Andy Reichert Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 No moving point blade works for trailing points, but it's to hard to imagine how a tram can choose the route on a facing point. Andy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Stagger the (fixed) point blades, with the wanted one being the 1st to be met. Add a checkrail on the opposite side to guide the wheels to the wanted direction. I've had them working down to a very small radius, certainly single figure inches, from memory (was an awful long time ago) probably 6-8" radius. Not prototypical, but hey.... Stewart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Reichert Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Stagger the (fixed) point blades, with the wanted one being the 1st to be met. Add a checkrail on the opposite side to guide the wheels to the wanted direction. I've had them working down to a very small radius, certainly single figure inches, from memory (was an awful long time ago) probably 6-8" radius. Not prototypical, but hey.... Stewart I'm not sure that I said that clearly. I'm not talking about a "biased" facing point, where the facing direction is pre-configured. But a no moving parts facing turnout where the direction can be changed at the whim of the operator. Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Mmm difficult! In my case, the direction was always the same, such as on a reversing loop. Though in the trailing direction, either route would work. Stewart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rue_d_etropal Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 I was thinking of something like a passing loop, where direction on each route stayed the same. Trains/trams would tend to take straight route rather than curved. The state of track leading up to point mike affect it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Reichert Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 I was thinking of something like a passing loop, where direction on each route stayed the same. Trains/trams would tend to take straight route rather than curved. The state of track leading up to point mike affect it. That's always worked fine. I remember many clockwork toys from my childhood that had flat tinplate track sections with pressed grooves that did just that. Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rue_d_etropal Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 It got more complex today. I have been fitting rail to some of my 3d printed points. By chance I normally designthe right hand point first, so have several test samples to play with. This is ideal for a passing loop, with trains/trams using left hand route, but I also have some Y points, and ondered if there was a way of persuading the train or tram to follow say the left hand route. I noticed on a couple of the RH points that the point blade on right hand side had ended up slightly longer than the other one so made contact with the wheels first. This ould help push the wheels to the straight route, so maybe something similar could be done with the Y points. I don't think it is enough on its own, but anm thinking one way of forcing the wheels to the left is to have a curve before the point, outside edge to the left so weight would push the wheels to that side. i am still working on the points but will try testing soon, Points without any moving parts offer an interesting option, not just for tram passing routes, but some railway sidings. By putting together points in a certain way it may still be possible to perform some more complex moves. Having no moving parts means less stress, and therefore fewer problems. It is also a challenge, and I was not totally happy with my own conventional point blade construction. I can see yet another mini project developing, but I don't ant to spend too much, so no overhead wwire, some sort of tramway but not electric trams. I think this might also work with smaller gauges and a OO9 idea is also a possibility, maybe mixed gauge. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger.s Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 No moving point blade works for trailing points, but it's to hard to imagine how a tram can choose the route on a facing point. Andy. I built some bladeless facing points back in the 1960's for an Egger-bahn Fiery Elias when it first came out. I used 1.2mm deep flangeways as standard. At the facing points the flangeway was reduced to 0.6mm for the non-required route. in order to work this needed flanges 0.9 - 1mm which were typical of the time. It worked quite well especially if you ignored the bump when trams passed through in the trailing direction. Roger Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardS Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 After some (much?) procrastination we finally had to make a decision about which point motors to use on the Tillig LUNA tram track. And we plumped for PECO. The installation must be robust and easily repaired. There movement in the LUNA points is quite small but the combination does seem to work well. The hole in the point for the actuation rod is an exact fit for that fitted to the Peco solenoid incidentally. I can confirm that there is a spring in the LUNA points - I took one apart and had a look. How robust and efficient it will be I cannot say. But anyway here's a pic of the installation. And if you look at my Bohemian Saxony thread you can see the some new pictures of the whole layout ready now for testing. Thanks again for the suggestions and observations. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catweasel Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Check ot the new edition of MR. Re-d-estropal is doing 3D printed tram inserts which look good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Reichert Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Check ot the new edition of MR. Re-d-estropal is doing 3D printed tram inserts which look good. See earlier posts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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