Hayfields turnout workbench

[trisonic]

I reckon that it will take as long if not longer to adapt something rather than build one. I had to re-do someone else's work on a common crossing, it took me 4 or 5 times longer than building one. And on your side of the pond I see there are a couple of companies supplying decent kits/parts for the USA market

You are right, as usual, John. I had this #8 laying around for a couple of years and did not want to waste it............

I’m with you recommending a kit as a “starter for ten”.

 

Best, Pete.

[hayfield]

Pete

 

Make it, you never know you may like me get hooked, would be nice to see a photo of the parts to see how the parts and methods used vary from our products

[hayfield]

I guess this should be in the Exactoscale thread, so will copy it over

 

 

This is showing the slide rail chairs, the first set are standard slide chairs, the next 4 are the special witch rail chairs (only 2 fitted) followed by 2 bridge chairs. Standard slide chairs are marked P the special ones are 1PL, 2PL, 3PL & 4PL

 

1PL is fitted as it holds the stock rail but lets the switch rail slide, 2PL is the same, but in the Exactoscale P4 kit this is where the switch rail is connected to the stock rail and only the two outer parts are included. My dodge is to use a standard chair.

 

 

I then cut it back and will fit half a slide chair trimmed to length

 

 

As said the Exactoscale Special chairs were designed for their own P4 turnout and crossing kits, but most of the range of chairs can be used. Check rails need adapting, in P4 the gap should be 0.64 mm in EM & 00sf its 1 mm. These are 0.8 mm which were a mistake but a blessing for EM & 00sf. For a 5 sleeper check rail I fit 2 on the stock rail and 3 on the check rail. I then cut through the un-used part of the chair, but when you slide them together they expand to just about 1 mm. I still use check rail gauges to set them.

 

The top check rail is the wrong way round just for photo clarity, bottom check rail un-cut

 

 

Top check rail the right way round but just put in place and not glued yet

[Michael Woolford]

I wonder how Michael is getting on with building his outside slip, whilst a have built a couple in copperclad. I do fancy having a go at building one fully chaired with Exactoscale special chairs, They look stunning in copperclad, fully detailed chaired should look terrific

John,

 

I have finally managed to assemble the two crossings on one side. This took three attempts and four or five vees were sacrificed in the process.

 

The reason I had so much trouble was because it was impossible to create a clean joint to the brass strip underneath the crossing with the straight rail of the inner vee attached to the other leg, this is also the wing rail for the outer crossing.

 

The solution was to file both legs of the inner vee and solder the first leg (also the wing rail) to the outer vee, forming the outer crossing. Once this was in position, the straight leg of the inner vee could be soldered to the other leg, forming the inner crossing, leaving just the two wing rails of the inner crossing to attach.

 

I have laid the stock rail on the non-slip road side and once I have added the two wing rails to the current assembly, I can fix this in position before I move on to the other assembly.

 

Michael

Edited August 4, 2014 by Michael Woolford

[hayfield]

Michael

 

Sounds very complicated, what are you soldering the Vees on to. The double Vee at each end are difficult to build, easier in copperclad but its a bit like a 3 way which has a curviform Vee to start with, which allows stock to smoothly run from one Vee to another without sharp lurches. This is the advanced fun of track building. Will look out for your post

[Michael Woolford]

Michael

 

Sounds very complicated, what are you soldering the Vees on to. The double Vee at each end are difficult to build, easier in copperclad but its a bit like a 3 way which has a curviform Vee to start with, which allows stock to smoothly run from one Vee to another without sharp lurches. This is the advanced fun of track building. Will look out for your post

John,

 

The vees are soldered onto some brass strip. The current assembly can be seen in the photo; the brass strip should be visible.

As you can see, the two wing rails of the inner vee are yet to be added.

 

Michael

Edited August 4, 2014 by Michael Woolford

[hayfield]

John,

 

The vees are soldered onto some brass strip. The current assembly can be seen in the photo; the brass strip should be visible.

rps20140804_215950.jpg

As you can see, the two wing rails of the inner vee are yet to be added.

