Fast Tracks

Alas, it is a failure. Partly to problems on this side, but .........


but mainly because of this.

But like they say: you learn the most of you faults and errors.

Firstly back to 1:6 slips (with a jig) and then back to this one. It should be doable

_________________
Paul Bender

Everybody can shovel, firing is an art


Firing this train was more fun then hard labor © R. de Water

01-The making of the template. First a straight line and the angle (1:9)


02-The four used FastTrack templates


03-The first template in place


04-Drawing the first crossing line


05-The second template in place


06-The lines drawn for alignment


07-The first template cut to size


08-The second template in place. For a crossing template you are done now


09-However for a double slip we need some more lines. Therefore the second set of templates


10-And the fourth template in place

_________________
Paul Bender

Everybody can shovel, firing is an art


Firing this train was more fun then hard labor © R. de Water

11-The third template ready for cutting to size


12-And the third template cut to size


13-All four templates in place


14- I skipped a bit of taking pictures of template making and this is the copy of the template, sprayed with 3M Post-it glue. The sleepers are already in place and I have placed a temporary rail for alignment


15-Getting the outer rail in place. I was never hoping this one would make a working slip, so I was not to keen on working to exact measurements. One of the workproceses I need to alter is getting the curvature of this rail right. I have a bendable jig which fits inside the two rails and I should use that one in this stage. Probably I need the outercurve inside the double slip as well (with a bit of temporary rail) for getting the curve right. You are building into thin air and that's not the best way to do a double slip


16-The righthand side ready for soldering


17-The bottom outerrail in place. with hindsight I can say that this way of making the curve is not accurate enough. Having the rails altered for the pointblade does not help either. With a continues rail it MIGHT work, but with the foot of the rail cut away for the pointblades the rail just will not curve smoothly enough this way


18-The "jig-rail" taken out and ready for soldering on the other side


19-And the "jig-rail" in place again


20-The second outer rail in place (but again with the same issue as the other one) At the top a 1:6 half slip build in a FastTrack jig to see which way I should go

_________________
Paul Bender

Everybody can shovel, firing is an art


Firing this train was more fun then hard labor © R. de Water

21-And the second outer rail in place. Here I made an other mistake: I have taken the jig-rail out and I should not have done that. That way you have nothing to align the inner straight rails to. So I put back in the jig rail afterward


22-The jig-rail back in place and the first bit of the outer point blade in place. In many workways you see rails like this being done with the left and righthand side in one piece of rail. I think it easier to do it in two pieces. Time will tell ......


23-Both bottom "straight" pointblades in place. In this picture the gap between the two pointblades might look massive, but just a tiny bit of solder will fill this gap and make it invisible.


24-I kept the jig-rail in place and started to work my way inward.


25-Bottom half getting there


26-Third stage allmost done


27- Third stage done. I'm not to proud of the frog and the wings next to them. They work, but the alignment could be closer to tolerances. The top righthand "straight" rail shows on of the principal alignment problems with building the slip this way. There is a slight (outward) curve in the rail. Given other issues we will see later on in the process this is a misalignment at a crucial point. This needs another way of doing!


28-The alignment of the bottom left toad (????) is also not as I want it. This is probably the result of making the template not accurate enough. I will redo that also.


29-Here you see the curve in the top straight rail in beter detail. By now I was sure this first build was not going to make a working double slip. However I continued because I wanted to know if I was able to reach all the soldering spots until all the rails where in place. This is one of the issues "Aussie" was having problems with with his 1:6 double slips build in the FastTrack jigs. To be honest: I have not yet build a 1:6 double slip


30-The finished product. At the point blades you can see the unsolvable issue this model is having: the pointblades just do not close nicely. Also the measurements just behind the pointblades in the direction of the inner crossing just don't add up/ However ........ it was possible to solder all the rails in place. So in principal this way of working should be a right way to make a useable 1:9 double slip. Now I need to figure out an easier way to get the alignments right and to solve the problem "behind the pointblades"

_________________
Paul Bender

Everybody can shovel, firing is an art


Firing this train was more fun then hard labor © R. de Water

31-The left side, and yes, the situation at the frog with the wingrails is NOT as it should be


32-The right side and here you can see all the issues which needs sorting


33-I think the main issues are visible here. It is just that the feet of the pointblades are to wide. To solution to that would be the remove the foot to the pointblades similar the the opposite stocktrail, but that will require an other test run.

WATCH THIS SPACE

And feel free to comment and giving advice. You may have tricks I have never thought off.

