Peco points in O scale, queries about parts.

[Happy Hippo]

I had some Peco track do that when I was using a halogen lamp to apply extra light to the job. I forgot to allow for the terrific amount of heat they put out.

 

Only built two turnouts using all Peco components and never had that problem, although they were held down with strong double sided tape until everything had gone off.

 

All my current turnouts are made with Peco rail and chairs. I cut my own wooden sleepers as lengths of 3 mm thick strip 10 mm wide and then cut the strip to the correct length from the template.

[Simond]

Ooh - err.

 

I just (like, 3 hours ago) built my first turnout using Peco bits in place of the C&L laser cut ply that I have used in the past. So far, no problem. Let’s hope it stays that way!

 

Pictures on my PD thread, link below

Best

Simon

[brossard]

Hi Richard, wood for turnout timbers, who would've thought.  Seriously though, that's a good suggestion.  My last foray into wood was when I built some TimbrTracks in 4mm.  The strength didn't seem to be there, particularly near the tie bar, but that could be on me as usual.

 

Simon thanks for that, I do hope yours stays flat.  I taped the template to a some good ply and stuck the timbers down with Tacky Glue.  The answer probably is to apply weight until the solvent has gone.

 

John

[Park]

Intentio do laser cut crossing timbers in a number of widths and with the Peco plain and slide chairs on Marcway rail making points is cost effective. I did add some nice Shapeway check rail chairs which saves a lot of work

 

I found a number of suppliers did only have one or two pack of chairs, but found another one and cleared them out in case there is a rush while C&L get back into gear

 

A simple 1:8 is working out at £17 and a 3 way at £27, so well impressed. I might push the boat out and buy the crossing chairs from Shapeways, but that is only another £4 a crossing nose

 

As a demo piece for the club or maybe a garage centrepiece I might finish the curved double junction that I have printed from Templot. Doing the sums that full setup will only cost £85 and that includes the check and crossing chairs from Shapeways. Already got a club member wanting to buy the 3 way I am building when all done

[brossard]

Interesting about Intentio, must look into that. 

 

It crossed my mind that, in order to use up my stock of Peco timbers I could put a C&L timber at every other position.

 

There's nothing wrong with the Peco chairs except that they're black and difficult to see against the black timbers.  I stuck mine down onto double sided tape and sprayed them with red oxide primer.

 

John

[Park]

Which is not an issue with Intentio timbers as they are light coloured. It does mean that they have to be stained, but I will cross that bridge later

 

Take a look at the 'Off the Rails' check rail chairs on Shapeways, as they come with 3 profiles so you get Left Right and centre. You have to put them on the right way around, but it sorts the gap as you can buy the ones with the gap that you require

[brossard]

Here's a question about staining.  I mentioned that I wasn't happy with the strength of the TimbrTracks turnouts that I built.  I used a water based stain before assembly and it occurred to me that the stain might have sealed the grain such that the chairs didn't "melt" into it as they should have.  Any comments about that?  The other thing I did was to use Plastic Weld instead of Butanone.  PW is good for ABS but I read later that Butanone is formulated to be less volatile to allow the materials to soften better than PW which evaporates very quickly.

 

John

Edited October 23, 2017 by brossard

[Simond]

Happily, no evident warping issues with my latest build.

 

Best

Simon

Edited October 23, 2017 by Simond

[hayfield]

Ooh - err.

 

I just (like, 3 hours ago) built my first turnout using Peco bits in place of the C&L laser cut ply that I have used in the past. So far, no problem. Let’s hope it stays that way!

 

Pictures on my PD thread, link below

Best

Simon

 Simon

 

Which solvent have you used please

[Simond]

John

 

This one

 

Best

Simon

 

[Park]

I went to order some sets of 1 in 6 crossing chairs from Shapeways this morning to finish the points off nicely. The check rail chairs are a quality addition, so I thought I would

do the job properly

 

£8.48 for a box containing a few grams of printed plastic to be posted     . It was only 15p more for a 2 sets of crossing chairs. I checked my order for the check rail chairs and there was no postage charges, so I don't know what's going on here

 

Anybody got any experience of ordering from them ?

[S-Club-7]

I checked my order for the check rail chairs and there was no postage charges, so I don't know what's going on here

 

Anybody got any experience of ordering from them ?

 

Shapeways occasionally have offers when postage is free - it may be that your previous purchase was made during one of these offer periods?  Your previous invoice should detail this.

 

Otherwise there is a fixed price for delivery regardless of order size so it makes sense to club together with family and friends to buy from any of the thousands of Shapeways shops at the same time - only one delivery charge.

Edited October 26, 2017 by S-Club-7

[Jintyman]

I can vouch for Intentio sleepering.

