hayfield Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I thought I would post a few photos of building a copperclad turnout which might help those who want to take the plunge, the principals are the same for most gauges and scales. I am building the turnout in 00-SF and have added notes where 00 gauge is slightly different I use a flat building board so I can easily work at any angle. Same process for building on a base board though. I attach a plan to the board with spray mount and then spray glue on to the top half of the plan to hold the sleepers in place. A steel rule is used to keep the sleepers in line I file up the V soldering the straight road rail first then the branch road rail. These are done by eye and very easy to check is using a small board to build on. I start with the straight stock rail, using a gauge off the V solder this part, by eye solder the first rail at the other end. Using a straight edge against the two soldered ends tack solder at intervals of 4 or 5 sleepers, providing all is in line solder the rest The next rail needs a bit of work first, you can put a curve in the rail between the V and start of the switch. You must put a slight bend (with pliers) just before where the switch blade touches the stock rail, this is called the set) I start by soldering up the stock rail against the V using gauges. If the V is straight or you are building in 00 gauge you can use roller gauges, in 00-SF, EM or P4 you will need 3 point gauges as these gauges will widen the gauge automatically if needed. Once the V is soldered up put the gauges at the other end (heel) then tack solder using the plan as a guide every 4 or 5 sleepers again working from the V to the heel, then solder up the heal using gauges, if all is OK then solder the rest of the sleepers. File up the first switch rail and wing rail, bend to shape. Now using gauges (roller or 3 point) solder the first 2 or 3 joint before the V. In 00-SF, EM & P4 gauges its easy to obtail wing rail gauges, they are flat metal bars of the correct thickness and simplicity to use. I have had one made for 00 gauge (1.25mm thick) but you can use the roller gauge to set this nd solder in place. When happy with this and after doing a quick test with a wagon solder up the rest of the rails (leaving the last 7 or 8 sleepers unsoldered so the blade can move). The other switch / wing rail is fitted the same way, but in 00-SF, EM & P4 gauges you must use a 3 point gauge as it automatically sets the correct gauge depending on the radii. Standard roller gauges are fine in 00 Check rails are now fitted again in 00-SF, EM & P4 gauges you use a check rail gauge as the check rail is fitted from the V and not the stock rail. In 00 you could use an 00-SF check rail gauge if you wish or use the roller gauge. A slitting disk is used to put a gap in the switch rails a few sleepers below the V and isolation breaks in the sleepers in betweeb the rails. A tiebar is made from opperclad, gaped and soldered to the switch rail ends so there is a 1.5mm gap when switched I hope this helps those wanting to take the plunge in building their own turnouts Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brossard Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Good to see you are doing your own points. Copperclad is a good medium to start with. A couple of tips I picked up from watching Norman Soloman's BRM video: 1) use the Dremel to scrape the copper off the timber instead of making a slot. Slots are stress raisers and weaken the timber and tiebar. 2) use brass pins to secure the blade to the tiebar. This is a tad tricky because you would need to drill holes accurately. It is more robust. However, soldered joints are easy enough to repair. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Campaman Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I have only built two my self so far, and the second one I did in the same order as you have and personally I find that order works well for me. I think that in 00 the lack of chairs or rail fixings is easily outweighed by the look of the rest of the turnout compared to ready to plonk stuff. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gary White Posted March 21, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 21, 2012 Where did you get the OO track gauges from especially the triangler track gauge i have been looking for one of them for ages Yours Gary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 If you specifically want 00-SF gauges, then you can get them from Brian Tulley who operates under the forum name of 'Polybear'. http://00-sf.webs.com/#gauge_tools Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tender Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Good to see another 00-SF thread. I do the vee crossing and check rails first before adding the stock and switch rails as these are most important to get right for smooth running. More on 00-SF in Special Interests - Handbuilt Track and Templot. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 Where did you get the OO track gauges from especially the triangler track gauge i have been looking for one of them for ages Yours Gary The 3 point gauges are 00-SF (16.2mm gauge for code 75 rail) and from Brian. I dont know if anyone does them for 00 gauge any more. I do have an old one made by Hamblings and for code 100 rail. But 00 gauge does not need its gauge widening so roller gauges are fine. Having said that the 00-SF are the best made 3 point gauges I own (others being EM & P40) and are a pleasure to use. Also the plated check rail gauge which came from the USA is the best finished gauge I own, I musy say that both 00-SF roller gauges would be better if they were made of thicker bar, my 00 gauge ones are from 9.5mm rod and for my thick fingers are easier to pickup Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 Good to see another 00-SF thread. I do the vee crossing and check rails first before adding the stock and switch rails as these are most important to get right for smooth running. More on 00-SF in Special Interests - Handbuilt Track and Templot. Lots of methods in building turnouts, I like to see stock running through turnouts without check gauges. This does depend on the type of turnout being built and radii. I am building a 0-16.5 layout to 00-SF so I guess its 0-16.2 to be correct. Bit of a risk as it may limit visiting locos and as we are building the plain track this will also be 16.2 gauge Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 Good to see you are doing your own points. Copperclad is a good medium to start with. A couple of tips I picked up from watching Norman Soloman's BRM video: 1) use the Dremel to scrape the copper off the timber instead of making a slot. Slots are stress raisers and weaken the timber and tiebar. 2) use brass pins to secure the blade to the tiebar. This is a tad tricky because you would need to drill holes accurately. It is more robust. However, soldered joints are easy enough to repair. John There is no way I could dissagree with the likes of Mr Solomon and both are fair points. Providing the turnout is stuck to the board / underlay I can see no problems. I have turnouts built 30 years ago using Paxoline sleepers (where as those I use now are fiberglass) and are thinner, none have suffered. I preffer the tiebar arrangement to be under the baseboard, and wires in tubes coming up through a hole insied each stock rail. Planning to use a unit sold by Exacroscale for use with the Rabit point motor this time round. However this type of tiebar has been used since the year dot, and has proved to be simple to use and reliable Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 I have only built two my self so far, and the second one I did in the same order as you have and personally I find that order works well for me. I think that in 00 the lack of chairs or rail fixings is easily outweighed by the look of the rest of the turnout compared to ready to plonk stuff. From a distance once ballasted, painted and weathered no one will notice other than they look so much better than plug and play types. Simplicity to build and very cost effective, not to say you can build them to suit the location. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brossard Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 The tiebar arrangement you describe is visually pleasing but, it seems to me (and I haven't done any so I could be talking out of my hat), to be an awful lot of work. Putting a slot in a narrow tiebar is quite risky. Only 2 weeks ago I was called on to replace a tiebar that had broken (guess where) while a hole was being drilled for the point motor rod. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 If using a thin tiebar I like to solder on some brass shim on to the copperclad strip, then drill a hole. The under board tiebar is a thick plastic bar running in a plastic unit. All systems have their weaknesses, Mr Solomon's design is very robust and who better to copy. Thanks for your usefull comments Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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