 

Michael

 

 

Michael

 

One thing you can do to test it, is to get a short length (well a 2' length) of flexi track, cut one in half and cut through the webbing. You can now attach the cut lengths to the crossing and run a wagon/loco through it to test

[hayfield]

A quick update of the work benck

 

 

The additional special chairs added. 1PL was threaded previously, as was the 2PL before being trimmed and now the trimmed slide chair has been added. the centre blocks of 3&4 PL chairs

 

 

Electrical bonding wires now soldered so electrical contact is permanant

 

 

Completed turnout

 

 

Remains of the additional switch rail chairs, a few chair halves and alternative centre blocks for A & C switches

 

 

A copperclad turnout finished

 

 

Testing the scissors complex, plenty of crock clips bridging the isolated sections, all the wires will be fed under the board and hidden by the ballast. 2 routes working fine, now need to check the other 2

[martin_wynne]

Hi John,

 

It's a small thing and barely noticeable in the finished track, but the special crossing chairs should be skewed slightly so that they are square to the centre-line of the vee, as I have marked in yellow:

 

 

The same applies to the A and B chairs on the right, but with the wider than scale flangeways these chairs are much longer than scale, and it is difficult to skew them and fit them on to square-on style timbering.

 

It is all very much easier if you change to the equalized (skewed) timbering style in Templot, and the same applies on the prototype. Which is one of the reasons the old pre-group companies used the equalized style of crossing timbering.

 

regards,

 

Martin.

[hayfield]

Martin

 

Thank you, yes the camera is very unkind as the photo is much larger and may be exaggerated because I am trying to fit them square. Thank you , just starting another so will see how that comes out on the skew. Still the finished item looks OK, but will try and adjust the chairs on this one

 

Hope to Visit Bodmin next week and take some close up photos of these block and other special chairs, I know it will just show GWR practice but will give me a better understanding

[hayfield]

Martin

 

Thank you, yes the camera is very unkind as the photo is much larger and may be exaggerated because I am trying to fit them square. Thank you , just starting another so will see how that comes out on the skew. Still the finished item looks OK, but will try and adjust the chairs on this one

 

Hope to Visit Bodmin next week and take some close up photos of these block and other special chairs, I know it will just show GWR practice but will give me a better understanding

 

Martin

 

Using the photo with your boxes I have repositioned the chairs (thankfully it has ply sleepers). I will try and get a set of P4 kit instructions (just read them via the C+L site). No mention of the chairs being at an angle. Still another lesson learnt and I guess there are also a few bits more to learn

[martin_wynne]

No mention of the chairs being at an angle.

 

Hi John,

 

Far and away the best resource for looking at chairing detail are the downloadable templates from the Exactoscale turnout kits. They are very detailed PDF files which can be zoomed in a long way to reveal all the detail. Normally they have to be paid for on the C&L site, but if you are a member of the Scalefour Society the P4 templates can be downloaded free of charge from: http://www.scalefour.org/members/tracktemplates/

 

Don't use them for construction because there are slight prototypical differences in the timber spacings from the Templot templates, just use them as a reference for the chairing detail.

 

It is difficult for me to post much of them because of copyright issues, but this small extract falls within fair dealing. This is part of a 1:4 crossing. I have added some colour for clarity. You can see that the special crossing chairs are all skewed to be square to the centre-line of the vee. You can also see where an L1 bridge chair has had to be used because there isn't room for an ordinary S1 chair:

 

 

regards,

 

Martin.

[hayfield]

Martin

 

Thanks again, I cannot access then myself, but will get a friend to do it for me. I do have a set of Exactoscale turnout and crossing plans, as they used to be available from the old website. I have totally missed the fact that on the Exactoscale plans and the chair position downloads from C&L are shown at an angle. The scale size drawings are not too clear until they are shown, now they jump out like a sore thumb

 

Now I have plans for diamonds in 1-5/6/7/8 and slips in 1 in 7&8 . Please are there any different size crossing plans other than what I have indicated on the site. The reason is that on the Exactoscale obtuse and slip sprue's there are un-used chairs, I have asked Peter if there is a master guide for the sprue's showing what the spare chairs are for, but he has no idea. My best guess is that Len hoped to have a larger range and the chairs may be for smaller and or larger crossings, as the common crossing has 1 in 5/6/7/8/10 sets

[martin_wynne]

Hi John,

 

The Scalefour site has turnouts only, in sizes 4-5-6-7-8-9-10. There are no diamonds or slips on that site.

 

The only way to be sure what the extra K-crossing chairs are for would be to ask Len. My guess (purely a guess) is that he may have produced some chairs for 7.5, as this is a common size for prototype slips. Another possibility would be 4.5 which is a common size for the diamond in outside slips.

 

The largest size for fixed K-crossings is 1:8. So if they are for 9 or 10 they will be for switch-diamonds and will be completely different design (slide chairs, no check rails).

 

They may be simply duplicate/spares of the existing chairs. Or sometimes the only economic way to do the tooling is to use the same sprue for several sizes and discard any unwanted parts.

 

regards,

 

Martin.

[hayfield]

Hi John,

 

The Scalefour site has turnouts only, in sizes 4-5-6-7-8-9-10. There are no diamonds or slips on that site.

