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Simple to use Common crossing jig


hayfield
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Some months back I bought the EM Gauge Societies common crossing jig, very reasonably priced, but as I have no idea where my CD disk with the manual is I had no idea how to use it

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Thankfully one of the members enlightened me so I downloaded the instructions from the web. All it needed was sticking between 2 pieces of wood and 2 pieces of 20thou plasticard sticking at both ends

 

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The rails were filed up in the Vee filing jig,  this is not an essential piece of equipment but allows accurate angles to be filled quickly

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The jig can also be used to hold the rails in place whilst they are soldered

 

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This is the clever part. solder 2 pieces of 0.5mm copperclad to the vee

 

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The vee jig also can be used to accurately form the wing rail, slightly over bend the rail, place in the jig and lightly tap with a hammer.  again this can be done by hand

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Using a wing rail gauge and a couple of hair grips to hold everything square, solder the wing rail in place

 

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Fit the second wing rail using the gauge and hairgrips

 

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There we have one common crossing built without burning any fingers or spending a small fortune on a milled assembly jig

 

I have used a vee filing jig which are about £30 ish but if you are only building a few or using uncommon angles, simple hand tools and home made jigs suffice, this brass jig is only a few £'s and can be used for any angle, I guess the more adventurous could file one up from scrap brass. How have I missed this for so long?

 

 

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You make it look so easy.

I have ordered these jigs plus a switch blade jig from EMGS today. Going to practice on making common crossings for a while. Wish me luck.

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34 minutes ago, down the sdjr said:

You make it look so easy.

I have ordered these jigs plus a switch blade jig from EMGS today. Going to practice on making common crossings for a while. Wish me luck.

 

 

Unlike me print off the instructions and read them

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3 minutes ago, Andy Reichert said:

Can the jig also assist with the curviform crossings that Templot drawings are so renown for producing?

 

Andy

 

Yeah if you bend it ;)

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Hi John,

 

This is an excellent idea. I've followed your notes and also downloaded the instructions from the EMGS site (I'm a member) and have made one this morning for 2FS. Needless to say it's a bit smaller. I was a bit nervous about making the jig itself from metal due to the close proximity of the soldering although I haven't ruled it out for the future. The base is two 75mm pieces of 15mm x 15mm pine strip and the jig bit is from 0.4mm ply. This was very easy to cut for the 1mm slots that will take the small strips of 0.9mm nickel silver to which the rails will be soldered. The slot positions were derived from a Templot template.

My trackwork is generally built using ply sleepers and Easitrac plastic chairs but around the crossing I use pcb timbers. I also use a pcb timber to link the closures to the stock rails and also one at the switch ends. These latter locations make use of brass chairs.

Up to now I've had to estimate the length of the small pieces of nickel that support the rails at the crossing, usually getting it wrong (!,) soldering them to the timbers before then soldering the crossing V and wing rails to the nickel strips. As they are often overlength it can be next to impossible to get the cosmetic chairs close to the rail. With this new system the whole assembly can be built and then the nickel strips cut back adjacent to the rail.

Here's a photo of the jig with one of the nickel strips in place to test the fit:

 

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By the way, your note about bending the wing rails using the filing jig was one of those 'doh!' moments as it had never occurred to me that I could use the 2mm Association filing jig for exactly the same purpose. You live and learn!

i'll try to post some photos when I give it a trial run.

 

David

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36 minutes ago, DavidLong said:

Hi John,

 

This is an excellent idea. I've followed your notes and also downloaded the instructions from the EMGS site (I'm a member) and have made one this morning for 2FS. Needless to say it's a bit smaller. I was a bit nervous about making the jig itself from metal due to the close proximity of the soldering although I haven't ruled it out for the future. The base is two 75mm pieces of 15mm x 15mm pine strip and the jig bit is from 0.4mm ply. This was very easy to cut for the 1mm slots that will take the small strips of 0.9mm nickel silver to which the rails will be soldered. The slot positions were derived from a Templot template.

My trackwork is generally built using ply sleepers and Easitrac plastic chairs but around the crossing I use pcb timbers. I also use a pcb timber to link the closures to the stock rails and also one at the switch ends. These latter locations make use of brass chairs.

Up to now I've had to estimate the length of the small pieces of nickel that support the rails at the crossing, usually getting it wrong (!,) soldering them to the timbers before then soldering the crossing V and wing rails to the nickel strips. As they are often overlength it can be next to impossible to get the cosmetic chairs close to the rail. With this new system the whole assembly can be built and then the nickel strips cut back adjacent to the rail.

Here's a photo of the jig with one of the nickel strips in place to test the fit:

 

001.jpg.4d85a8815ca7ad4b3f7cd0e540e1f51c.jpg

 

By the way, your note about bending the wing rails using the filing jig was one of those 'doh!' moments as it had never occurred to me that I could use the 2mm Association filing jig for exactly the same purpose. You live and learn!

i'll try to post some photos when I give it a trial run.

