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Fast Tracks • View topic - Centerlines to help with layout spacing.

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 4:44 pm 
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Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2008 2:31 pm
Posts: 33
I've been doing some planning work in my favorite CAD program, and I have a request that would make my life a million times simpler, and I think may help many other members. When drawing a one line representation of a route, a turn out looks like this:

Image

Of course there is a frog angle, and distances A, B, and C to the respective ends of the turnouts.

This shape is trivial to lay out in CAD programs, except that distances A, B, and C are not readily available anywhere. It's also much easier to lay out on benchwork, as it's simple straight lines that can be put down with a straight edge or chalk line.

So my request for our hosts to consider:

* Place distances A, B, and C on the tie templates. Perhaps in two variants, minimum turnout lengths, and default turnout length.
* Draw these three lines in (faintly, dotted?) on the tie templates.

The first would make it much easier to do planning in simple one line cad form, and the second would make placement easier. Lay out the one lines, glue down a cut out track template on top aligned with the lines, set the turnout on top of that.


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PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 9:27 am 
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Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2005 10:48 am
Posts: 365
Location: East Texas - USA
There are several 'issues' to deal with. The frog 'angle' is a ratio - but one that is really an Isosceles Triangle (which affects the geometry).

The limits of the straight paths are dramatically affected by your choice of turnout supplier. There is not a common and exact dimension for a given numbered turnout. Even prototypes had differing engineering geometries for their turnouts - model manufacturers are even more divergent.

If you are hand laying your turnouts, don't crowd the transition from the closure to the points, it leads to abrupt kinks. Since this is the FastTracks site, measure the templates for your scale and establish the geometry for the various sizes you want to deal with and make them a library element in your CAD program.

-ed-

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-ed mccamey-
COSLAR RR - http://www.coslar.us/
NMRA Standards and Conformance Department
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I estimate I have about 5 pounds of coupler springs somewhere in the vicinity of my workbench.


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PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 10:37 am 
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Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2008 2:31 pm
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