Building a turntable and roundhouse - part 2

Les this TT of yours is really great. I'm building a much smaller 7 stall  50 ft TT in HOn3 for my Ridgway yard on my RGS RR and have been watching and reading everything you have said and have of have shown (The programing video answered a number of my questions about indexing). I have 1 question so far as I'm not that far along to program yet but you said you use carpenters glue to adhere your tracks around the TT and when needing to adjust after the glue has dried you use alcohol to soak it for 10 min so you can lift the tracks to make slight adjustments.

My question is: Does it matter which alcohol is used for this as there is Methyl or methanol known as wood alcohol, Isopropyl 91%-and 75% and then 40-200 proof type in Grain alcohol(booze)? I'm assuming your using Isopropyl but if you would let me know which you use to loosen the glue so it will adhere again as I have all types of these in the chemical cabinet. Thanks!!

This is a fantastic series and I'm sure the paper Magazines are eating their hearts out after reading this Issue of MRH!

I must say the worst part about the whole article is waiting for the next installment

Dan

Les, I love the feeder idea. I'm going to use that drill-thread-pull-solder idea when I start laying feeders on my layout later this month.

 Dan,

Thanks for the kind words, I use 70% isopropyl alcohol I buy from the local pharmacy, I wish I had time to find it in gallon jugs.

Instead of worrying about super perfect alignment I can now do minor adjustments thanks to this method.

 Josh,

I have used this method on all our Modu-Rail modules, that works out to approximately 10-20 feeders per module except the 6 yard modules at about 30-40 each that's a total of over a thousand feeders if you include the frog and point feeders for our 72 turnouts.

I wore out three tips on my Weller cordless soldering iron to date.

Normally I am such a stickler that I wanted to drill each rail bottom like I did for the Ring Rail on the TT pit so you could not see the solder joint.

When we started building the modules and I figured out how many  individual rails I would have to drill and most of all position each individually, after a few moments I regained my sanity and decided to go with this method. 

Today I am very satisfied with the results; every time a modeler comes to see our layout they are surprised by the fact that there are no large solder blobs on our rails. 

Like Josh, I am impressed by the method you use for soldering feeders.  Not only is the soldering very neat and clean looking, it is also very strong because of the added mechanical connection of the wire through the rail.

But even more than that, I am impressed by your general wiring practices.  The wiring is nearly as neat as copper traces on a printed circuit board!  Very nice to look at and even better to troubleshoot...assuming you ever have wiring problems, which should be few and far between when so much care has been taken with the wiring.  I like it!

This is hands down a great tutorial!

 Thank you for your comments Blue,

Actually, I don't wire for the wow effect, I  do it because of having spent too many hours at shows under the benchwork (modules) trying to troubleshoot a rat's nest wiring without a mouse trap or cheese (terminal blocks and wiring diagrams). 

So I swore to myself that when I would do wiring I would do it right and document it even if it takes more time; well if you consider the fact that doing it right the first time actually saves you an enormous amount of time down the line, it's well worth the effort.

There is no secret to wiring, as I say often to model railroaders, it starts with one wire from point A to point B. The harder part is to identify points A & B and do it neatly. If you can lay track, wiring should be a breeze!

I guess my experience with Modular Railroading also had a lot to do with wiring neatness. I truly believe wiring is one of the most important things to get right in order to be able to really enjoy Model Railroading.

As I get older I try to avoid having to crawl under the module to run after those pesky rats....VBG 

Actually, I don't wire for the wow effect, I  do it because of having spent too many hours at shows under the benchwork (modules) trying to troubleshoot a rat's nest wiring without a mouse trap or cheese (terminal blocks and wiring diagrams).

Les,

I did not mean to suggest that you were doing it to make it look good.  If that's how I came across, I apologize.  The neatness is just a by product of solid wiring practices and your work is a stellar example of solid wiring practices. Kudos!

Les, thanks for the artilce.

You can do feeders without drilling holes and make them invisible (although I can see how the drilled hole would make the feeder that much stronger of a joint).

I did it on my chainsaw by just bending the very tip of the feeder wire into a very short 'L", and soldering that to the bottom of the rail.

With all the jostling, I've had one come loose (bad solder job), but it was actually fixed easily by pushing the wire up against the rail and applying heat to the rail itself - but I don't have plastic ties to worry about.

 Blue,

No apology necessary, I din't take offense, I rarely do!

I just wanted to make sure to explain the why behind wow.

Many people have asked me why I go to that much trouble, now they know.

Thanks again for the Kudos.

 Scarpia,

I am glad you liked the article, by the way, nice trackwork, very clean, as for the feeders what you are mentioning I have done before, I gave up on that and use my present method simply because of the mechanical strength of the joint.

With plastic ties, as you say, your method is not an option. On my first modules, (circa 1981), I also used to drill a hole on the bottom of the rail, insert and solder the feeder, then drill a hole in the roadbed and place the rail in the appropriate place, just like you did and like I did for the ring rail on the TT - but I had handlaid track on wooden ties.

