Anyone making laser cut cassettes?

[Huggy]

I'm in need of a small number of fiddle yard cassettes for my 00 layout, but while I can find kits for other gauges, I can't trace any laser cutting firms selling them for 00,which seems a bit odd. Anyone know a supplier? I need them to be quite light and accurate, so building them from scratch might be a hassle taking up time I could use doing something else. Next time I'll do any fiddle facilities BEFORE the main layout.

[MarcD]

You could try Grainge and Hodder. They do base boards and If they don't they will be able to make something to your spec.

 

Marc

[Podhunter]

I'm in need of a small number of fiddle yard cassettes for my 00 layout

Grainge and Hodder make a turntable cassette.  They also make some useful accessories such as tool drawers and modeller's workbenches.

[Satan's Goldfish]

email Tim Horn, he'll be able to create to your requirement.

[Huggy]

Thanks guys. Checked them out, but Grainge and Hodder don't do small cassettes as standard (only the big turntable), and custom made would be prohibitive cost-wise.   Same with Tim H.  I suppose they feel everyone has different requirements on build design, handles, length etc.  I'm now thinking I'll need to build from scratch in MDF. A firm called woodsheets.com do cut sizes from 50mm wide and up and a reasonable price, their postage isn't too bad either, so may go down that route.  I only need about 560mm length max., and I reckon 3mm MDF would do the job, glued properly and braced. It was having to buy big sheets and cut them that was putting me off!

[Satan's Goldfish]

Thanks guys. Checked them out, but Grainge and Hodder don't do small cassettes as standard (only the big turntable), and custom made would be prohibitive cost-wise.   Same with Tim H.  I suppose they feel everyone has different requirements on build design, handles, length etc.  I'm now thinking I'll need to build from scratch in MDF. A firm called woodsheets.com do cut sizes from 50mm wide and up and a reasonable price, their postage isn't too bad either, so may go down that route.  I only need about 560mm length max., and I reckon 3mm MDF would do the job, glued properly and braced. It was having to buy big sheets and cut them that was putting me off!

Tim custom builds to your requirements, ping him an email saying what you'd like and he'll let you know the feasibility and cost. He does a lot that is not on his website!

 

[Wickham Green]

 I suppose they feel everyone has different requirements on build design, handles, length etc. 

.......... maybe now's the time to establish an industry standard ? .................. I'll have a dozen ! ( assorted lengths )

[The Great Bear]

Could have sworn I'd seen something but can't recall or may be mistaken, sorry.

 

You could try suggesting this kind of thing to LCUT creative Suggestion box: suggestionBox@lcut.co.uk maybe?

[Huggy]

Could have sworn I'd seen something but can't recall or may be mistaken, sorry.

 

You could try suggesting this kind of thing to LCUT creative Suggestion box: suggestionBox@lcut.co.uk maybe?

That's an idea; I have bought standard pieces for buildings from them recently, very fast service certainly.

[CloggyDog]

 I only need about 560mm length max

 

Have you considered the DCC Concepts long loco-lift? http://www.gaugemaster.com/item_details.asp?code=DCMPD-560&style=main&strType=&Mcode=DCC+Concepts+MPD%2D560

 

560mm long, fits over a straight length of fiddle yard track. I use a couple on my micro layouts and they will hold a tank loco + short train.

 

Another option is to combine a pair of Peco loco-lifts (technique has been described on here at least once)

[Huggy]

Didn't know they did one, CloggyDog, that looks ideal, especially for getting my 205 DEMU set on and off the layout, but even at Hattons discounted price not really in my budget range,and I need more than one really, thanks for the suggestion though. Might keep an eye out for a secondhand one.

[Podhunter]

even at Hattons discounted price not really in my budget range...

How about adapting building ventilation ducting?  It's box section makes it strong enough to hold a few coaches, and it's easily cut with a fine saw.

It comes in 2m lengths, probably longer than you need but easily bisected to make two 1m cassettes.

Edited April 15, 2018 by Podhunter

[Crewlisle]

Huggy,

Why not make your own cassettes?  It is quite straight forward & a lot cheaper than buying them.  I have used these since I designed & built my 00 gauge exhibition layout 'Crewlisle' over 40 years ago which I have exhibited at the NEC, Ally Pally, The Great Electric Train show plus other venues in between.  To up date the attachment, I now have 50 locos, 65 parcel/passenger coaches & a Blue Pullman.   The attachment gives a length of 1371mm (4ft 6ins in proper measurements!) for the cassettes which form part of the reverse loop inside the operating well.  Since then I have made two additional ones from PVC 'U' shaped pipe covers, each approximately 1550mm long to hold either a six coach express, Blue Pullman or HST.  This allows me to remove longer expresses from the viewing area to prevent the layout looking overcrowded.  These do not form part of the reverse loop but can only be entered from one end & carefully lifted on & off as they are a bit unwieldy to handle!  As I say in the attachment fiddle yards are wasted space, especially in compact main line layouts like 'Crewlisle'

 

]CASSETTE - DCC.doc

 

Edited April 9, 2018 by Crewlisle

[Satan's Goldfish]

Crewlisle; Has that drawing appeared in a magazine in the past (say a RM in the 1990s?) I'm getting deja-vu...

