Hi, over many years I have been constructing an overhead system and over many years have improved how it can be done, living in an area, the last place on earth, it wasn't easy to get around to figure out how it should be done as Perth (Western Australia) didn't have an electrified rail net work, I'm still not 100 % sure which wire goes over or under when two wires meet at a turnout or double turnout but otherwise I've figured it out what's what.
in the beginning I used to buy already made up wires but these days I just bay the bare wire and construct the system myself, again more work involved in it and a lot more time to do it.
first one starts with the masts and figure out where they should be placed (with 2 guidance plates), when you're happy with the location you can start with the bottom wire secure it on one solid end, work your way up the track and secure it on the other end, by soldering more wires together, I do this by slightly bending each end up, you know have a established a rigid bottom wire, make sure the pantographs are within the limits of the wire. than the top wire which you guide through the sling hole of the mast itself,

the next step is measuring the wire from mast to mast and than place an upright wire in the middle and work your uprights towards each mast considering the same distance of the uprights should be on either side of the mast. my latest innovation has been I bend the uprights at the end over this gives a more secure soldering point on the bottom wire and to some extend you'll find this on the prototypical system as well. the height or length of the middle upright wire give you the termination how far away the top wire should be and you work your way along and place all other uprights and solder them as well. by the time you've soldered the middle upright the top wire will automatically shape itself from the mast position to the middle position of the wire.
each mast has a long and short outrigger and this determends that the wire moves between 2 masts from left to right on the pantograph(s). in a double track curved situation it always be the longer outrigger on the in side track and the short outrigger on the outside track, this is necessary because of the tension the wire is under.
in the end I clean up the solder joints.


this is pretty much all you have to do.

John

Edited by user 08 March 2017 16:45:40(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

John;

Thank you this post. Can I ask how long it took you to become proficient in soldering? Also, what kind of soldering machine are you using?

Thanks

with the pictures you've seen I'm not happy with the soldering results, I used an ordinary soldering iron but will use my other soldering iron in future and you will notice the difference. the one I use all the time is a 100 watt soldering iron and it has a double tweezer tips and I've just ordered another pair of tips with a 2mm width, they are usually used for smd led's but come in handy soldering wires together which makes it much more tidy, I also use a paste (non corrosive) and the same with the solder its led free.

there is no secret or special talent to do what I do, is just using the correct tools or tools which are suitable for the job you would like to get done.

the next pictures I will [post you will see the difference

Dale, the guide I'm using (Sommerfeldt) is for determine the distance where the mast (4 distances, all the depends which mast you using) is fixed to the board than you've got holes which determine the distance from one mast to another and when you stand the guide up you can determine where the outrigger is placed or the arm if you don't use an outrigger., so I don't have a problem with how I construct the overhead system with the guide I'm using.


John

Have you been using the Sommerfeldt 82 flux? It should help the solder flow much quicker to avoid any blobby joints.

I've looked at a UK company (roll of copper wire) but never was sure how stiff it was so I've declined to buy it and went back to Sommerfeldt.

John

If you are using a non-resin flux you will need to use it sparingly and clean it immediately with isopropyl is all.

Tacking onto this generically named thread, I've got a specific question pertaining to the planning of the layout of track vs cantenary posts. Specifically given that the cantenary is for optics only - will not be powering the locomotives. So in tunnels and other non-visible areas, no cantenary will be installed and the pickups will be eased to the wires via ramped wires in various ways.

What are the gotchas- if there are any - between

1. planning for the cantenary at the start (when doing layout planning)
   vs
   
2. planning and building the layout and afterwards placing cantenary

I realize that one general thing to consider is the placement of masts in inside curves, where the clearance to the cars midpoints to avoid contact (eg in a 360mm R1) is critical.
I also realize that considering whats next to the track to allow room for placement of masts is important. Masts can be integrated into the landscape scenery easily enough, even with slopes and hills, but if a building, fence, road, or train-room hard wall is in the way, thats another problem.

Beyond that though... what else does one look out for.

I'm wanting to stage things.. so build the layout first, then at a future date, start thinking about installing cantenary. However, I don't want to paint myself into an unsolvable corner if I can avoid it.

Hi PJ!
Great catenary job!
Looks like someone has been (carefully!) reading Mr Sommerfeldt book on building a model catenary!
Hats off! (You don't need to look that one up in the dictionnary, do you ? )
Cheers
Jacques

I am at the start of putting up catenary albeit Veissmann. I have about twenty odd masts up. I am not changing the layout, but as it is fully sceniced, there is some 'scenery clearing / digging ' to get the masts placed properly. Unavoidable and not a big deal.

I think the message is you can add catenary at any time on your layout journey.

Hello again Jacques,


You would be very welcome.

I think you would find the cruising areas around southeast Tasmania enjoyable yachting - as did various French explorers in the late 1700's.
Below we are anchored in a bay off the D'Entrecasteaux Channel and ahead is Bruny island. Both named for Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux who explored the area in 1792.
The English (in Sydney) were concerned the French wanted to settle Van Dieman's Land (now Tasmania) and sent a preemptive party to settle Hobart in 1803 - the second settlement in Australia after Sydney; the rest is history!






Regards,

Philip

Can you elaborate? Picture?

In looking at some of the cantenary work, its clear that you do have to put in some basic planning which I suspect just occurs naturally anyway.
You do need to have space to put the masts; its only maybe an inch beside the key tracks but it needs to be there, be it at the layout edge (common practice anyway) or certain spots of a yard/field of track, or beside a cliff wall.

But the trickier bits that are not so obvious, maybe what you are referring to.. that what I'd like to understand.

I'm living in an area whereas electric trains didn't exists until the 90's so it was hard for me to construct the overhead system as it should have done. I had the Sommerfeldt construction booklet but until you see it in real life I couldn't really understand the workings of it. what I've referred to is mainly when you have cross spans and within the cross span you have a number of turnouts this when it becomes tricky feeding the wires back to one of the masts, when I've finished mine I'll show some pictures of it.
I've made already one mistake: I should have put the mast 1 more track further out. but I've done already the cross span wires so I couldn't be bothered to take it all down again and start afresh by placing the mast 1 track further apart.
the first picture above illustrates the one scenario.

regards.,

John