 

David

 

David

 

It looks very professional, strange how sometimes the simplest things are kept very secret. This is neither a dig at either the society or any of the officers/helpers.  How much trouble would it be to carry a couple of instruction sets especially when a non-member spends out £30 or £40 at a show ?  Or even at a busy time just get someone to give a short explanation of its use. Could be a good recruitment opportunity  

Edited by hayfield
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53 minutes ago, Andy Reichert said:

Can the jig also assist with the curviform crossings that Templot drawings are so renown for producing?

 

Hi Andy,

 

The curviform option makes no difference to the knuckle and vee nose assembly. It does affect the timber spacing in the vee legs, so the slots may need to be widened if extending the jig that far:

 

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cheers,

 

Martin.

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Thanks Martin. I wasn't sure if you would need to use a curvable wing rail spacing gauge.  I. e.  using something like the flexible curve drawing edge that we used to have on old style drafting tables. 

 

Andy

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1 hour ago, hayfield said:

 

 

Funny and well deserved reply, but also very accurate

 

Nice one Tim

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FWIW, Thirteen of the sixteen curviform frogs needed for a double track, curved double junction. All of which have individually different curvatures. So customizing that for say a one off special version would likely be most economically done with a curvable jig. 

 

Andy 

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Blandford1969 said:

Do the EMGS sell to non members by the way, or is it just at shows?

 

Members only except at shows but please join us, it's a bargain!

On my first order from the stores this membership year I saved more than the cost of the renewal of £25!

 

Here you go:

 

https://www.emgs.org/join/

 

 

 

Edited by Tim Dubya
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Hi Hayfield

 

I am a little puzzled by your use of the jig.

 

You have placed pcb strips where it looks as if crossing timbers should go. I would have thought that the pcb strips would have been placed as if between the crossing timber positions. Am I wrong and if so what do you do with pcb ends and how do you place the timbers.

 

Cheers

 

Godders

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To be honest, I find all jigs difficult to use and not very good. I have done it like this, which has always worked well. The great thing about this is that you can get the angle exact over the paper template, so you are not restricted to set angles. 

 

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2 hours ago, Godders said:

Hi Hayfield

 

I am a little puzzled by your use of the jig.

 

You have placed pcb strips where it looks as if crossing timbers should go. I would have thought that the pcb strips would have been placed as if between the crossing timber positions. Am I wrong and if so what do you do with pcb ends and how do you place the timbers.

 

Cheers

 

Godders

 

The strips are thin enough to represent the depth of the base of a chair, so the rail ends up the correct height.  You just chop a chair up and position it next to the rail to represent a complete one.

If the strips end up in the gaps, once trimmed and painted they are barely noticeable anyway.

 

Edited by Tim Dubya
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Godders

 

If you are using copperclad timbers then I would use another jig, namely the DJ Wheelwrights common crossing jig, available from either the EMGS or Scalefour Soc depending on which gauge you use.

 

This method is where you are building a sub assembly for use with the plastic chair construction method with either plastic or ply timbers. In this instance I used 0.5mm thick PCB, usually I use 0.5 x 2 mm metal strip tor better strength

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2 hours ago, ikcdab said:

To be honest, I find all jigs difficult to use and not very good. I have done it like this, which has always worked well. The great thing about this is that you can get the angle exact over the paper template, so you are not restricted to set angles. 

 

 

 

The Vee filing jig is total simplicity, easy to understand and use, if one actually reads the instructions then you find it has even more uses. Must be the most accurate way of filing rails

 

Agreed the switch rail jig takes a but of getting used to, but like all things once you get the knack it is extremely useful

 

The simple common crossing jig is nothing other than a second set of hands, like all things read the instructions and follow the prescribed process. Must be one of the easiest thing to use !!

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My poor description in the first place, unless you were using brass chairs on copperclad timbers you keep soldering irons away from plastic.

 

The copperclad strips are cut and filed flush with the outside of the rails, then half chairs can be used to secure the crossing from moving sideways, the plastic chairs at both ends will hold the common crossing in place

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21 hours ago, hayfield said:

My poor description in the first place, unless you were using brass chairs on copperclad timbers you keep soldering irons away from plastic.

 

unless... you're using an iron to heat a rivet enough to melt a half chair on to it, to disguise the rivet and 'stick' the chair.

 

Now, I know the procedure but I haven't actually done it myself.

 

Godders, If you haven't had it suggested to you already or have it, I can thoroughly recommend the scribblings of Mr Rice in his book on track building. Long out of print but it does turn up now and again for less than the price of a small mortgage:

 

An Approach to Building Finescale Track in 4mm

 

ISBN: 1874103003

 

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Edited by Tim Dubya
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