Yeah...I'm bored. I'm not just trying to be a smartass either just by saying that.
I needed to focus on something other then my layout, however still wanted to play around with train stuff and challenge myself. So mid afternoon at work I got this crazy idea to handlay a double x-over without a jig. Cast away the crutch if you will. In fact I would just use a paper template and the tools I already had a home to make a go of it. It would either turnout out to be a big success or an utter failure for me. That voice in the back of my head by this point was already saying, "DO IT!" The fact that at present I have no need for one makes this exercise even more pointless. Well not exactly pointless...but ya know what I mean
So I printed off a No. 6 double x-over template from the FastTracks website and brought it home with me. It helped that I also studied the specs on the x-over before attempting this at all. The key was figuring out the secondary angles for the rails and then figuring out a way to shape the rail to that angle. The specs say 19 degrees.
I used a simple low tech methods in order to achieve my ends. I used a large cheap plastic protractor got it as square to the sanding disk on my benchtop belt sander and held the rail on the angle I needed roughly 9.5 degrees. Then I carefully sanded off the material to get the frog points. Checking, adjusting, sanding, until it matched up with the printout. Once I crafted the four frog points for one side of the x-over I started soldering...and soldering...and adjusting, and checking, and soldering, and on, and on, and on... The frog points on the sides for a regular No. 6 were easy as I already had a frog tool. The real moment of truth came when I started putting the small pieces I had together onto the PCB ties. Man!!! It was H-A-R-D and tedious too. As much as I was prepared that this will not work, I really want this work in the end So I was careful along the entire way. I didn't want to have a pile of scrap rail when I was done.
Now...I'm not finished. But this is how far I got tonight. This took about 3 1/2 hours of solid work. And it doesn't really look like much to me. Perhaps tomorrow night I'll get the first half done. All the flangeways check out and are within NMRA standards. Most importantly, wheels don't drop in the middle where the four angles meet. I also will need to go back and cut the isolation gaps.
I'd love to keep going, however I do have to get up for work tomorrow.
I'll post up tomorrow night if I get more done. Let me know what you folks think of this so far. Comments are always welcome.
I needed to focus on something other then my layout, however still wanted to play around with train stuff and challenge myself. So mid afternoon at work I got this crazy idea to handlay a double x-over without a jig. Cast away the crutch if you will. In fact I would just use a paper template and the tools I already had a home to make a go of it. It would either turnout out to be a big success or an utter failure for me. That voice in the back of my head by this point was already saying, "DO IT!" The fact that at present I have no need for one makes this exercise even more pointless. Well not exactly pointless...but ya know what I mean
So I printed off a No. 6 double x-over template from the FastTracks website and brought it home with me. It helped that I also studied the specs on the x-over before attempting this at all. The key was figuring out the secondary angles for the rails and then figuring out a way to shape the rail to that angle. The specs say 19 degrees.
I used a simple low tech methods in order to achieve my ends. I used a large cheap plastic protractor got it as square to the sanding disk on my benchtop belt sander and held the rail on the angle I needed roughly 9.5 degrees. Then I carefully sanded off the material to get the frog points. Checking, adjusting, sanding, until it matched up with the printout. Once I crafted the four frog points for one side of the x-over I started soldering...and soldering...and adjusting, and checking, and soldering, and on, and on, and on... The frog points on the sides for a regular No. 6 were easy as I already had a frog tool. The real moment of truth came when I started putting the small pieces I had together onto the PCB ties. Man!!! It was H-A-R-D and tedious too. As much as I was prepared that this will not work, I really want this work in the end So I was careful along the entire way. I didn't want to have a pile of scrap rail when I was done.
Now...I'm not finished. But this is how far I got tonight. This took about 3 1/2 hours of solid work. And it doesn't really look like much to me. Perhaps tomorrow night I'll get the first half done. All the flangeways check out and are within NMRA standards. Most importantly, wheels don't drop in the middle where the four angles meet. I also will need to go back and cut the isolation gaps.
I'd love to keep going, however I do have to get up for work tomorrow.
I'll post up tomorrow night if I get more done. Let me know what you folks think of this so far. Comments are always welcome.