Since my last post, I've had an issue with the min-split HVAC not cooling properly over the 12 straight days of 100+ degrees. I had to rearrange the room to give the technicians full access to the inside unit of the mini-split. Now the helix is temporarily in the middle of the room which does make it much easier to work on and test. Although, I did try to solder one of my fingers to the track this past week. Added info & pics on 31 August below.
The picture below is the Blue Goose ready for a test to test its' climbing ability on the spline helix. I perform this test after each spline helix section is attached to determine if there are any track or electrical issues.
The track height on the third turn above the train is now 10 7/8 inches above the table top. I have also moved the joint for the biscuit to the middle of the straight section. I believe that it will be easier to join the sections at that point rather at the beginning of the curve. Also, I need at least one more section of spline helix to get me to the level that I will need to exit onto the main level of the planned layout. That means that I need to cut up one more sheet of hardboard (yields about 50 strips) as I only have enough to do about half of the next section (need a total of 48 strips for each section). So far, I've cut up 3 full sheets and a sheet that was only about 32 inches wide to build what you see in the picture. The sheets are about $8-$9 in my area so this is definitely less expensive than using a good plywood, such as a cabinet grade, to cut up as a helix base. With plywood, in my opinion, you get a lot of waste when cutting curves. With hardboard, the only waste is sawdust. I am using 3/4 inch cabinet grade plywood for the base under the staging areas and probably under the various cities & towns that are planned.
The movie showing the train in action is also shown below. At least this time, I have the proper engine with the passenger cars that didn't exist. The engine in the movie is a 1980's Con-Cor Blue Goose that I have had for about 27 years. It still runs very well in DC. Has anyone ever converted one of these old Con-Cor 4-6-4s to DCC?
31 August: Here are a couple of close-up pictures of the building of the next section. The first picture shows 8 laminated strips with a drywall screw used to hold it in place. The second picture shows one of the 18 inch long straight sections clamped to hold it straight otherwise they tend to bow slightly even after a few laminations have been glued.
The process that I use is to first laminate 7 strips from the nail out on the outside track and then do the same on the inside track. I then use a drywall screw to hold only the outside track spline to the risers that I use to guide the laminated spline to rise 3 inches. Then I remove the nail from the outside track (not the inside one just yet) and start laminating inward. After laminating a total of 14 strips on the outside, I remove the nail from the inside track (no screw is necessary for the inside spline) and then use scrap pieces of spline to hold the proper spacing between the inner track and the outer track. For example, there is a total of 24 splines so just insert the number of scrap pieces that I need between the existing outside set of splines and the inside number of splines to make the total of 24. For each additional strip, I decrease the number of scrap pieces used to maintain the 24 total. By using this method, I am able to use the spring clamps right up until the 24th strip is placed into the middle. At that point, I use shorter length strips since I have to use the larger furniture clamps to hold the now 3 inch wide spline section together. I will take some pictures of how the last strip is placed when I get to that point. I picked up a sheet of masonite at one of our local hardware stores the other day for $5 as it was damaged a little along the edge. Hopefully I will get around to cutting some more spline strips as I am out of them at the moment. To date, I have cut 3 2/3 sheets and I think 1 to 1 1/2 more should do it since the next level after this one only needs to be about half of a full section as that will be the exit/entrance level of the helix onto the main layout level. I need about 50-60 strips to finish and I have been getting about 50 from a sheet.
The picture below is one of the 18 inch straight sections (inside track spline) clamped with the spring clamps and using a strip of flat aluminum plus a wood strip to hold it as straight as possible. The outside track spline is at the bottom of the picture.
More to come next month.
John
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