 

The only way to be sure what the extra K-crossing chairs are for would be to ask Len. My guess (purely a guess) is that he may have produced some chairs for 7.5, as this is a common size for prototype slips. Another possibility would be 4.5 which is a common size for the diamond in outside slips.

 

The largest size for fixed K-crossings is 1:8. So if they are for 9 or 10 they will be for switch-diamonds and will be completely different design (slide chairs, no check rails).

 

They may be simply duplicate/spares of the existing chairs. Or sometimes the only economic way to do the tooling is to use the same sprue for several sizes and discard any unwanted parts.

 

regards,

 

Martin.

 

 

Martin 

 

Thanks, I think that they are for a different size(s). I must sometime just sit down and work out Len's order. For instance on the additional switch rails one sprue is for the outer chairs, the other for the middle and inner. Strangely the common crossings have parts for each crossing on both sprue's and in a different order on each sprue.

 

On the diamond crossing there are 4 chairs not used. 2 are central block chairs the last 2 (2 of each)are slide chairs?

 

My mistake the slip chairs, are all used ( I missed some chairs from the 1-8 somehow)

[Hayfield2]

A new view from my workshop (temporary)

 

 

 

 

And a change from building turnouts, sorry the photos are out of sequence but using a strange laptop

 

 

Add to Post

Edited August 13, 2014 by Hayfield2

[knobhead]

A new view from my workshop (temporary)

 

 

And a change from building turnouts, sorry the photos are out of sequence but using a strange laptop

 

 

So you and Hayfield are one and the same?

[Hayfield2]

Can't remember my Hayfield password and too lazy to change desk top, laptop and phone. So whilst I am away from the desk top I will use this one

[Hayfield2]

Woke up to a lovely sunny morning, don't think I will have much modelling time as the wife wants to walk eastwards up the coastal path to the next bay, so looks like I will be walking the coastal path the other side of the harbour. A bit more cloudy now but hoping it will brighten up later

[Hayfield2]

Back to the standard workbench and I have the less desirable outlook than the past 2 weeks, but other than 3 0-16.5 wagons being built and a small amount done to my Wills City nothing much has happened.

 

Anyway a 3 way is on the boards, sleepers cut and the crossing Vee's fitted. Now to start fitting the stock rails. One problem is my soldering iron tip is nearing its end, mainly due to my soldering action, but I have found that solder paint and low melt solder seems to  take their toll.

 

[Hayfield2]

The 3 way has all the parts tacked in place and put aside for a bit.

 

 

Having a break from the 3 way and cutting the Exactoscale sleepers (using spare full length ones) for the flatbottom turnout

 

[Hayfield2]

I have used my usual method of sticking the plan to the building board (Habit) then masking taped some tracing paper over it, I then put 2 narrow strips of double-sided tape either side of the rails leaving a gap where the tiebar goes, The tape I cut in 2 to 3 mm strips, as its so easy to peal the backing paper off once built, using the plan this way would be just as easy.

 

Rather than make the common crossing on the plan you can see I have stuck a common crossing in one corner of the board, 

 

I have used Exactoscale 1,6 mm thick plastic sleeper strip for the sleepers, these were cut from spare sleeper strip left over from other builds. These should match up with the Peco Individulay sleepers I have. You can see I have used a straight edge to help me keep the sleepers in line

 

Edited August 25, 2014 by Hayfield2

[Hayfield2]

The turnout is soldered up, tie-bars fitted and isolation cuts were done in both rails and sleepers. Initial trial runs are fine. Next job is a full testing and a few dropper wires fitted.

[Hayfield2]

I should have been doing other things tonight, however as I have decided to go from a Samsung to an I phone (only as its easier to link up with the rest of the family who have I phones/pads etc) I have had to learn how to download 600+ photos and a few short videos, Somehow I have managed to do it, when I have not before been able to.

 

Still nothing other than a common crossing in flatbottom code 82 rail. To be quite honest its been a pain, I made a Vee jig for flatbottom but it failed. In the end I did it by eye and the flat bottom was a real help

 

 

I normally have 3 strips holding the wing rails to the Vee, as you can see I used a single piece of scrap etched fr. Thinking was that the flst bottoms would be touching other that at the knuckle, and once in place and painted nothing would show anyway

 

 

Normally I would have this crossing fitted, but I will have a quick check at a couple of photos I took of a flat bottom turnout 2 weeks ago. Doubt if I can do much too different, but I need to work out a shopping list for C&L for my next project

[gordon s]

Can't remember my Hayfield password and too lazy to change desk top, laptop and phone. So whilst I am away from the desk top I will use this one

 

Ah, that explains a lot!  I thought you had been a victim of identity theft…:-)