white..or black. )
Would this work?
I used crimp connectors with heat shrink tubing and it did the trick.
That should work Mike.
"But any means of splicing the wires will work fine, including European style terminal blocks. (the tiny plastic ones with set screws. Usually white..or black. )"
I don't know how "European" these are, as they seem to be everywhere; in fact, I seem to associate "Euro" connectors with the screw-less type.
You could also use wire nuts (knurled plastic with a metal, gripping thread inside), found at Lowe's and the like. Get the smallest ones. Strip the ends of the wires, twist the wires together, screw one of the nuts on, and there you go. Less fiddle-some that terminal block screws.
Dennis Rempel posted:I made a post here awhile back on how sometimes Gargraves is just impossible to solder to so these pigtails are a good deal. I never have bought them but I will. Could you lay a piece of scrap sheet metal down and solder to extend the pigtails on top of that?
Solder the pigtail drop to the underside of the rail with a slug of solder "priming" it with solder which flows into the rail, bonding the wire to it out of sight. Never had one pull out. Works great even with Gargraves Stainless, although we use regular for ours.
Get some 14 gauge wire at big box home store.....order some matching suitcase connectors. Use the spool of 14 as the bus wire and connect each pig tail with the suitcase....no soldering and super EZ.
I strip a long segment of my feeder wires and then thread them in the hole underneath the track pins on Gargraves track. No soldering. Once you bend them to about a ninety degree angle and connect the next piece of track there is virtually no room for them to back out.
Neal Jeter
Hi Neal, That's a good way to make the connections. May I ask a couple of questions?
1. What gauge wire did you use to get a good tight contact and also fit inside the lower slot?
2. Did you solder the stripped end of the feeder wire to get a solid and firm end to slip into the GG track?
Thanks
Tommy
Tommy:
It is 18 gauge wire in a solid strand so I didn’t have to solder the stripped end.
Neal Jeter
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