R & D complete, and the first production run nearly complete, and the Point Form tools are almost ready to release...
The last minute redesign was well worth it, the new point forming tools work like a charm, you simply slide the rail into a groove in the end of the tool, one end for switch points, the other for frog points, and file the rail flush with the tool, a perfect angle is formed every time.
The tools went through a lot of incarnations to get to this point. We explored every possibility, including hardening, painting, powder coating, and several other approaches. When all was said and done, we came to this version, which has the best of all possibilities.
We decided against hardening the tool, it would significantly add to the cost, and does not serve any purpose. Sliding a file over a hardened tool kills the file almost instantly, making filing quickly frustrating. The tool, when use properly, will last for hundreds of turnouts.
I was hoping to have some sort of coating on the tool as well, just for ascetic reasons, but ultimately decided against it as it added to the steps involved to manufacture the tool, and would only become quickly scratched when clamped in a vice, even if powder coated. I finally decided to just engrave the steel, it give the tool a nice "industrial" look, and is very durable.
All that is left now is to write up the documentation and get everything onto the site, hopefully some time this week....
| Attachments: |
|
Point form.JPG [ 192.78 KiB | Viewed 5802 times ] |