[Huggy]

Gosh lots of input from you gents, much obliged!      Well having had a long think about how my purely home-based layout can actually be operated, as it is very small - just 4' x 4' - and basically an oval with two scenic and three non-scenic sidings, and based on your idea and suggestions, I've decided to follow CloggyDogs recommendation of a 560mm DCC Concepts storage box. OK it's a lot of money, but it will keep my most expensive piece of rolling stock, the Bachmann/Kernow 205 two car DEMU safe from harm - and make it much easier to get on and off the layout, as it is powered. Only Hattons appear to have the 560mm ones in stock just now, and I've also ordered a Peco Loco Lift to save handling my new P Class and it's Terrier chums with their very delicate detailing. Oh, and a Peco Re-Railer for the fiddly to place items of carriage stock etc.  In addition, I have ordered some cut pieces of 3mm MDF from woodsheets.com to have a bash at making some more, very simple, cassettes for some of my other less valuable rolling stock. At least I'll get to see what works best for me; I'll probably end up with more storage and handling units than actual layout!        (That's the recent gig money spent; at least I don't keep buying guitars like some of my mates!)

Edited April 9, 2018 by Huggy

[woodenhead]

Gosh lots of input from you gents, much obliged!      Well having had a long think about how my purely home-based layout can actually be operated, as it is very small - just 4' x 4' - and basically an oval with two scenic and three non-scenic sidings, and based on your idea and suggestions, I've decided to follow CloggyDogs recommendation of a 560mm DCC Concepts storage box. OK it's a lot of money, but it will keep my most expensive piece of rolling stock, the Bachmann/Kernow 205 two car DEMU safe from harm - and make it much easier to get on and off the layout, as it is powered. Only Hattons appear to have the 560mm ones in stock just now, and I've also ordered a Peco Loco Lift to save handling my new P Class and it's Terrier chums with their very delicate detailing. Oh, and a Peco Re-Railer for the fiddly to place items of carriage stock etc.  In addition, I have ordered some cut pieces of 3mm MDF from woodsheets.com to have a bash at making some more, very simple, cassettes for some of my other less valuable rolling stock. At least I'll get to see what works best for me; I'll probably end up with more storage and handling units than actual layout!        (That's the recent gig money spent; at least I don't keep buying guitars like some of my mates!)

I wouldn't be without my Peco loco lifts - any tender locomotive is a pain to lift otherwise.

 

Never had much issue lifting my 205 off the track but the 4Cep couldn't be lifted in one so had to be split and it was difficult to put back together - had a spare set of couplings at the ready.

[Crewlisle]

Crewlisle; Has that drawing appeared in a magazine in the past (say a RM in the 1990s?) I'm getting deja-vu...

 

 

 

Yes it did.  I wrote the article because all the cassettes I had seen on layouts had aluminium angle for the rails at dead end fiddle yards.  I wanted to show that cassettes could be incorporated in the actual layout by using actual rails to save space in lieu of a fiddle yard.  By using cassettes you can have as many locos/stock as you want by every so often changing the cassette contents from your storage boxes.

 

With the attached plan of 'Crewlisle' you can see where it fits in. The layout, 2.6M x 2.3M, fits my second bedroom & with three interconnected levels.  The bottom shorter baseboard (Shorter to allow the bedroom door to open!) hinges down to allow access to a built in wardrobe & the airing cupboard.  When I designed my layout I wanted to represent the WCML from my trainspotting days in the mid fifties with stanier pacifics/black fives through green/blue diesels/electrics & finishing with the APT in the mid eighties. The terminus takes 6 coach expresses/Blue Pullman & the mid level 'WCML' has OLE.

 

Whilst being a 'quart in a pint pot' & being the first to say it is not prototypical or the most detailed, it entertains.  I run a minimum of two trains & sometimes as many as four simultaneously.  With hidden crossovers in the the tunnels, trains can appear from any direction.  I would be a rich man if I had a pound for every time a visitor at an exhibition said, "It's nice to see something moving!'.  That is why it has appeared at the NEC five times (next time is 2020 & probably the last time on the exhibition circuit), Ally Pally twice & the Great Electric Train Show in 2014.

 

Peter

Edited April 11, 2018 by Crewlisle