Fast Tracks

I continually find myself having to mount a Tortoise offset to the side of the turnout due to structure or (duh) track in a tunnel underneath. I decided to design an offset linkage I could use that didn't require 3 hands to mount and adjust. It dawned on me that I had some scrap pieces of rail that were just too short to be used as guard rails as well as some cut-off pieces of PC board tie material. I drilled a hole in a piece of tie and soldered an L shaped piece of .039 piano wire to it. Then I captured this between two pieces of rail and soldered the rail heads to two cross pieces of waste tie material. The foot of the rail holds the piece with the wire up and allows it to slide back and forth smoothly. The two protruding pieces of tie are easily screwed to the underside of the layout by capturing them under the edge of 3/8" long 1/4" hex head screws. Then it's a simple matter of hooking the tortoise or a piece of piano wire to a hole drilled in the extended piece of tie which the wire is soldered to.

I wondered why I kept all the little pieces of scrap. You have given me a useful idea for some of them. Excellent closeups of your work. Any particular reason for .039" wire? I have several spools of different sizes, but none this size. If there is a reason, then I will get some of it. I have .035" and .045", plus all the sizes from .005" thru .022". This kind of information sharing is what makes this hobby so good. I am looking for different ways of making remote mechanical turnout controls. Anybody have any ideas and/or photos? I need to make several dozen when the time comes and every one probably will be slightly different due to distances from the points to the hand actuator controls. There will also be many that will be controlled by an electrical actuator. This particular method looks like it can be adapted to either. Keep up the good work.

This may be a terminology thing. They call it various things here in Oregon, but it is steel and sold in tubes (of some number of pieces depending on its' diameter) in 36" lengths. I get it at Ace Hardware, but I've seen it in hobby shops that cater to airplane builders at about 2x the price. I've heard it called piano wire, music wire, hobby wire, etc. At any rate, it comes in lots of diameters, including .032, .039 and .04-something I call "crowbar stock". The .039 is used because the Tortoise-supplied wire is way too weak and .032 is marginal when it's long enough to go through benchwork plus Homasote plus cork. Even the .039 bends a good bit when the turnout is over two inches above the Tortoise fulcrum. If I'd had the sense to design the benchwork around the turnouts I could have eliminated a lot of misery for myself. It seems like each turnout is in the most awkward spot I could find.

Jim

I purchase most of this kind of supplies from Grainger.com. They carry all kinds of shim stock (including brass) in lots of thickness in rolls of 6" X 100" and in sheets, music wire in 1 lb. rolls in all the industry diameters. It straightens fairly easily after being coiled. The .039" at Graingers in a 1 lb roll has 247 ft in it and costs $8.26, their part # is 3L574. It is listed as .991 millimeter dia. Files of any kind imaginable, especially the 2nd cut styles. Soldering equipment, and on and on. Prices are probably as low as anywhere, shipping is really reasonable. The only criteria is that you have to have a business account with them, or work(ed) for someone that does. I personally did a lot of company ordering from them where I retired from a few years ago and it is OK with both parties for me to order on a prepaid basis. No invoice gets sent to my former employer, they just use the company name for paperwork. I am going to test what I have, the .045", and see what it does.

Hmmm. The stuff I use wouldn't UN-coil without a real struggle. I believe it's tempered and much harder than what you describe. It's more rod than wire, I guess you'd say. That's why i call the .04-whatever-it-is "crowbar stock". That stuff is *stiff*. As for files, I'm going to check out Harbor Freight. I had good luck with the belt sander and some incredibly cheap carbide saw blades ($9 for a 60 tooth 10" and it cuts very smoothly!). The dratted files are expensive in a hardware store or Home Depot and despite treating mine properly, they don't last as long as I'd like.

Jim

The music wire from Grainger is tempered and somewhat hardened, but it doesn't take too much to "draw" it straight. I use a pair of smooth jaw pliers, a few drags thru them and it is straight enough to use. 247' for $8.26 beats the price at the hdwe store for a few 36" or so pieces a long ways for me, a little time to straighten it as needed is not much for me to sacrifice. Also, I am a long way from where anything like this is offered for modelers (at least a 2 hour round trip + shopping time + fuel + finding small inventories or nothing when I get there) and Graingers delivers to my door via UPS. Most model RR supply sellers on the Net charge an outrageous price for shipping and supplies like this, too. Unless you place a large order it isn't even worth the shipping. Some of the smaller wire is in the $30/lb range and has several thousand feet/lb. I have used a lot of it for locomotive handrail fabrication and handmaking track spikes. We all have to do what we feel is best for us, I guess.
Keep ideas coming and I will do the same.
Thanks

For whatever reason, the server logged me off just as I submitted the above reply. Just want to be sure you knew who had replied.

Littletree

I tried to fit some scrap ME code 83 rail and HO PCB tie scraps together but the 1/16" tie (no 1/32" on hand) seems too thick to fit between the railhead bottom and railbase top like your photos show. What rail/tie combination did you use?
I also used some of the coiled .045" music wire. It was harder to straighted than I remembered, but in a couple of minutes I had enough of it straight and ready to use for several units. It is too hard/large to easily cut, so I break it by holding it with pliers and slightly bending it back and forth just a few times. It breaks fairly clean, just a touch on the sander and it is burr-free.
Probably will get some of the .039", or try the .035" I have, especially for N scale, tho most of my work is in HO.
I checked some OLD Tyco NS and Atlas Brass flex track (circa 1973, Austria) and the railhead top-to-bottom/railbase thickness is really coarse. Even the web is extra thick. A 1/16" PCB tie would not even fit there.

Don't know what is happening, but the server logged me off again when I submitted the above reply.

littletree

Sorry, I should have said code 100. I guess it won't be as easy to get to work with smaller track. I just never thought of that. Just about any hardware store has a tool that's made with hardened jaws to cut hard wire. It has jaws like a parrot's beak or something sort of like that. It just snaps it off clean in one whack. These are NOT bolt cutters, they're a one-hand tool the size of big pliers. Well worth it. I found a picture:
http://www.billfishtacklesupply.com/Tools/tools.htm
Scroll down a bit to BTS wire cutters, there are two examples.

Jim

I already have a pair of the hardened wire cutters, haven't used them in a while and just forgot about them.
I am going to try using code 83 rail and bevelling the edge of the tie material so it fits. If that doesn't work I may get a pack of code 100, but do not have any other use for it at the time.

Thanks for the info.
Littletree

For just the Tortoise thingies, I think I'd just get a piece if code 100 Atlas flex and strip out the rails. Lots cheaper and not real critical as far as quality control is concerned.

Jim

Boy, old age is really getting to me. Can't see the trees for the forest.

Thanks

Littletree