Devon Sinsley said:
Let’s not hijack this thread to hash out my issues.
Why not?
Wow it is totally amazing, I should have paid more attention to what I posted in the beginning, however like I mentioned I use my cell phone due to having computer issues. As soon as a member pointed out the long posting, I immediately checked it out and edited and deleted the other part. I question was a very simple one. Has anyone used sectionial track sections and use those rails as stock rails instead of bending, Gentlemen I made a #6 switch 2 years which works very well
These are photos of the turnout I made from flat aluminum rods, I had to cut the rods about every inch and weld a bar on the bottom creating a t-shape rail to mount onto the ties.
Devon Sinsley said:
Let’s not hijack this thread to hash out my issues. I appreciate the help as always but we can take it to my thread.
One of your issues is double-posting (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-sealed.gif)
Jim Weingart said:
Wow it is totally amazing, I should have paid more attention to what I posted in the beginning, however like I mentioned I use my cell phone due to having computer issues. As soon as a member pointed out the long posting, I immediately checked it out and edited and deleted the other part. I question was a very simple one. Has anyone used sectionial track sections and use those rails as stock rails instead of bending, Gentlemen I made a #6 switch 2 years which works very well
Jim,
If you are talking about using the rails from sectional track, but not the tie strips, then go ahead. You have to get your rails from somewhere.
I would point out that one benefit of making your own switches is that you do not have to put the track joints where sectional track has them. I tend to use a long rail as stock rail and let it continue for a foot or more past the switch and before the switch. Much smoother operation and more prototypical.
Here’s a section of a crossover with a pre-built switch (bottom) laid out on my dining table. You can see the extra long stock rails.
Pete Thornton said:
Devon Sinsley said:
Let’s not hijack this thread to hash out my issues. I appreciate the help as always but we can take it to my thread.One of your issues is double-posting (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-sealed.gif)
And I just figured out why. It does it when I post from my phone
Jim I cant see ow your idea wont work, worst case you will just have to tweak the rails some. Im trying a different approach with my switches. I was hoping to start over the winter and see how it would work. My plan is to make a stub switch but making it the exact size as my Aristo wide rad switches. Why am I doing it this way because I want to be able to just take out the Aristo switches and put hand laid ones in its place. I dont want to redo parts of the layout to get longer switches to fit plus I dont understand all the math work involvedin making switches. Ill just use the Arsito as my template. I wish I had a paper template of a left and right Aristo switches.
Shawn,
As one who is working on my first stub switch; well my first switch period, can I offer a suggestion. Unless you have your heart set on working up a whole switch, why not modify the Aristo switch? From where the point rails are hinged (or begin to flex) through the frog and out both diverging tracks would be the same geometry. Seems to me if you tighten the radius of the curved tracks just enough that the foot of the curved rails rests on the foot of the straight rails that would be great. Of course you would have to replace the movable point rails with fixed rail.then where the different track legs touch at the feet you cut them flush there and build in your stub rails. Now to make it fit in the same place your stub rails are going to have to be short. and likely they are not going to “bend” very well. Might have to hinge them like I did.
or somthing like that. I know someone here uses modified rail joiners. I think it can be done. I am not positive of this but it seems stub switches need to be longer to accommodate the bending of the stub rail. point rails are what I call internal to the switch where as stub rails are external if that makes sense. Put another way the switch actuator bar thing is attached to the movable rails at their farthest point from the frog on a standard switch. Whereas on a stub the bar is located at the point closest to the frog meaning all of the movable rail then extends further from the frog instead of closer to it. The points are part of the diverging tracks where in a stub these are fixed and require more rail farther away to move and select which diverging line to take. I could be wrong this is my uneducated understanding. This might complicate making the stub fit in the same spot as the regular switch without making the compromise of short hinged stub rails as I have done. My switch over all is 12" long and I was only able to have 2 1/2" stub rails.
Anyway thats my .02
After thinking on this a second you could and maybe should cut the rails even farther back. Say about where this red line is. After posting my first response I played with my stub (shut up rooster) and realized that the rails would actually line up better if the gap was a bit wider than how I did it. Line up the stub rails so that when they are straight they are in line with the straight rail and then when pushed over they would seemingly match up better with the curved section. This would also allow for a much longer stub rail. Or in my case a much shorter overall switch. I will play with mine and see what this does. So as to not take up this thread I will post the findings on my stub rail build thread.
Thats a good idea Devon. Im always looking for easier ways to do things. Thats how I get around my lack of math skills. Shut up Rooster.
I prefer to handlay and build my own switches since I’m a 1:13.7n2 modeler. Since I use RC/batteries, it’s simpler for me to throw down Code 250 aluminum rail on ties I rip on my table saw. I’ve built moving point, fixed point and stub switches. Super easy. A few links below that show my trackwork.
https://www.facebook.com/Norinoo-Junction-Railway-555842561243144
While cutting up the Aristo switches wouldn’t be too hard, I think you will get a better look by building it from scratch with your own ties. I have paper templates of the Aristo Wide and #6. I made them by just tracing all around a switch on butcher paper then cutting it out. I then used the paper templates to make just the outline on 3mm PVC that I use to determine placement out on the layout.
Shawn Viggiano said:
Jim I cant see ow your idea wont work, worst case you will just have to tweak the rails some. Im trying a different approach with my switches. I was hoping to start over the winter and see how it would work. My plan is to make a stub switch but making it the exact size as my Aristo wide rad switches. Why am I doing it this way because I want to be able to just take out the Aristo switches and put hand laid ones in its place. I dont want to redo parts of the layout to get longer switches to fit plus I dont understand all the math work involvedin making switches. Ill just use the Arsito as my template. I wish I had a paper template of a left and right Aristo switches.
Shawn,
The problem with using bits of sectional track is that they are separated somewhere down the middle, and therefore the two sides are floppy. Your Aristo switch has molded ties and they extend from one side to the other. Without continuous ties under the frog, you are asking for alignment problems. If you are going to install a few ties to make it rigid, then you might as well replace all of them and just use the rails. In which case any old rails (and a railbender) will do . . .
Here’s the point or stub rail pivot Devon keeps referring to, made from regular rail joiners (green arrow):
I drilled a slight depression in the bottom of each rail and made a dimple (red arrow) in the joiner to keep them from coming apart.
Daktah John said:
While cutting up the Aristo switches wouldn’t be too hard, I think you will get a better look by building it from scratch with your own ties. I have paper templates of the Aristo Wide and #6. I made them by just tracing all around a switch on butcher paper then cutting it out. I then used the paper templates to make just the outline on 3mm PVC that I use to determine placement out on the layout.
Sounds like a great way to make them. I have a copy of the original D&RGW MOW track drawings. (They were online for a short while until the ‘owner’ decided to sell them instead on CD-ROM.)
Thanks Pete,
Thought it was you making the hinge that way but couldn’t remember.