Traversers

[Crewlisle]

Can anyone give me some ideas on how to go about constructing a traverser for 00 gauge stock or direct me to a site?  I personally have never built one but a friend of mine asked if I could help.  Thanks.

 

Peter

[Ray Von]

 

Not 00 Gauge, but hopefully of some use? 

 

(Edit: possibly not - the pictures don't seem to have survived the recent revamp of the rmweb site!)

Edited March 6, 2019 by Ray Von

[Ian Simpson]

There's a couple of photos of my own low-tech traverser here. I'm not suggesting it's the best way to produce a traverser, but it was cheap, quick to build and it even works. 

[Right Away]

I'm not much of a carpenter but the 4 road 00 traverser which I knocked up is of 9mm plywood construction, roughly 4' 6" (1370 mm) long. All rail spacings align with the "up" and "down" lines as they do when set for the 4 storage roads. Battens were fixed around the edges, apart of course, from the entry end. Foam strip affixed to the far end is a protection against late braking!

 

Electrical feeds are standard 7/.02 "droppers" from each road, looped from one to t'other and finally to a strip connector at the far end where a flexible lead to the main bus allows movement.

 

The traverser slides on some old lengths of N gauge track fixed transversely (one across each end and one across the centre); not very pretty but it reduces friction and it works. 

Edited March 7, 2019 by Right Away

[TheQ]

Many people use drawer slides  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Double-Extension-Bearing-Drawer-Fitting/dp/B01MQXS3ZZ/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1551944647&sr=8-5&keywords=drawer+slides for the "runners" that the traverser slides on.

 

The solution i'm going to use which is someone elses idea,  supposedly more accurate,  is a bit more expensive using SBR12 runners and carriages https://www.amazon.co.uk/Akozon-Linear-Bearing-SBR12-700mm-SBR12UU/dp/B07DNFGY5R/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1551944699&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=sbr12+guides&psc=1

 

(note those are the first adverts I came across, there are no doubt cheaper supplies shopping around).

 

Power connections to the main line by crock clips or spring clips or slide bolts. Slide bolts have the advantage of holding the traverser track in alignment as well.

 

 In either case you need a fairly stiff board that won't warp, commonly ply or mdf with framing

 

 

[gordon s]

The basic issues are ones of alignment in both planes, vertically and horizontally. Needless to say the larger the traverser, the alignment issues are increased. The one I built a few years ago, could hold sixteen 8 coach trains and the loco. Although I could get the table to move smoothly back and forth, the initial tests showed just how critical the alignment issues were. Holding the table totally square to the access road to prevent binding was OK, but as the table moved in and out, the unsupported weight started to move affect the vertical alignment. The way round that is to reduce the amount of movement back and forth by increasing the access roads from one to two or even three, I found I could move the table back and forth around six inches in each direction and keep things square.

 

Of course this is a large table and all those issues are reduced as the size of the traverser reduces. I enjoyed building this one and would do it again, having learned a few lessons from the first one.

 

When stripped apart it is all 12mm ply and softwood construction plus 4 sets of good quality runners.

 

Good luck with your project. I'm sure it will be a tremendous asset to your layout.

 

 

 

 

[melmerby]

14 hours ago, Crewlisle said:

Can anyone give me some ideas on how to go about constructing a traverser for 00 gauge stock or direct me to a site?  I personally have never built one but a friend of mine asked if I could help.  Thanks.

 

Peter

Are you talking about a prototypical loco traverser (e.g. Birmingham Moor Street/Many loco works) or are we talking about storage of complete train sets?

 

If it is just loco length here's what I did:

(It is finished and working now so I should update that topic!)

 

Edited March 7, 2019 by melmerby
Added link

[PAL]

If you can get hold of a copy of Model Rail No. 247 May 2018 you'll find therein a 5-page article by George Dent on making a 5-road traverser that strikes me as absolutely idiot-proof,  with 26-step instructions each with a photo, plus an exploded diagram. It's for 0 gauge but I can't see that that really matters. 

[MartynJPearson]

Just one thing to add. If you use drawer runners to support your traverser, don't use the ones for self closing drawers as they do not glide out in a straight line. There is a "hump" to get the drawer to close, which means that your tracks would need to be at different levels across the width of the traverser.

 

Found that one out the hard way

[shortliner]

If you are building a traverser the main thing to remember is that the rails on which it slides MUST, MUST, MUST be parallel - I can't emphasise that enough! when I built Shortover Yard (along with a couple of others )with a sliding traverser track that connected three parallel tracks. It was built on a spare piece of thin  MDF with flat-bottomed, U shaped, K&S brass channels glued to the underside, which slid along two old bits of rail - these also supply the power to the track(s) on the traverser. Unless both the rails and the brass channel are  exactly square and parallel, you will get jamming when you try to move it.  GUESS HOW I KNOW THIS!   The photo was taken with a very chep and nasty camera with it standing on the traverser under the roadbridge that covered the traverser

 

Edited March 7, 2019 by shortliner

[Dave John]

I made one for my current layout. 

 

 

It works well enough, might help with some ideas. 

