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Alignment Dowels


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Okay, I have some of Tim Horn's laser cut baseboards, which I've assembled and it's now time to fix the steel pattern makers alignment dowels.  There will be two dowel pairs at each baseboard join comprising a male and female.

 

I'm wondering whether people normally mount the two female dowels on one board and two male dowels on the next board or whether it would be better to fit a male and a female dowel on each board (eg all of the male pins on the dowels at the front of the layout point to the left and all of the male pins on the dowels at the rear of the layout point to the right).

 

Does it matter?  If so, why?

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 from an alignment point of view,  it makes no difference. However, in practice, when holding up one baseboard and trying to slot the pegs into one another, you may find it easier to have males on one board and females on the other.

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  • Phil Parker changed the title to Alignment Dowels

All the Edinburgh & Lothians layouts have both the male dowels on the same baseboard. IIRC generally each baseboard has male on one end and female on the other end. I'd agree with the previous post that it probably makes assembling the boards slightly easier.

Edited by JeremyC
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Having male female on each end adds a small amount to the length of each board - probably not important unless your transport is really pushed for space - and in any case when boxed up it maybe makes no difference.  However what is important is that you cannot sit a board on either end and if you need to sit it on the ground it probably needs to be on its back.

 

So another vote for male/male at one end and female/female at the other.

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8 hours ago, Andy Hayter said:

Having male female on each end adds a small amount to the length of each board - probably not important unless your transport is really pushed for space - and in any case when boxed up it maybe makes no difference.  However what is important is that you cannot sit a board on either end and if you need to sit it on the ground it probably needs to be on its back.

 

So another vote for male/male at one end and female/female at the other.

Please explain the extra length. Surely they are rebated to be flush with the end face of the board? For the record, I am in the male at on end and female at the other camp. On Frydale they carry the current from the busbars too.

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43 minutes ago, doilum said:

Please explain the extra length. Surely they are rebated to be flush with the end face of the board? For the record, I am in the male at on end and female at the other camp. On Frydale they carry the current from the busbars too.

 

The female is rebated, but the male cannot be. It will need to be inserted into the female once the boards are together.

When stored, I use protective pieces on the end of each board. This are thick enough so that the male connector is not exposed.

 

I will have 2 sets of scenic boards for the same layout, so have put males at both ends of the outer ones & females on  the non-scenic ones which will be used for both versions of the layout.

When I build the alternative scenic boards, I will fit new pairs of male/female joiners, again females will be in the non-scenic boards.

The reason for doing this is that it is much easier to align & fit a pair rather than trying to get one in exactly the right place. By fitting the females in the boards with 2 sets of dowels, I can use either set of scenic boards.

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22 hours ago, Andy Hayter said:

However what is important is that you cannot sit a board on either end and if you need to sit it on the ground it probably needs to be on its back.

 

I had actually wondered if this was an advantage - ie if all baseboards have a male connection on each end, then there is less likelihood of a baseboard being laid on its end and damaging the track that crosses the baseboard join.

 

However, it looks like the consensus is to mount the two males on one baseboard and the two females on the other, so that's what I'll do.  I know that it technically doesn't matter, but it's always good to have others opinions.

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Well I've gone for the other option, because it made it easier to make the jig!

Also having 1 male and 1 female on each end means that the end storage/transport

panels can be identical, saving time at the end of a show when packing away.

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