Steve Featherkile said:
Store bought turnouts, especially yours, except Aristo, are made to Enema Ray specs. Our wheels etc, by and large aren’t. Or, if they were, get out of spec if someone sneezes, or opens the door.
Check your wheel gauge.
Re post
" Rooster " said:
Craig Townsend said:
Back to back of wheels should be 1.575". I say, should because some wheels are wider and thus needs a slightly narrower back to back gauge.60 pages of a build log and we are back to basics?
Ah, so. Don’t we always have to get back to basics sooner or later?
And I have found that the simple solution is quite often the correct solution. Unless of course its my mom’s idea, then its hardly ever the correct solution.
Occom’s Razor.
I dunno Steve. I use a Norelco.
Steve Featherkile said:
Occom’s Razor.
If there is a choice between two answers, the simplest answer is always the best choice.
Occom has a hand in most everything I do. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Steve, I know.
Todd, be careful you don’t cut yourself on his razor.
David Maynard said:
Steve, I know.
Todd, be careful you don’t cut yourself on his razor.
You’ve gotta be sharp!
Devon, a kadee wheel gauge is a poor substitute for a good gauge. If you can’t find one of the aristo gauges, go to harbor freight and get a pair of cheap digital calipers.
Then go to the nmra site and see the specs.
On turnouts, the main controlling factor is the back to back. The typical problem with turnouts is excessive flangeway width on the guard rails on the turnout stock rails.
You need to have your wheels gauged AND your flangeways right. Doing one without the other will not result in success.
Greg
Greg Elmassian said:
Devon, a kadee wheel gauge is a poor substitute for a good gauge. If you can’t find one of the aristo gauges, go to harbor freight and get a pair of cheap digital calipers.
Then go to the nmra site and see the specs.
On turnouts, the main controlling factor is the back to back. The typical problem with turnouts is excessive flangeway width on the guard rails on the turnout stock rails.
You need to have your wheels gauged AND your flangeways right. Doing one without the other will not result in success.
Greg
Thanks Greg,
I will have the Kadee gauge simply because I am getting it for coupler height as well. But I do, already, have a very very good dial caliper and know how to read it. So getting those accurate is not a concern. Getting it done is just a matter of doing it. I am not at all concerned with it, it was what I discovered and knew the fix, just have other things to get done as well.
On that note, I went to work on my rolling stock and I am in much better shape than I thought in regard to having enough rolling stock with Kadee couplers to have an ops session. I only needed 6 more sets so I went ahead and ordered them
Good to hear you have your Priorities in Order!
yer bud,
John
The Aristo 11906 gauge measures about everything, worth finding:
Find one, it’s worth it… (I have 2)
Probably only in the UK or Canada new now…
Greg
That does look like a mighty fine thing to have for sure.
Funny, Aristo could make a good gauge, but they couldn’t make anything to fit the gauge, switches, wheel sets, locomotive drives…
Oh David, I just about choked reading your comment. Its so true.
Greg, is it the picture or is that just folded sheet metal? It LOOKS like it could be bent rather easy. What is the problem with a KAdee Guage? Thanks
Pete,
I have such a gauge. It is folded stainless steel. It is very hard and stiff. It will NOT easily bend.
The kadee wheel gauge has big slots for the flange edges, it does not do a good job of setting the back to back, not only are the slots too sloppy, they also measure the wrong place.
Trying to measure back to back using the knife edges of the flanges is wrong because it ignores the thickness of the flange. Thick flanges vs. thin flanges would give different back to back measurement. Also, different flanges have different contours at the very edge. so the Kadee gauge has a slot to handle more “blunt” edges, and thinner edges have a lot of slop.
It’s just a very poor way to measure back to back, and just as poor in trying to set gauge (actually worse since it cannot take into account the fillet).
It also only measures one measurement. The Aristo gauge had go/no go on a ton of different things, and it’s pretty darn close to the NMRA specs.
The back to back is correctly measured on the back side of the flange, where the “control surface” is when going through a switch.
The Aristo gauge is hard to find, but very handy and it was cheap. It’s worth the “hunt”
Greg
Well I am still battling this head thing but I mustered up enough energy to show off the.layout to a group of deaf and hard of hearing kids that are staying at my house for a your camp. We ran trains for about 45 minutes. Still some kinks to work out in the track and cars but it is getting more reliable. No pics because you have to wait for the real unveiling. Still hoping for a birthday opwner, well the day after because Steve and I are going to the airshow on my birthday.
And all of that depends on my noggin. Finding I only have about four or five good hours in me a day.
Sorry for all the spelling errors. I am on my phone and can’t see what I am typing. This dang brain thing is annoying
