Taking a Break from Woodworking

So, I am of course still working on building the layout.  Currently all of the wood framing is now in play and time for the decking to go in, which will be a combination of plywood and XPS foam.

But I need to start multi-tasking a bit more.  So I am going to start making some points. I have an ulterior motive though, as the club I am in is building a new HO scale layout with both Standard and Narrow gauge tracks. So we will need some dual gauge points that diverge to narrow, yet continue to go straight in dual gauge.  No problemo says this one - I have some jigs.

So I have setup a point making table in my shed where the airconditioning is working very nicely indeed.  A necessity in this hot and humid summer we are having.

Yep, I bought the Fast Tracks dual gauge jigs in #5 size a few years back, as I knew I would be making my own points. So it caters for HOn3½ scale which is 12mm track and also the HO scale in standard track of 16.5mm.  With the one set of jigs I can also make any combination of  12mm and 16.5mm points - plain standard gauge, plain narrow gauge or combinations of both. For those curious, the standard gauge will be for running NSW (New South Wales) trains and of the course the narrow is for my home state of Queensland , the QR trains.

There are two jigs needed to play this game of dual gauge for me.  You need one jig to make points that have the narrow gauge running on the left hand side of the track and another jig to make the ones with the narrow gauge running on the right hand side of the track.  Here is the one for the narrow gauge running on the left hand side of the track:

So from the above jig I can make all dual gauge points or just a narrow gauge point as pictured below. Also standard gauge and combinations of them can be made.

So here are the makings to build a point.  There is the laser cut plywood sleeper set, the lengths of rail cut in readiness (using code 83 rail), and of course the copper clad sleepers.  The copper clads are actually PCB that has been routed to the correct size by Fast Tracks.  All I have to do is cut them to length and then put an electical gap on the top side with a small file so the tracks don't short out from rail to rail.

So, the copper clads get slotted into their positions in readiness.  A previously made point sits above watching the process going on.

I will start with the frog - ribbit.  So out comes the Fast Tracks PointsForm tool.  This allow you to file the two pieces of rail that will make the frog, accurately.  Just slide the rail into the block and clamp it shut with the screws.  Then with your trusty metal file, file the rail away until you are just sliding along the side of the block.  Don't worry, the block is hardened steel and does not easily file away.

Then you slide both pieces of rail into the big jig and hit it with some rosin cored solder and of course a soldering iron.  Voila - a pointy bit.

Then you solder this onto the copper clads, again whilst using the big jig.  Here it what it starts to look like when not in the jig.

There - all the relevant copper clads are in place on this pointy bit, the frog. Ribbit, ribbit.

So next we start adding in the outer rails.  

In this particular case, that make 3 rails.  Looking at the picture below, the bottom rail is purely only used by standard gauge wheels.  The top rail is used by both narrow and standard gauge wheels and the second bottom rail is used only by narrow gauge wheels. Confused yet?  Try building these suckers...  Nah, once you look at the videos and documentation they supply, and have on their website ( Fast Tracks that is ) you get the hang of it - you just don't rush these things.

So the soldering continues

Now, before we actually soldered in the two rails that will have the point blade hit up to them, we need to file away some of the rail.  Yep, there is another hardened steel tool available to make it easier - the StockAid tool.  Again, just slide the rail into it and lock it down.  Out with the metal file for a bit of filing exercise and we are left with the correct piece for the job.

In the next two shots you can see on the upper rail, the indent we have filed for the point blade to be able to hook in and allow the wheels to pass properly.

So we are now ready for the point blades to go in. But first some more filing - yes there is a bit of filing required when making points.  So with the PointsForm tool, the other end of it this time, you insert the bits of rail and file away and end up with a nice long filing which will be your blade.  The other end you bend as per instructions, and this makes the little guard rail near the frog.  So the blade is pictured above the point in the below pic.

Now the blades are soldered into place.  You also make a couple of small guard rails and solder them into place opposite the frog.

Phew - almost done. Now we just need to fully electrically isolate the frog.  With a small jewellers saw and a 5/0 saw blade - yes, damned tiny bugger, we cut the rail gaps.  And yes, they are very tiny gaps, but since the rail is soldered to the PCB's it really doesn't move with the heat and cold of the days and night, so it works fine and does the job we want..

The damned tiny saw blade against my millimetre ruler.

Now we are done... well almost.

So I needed to test it of course. So some plywood onto some tables and some track of dual gauge type was grabbed as was some narrow gauge track.  Things were screwed down and wires soldered into place and such.  This was a big job all in itself this setting up of a test rig.

Then a few QR narrow gauge locos were whacked onto the track with some wagons, as was a NSW standard gauge loco.  All combinations of points and trains that are workable was tried and it all worked nicely.

Funny enough, even though I was powering the frog manually as required, it turned out I left the lead disconnected at some stage and did not notice it for quite a while as all the locos were long wheelbase and just ran over the point fine. The short 1720 class QR loco didn't have a problem either as it was juuuust long enough, but also had a stay alive installed :-)

Okay smarty pants... my friend Scooter down the back of the class has his hand up and saying I'm not finished - well duh...  You guessed it, not all the sleeprs are in place.  That's right, the laser cut wooden sleepers.  I will glue them on later.  What you do is get the correct contact cement and apply it to the rails and sleepers where needed, then once set, you push them together and voila - done.  Buuuut, there is a hint they give you for even better strength.  Run a soldering iron over the rail and it will set the contact glue rock solid :-)

So that is the first point made this year, with many more to make over the next year or so. I expect to need to make 60 or more HO scale points and 100 or so N scale points as well - that's right, I'll be making all my N scale points as well.  Yes, my mother did get me tested as a kid and even so, I do believe I may have been dropped on my head back then - on ya Dad  ;-)

And it Continues to Grow

 Over the last month I managed to pretty much finish the benchwork around the walls. The XPS Foam is yet to be glued on, but that is one of the last jobs - wiring and such first. Then I had to rearrange the contents of the shed a bit to give some more room at the head end.