After several modular setups, some solder joints came loose due to the lack of a strong mechanical joint so I would apply heat to the rail and most of the time that would work. After several frustrating incidents during shows I decided on the method I use now, haven't looked back since.

So far, after 8 years on our Modu-Rail modules, there has not been one solder joint that has caused us any worry.

I guess on a permanent layout it might be different of course.

Les, I can see the wisdom in designing systems for worst case scenarios (in this case modular construction) even for a non-mobile layout. The robustness, neatnessm, and attention to detail certainly can't hurt with any kind of construction.

i'm going to try the drilled method the next time around. I think I'll chat with Tim Warris at Amherst, and see if he can produce a single rail jig that would hold the rail in place securly for drilling and soldering purposes.

 Scarpia,

Great idea, I'll join you at Amherst if you don't mind and we can both twist Tim's arm...VBG

Sounds good. I'm envisioning a 4x3 inch aluminum plate, with three slots for inverted rail (55,70,&83) heads that run it's length, and through screw holes in each corner for mounting purposes. Maybe one thin through drilled slot across the rail slots for the drill press, just in case?

 Scarpia,

If I follow your idea, you are looking for a tabletop jig, what I was thinking was more along the line of an "in situ" type jig, maybe 1 inch long, which would straddle the installed track and have angled holes drilled through on both sides so each rail can be drilled. It could also be used as a heat sink when soldering.

Let me draw something up to show what I was thinking and I will get back to you!

 Scarpia,

I was thinking something more along this line! What do you think?

It can also be used as a heat sink when soldering.

What you want might already exist.  It's a soldering tool for flex but it might hold loose rail too?

Edit:  Ahh, but it lacks the pilot holes for drilling!

Thanks Blue, I know about those, but what Scarpia and I are looking for are similar but with pilot holes for drilling through rail webs!

Soldering heat sinks are available in many different forms right down to good old pliers left on track.

Les,

Yes, I caught that after posting and edited my post to reflect my missing the pilot holes the first time around.  I know from looking at Rodney's site that he will make custom tools so he might be able to make what you want, though from what I have heard ordering from Rodney can be an adventure.  Much better if Tim can do it.

That looks a lot better than I can draw, Les. Do you think this is code dependant on the rail? are multiple ones needed per rail size?

And what about curves, or do you think it would be loose enough on the rail to compensate for curves.

I'm headed out of town for the rest of the week, but I'll try to whip up my idea either late this weekend or next week.

I hope Tim reads some of these, other wise he'll be a bit surprsied at the end of the month!

lacking the pilot holes, how hard would it be to drill your own pilot holes in a ready made tool?

I'd like to see one in HO-HOn3 or build a duel gauge gig with a 4th rail so it doesn't matter which side the narrow gauge was on. Make them in codes 100/83 and codes 70/55 also make them duel purpose as both Heat sink and Rail drill guide. Then one tool could be set up to drill Standard Gauge, Narrow Gauge and Duel gauge reversible as well as a heat sink for soldering Rain joiners.

      To answer the question Russ Bellinis asked: lets hear the answer from my dog if you don't own a drill press with a milling vice!

   HER  ANSWER: RUFF !!!

no really it would be pretty hard for most people to drill these holes accurately through the aluminum heat sinks with micro drills and get the alignment perfect.

Dan

no really it would be pretty hard for most people to drill these holes accurately through the aluminum heat sinks with micro drills and get the alignment perfect.

Dan

Yes I agree.  Without a milling machine or something precision like that it would be a very hit or miss operation, I think.

Thanks Scarpia, just a little drawing I came up with, thanks ACAD!.

I don't think it would be any different from the point form jigs as far as Codes go 83/70 could one jig for both sizes. Curves on the other hand we will have to have to do some serious thinking to resolve that.

I am sure though, that when we talk to Tim about this idea, he will most definitely have some thoughts on this.

Let's digest this between now and Amherst and we can talk about it there.

Have a good trip!

Russ,

I'll side with Dan on this accurate drilling would require equipment the average modeler does not have. FastTracks (Tim Warris) on the other hand has the necessary tools to make this jig.

Dan wrote:

Then one tool could be set up to drill Standard Gauge, Narrow Gauge and Duel gauge reversible as well as a heat sink for soldering Rain joiners

I love it when you dream out loud like that Dan, one tool, man, that would be something!

 OK Scarpia,

Here is another version of the tool, like the three point track guage from Micro Engineering. This should work on curves.

How about a spring steel rod with two set screws.  You could drill right thru and make it length ajustable.

Marc Fournier, Quebec

Marc wrote:

How about a spring steel rod with two set screws.  You could drill right thru and make it lenght ajustable.

Good idea Marc, the more we think about it the more inventive we can be!

In issue #5 Jan/Feb 2010, page 112, Fig 89, the drawing showing the APR (Automatic Power Routing) Terminal Block wiring contains an error. The position of the track numbers is wrong, please refer to the Revision #1 drawing below for the correct wiring.

MRH apologizes for any inconvienience caused by this slip up.

Charlie Comstock

Editor - MRH