_________________
Paul Bender

Everybody can shovel, firing is an art


Firing this train was more fun then hard labor © R. de Water

Hindsight is a beautifull thing

I have placed the double slip over the 1:9 point jig and ............. with a little alteration to the jig I came probably make it work for the first stages of building the double slip as well. That should get the basic measurements right. I did the crossing without any jig and that made probably a bit to cocky.

We have a fair / exhibition this weekend in the Netherlands (Rail 2013) and I will try to source a 0.8 / 0.9 mm milling bit for my Proxxon. To be continued .......

_________________
Paul Bender

Everybody can shovel, firing is an art


Firing this train was more fun then hard labor © R. de Water

The altered 1:9 point jig. In the hope that I can use the jig for the double slip as well

_________________
Paul Bender

Everybody can shovel, firing is an art


Firing this train was more fun then hard labor © R. de Water

Tadaaaa: a working 1:9 double slip in code 40 in N-scale

I will add the builiding pictures ASAP

It will need one or two more to build to make them "spot-on" But at least it shows it can be done and that was the first question.

FYI a double slip like this eats 2 meter of rail for breakfast

_________________
Paul Bender

Everybody can shovel, firing is an art


Firing this train was more fun then hard labor © R. de Water

Picture - 01
The sleepers in the modified jig



Picture - 02
The first frog



Picture - 03
The second frog. Also the guardrails are placed for extra sturdyness



Picture - 04
The two sets of of frogs and guardrail. At the bottom is the first attempt, for reference



Picture - 05
The marking of the first outer rail. The middle is marked at the place of the middle sleeper. Here I marked the feet of the rail as well for making space for the pointblades

_________________
Paul Bender

Everybody can shovel, firing is an art


Firing this train was more fun then hard labor © R. de Water

Picture - 06
The first outerrail soldered in place. The second prepared rail lies above the jig ready for use



Picture - 07
A shot with more or less the whole double slip insight



Picture - 08
The second outer rails in place. The bit near the frog is already at its final place. The rail right from the frog is temporarely., but needed to keep the sleepers at their proper alignment. The rail is placed at the location for the straight through rail



Picture - 09
The slipswitch take out of the jig for turning around. the alignment is more or less fixed now. Next step is cutting the sleepers to size



Picture - 10
The sleepers cut to size

_________________
Paul Bender

Everybody can shovel, firing is an art


Firing this train was more fun then hard labor © R. de Water

Picture - 11
The second frog assembly placed in the jig for soldering



Picture - 12
And here I decided to call it a day. It was quite a stressfull day and I do not have the calm to alter the jig with a milling session



Picture - 13
A close-up of the trouble spot. Unfortunatly I will have to mill into the nice lettering :-/



Picture - 14
Up untill here. To be continued



Picture - 15
The second (and last) modification to the FastTrack jig

_________________
Paul Bender

Everybody can shovel, firing is an art


Firing this train was more fun then hard labor © R. de Water

Picture - 16
It fits nicely on this side (as previous)



Picture - 17
But now the other side fits as well



Picture - 18
A third rail in place. This will keep the double slip in alignement whilst building and turning in the jig



Picture - 19
The double slip out of the jig with the temporary rail in place



Picture - 20
I skipped taking pictures of a couple of stages after the previous picture. The first set of point blades is already in place. The temporary rail is still in place to keep the slipswitch in alignment.

_________________
Paul Bender

Everybody can shovel, firing is an art


Firing this train was more fun then hard labor © R. de Water

Picture - 21
The first straight rail is now in place which will be followed by the opposite rail when the slip is being placed turned in the jig



Picture - 22
Tadaaaa: a working 1:9 double slip in code 40 in N-scale . A slip like this eats 2 meter of rail for breakfast :-/



Picture - 23
The altered FastTrack jig for accomodating the (double) slip as well



Picture - 24
An overview of the double slip



Picture - 25
Left side of the double slip

_________________
Paul Bender

Everybody can shovel, firing is an art


Firing this train was more fun then hard labor © R. de Water

Picture - 26
Middle of the double slip



Picture - 27
Right side of the double slip



Picture - 28
And how the slip fits in the (modified) jig, part 1



Picture - 29
And how the slip fits in the (modified) jig, part 2

Now all I have to do is figure out a way to make the pointblades moving. FT uses so called "hinged points" but I do like them. The point is that with a double slip you create two triangles, which makes the more or less unmovable . TO BE CONTINUED

One other issue is that strictly speaking this is a directional double slip. A true double slip is fully symetrical and can be used in both directions lay-out wise. This is still a left hand double slip and in some (50 % I assume ) you will need a right hand one

_________________
Paul Bender

Everybody can shovel, firing is an art


Firing this train was more fun then hard labor © R. de Water