Found it. 2 pieces $44. Ouch!

Found it. 2 pieces $44. Ouch! Oh well, I am ready to try spline now.

Jim Lowery

Different Materials

I have heard of people using other materials for spline besides hardboard. I believe I saw someone on here talking about a product called kerf board, that is up to half an inch thick. Because it has a kerf built into it, they liked it for its ability to bend around curves, and because it's thicker, it requires fewer laminations.

I also recently read of someone using the pressed paper that is used in drop ceiling panels. It comes in 4X8 sheets, so you would cut them into 1" wide lengths. The advantage of this material is that it cuts with a hobby knife. It is also thicker than hardboard, so it takes fewer laminations. I think they also mentioned sealing it with lacquer once it was in place because it is a paper-based product. 

I haven't tried either of these, but if you're having a hard time finding more traditional materials, you might look into improvising with more readily available materials. You would need to experiment, but in the long run, it might be cheaper for your wallet and your sanity. You might also be surprised at how easy something else works for you.

Pine Spline

At our club we rip all of our spline on a table saw from 1x4 lumber.

http://www.wrmrc.ca/construction76.html

Shop around

Jim, that is pricey for 1/4" hardboard. I recently contacted a local yard about having 1/4" hardboard cut for me into 1-1/2" strips. Handling the hardboard through the table saw is cumbersome at best and I was curious what the cost difference would be. I specified the strips had to be exactly 1-1/2". They had two types of hardboard available, each one side burnished. Something about the density was the difference if I recall correctly. The yard recommended the premium material because of its additional strength when cut into strips. Even then the sheets were only $18.00 ea. The alternate was $12.00 ea.

Funny, I was just at

Funny, I was just at that site earlier today. So you rip the spline from 1 x 4 pine. are you setting up a rip fence at 1/4" or are you diminishing each cut by 1/4" + the width of the blade?

I agree, I am going to try another material.

Thanks guys 

Jim Lowery

Thanks for the reply. I could

Thanks for the reply. I could have got a little cheaper, but I got the two sided version of the stuff. Oh well. I think for the next level, I will be using  another material. I will have to do some research.

Thanks Jim Lowery.

Oh and I am going to be ripping it my self. I will save a little more money there.

So you rip the spline from 1

Yeah, you absolutely have to use a fence, the spline needs to have an even thickness all the way.

WRMRC Site Down?

Trying to follow the link given for the spline construction but the site seems to be down or the link is bad.

WRMRC Site Outage

There's a server maintenance/move going on today. It could be down for a period. Hopefully all the addressing will be updated by tomorrow.

Here's another image of the same area that was shown in the [currently inaccessible] link from a gallery on WRMRC's facebook site: (Hopefully it sizes OK)

Site Maint. - Thanks Chris

That spline looks great.  Is there more information on the site regarding how you rip the lumber and assemble the splines?

I'll check again tomorrow to see if the site is available.

Thanks again.

Pine Spline

The spline laths are simply cut on a tablesaw to 1/4" thick.

They're aligned to a centreline using screws or nails in the risers, or temporary bracing to clamp against. Gluing is all with regular yellow wood glue. Lots of C-clamps are involved.

If you have facebook, you can see some more, and follow the club's construction activities at https://www.facebook.com/wrmrc

Ripping Spline

Hey Chris,

The site is back up.

No.  Actually, I avoid Facebook like the plague.

I'll stick to visiting the website, thanks all the same. [smile]

You mentioned earlier, ripping the spline from 1 X 4 lumber.

In the pictures it looks like the spline laths are about 1-1/2" high and 1/4" thick, so are you sawing the 1 X 4 in half to get two 1 X 2 pieces and then ripping the 1 X 2 into two 1/4" strips?

A couple things

Actually, some of the stuff on the website is a little inaccurate.  For one thing, we cut the lumber down to 3/16"; anything thicker won't bend easily down to the 24" radius we sometimes need on spurs and branches.  We usually get 1x2 or 1x3 lumber; anything wider just costs more per spline.  The lumber is just ripped to size on a table saw.  

Six pieces together are wide enough for one track.  The splines are glued with carpenters glue and held together with clamps till it sets.  To get the shape, we first mount risers on the track centerline.  Then the first spline (usually one of the center ones) is mounted on the top of the risers with some drywall screws screwed in on either side, along with some L shaped braces screwed to the shelf to keep it in shape between risers.  The second spline has glue spread evenly on one side and is then clamped to the first spline with more C clamps, leaving a long, unglued tail free at one end to allow the next piece to be added down the line.  We usually do a run through a complete scene with a couple splines and then build up the rest until it's 6 pieces wide.  Once it's wide enough and dry, we drill and countersink a hole into the spline to allow a drywall screw to fix it firmly onto the risers.  

We make turnouts by tapering the splines on a table sander or with a plane.  The angles of each end must vary to match the geometery of the turnout, but it's not as critical as it sounds--as long as there's enough wood to support all the turnout ties, you're good.  Parallel tracks are spaced using temporary spacers which can be removed afterwards to allow styrofoam strips to be added between the roadbeds to support the ballast.

The surface is leveled using a plane.  The plane is also used to create superelevations on curves.  Once the surface is smooth and angled correctly, wood ties are glued directly to it which we then sand and stain with acrylic paint before hand spiking the rail.  Trying to hand spike into hardboard, or many other types of wood, would be painful to impossible, but pine takes the spikes very nicely.

Spline Detail

Thanks for the detailed information, Jurgen!

no problem

No problem, Kevin.  We've been using this technique for over a decade, and it's been solid and reliable.