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Hayfields turnout workbench


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Had a friend come round today who I had not seen for a while. I gave him a Wills Caley tank loco to build with an older Wills (simple) etched chassis. I achieved one job which was to fit a front chassis fixing into the body, but there were other chassis issues which will have to wait for another day

 

This gave me the break I needed from the turnout as last night I found an issue with one of the crossings. had a quick look this afternoon and realised what the problem was and I found a second glitch.

 

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the right hand crossing was out of gauge plus the straight stock rail had a slight bulge, the latter being an easy fix, the former needing a bit of fettling

 

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The crossing has been fettled and I will set it in place with chairs using gauges once the chairs on the stock rail have set hard overnight. Still hoping its an easier fix than anticipated 

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  • 3 months later...

After a bit of an absence I have picked up the 3 way again, the first job is to test all 3 crossings

 

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I like to test the common crossings as I go, especially with 3 ways, its normally its the centre road that throws up the issues, however when both turnouts are on the same side the check rails on the inner road may also cause problems

 

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On my stints of buying lots these 00 gauge timber track panels came into my possession, they have turned out to be an absolute boon to testing. I should have ordered some additional ones for both P4 and EM gauges as I have just received an order from Timber Tracks for some 7 mm scale timber strips

 

Now the testing has been successful I can start to complete the switches, plus fitting the missing half chairs on the check rails.

 

I am starting to get my track building mojo back, but the front room fireplace beckons as the stone mason has informed our hearth is ready to be picked up.

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A quick heads up for next weekend (2/2/19) Lidl have their disk sanders on sale at £30, I find these ideal for 7 mm scale track building and for many other modeling jobs, certainly far cheaper than many branded jobs

 

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https://www.lidl.co.uk/en/MiddleofLidl.htm?articleId=20015

 

I find that in the larger scales there is quite a lot of metal to remove, I use there to roughly shape the rails for both vees and the backs of switch rails, also a quick method of squaring off the ends of the rails, or shortening them

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Good to have the site back and exploring how it now works

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The 3 way is now tested and finished

 

543.jpeg.8ef8687269669445cef1ddb0319efd2d.jpeg 

Next project is a turnout and single slip in 7mm scale. Building as a formation but in two separate pieces

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The common crossings have been built and fitted, the stock rail is waiting to be fitted

 

Well the first post was done quite easily, and in a much better format than earlier. Great improvement

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John, how do you cut back the the copper clad you use at the 3 timbers at the centres of plastic chaired crossings and slips ?

I know you turn the formation upside down, pealing back the paper and tackle them one at a time, gluing them to their timbers either side of the central one before cutting that one last, to keep things in gauge.

However the copper clad is so hard I fear that if I use snips and a large file as I would for the common crossings that the force will distort the otherwise unsupported formation.

So I wondered what tools or techniques you use for this part of the job.

Would you use something like a Dremel with a  slitting disc and then small grinding attachment ?

Thanks for the excellent thread. Tom

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In this instance I am using 1 mm thick x 2.5 mm wide brass strip, which I cut with a slitting disc then file flush, 1 mm thick copperclad can be used either cut with a slitting disc or wire cutters, again filed flat. This is all done prior to fitting to the timbers

 

I fit chairs to both ends of the common crossing and glue these to the timbers

 

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This photo shows the chairs which have been used to fix the common crossing in place, the missing chairs will be added using chairs cut in half, the bottom of the chairs will be trimmed (the bottom of the chairs cannot go under the rail as the brass strip is in the way) so the key's will fit into the web. The bond of all the chairs is quite a strong and I see no need  to super glue the centre.

 

Making the obtuse (K) crossing is different as the crossing is built in situ 

 

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I will cover this more fully in one of the next posts, but I built the crossing on tracing paper so it can be lifted off the plan. As you can see there are no chairs on the centre three timbers, this is where I will build up the crossing using 1 mm thick copperclad, which is trimmed back using a slitting disc and file towards the end of the build. The crossing will be removed from the building board and the timbers moved out of the way allowing access to do these actions 

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Work has been progressing on the formation

 

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Stock rails are now fitted, as are the switch rails for the turnout and check rails are being made from small off cuts as I go

 

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Starting to build the obtuse (K) crossing for the single slip, the differing lengths of the check rails are correct as the slip check rail is shorter owing to the position of the switch blades. The two gauges are an EM and a P4 wing rail gauges. when used together come up at about the required 1.75 gap ( well do with a little slack. Note to self find a bar 1.75 mm thick

 

I must admit the disc sander is a real god send when forming the various angles required on the crossings and the switch rail backs, in 4 mm scale its just a few strokes with the file, in 7 mm scale there is quite a lot of metal to remove

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In reply to Dominion asking about how to build crossings in situ I have taken a few photos which may make my answer clearer

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After soldering two pieces of copperclad to the stock rails I then solder the crossing rail ends to them

 

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The internal slip switch rail is made in 3 parts, because in 7 mm scale the blades are too stiff if left as one unit owing to their length.

 

I have soldered Exactoscale cast metal fishplates at both ends of the centre rail, these will act as pivots with the switch rails just a push fit. Then soldered the rail to the copperclad strips

 

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The final part is to fit the V shaped check rail, the copperclad strips will be cut back level to the rails towards the end of the build process

 

Making the switch rails

 

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This is my (Heath Robinson style) assembly line, the disc sander is on the right where the rear of the blades are ground down. Takes two or three goes to master the process.

 

On the left I have a 1" wide steel bar clamped into to a vice, the rail is clamped to the rear of the bar and a 6" file is clamped by the side of the rail to stop it moving sideways.

