Solvent, chairs and ply timbers (code 75) help!

[Moley48]

Hi,

 

This is Our first post on the forum and I need some advice on track building. Well I'm helping my Dad build a layout and we are currently making a long scissor crossing to go into our fiddle yard. I've managed to make and print some fairly simple chairs to suit our peco code 75 flatbottom rail aswell as laser cut our timbers from ceiba ply which looks reasonably good having placed it onto our templot template. The issue I have right now is finding a solvent potent enough to get the resin chairs to "weld" to the ply. 

 

Having tried and failed with a few things already i'm hoping someone has the answer or if not can point me in the direction of plastic chairs available that suit code 75 flatbottom rail. 

 

Thanks

 

Moley

[ikcdab]

The usual solvent is mekpak which works very well with polystyrene. However, I guess your 3-d printed chairs are not that material. So you just need to find the appropriate solvent for the plastic you are using.

Failing that, the go-to place for chairs is c&l. I haven't checked the website, I presume he does chairs for FB rail.

Many congratulations. Templot is an excellent product and first rate for track design. I used it for my layout...see my thread if you are interested.

Ian C

[trustytrev]

Hello,

        I think Martin of Templot mentioned what he used for resin printed chairs on the Templot site.

trustytrev.

[Moley48]

Thankyou guys, I did check out Martins post on experimental chairs. Bascially epoxy resin or superglue are known to be the best options which makes life harder but not impossible. C&L have code 83 flatbottom which may be something I could use but at the moment I think as this is to be used in the fiddle yard and not necessarily for its visual quality we may just use copper clad sleepers.

 

I will check out your thread, Ian for inspiration. 

[brossard]

IMO, epoxy is not very precise in that it will obscure detail.  It is also messy and takes quite a while to cure thoroughly.  I only use it rarely.

 

CA is a good option but the stuff is pretty expensive.

 

I tend to agree that, for hidden track, copper clad is a good way to go.  Even for the main layout, copper clad turnouts can look pretty good when painted and ballasted.  If you haven't built turnouts before, copper clad is a good method to practice with.  That's how I got into it.

 

John

[Siberian Snooper]

Code 75 rail is a bit undersized for flat bottom, code 82/3 is more normally used and Peco do baseplates for that, they are a bit oversized though. Code 75 rail is usually bullhead and uses chairs. I'm assuming that you're modelling standard gauge track and not narrow gauge.

 

 

[ikcdab]

1 hour ago, Moley48 said:

Thankyou guys, I did check out Martins post on experimental chairs. Bascially epoxy resin or superglue are known to be the best options which makes life harder but not impossible. C&L have code 83 flatbottom which may be something I could use but at the moment I think as this is to be used in the fiddle yard and not necessarily for its visual quality we may just use copper clad sleepers.

 

I will check out your thread, Ian for inspiration. 

I love building copper clad turnouts. It's a far quicker process than threading hundreds of tiny chairs onto rail and it is instantly adjustable with a hot iron. All of my hidden fiddle yard pointwork is copperclad.

Ian C

[martin_wynne]

On 26/10/2021 at 20:02, Moley48 said:

This is Our first post on the forum and I need some advice on track building. Well I'm helping my Dad build a layout and we are currently making a long scissor crossing to go into our fiddle yard. I've managed to make and print some fairly simple chairs to suit our peco code 75 flatbottom rail aswell as laser cut our timbers from ceiba ply which looks reasonably good having placed it onto our templot template. The issue I have right now is finding a solvent potent enough to get the resin chairs to "weld" to the ply.

 

Hi Moley,

 

The only options for sticking resin-printed chairs to plywood (or anything else) is epoxy, or cyano (superglue), or ordinary household contact adhesive (UHU). Or a hot-melt glue gun for larger items. There is no commonly available solvent for them once cured.

 

Another method is to use the actual resin itself as an adhesive, and cure it in sunlight or with a UV lamp. But that's messy and unpleasant.

 

As you may know, I'm working on a Plug Track system which will allow resin-printed chairs to be a press-fit in laser-cut plywood, or other timbering bases, without needing adhesive. More info on the Templot Club web site, but still a long way to go:

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, that is all for bullhead rail. I'm a bit puzzled by what you mean by chairs for flat-bottom rail? If you have succeeded in resin-printing baseplates and clips for flat-bottom rail, there are lots of folks who would be interested to see them and know more.

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

[Moley48]

Hello Martin, thanks for your reply and thankyou for templot. We will donate tomorrow as we really value your efforts - Templot has made our lives much, much easier. 

 

I think I might have to adopt your plug style for my timbers and modify my chairs to suit. So yes, the chairs I made myself and are loosely based on the peco 75 FB chairs. It was difficult with resin to get a good scale and good strength initially but getting somewhere now. 

 

Keeping things simplistic for now as this is our first piece of trackwork albeit a rather ambitious piece of trackwork for a beginner but we like to challenge ourselves and my dad has some previous experience of making points about 40+ years ago. He knows the railway and I know the modern tech, ish.

 

So far I have made check rail, slide and standard from resin.  Its quite amazing what a sub £200 resin printer is capable of although in an ideal world we would like to substitute a little of the hardness of resin for something a little less brittle. I guess beggars cant be choosers.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 28, 2021 by Moley48

[martin_wynne]

54 minutes ago, Moley48 said:

 in an ideal world we would like to substitute a little of the hardness of resin for something a little less brittle. I guess beggars cant be choosers.

 

 

Hi Moley,

 

I have found this "ABS-like" resin to be less brittle than the standard resin:

 

 https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07P84PQCF/

 

But all the resins harden with age if left exposed to daylight. It's best to keep the chairs in the dark until you can use them, and paint them as soon as possible afterwards.

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

[Moley48]

 

 

Please excuse the phone pics. These are the chairs we've made that replicate code 75 FB reasonably well. Plus a little extra thickness to keep things from breaking up.

 

We are experimenting with a 3d printed vice adapter that hopefully will allow vees to be completed using a mini chop saw. We shall see!

 

ps. I've ordered some ABS-Like resin.

 

 

Edited October 31, 2021 by Moley48