While reading the May 2013 issue I saw the question asked "How do you clean up flux and other stuff that tends to get into switch-making jigs?" John Stoecker went on to describe various ways to go about cleaning a soldering iron which was not what the questioner asked.
Having built close to 100 Fast Tracks turnouts over the years I've come across the problem of gunk from soldering paste/flux and dirt building up in the rail cutouts of the jig. After repeated builds, the channel gets gunked up with a sticky mess. I've cleaned my fixtures the following way: I run the fixture under warm water and using an old toothbrush, I scrub the fixture with a few drops of a grease cutting dish detergent, like Dawn, and rinse it thoroughly, repeating as necessary till the fixture is nice and clean. I find I need to do a good cleaning every 10-15 builds. The fixture looks almost brand new after a good cleaning.
The May Questions and Answers had a query for free graphics software. I use Gimp, an open source program found at: http://www.gimp.org/. It is available for Windows or Linux.
It is very sophisticated if all the features are used but the manual and online help is very good. There is also a series of how to articles running in Full Circle Magazine that will take the user from very simple to professional layout designing. http://fullcirclemagazine.org/
I also agree with Ted above, I think you missed what the person was asking. My Fast Track jigs are always dirty, now I know how to clean them up for the next batch of turnouts.
I like the idea of a blocking sheet. I use 3x5 index cards to tell yardmasters what cars should be n the next ore train, as well as what order the cars go for the next ore dock shove. Maybe I can put them all into a clear sheet and change them out after each session or ore boat.
Thomas G.
Thomas W. Gasior MMR
Modeling northern Minnesota iron ore line in HO.
YouTube: Splitrock323 Facebook: The Splitrock Mining Company layout
Comments
Tip missed the mark
Hi Joe,
While reading the May 2013 issue I saw the question asked "How do you clean up flux and other stuff that tends to get into switch-making jigs?" John Stoecker went on to describe various ways to go about cleaning a soldering iron which was not what the questioner asked.
Having built close to 100 Fast Tracks turnouts over the years I've come across the problem of gunk from soldering paste/flux and dirt building up in the rail cutouts of the jig. After repeated builds, the channel gets gunked up with a sticky mess. I've cleaned my fixtures the following way: I run the fixture under warm water and using an old toothbrush, I scrub the fixture with a few drops of a grease cutting dish detergent, like Dawn, and rinse it thoroughly, repeating as necessary till the fixture is nice and clean. I find I need to do a good cleaning every 10-15 builds. The fixture looks almost brand new after a good cleaning.
Best Regards,
Ted DiIorio
http://maparr1943.blogspot.com/
Design a Paint Scheme
Hi Joe,
The May Questions and Answers had a query for free graphics software. I use Gimp, an open source program found at: http://www.gimp.org/. It is available for Windows or Linux.
It is very sophisticated if all the features are used but the manual and online help is very good. There is also a series of how to articles running in Full Circle Magazine that will take the user from very simple to professional layout designing. http://fullcirclemagazine.org/
Lee
Good tip about the blocking diagram
I also agree with Ted above, I think you missed what the person was asking. My Fast Track jigs are always dirty, now I know how to clean them up for the next batch of turnouts.
I like the idea of a blocking sheet. I use 3x5 index cards to tell yardmasters what cars should be n the next ore train, as well as what order the cars go for the next ore dock shove. Maybe I can put them all into a clear sheet and change them out after each session or ore boat.
Thomas G.
Thomas W. Gasior MMR
Modeling northern Minnesota iron ore line in HO.
YouTube: Splitrock323 Facebook: The Splitrock Mining Company layout
Read my Blog
Soldering
The tip was extracted from a long posting John Stoecker made about trackwork. If anyone misunderstood the question, it was me, not him.
Many thanks to the people who posted their techniques for cleaning up the jig. Keep 'em coming.