 

I use an 8 " knife file with a safe edge. The rail is clamped down on a rigid surface and then have 2 hands free, the safe edge on the file stops the foot of the rail from being filed

 

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Close up showing the rail on the steel bar showing the foot intact, again its just down to sharp files and practice. The rail is not cut to length as its easier to curve the rail up to the end when it is part of a longer piece

 

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The first slip switch rail now in place

 

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A quick test and the turnout works without check rails, the entrance to the slip also works

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I have found a slight issue in that one of the copperclad strips have de-laminated

 

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When building the common crossings I used 1 mm thick brass strip for added strength,( I tried to buy nickle silver strip similar to C&L but Hobby Holidays were out of stock). Simply because I decided to use an 80 watt iron, the only other irons I have are 25 watt which can in some cases fail to give a strong joint using code 125 rail. This is the first time I have had glass fibre strip de-laminate, I guess it just got too hot

 

Still its a simple job to replace the offending items with brass strip, perhaps 80 watt was a bit of overkill but I have an 0 gauge chassis to rebuild

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4 hours ago, Stephen Freeman said:

John, I think you will find you already have an adequate supply of nickel silver 1mm thick (or thereabouts) in the form of code 75 BH rail:D

 

 

Stephen

 

Thanks for that , but it does not sit comfortably as strange as it might seem. Its a case of whilst it cannot be seen, I know its there.

 

But a good call, Thanks

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Thanks

 

I guess its just something that I have grasped and within my capabilities, making use of others abilities like Martins fine work with Templot and the engineering skills of Len Newman. Not forgetting the fine advice and teaching of many fine modellers, both on RMweb and at shows. 

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Managed to do a bit more today

 

557.jpeg.b6eadd0c88d6537260c03cfec273eee4.jpeg

 

Just a few check rails needed and some slide chairs to be added, before I can tidy up the obtuse crossing, and attach the bonding wires and droppers

 

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Then the joy of joys making those fiddly etched tie rods, two per set of points

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Hi John I have seen you comments on C&L many times in the smaller suppliers section, but hadn't realised you were this heavily into turnout building

 

The Off the Rails check rail chairs get my vote. I need to get another batch as I have used all my stock. Yes they are a bit fragile but with care they do a nice job. I use Marcway rail so maybe the profile is slightly kinder on the chairs. I have broken a few but thankfully the middle ones which generally there are spares left over. Taking Martin's advice rather than a Y turnout this is a Negative curved one which is supposedly more prototypical than the Y

 

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I also like the MM1 tie bars as they look far better than copperclad pieces. Marcway rail is good for me as it's only a short trip to pick it up which means I can get it at full length without postage cost or risk of bending in the post. Peco slide and plain chairs have been good the only challenge is finding a supplier that sells more than 2 packs at a time

 

I am trying some C&L plain chairs at present as at least I was able to pick up bags of 500 at Telford last year, I find that they are more fragile as well as more expensive, so might go back to Peco

 

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I must re-visit this 3-way I found on the Templot forum which I suppose was a bit ambitious after only having built a straight B6

 

How do you deal with chairing the crossing as I did get some crossing chairs from Off the Rails and then realised that they are S7. It strikes me that I could end up using a whole load of Peco slide chairs which are the most difficult to get in bulk

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Alan

 

I have a selection of Off the Rails chairs to use, but not gone down that route yet. Most need the key's adding to the chairs, which may not be a bad thing. I also have a large stock of Peco parts, you can buy them direct from Peco and as you say are quite inexpensive

 

As for the switch rail and common crossing chairs being S7, if they are anything like the Exactoscale 4 mm ones they will be fine providing you make adjustments for the common crossing chairs at the Y,  X, A, B & C timber/chair positions. The switch rails will be fine as the geometry is more or less the same, the check rail chairs can be ordered to the gauge you are using. The main issue is that the crossing angle is only 1-6 if my memory is correct and I think its a B switch

 

What are the MM1 tiebars please, not heard of them, Google comes up blank

 

The 3 way looks good, I find the important thing at first is to get the centre road working, usually by setting the wing rails with a check rail gauge, next the getting the curved Vee correct on the first common crossing and the long check rail aligned correctly

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mm1 of course has "risen like a Phoenix from the ashes" of JLTRT (I make no comment on that as I am not privy to any of the details), personally I remain unconvinced on glueing bits together with epoxy resin on such an item and prefer AMBIS, though I know some folk find them a bit difficult.

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The method has been written about in the Gazette some time ago though it works equally well in 4mm scale. I have even been known to use it myself, mainly in 4mm scale. The slips on Stoke Courtnay are done that well.

 

however these days I prefer to use Ambis tiebars, mainly because they look better.

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Finally got round to start building and fitting  the tiebars. In the photo is a piece of 0.4 mm PCB, fret and a pair of etchings tinned on the back, you need to put an isolation break on both sides of the tiebar, and test them for electrical isolation

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After a bit of experimenting I found that its easier to fit them to the tiebar first, solder one set on the tiebar, place the second set on the tiebar roughly in position 

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The right hand one is not soldered into position until the first one is soldered to its switch rail

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Once the first end is soldered to the switch rail, slide the unsoldered one into position, then at the same time solder the etching to both the tiebar and slide rail. These are very fiddly but by the 6th one I seem to have got the hang of it

 

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Next up is tidying up the K crossings, slip taken off the building board

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The backing paper is pealed back

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The brass strip is cut back to the rail sides

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Then the remaining chairs can be fitted.

 

Somehow I made the set bends too shallow resulting in the slip entrances being a tad under gauge, this is easily rectified. Then I can fit the bonding and droppers wires

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