Ramblings from the Man Cave

Glad to see you've solved this (when the other six are done!). Looks like a very elegant design!

Exceptionally neat work there Richard!

 

Tom.

Ah... another in the 50 shades series.

 

Good to see you're getting to a solution that you are happy with.

 

The two tubes look very close to making contact with the brass channel... hopefully just an illusion in the photo.

 

BTW, where do you get the tiny tube from and how do you cut it without destroying its essential 'tubeness'?

 

Regards, Andy

Andy,

 

I've always cut thinish walled tube by rolling it backwards and forwards under a stanley knife.  The resulting cut will need cleaning up (both inside and out) but the tube doesn't get deformed (unless of course you get a bit heavy handed and impatient) :-)

 

Ian

That's almost exactly how I did it. I use an Xacto #2 handle and #25 blades for most things so this was used rather than a Stanley knife. As Ian states it will need deburring inside. I ran a drill with the same diameter as the bore through to clear. 

 

The tube is called something like micro-bore and I'm sure I bought it from Eileen's. The slot in the square brass is 1.0mm and the tube is 0.5mm outside diameter so there is some clearance. 

That looks absolutely terrific Rich - bet your relieved to have arrived at a good destination having been on a long journey.

 

But all worth it though

 

Assume the lid can't be closed on that that swear box no longer then?

Assume the lid can't be closed on that that swear box no longer then?

Fortunatley I don't have anywhere to put a swear box. I did have to remove myself from the room for a stern talking down after I broke the second and last 1mm carbide cutter in quick succession and the spindle then started to detach itself from the head repeatedly.

Hi Rich

Very similar to a design put forward by a P4 member about 35 years ago but more sophisticated. I did something similar at that time which was entirely below the baseboard with the two tubes projecting through two slots.  The slots were covered by a layer of paper with smaller slots to stop any ballast jamming the mechanism.  The cross bar into which the tubes were inserted in drilled holes was a piece of hardwood something like 3/16" square.  This slid in some plastic troughing very popular for thin (1/8")sliding cupboard doors at that time. The trough was shaped like a letter 'E' with two troughs side by side. It was mounted open side to the baseboard withe the crossbar in one slot and fixing screws through the other.  Very simple but effective it was offered up over the two dropper wires from the point blades. This was on some 2FS trackwork. It was possible to fine adjust by bending the tubes slightly where they passed through the baseboard to allow for any slack in the tubes if necessary.

 

The only problem that could have happened was the risk of point blades lifting up when cleaning but it never occured. I always wiped from the frog direction when cleaning. A house move meant the layout was scrapped before it got to exhibition stage, but It was always at the back of my mind that any stranger cleaning track at an exhibition may wipe the other way and lift or crunch a point blade. Nevertheless it was completely succesfull but this is something to bear in mind. Its also a simple way for anyone who does not have a milling machine.