QUICK TIP #1: Make your own KATO Unitrack Unijoiner Feeders

Quick and easy tip to make your own KATO Unitrack Unijoiner Feeders - why spend lots of money on buying Unijoiner Feeders when you can make your own in minutes..follow along and see how easy it is.
Website: www.chicagosubnscale.com/
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[@CraftyFoxe]

Great helpful tutorial! A wire broke off of a unijoiner and i managed to repair it with this tutorial.

[@ChicagoSubNScale]

Great to hear!! Glad I could help

[@charlesmitchell487]

I'm just getting started with my conversion to DCC and was trying to find a way to connect my feeders in an elegant way - I was convinced that there had to be a better way than to drill and/or melt ties/sleepers and mess up the track. Based on this video alone I became a subscriber and gave you a like This is exactly the simple, elegant solution I was hoping for. I don't know why others don't do it. I'm off to buy a solder kit tomorrow. Many thanks!

[@peter_borcherds]

Chad, thanks for the sub! Glad my tip helped you. However, bear in mind this tip is for Kato Unitrack feeders. If you’re using ‘normal’ track, you can potentially use the same method, but it’ll be harder to do as you’ll have to grip the small joiners somehow. I still prefer soldering directly to the rail for my normal flex track. As long as you are quick with the soldering iron & use flux and a good method, you won’t melt any ties. Good luck!

[@wimbletrain]

Hi, that's a great tip, a big money saver!! Thanks. John

[@peter_borcherds]

Great you like it! Yes, saves a lot of money!

[@John_N_from_NC]

Great Tip! I have Boo Koo wiring to do and this will save me a whole lot of money that can be use else where on my layout

[@peter_borcherds]

Great to hear, John! Glad my tip helped you! Oh, and thank you for subscribing 😀

[@Dr.K_N.Scaler]

Great video! Love that the Western Springs Metra station is at the end of the video. I grew up in Western Springs!! :)

[@peter_borcherds]

Thanks! And glad you like the Western Springs bit. Very unique station. I’m hoping to model it…just trying to finalise the Metra stations I’ll be including

[@Dr.K_N.Scaler]

@@peter_borcherds I had an exact replica made for me from a guy on Etsy! He's still selling them.

[@peter_borcherds]

@@Dr.K_N.Scaler that is great to know! If you still have his details can you send them to me please - either via my Facebook (Chicago Sub N Scale) or website (chicagosubnscale.com). I see you’ve subscribed to my personal KZbin - would love it if you could subscribe to my channel above instead (I don’t post videos on my personal page). Have an issue at the moment where I can’t reply to comments as my Channel, so have to reply using my personal account

[@billcarey3343]

Top shelf tip, Peter!

[@peter_borcherds]

Right up there with the peanut butter! :-D Thanks!!

[@davestrains6816]

That is a neat tip and one that I will use. Thanks for sharing. Dave

[@peter_borcherds]

Glad you liked it! It is so easy to do...and cheap!

[@HumancityJunction]

I was so happy when I learned this tip. I really disliked the feeder tracks and the feeder couplers cost too much money. Thanks for sharing this with everyone.

[@peter_borcherds]

Thank you! It is definitely cheaper and so easy to do...and cheap! Works well so far!

[@davidwilliams1060]

Thanks. Even the factory issued feeders need this help sometimes, the wires seem to break off easily.

[@ChicagoSubNScale]

Glad I could help! I can’t take credit for it as it was Mike Fifer who did this first, but glad I could share it as it helped me immensely!

[@mikecottrell6525]

thanks for the tip newbie here n scale just built my first small lay out using kato unitrack. my layout small but at $ 8.00 a pop i can use that money on some more # 6 switch tracks thanks

[@peter_borcherds]

Ah, so glad I could help! Yes, this definitely saves money! Just practice your soldering skills first, but apart from that you’ll have these built in no time and save a lot of money 😀 Good luck!

[@TONY_FEZ]

Good tip but only for people who are very handy with a soldering iron. For the average person like myself, unless you can keep the solder a blob the exact thickness of the joiner, there is no way in hell you'll be pushing that thing back in place. After ruining 4 joiners I have decided its probably easier to to solder the wires directly to the track, the old fashioned way.

[@ChicagoSubNScale]

Learning to solder well is a good things to learn. But if you can solder wire to the track, you can solder wire to these joiners. Just make sure you clean the joiner well, use flux, a small bit of solder and a few decent soldering iron. Practice on some old rail, and in no time you’ll get it. I’m not ‘very handy’ with a soldering iron at all, but I’ve learned to make sure I use flux and clean the surface well

[@larryelliott149]

Being a newbie to modeling am interested in the gauge wire used for feeders

[@peter_borcherds]

I'll have to have a look when I get home as can't remember off-hand.

[@rogerbivins9144]

I have found telephone cordage to be a very economical source of feeder wire. Typical phone cord will have at least two pair of individual solid wires perfect for drop feeders. The only slight down side is that each wire will usually have different colors so to get the full benefit you may have to have a section of layout with different feeder colors. Cheers.

[@larryelliott149]

Apologies. I did not indicate that this was a great tip. At a cost of almost $8.00 for one pair of feeders this is great

[@peter_borcherds]

Glad you liked it, Larry! I can't take all the credit, unfortunately, as saw it on another channel, but wanted to share it with my viewers as it has saved me a lot of money, especiallty as my helix uses a lot of these!

[@fredbrooks8347]

Does any one out there know what size Kato uses for their male/female plug? Seems to me it is proprietary .

[@ChicagoSubNScale]

No, I think it is a standard plug, but I don’t have the details with me. I’ll look it up

[@fredbrooks8347]

@@ChicagoSubNScale I have spent “hours” looking and have never found a definitive answer. Maybe I am not looking in the correct place 😵‍💫!

[@ChicagoSubNScale]

@fredbrooks8347 you can buy the connectors from Kato, but otherwise it’s best to just cut the connector off and put your own connectors on, ones that are easier to get.

[@fredbrooks8347]

@@ChicagoSubNScale thank you very much . For an individual home layout this would be fine, easy, and cost less. However our club on top of our Atlas based permanent public n rail/track layout we have a traveling sometimes a 100 module T Trak layout. We follow the T-Trak protocols/standards/rules so we can join other T-Trak clubs or they can join us so owe have to use Kato connectors. I really appreciate you taking the time and effort to look. As The Rolling Stones say…”You can’t always get what you want!”