I use Rustins wood stain (Dark Teak) for staining.

 

All of Talyllyn's track work is made using Intentio's sleepering and I've used C&L's chairs and slide chairs throughout with their nickel silver rail.

As for the check rails, I wish I'd ordered the 'Off the Rails' ones from Shapeways but I didn't, but none the less I've had no movement at all just using cut down C&L chairs in an alternate formation for each check rail.

 

Jinty

[3 link]

I used to use Coloron Jacobean Dark Oak wood dye, but like all things the H&SE have now messed around with it and it does not keep its colour and also does not seem to soak into the timber.

 

You lot will laugh at what a use now but I'm happy with the way it looks, and it's a lot easier to apply. I use Halfords Satin Black Paint ( not stain ), spray it on and let it dry for a day, even though it's touch dry in 30 minutes.

 

Build and lay the track down and then just wipe the sleepers with a cloth soaked in thinners, not soaking wet just slightly damp so it's easy to control the amount of paint left on.

 

The colour to me is spot on what I have been trying to recreate.

 

 

 

ATB,

 

Martyn. PS, these are C&L plywood sleepers just for the record.

[3 link]

I use C&L chairs mostly and have used offf the rails ( Slab and Bracket ) chairs under the vee's as I model the GWR. You can just make out the S/B chairs in this photo.

 

 

Martyn.

[Simond]

Otoh, I cheat, and use cut down slide rail chairs from C&L for the specials. Shapeways’ commercial approach put me right off.

 

I also solder my checkrails to the stock rails using 1mm strip, and epoxy this to the sleepers, hiding the strip with cut down chairs.

 

My timbers & sleepers are mainly C&L, though I used Peco plastic timbers for the carriage sidings 1in8.

 

I did laser cut some thin sleepers from 1mm ply, but I’m not impressed, as they’re too thin to get anything other than dust ballast to look reasonable. Very fine cinders or painted sand might be ok, but would want to be put down immediately the track was laid, assuming the cork or whatever was liberally glued beforehand. Lesson learned.

 

Best

Simon

[3 link]

Hi Simon,

 

I also cut the slide chairs in half to represent the chairs each side of the " knuckle " and also cut normal chairs in half to build the check rails.

 

 

Martyn.

[Simond]

Hi Martyn,

 

That’s nice, but I don’t trust myself to get the other wingrail in place, so I do a subassembly of vee and wings, in that natty little jig I had made, with 1mm brass strip to hold it all together. The brass is epoxied down to the timbers, same on the stock rails, and you’re never worried about the gauge shifting.

 

Best

Simon

[brossard]

Agree Simon, I too make the common crossing as a sub assembly using thin copper clad strip to hold it all together.  Lots of good tips here.

 

John

[Park]

I was going to look at using the slide chairs for the crossing over the weekend, as it could be a long wait until the Shapeways P&P charges come down. Was hoping to get enough stability in the crossing without having to resort to copper strip

 

We have our exhibition at Holmfirth starting tomorrow so was trying to get some pieces together to leave on the club stand

[Happy Hippo]

I used 0.9 mm thick copper clad strip to hold the crossing nose together and also used them to ensure the wing rails were gauged and held rigidly in place. Once made up the copper clad was tripped back and epoxied to the respective timbers.

 

Soldering a wire to one of the copper class strips also gives you added for the crossing nose polarity.

 

Once it is all in place cut down chairs are used to finish it off cosmetically.

 

The check rails are held in place with soldered brass strip. Which are soldered in place using gauges. The chairs in this area being slide rail chairs suitably trimmed.

 

Not as picturesque as something created with C&L and Shapeways parts, but looks OK from normal viewing distances and is very sturdy.

[Happy Hippo]

Sorry for some of my spelling gaffs.

 

The tablet I am using is not railway orientated and editing the post is not the easiest of tasks.

[brossard]

Question on wooden timbers from C&L and Intentio - are these the correct thickness to be compatible with Peco and C&L plastic sleepered track?  If not how do people manage that.

 

I've built a copper clad turnout for my fiddle yard and had to glue strips of 0.250" x 0.100" Evergreen to shim it.  This is a fair bit of work, not to mention cost.  There's a craft store close by that stocks basswood, I'll have to check to see what they have.

 

John

[Jintyman]

Hi John,

 

I have used Intentio wooden sleepering going onto Peco flexitrack and it is just about the same. No packing needed at all.

 

Jinty

[3 link]

Hi John,

 

In the past C&L could be a bit hit or miss regarding the thickness of the sleepers, but fair play they always printed the sizes on the packs which were either 1.6mm , 2.8mm or most commonly 3.2mm.

 

Martyn.