How Do I Stick Things Together?
We use a variety of adhesives at Litchfield Station, here is a list of what and why. If you have another suggestion, please share it with us!
Kapton Tape
Kapton is a very good electrical insulator. It is made into a tape that is good enough for aerospace and satellite applications. Its characteristics include:
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High temperature stability - you can solder on it (600 degrees F) and not damage or distort it! Hopefully your loco will not be that hot inside. This also relates to the adhesive - it still sticks after exposure to such temperatures!
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Thin - a good insulation for the voltages found in DCC can be had with a tape only 0.001 inches (0,02 mm) thick!
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It does not have a lot of shear (tearing) or punch-through strength. Don't expect it to insulate a solder joint with the jagged end of a wire sticking out - use shrink tubing!
When people hear installers sing the praises of Kapton tape, one of their first questions is: "Where do I get it"? Litchfield Station, of course (CLICK HERE)!
Foam (gray) Tape
We do NOT recommend the white foam tape that is readily available. It degrades with time and temperature and will eventually crumble. Who wants little pieces of foam tape in the gear lube on your trucks?
We use a foam tape made by 3-M for outdoor use. It is available at home improvement and hardware stores. It is gray with a red protective cover. This tape is used to fill many needs:
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to hold down decoders to motors - thermal isolation is desired
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to hold down decoders in locos that will be outside
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to hold down items where a bit of additional height is desired - multiple layers may even be used!
Here is a testimonial for "gray" tape: Bruce installed a D808 (30 amp stall current) decoder in a USA trains G-scale GP9 for a customer here in the Phoenix area. The loco ran outdoors for a year before the decoder failed for some unknown reason. The drive transistors shorted, drawing huge currents through themselves. The transistor cases were reduced to powdered plastic. The clear shrink tubing over the decoder was black from the heat. On the other side of the shrink tubing was the gray tape holding the decoder down. IT WAS UNFAISED! PERFECT, with a year's worth of outside running and a massive failure next to it
Carpet (white) Tape
Another item from the home improvement store. This thin white tape is used where thermal isolation is NOT needed and the tape will not see very high temperatures. One place where it SHINES is in holding down decoders with an internal metal heat sink (for example the SoundTraxx Tsunami) to a metal heat sink, such as the shell of a metal loco or a metal weight in a plastic loco.
Blue Tape
Blue painters tape from 3M and others is a great alternative to masking tape. This tape is wonderful for holding items in place during the install process. It is clean and leaves no residue, as long as you remove it within a few days and it doesn't get a lot of heat.
We seriously recommend AGAINST leaving this tape in a loco for more a few days (one week?). It will be come hard to remove and leave a nasty residue over time!
BathTub Caulk
Another gem from the hardware or home improvement store. This easy-to-apply adhesive will conform to lots of variations in dimensions. It can be removed easily and is available in a clear version! Since it is a latex product, it cleans up with water and has no noxious of flammable fumes.
We use it for making speaker enclosures or attaching speakers to frames; laying track and road bed; mounting motors, etc.
HINT: make sure to keep any adhesive off the speaker cone or surround!
A little goes a long way, so we recommend the 8 ounce or so tube with the plastic cap for the most ardent user. For more casual users, find a smaller tube, if possible, or be ready to throw out a partially used tube.
Styrene Cement
We all know about this staple of modeling. At Litchfield Station, we are very happy with Faller Expert. It comes in a very easy to use bottle.
One use you may not have tried. When we cut off a light pipe in a loco, we don't spend a lot of time polishing the end. A drop of Faller Expert on the end and you get a nice optical surface!
Walthers' Goo
Aptly named, this compliant adhesive is another mainstay of model railroading. We have used it for years and stock it for our customers (CLICK HERE). These days, we find ourselves using more bathtub caulk than Goo.