I have found that the 1.2m mobile scaffolding unit I have, which was actually purchased many many moons ago for me to use when sheeting the walls - yeh, that never happened, as I got a professional to do the walls so they were done right!  Anywho, that scaffolding of mine makes a really great mobile wood and steel storage unit for my current building materials for the layout :-)

So with a bit of space made for construction, I began the small peninsula.  This is the smallest one and has had a few iterations after discussions with the fellas. So far I have been able to build the rectangular framing for all three decks and get them screwed into position.  The lollipop end of the penisula has yet to be built - a few ideas mulling around in the old scone for that. So just a corflute semicircle sits giving the idea of the end of the peninsula.

So that gets us to yesterday.  Today I decided to get the curved bits done where the peninsula joins the wall units.  Fiddly, but worth it in the end run.  I think I will be using masonite to act as the facia for the decks, so it needs some places to screw into aroud these joins.  So offcuts of the timbers I use for the decks comes in handy - waste not, want not.

So we  start with a corner.

Get our template for the relevant size curve out and see if it works. For the middle deck I think a 40cm radius should work.  The bottom deck will get 50cm radius.

For the 40cm, I think just one piece of timber at 45 degrees should suffice.

So I get a scrap piece of wood and clamp under the deck to temporarily hold the chunk of wood in place that I have cut for the job.

I then marked out on the frame where the new wood would go and then drilled the relevant screw holes.

The trusty screw driver was then used and in went the screws.

Now, on the bottom deck since it was a 50cm radius, I needed more support timbers for the curve. So more cutting and shaping and you get three pieces of wood making the curve.

The other side was done next and by then it was tools down for the day.

I'll think of something to do tomorrow.  Maybe hunt down a welder...  as I am thinking that the ends of the peninsula might be made from 20 x 20 x 1.6 mm steel tube welded up like this and then bolted to a big 35x70 or 35x90mm verticle chunk of wood.

By for now.

A Day of Building the Layout

 Well, today dawned an overcast day with predicted rain.  Well bugger!  I can't put my drop saw outside to cut wood, now can I...  But wouldn't you know it, the weather bureau's prediction didn't come to fruition until 4:30 this arvo, well after tools down time :-)

So I started the day with a good strong coffee, then checked my supplies and found I was low on stock of 42 x 19mm DAR Pine.  So off to Bunnings to grab another 20 lengths.  By the way, my local Bunnings now hasn't got any decent 2.4m lengths of that wood size after I finished with their stock today :-)

Now the plan was to get enough wood ready to be able to make 12 frames for the middle deck. This should then make it that the middle deck around the wall would be in place - peninsulas come later.

So 12 frames needs 2 lengths of 1.2m 42 x 19mm DAR for the sides and then 4 cross members, each being ... let's see, if the deck is 600mm wide and the cross members go in between the 1.2m lengths, then they need to be 562mm in length.  So each frame needs just under 3.6 m of the 42x19mm DAR. So I need 18 of the 2.4m lengths of DAR.  I dragged them out into my outdoor workshop where I also moved the dropsaw for the morning., and proceeded to make a lot of noise and cut my timber up.

After a lot of sawdust and noise was made, I had the requisite bits of timber ready for my next batch of frames. 48 cross beams and the 24 sides.

The rest of the day was used to then do a little bit of drilling...  Each crossbeam needs 7 holes to cater for wiring.  So the drill press was setup and an 18mm spade bit inserted and away I went for a few hours making about 5 litres of sawdust and 336 holes.

The 48 crossbeams were then lugged back into the shed ready for the next stage of their evolution - screw holes - Pocket Screw holes to be precise.  So out with the drilling jig and away I went for the rest of the day, drilling 192 pocket screw holes.

So that was enough as it was 4 o'clock and time to go inside.  But of course sweep up the mess and clean up the benches for tomorrow.  And get the bits out for tomorrow - ie the screw driver and pocket screws.  Each frame will need 16 screws to assemble

I'm Really Liking this Working on the Railroad Bit

So more middle deck today.  

So I had to cut up some more lengths of double slot rail first.

Then screw them onto the wall after of course measuring very careful 5 times to make sure I get the holes at the right height above ground level.  Having lined the shed with 12mm plywood sure makes it easier for building - it becomes part of the structure.

Then add the bracket - simple slot it in type jobbie.

Then make some more frames to sit on those brackets.  I'm using 42x19mm DAR pine timber for the frame and joining with screws via the use of a Kreg Pocket Jig to make neat holes for the screws.

Then join the new frame to the previous one with a couple of screws.

There, another 3 frames in place.

Now to add some foam.  I'm using 50mm thick XPS foam for the middle deck.

The rails for the brackets stick out 20mm from the wall.

So my trusty jewelers saw with a fine blade does the cutting very nicely and quickly.

Now the foam sits nicely against the wall.

There - foam sheets in place on the latest batch of frames.

Last job of the day was to take all the rails off the wall on the forst for frames, as I had made the rails longer than needed and that would have necesitated have a backdrop sheet of MDF or something added for the bottom deck.  Neating trimming each rail to the bottom of the bracket allows a neat finish and no need for any timber sheeting :-)

Oh, by the way, each frame is also screwed to each bracket with 2 screws. Solid as I reckon :-)

Tomorrow might be some more top deck frames since I started some more today.  I'm knackered again.