[Ray Von]

Here is a potted version of how the traverser on my "Pointless Layout!" works.  It's a shame that the original pics didn't make it into this newer version of the site.

 

1) The traverser deck runs on two fairly heavy duty drawer runners.

 

2) M6 size bolts are mounted thru the underside of the traverser deck and make contact with each pair of rails (currently 8.)

 

3) Magnetic contacts (available on online auction) are wired to a standard controller, these contacts provide the power to the rails via the bolts as they are positioned over them.

 

4) The double oval of the layout is wired to the same power source and controller, but is interrupted by on/off toggle switches for inner and outer track.  

 

You may get a better idea of the technicalities if you read the full blog entries and view these (hastily taken) pics.  Hope this may be of help!

 

 

[melmerby]

Or you could do it like this:

 

 

Edited March 8, 2019 by melmerby

[Ray Von]

Very nice!  Interesting that they went on to rebuild the deck with aluminium, I've also found on my humble manually operated traverser that you need to keep an eye on your rail alignments! 

[DCB]

I still haven't got round to actually building my "Hockey Stick" traverser, but the concept seems sound.  The deck moves backwards and forwards, not sideways or up and down.  The approach road is curved and all the traverser roads meet up with it at an angle over the side if the traverser deck.  The deck is shaped like a hockey stick. the approach end is wider than the deck.   It trades a bit of length, 1" per road, for a lot of width, 2" per road and should be more stock friendly sliding lengthways not sideways. Only the approach needs to be absolutely true as long as the main deck slides freely. I don't actually have any use for one or it would have been done ages ago!

Edited March 8, 2019 by DavidCBroad

[Ray Von]

Great design!  Well worth a look:

 

[BlackRat]

Runners... the heavier duty the better...if you think you need two, you need three or even four.

 

If you want accuracy and reliability you can't over engineer a traverser.

 

If the traverser is going to come out a couple of feet I would recommend legs with wheels on for additional support.....think how a drawer 'sags' if it's loaded and pulled right out.

Edited March 8, 2019 by BlackRat

[Ray Von]

57 minutes ago, BlackRat said:

Runners... the heavier duty the better...if you think you need two, you need three or even four.

 

If you want accuracy and reliability you can't over engineer a traverser.

 

If the traverser is going to come out a couple of feet I would recommend legs with wheels on for additional support.....think how a drawer 'sags' if it's loaded and pulled right out.

 

Absolutely.  The runners I used were purchased online, and were rated to bear a certain weight.  Also, there was a technical drawing of the exact dimensions of the runners in both open and closed positions, which was of great help.  The runners are heavy duty and as the board they support is only thirty-something cm's in depth there is no sagging (or over balance!)  I also used strips of beading at the two edges of the recess to help keep the ends of the traverser deck exactly level with the baseboard and a pair of chipboard bolts with a plastic head cover positioned at the front edge of the recess act as adjustable height governors.  (As yet, no adjustments needed!)

 

Edited March 8, 2019 by Ray Von
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[Crewlisle]

Many thanks for all your helpful replies.  I will contact my friend & tell him to log into RMWeb.  From all your suggestions I am sure he will find one that suits his requirements.

 

Peter

[EMAPHIL]

This maybe a really stupid question, but do drawer runners work properly laid flat as shown in the picture?  For my embryonic traverser design it would make life a lot simpler!

[Hroth]

They work reasonably well.

 

What I would suggest is that some sort of protection should be attached to the sides of the traverser to prevent stock from rolling sideways onto the floor if the movement of the traverser is a little too brisk. 

 

I screwed some lengths of 3mm perspex sheet (say about three inches in depth) along the traverser for this purpose, mainly for aesthetic reasons, thin ply would do as well.  Sorry no photos, everything is put away at present.

[melmerby]

What could be useful is a fence along the rail ends so that when the traverser is away from the baseboard stock can't run off the ends :

 

 

This would be fixed to the baseboard not the sliding bit!

[Siberian Snooper]

56 minutes ago, melmerby said:

What could be useful is a fence along the rail ends so that when the traverser is away from the baseboard stock can't run off the ends :

 

 

This would be fixed to the baseboard not the sliding bit!

 

I once saw a layout with a traverser that used an old steel tape to provide a retractable fence to stop falling off. The main body of the tape was fixed to the table and a block of wood was fixed to the baseboard and the tongue of the tape was fixed to it with a screw.

 

 

[melmerby]

19 minutes ago, Siberian Snooper said:

 

I once saw a layout with a traverser that used an old steel tape to provide a retractable fence to stop falling off. The main body of the tape was fixed to the table and a block of wood was fixed to the baseboard and the tongue of the tape was fixed to it with a screw.

 

 

That sounds a reasonable solution.

[Northroader]

I got some drawer side runners from B&Q which I find very free running, and I place flat underneath on the supports of the baseboard. The one nearest the entrance end is gauged from the square edge of the entrance board, then the other runner is gauged from that, so both are running parallel with the entrance edge, then you take the runner out of the track, fix under your traverser board, and you’re away. Side stops to prevent overshoot, but you do need some type of lock to engage when you line your tracks up, otherwise the board can creep when you don’t want it happening.