Track bender question, how small can you go?
I am thinking of something that requires bending LGB track down to a 15" or 18" diameter
Will a dual track bender go that tightly or am I going to have to think of some other way to get that tight?
I’m thinking they didn’t have you in mind when they…
I’ve done a circle of code 250 brass down to about 6" for the inside rail of a turntable.
I don’t know for sure, But mine (Train-LI) seems that it could go that tight, as there isn’t any physical restriction on the rollers placement
.
I don’t think any dual rail bender can move the “center” wheels enough to kit a 18" diameter, there IS a restriction on how far they can move, look at the design, there’s a limit on the design.
You might be able to do something nuts on a single rail bender… I have one but no spare rail to sacrifice.
You can borrow my single bender if you are in San Diego.
Greg
All depends on how long of a piece of straight track you are going to bend. Using a Train-Li bender and say a 4 ft section you will need to over lap the track to get the curve to bend to 18" Later RJD
I have a 5 foot straight I’m thinking of using.
I have the homemade bender published in GR a few years ago, but its a single rail and a bit limited, I guess its that or a single bender, I’ll have to see if I can reset the rollers on mine to make a tighter curve, if not I’ll have to see if I can bum a single off someone for an afternoon.
I have bent Aristo S.S. track to 16" dia. with a Train-Li dual bender.
From Pizza to Pikelet.
Andrew
Nah, i don’t even make pizza that small! Looking forward to seeing that layout.
There you go Vic, Dan did SS, so lgb brass will surely make it that small too.
Wow!
Greg
I’d at least use code 250, would bend easier and look better on a small layout. Plus it is cheaper.
Vic asked about LGB, and I believe all his layout is already LGB.
Vic, if you are ever down here on the coast, I have some spare brass track for you. You can also have my single rail bender. (And a cigar ha ha!)
Seriously.
Greg
(http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i231/paintjockey/IMG_20140308_142639_451_zps89a0f958.jpg)
Train-li dual bender closed all the way will do a 6" diameter circle. That’s LGB 332 brass. The draw back is the ends, it leaves about a 3" tail that can’t be bent. This piece of brass was about 24" long. Oh and the beauty of it is I bent it back straight when I was done! Although I think any bender could do that. All in all about 10 minutes of work.
Terry
Terry- I wonder if you can get rid of the 3" tail by temporarily attaching another piece of rail with a rail joiner (Hillman, split jaw, etc) and then run it through the bender. That way you could run it through farther and (possibly) get rid of the straight part. Afterwords, you could just remove the previously joined rail. I have never done this, but it’s a thought. Your milage may vary. What do ya think?
-Kevin.
For larger curves like 10’ and up that works well especially if you stagger the joints by more than 3" (the length of the tail) but on tighter curves the joiner becomes the weak point and let’s go.
Terry
Yes, I broke 2 joiners before I gave up trying to that. I had seen it done on a video, and thought that I could do it too. I forgot that physics doesn’t quite work the same when I am in the room.
Terry Burr said:
For larger curves like 10’ and up that works well especially if you stagger the joints by more than 3" (the length of the tail) but on tighter curves the joiner becomes the weak point and let’s go. Terry
Thats kinda why I figured I needed a 5’ section to start, the outer rail should be 4’5" circumference giving a few inches each end for the bender waste.
Doesn’t one of the joiners uses a double length clamp? might that one work? Or, maybe even contact the joiner companies about a…
Nevermind, you’d have to find a way to bend the joiner too. Wonder if you could go with a segmented length joiner…
the split rail style, with the solid pieces over lapping, solid-left-right-left?
Sorry, just idle engineering speculation.
J.D.