Fast Tracks

I am curently looking at doing some #6 Double slip switches. We are having some difficulty determining the exact procedure and what needs to be done to get them to work. The templates show a mini guard rail inside the long frogs at the crossing area and solid points. However the instructions say they should be hinged and show no mini guardrails. Which is correct and what do we do to get them to work.

We are also having some difficulty figuring out how to make the rail at the the location of the frog where the mini guard rail is shown.

The #6 Double Slip has fixed points at the "long frog". The instruction page for movable points is for a #8 Double Slip. I made the mini guard rail quite a bit longer than shown on the template. I filed the guard to fit the curved closure rail behind it and sodered the guard to the pc board tie and the curved closure rail. This was much easier than trying to soder it to just the pc board tie.

Another thing I did was to cut the movable points with a small projection past the last pc board tie and used a Micro Engineering rail joiner cut in half for the pivot. It works great. Hope this helps.

Wayne.

Hi hoborob. The following is the order with some comments on how I made my slips.

1. Make all pieces and test fit in the jig. The main problem that I had was that the outside stock rails tended to warp vertically, either from curving them or from removing the bottom flange of the rail at the 2 points. I used a belt sander to remove the flange and found that by using multipy passes to reduce the heat generated, the warping was minimized but not eliminated.

2. Cut, gap and clean the PC board ties. I always test the ties with a continuity tester. It's easier to find a short now than later.

3. Solder the outside stock rails to the PC board ties. At the 5 ties in the middle of the switch, I soldered the outside flange only. From this point on I put some weight on the ends of the stock rails due to the warping noted in Item 1.

4. Solder the 2 end frogs.

5. Solder the kinked rail that forms the shallow frog and outside points. I soldered this rail to the 5 middle ties at the inside flange only.

6. Solder the 2 closure rails. I soldered this rail to the first of the 5 ties on the inside flange.

7. Solder the curved point rail. I soldered this rail to the 5 middle ties at the inside flange only.

8. Repeat steps 5, 6 & 7 for the other half of the Double Slip.

9. Solder the guard rails. The 2 at each end are straight forward. I found that the small guard rails at the center frogs were very difficult to hold and solder. After many attempts, I gave up on the short rail shown on the tie template. I made this rail long enougth to span all 5 PC board ties and filed it to fit the curved point rail. I tinned the bottom of the flange and soldered it to the cuved point rail at the 2 ends.

10. Solder the 4 points at each end to a PC board throw bar. After wathing Tim's videos several time I still ended with a point rail soldered to the stock rails. I now wrap the stock rail with a small strip of aluminum foil and have eliminated this problem. Make sure that both points that work together are tight to thier stock rails when soldering.

11. Cut the gaps at the end frogs.

12. Cut the two 4 point/throw bar assemblies loose. I make thse cuts using a jewlers saw and leave about 1/8" sticking past the 5 PC board ties at the center. I cut a rail joiner in half by slipping it onto a piece of scrap rail, clamping the head of the rail in a vise and cutting thru both with the jewlers saw. This system provides very easy to move points.

Being an absolute computer dummy, I don't know how to upload pictures so heres some URL's to some pictures of the junction that I am building.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m22/ ... G_0414.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m22/ ... G_0411.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m22/ ... G_0412.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m22/ ... G_0413.jpg

Wayne

G'day ...

I am also constructing the #6 Double-Slip, and am some-what at a loss as to how to obtain the correct angle for the fixed points at the long frog. I cannot find any instructions or info on how to do this.

Only solution I can think of at the moment is to guess ... and that's not exactly what these templates are about, I think.

Hoping some-one can give some help.

Regards

_________________
Jason McNair
Web Master - <a href="http://www.trainweb.org/midwestmrr/">Mid-West MRR</a>
Co-moderator - LokSound Yahoo Group

Hi Alvin
I filed the fixed points using the frog end of the Point Form tool. While this doesn't provide a point end angle that is parallel to the closure rail, it does allow for a tappered flange way to guide the wheels and is hardly noticable when the slip is completed.

Wayne

G'day Wayne ...

Many thanks for the Tip - I'll try it tonight.

Also, thanks for posting the pics of your own #6 Double slip - they have helped a lot in understanding how the #6 goes together - an area that the instructions leave a lot to be desired, I'm afraid.

Thanks again for the inspiration.

Regards
Jason

Thanks intalco39! I used your method of hinging the points with success.

Rick

Rick, nice work! I see that Tim is using the half rail joiner on his Central New Jersey's Bronx Terminal (see Part 6) to pivot some short points but is going to use the spike pivot detail at the throwbar. I haven't found this nessecary on my slips but this detail would eliminate the slight pivot of the throwbar that occurs with points soldered to the throwbar.

By the way, if you haven't seen the trackwork that Tim has done so far for the Bronx Terminal, have a look. It's the best I've ever seen.

Wayne.

I second that! Extremely well done. Practically a work of art!

_________________
Cheers!

Ron Warris
Fast Tracks