home built bender

i built a bender when I laid a curved turnout using some bearings and some scrap wood

i found that the bender was not very precise, but it did provide a consistent curve.   I just ran the rail thru my fingers to either tighten or open the curve until is to close enough.

maybe you could try building yourself a bender .. and you'll be ready to try that curved turnout.

Rail bender

The fast tracks tool works great to bend rail side to side.  It takes a little experimentation with the roller settings to get about the radius you're aiming for, but once you do it works well.  And pre-bending means there's virtually no stress so when you cut a gap in the rail on a curve it stays nicely aligned.  Very useful especially in O scale with code 125 and 148.

I've never used it for bending rail vertically though.  I'm not sure how hard it would be to keep the rail on the rollers - they're maybe 1/4" to 3/8" wide, and spaced up from the frame since the way it's intended to be used the rail base goes under the bottom edge of the roller.

There is another tool that might be easier to use for your purpose:  https://www.micromark.com/Bending-Machine.  (I'm a sucker for a special tool.) The rollers on that are wide enough that it would probably be easy to keep the rail in place.  The tricky bit with that one though is the two sides have separate height adjustments, so you need to get them the same to start with and then be sure to make matching adjustments at both ends.  You could presumably exploit the separate adjustment to roll a strip of metal into a cone shape, but I haven't tried that.

 "I just ran the rail thru my

Should be able to get it close enough in the vertical direction  too.   I use rail stripped from old Atlas code 100 flextrack  for my S scale turnouts and don't have any problem straightening it by hand.....DaveB

The problem I have trying to

The problem I have trying to bend by hand is the rail twists over when I am running my fingernail along the rail foot. Maybe my thumbs aren't flat enough on the ends, lol. It's just hard to hold it in the right orientation and apply pressure smoothly along the bottom of the rail. 

Ken, I think a home-made would work really well if I could somehow cut notches in the bearings so the rail web would fit down into the bearings. Without that, I am afraid the rail would flop over sideways too easily, the same problem I fear with the commercial benders. But less expensive to find out! 

One way I've found that helps is to abuse the fast tracks stock aid tool. Put a rail in, tighten it, and then push on the end sticking out in the desired direction a bit, move the rail a bit and bend it a bit more. This is probably putting micro-kinks in the rail instead of a smooth bend, but with patience I can get to a flat rail. 

Ken, thanks for the info and link. I'd probably try the fast tracks tool first though since it's cheaper. I was hoping this wasn't a $100 problem though.

Another thing I've tried is using the edge of the fast trails switch fixture, running the rail in one of the stock rail depressions and bending it down as I slide it back and forth. That seems to be rounding off the edge of the jig without being very effective at bending the rail, and it still tries to turn over sideways in my grip. 

$100 problem?

It might just be me, but how much new, flat rail could be bought for the $80 or $100 spent on the tool to fix twisted rail?

Janet N.

Nifty tool hobby

Price alone isn’t necessarily the only motivator - sometimes a nifty tool needs a good excuse to be acquired.  Nifty tools, either made or purchased, can be a bit of a hobby of their own.

But it is good to step back and ask that question every once in a while Janet 

"One way I've found that

   I bend the ends of turnout guard rails by sticking them in the end of a fastracks point/frog tool then bending them to the desired angle. I don't bother tightening the cap screws on the tool and just hold it tight by hand. Hasn't seemed to hurt the tool yet :> )   For rail straightening I just eyeball it from the end to see where it looks curved then bend it a little the other direction and see how it looks when I release it. A couple of tries usually gets it straight enough.  When spiking or soldering the turnouts I just push the rail down if it is up a bit and let the ties hold it .My ties are glued to the roadbed before adding the rails but  jig built turnouts can be weighted to hold them flat when they are glued to the layout.Same results just different order of operations ....DaveB

Right, like I say, I don't

Right, like I say, I don't want to spend $100 on a fix for this.

Greg's suggestion that I will probably eventually want to build curved turnouts and therefore need/want a rail bender for its usual purpose is a good counterpoint too though. 

Basically I was hoping somebody had a trick. 

Mostly I've been doing as Dave suggests, and just holding down the rail into the jig while I solder it and letting the turnout be non-flat when complete. I can also be a bit more careful on rail selection when picking the piece to use for stock rails. The piece that I cut up into two point/wing rails and the guard rails can be the least-flat pieces.

I haven't quite decided how I"m going to lay the turnouts. I have a few of the quicksticks, but not as many as I'd need. Keeping a non-flat turnout glued to the quicksticks might be a long-term problem, so I think I'll reserve the quicksticks for the turnouts that don't want to hoist the points end in the air a quarter inch.

I was thinking to just buy individual wood ties, make a piano jig and glue them to the roadbed where the turnout goes, then spike the turnout down without glue. That way I can easily get the turnout back up if my soldering turns out to be inadequate.

"I will probably eventually

  I wouldn't worry about a rail bender, I build many curved turnouts and never need one. Just bend the rail by eye to match the curve of the roadbed and ties and do the final adjustment as it's spiked or soldered if using PC board ties. Common size rails are easy to bend by sliding your fingers  along them in a curved motion starting from the center of the piece and working out to the ends. Repeat as many times as needed to get a fair curve that matches the desired a curve alignment. I build turnouts from the outside in, placing the two outside rails first, then fitting the frog point and diverging inside rails parallel to their respective outside rails, then add the closure rails and their short wing rails( cutting the closure rails off at the point hinge location) last is to construct the points to fit from their hinge to their throwbar ties. The outside rails define the curve of the closure rails so fairing them to a nice curve is the main decision, the rest is just using the track gauge to make the other rails follow the outside rails. Much easier to do than to write about :> ) ......DaveB

   PS.  Tie spacing, I don't use a placement jig, I match my turnout tie spacing to my flextrack by holding a piece of flextrack on the turnout roadbed and drawing a short sharpie line at each tie location ( hold the flextrack so the end of it's ties are along the centerline of the turnout roadbed). After all the lines are drawn a tie is glued over each line. 

Thanks Dave

You always give good hints. When the time comes I'll at least try to build the first curved turnout without a bender and see how it goes. Obviously I've been curving rail for straight turnouts by hand, but a long consistent curve for a curved turnout seems more difficult to get right. Anyway, I'm not going to be building any curved ones for a while.

The rise in the rail will be

The rise in the rail will be overcome rather easily as you build the turnout and solder the lengths to copper-clad ties.  Or, just go ahead and solder the rail to three or four ties for stability, clamp it somehow, and then use your fingers to put tension on the end that rises and try to bend it back down below the axis until it bounces back to neutral.

 "I've been curving rail for

With a bit of practice it's not too hard to fair up a curve. As long as you don't kink it by making a short sharp bend the rail will fair it's self much like a long batten. If you make cardboard templates of the curve radius you want the turnout to have you can draw out some lines for the roadbed and then lay the ties to match the roadbed then the outside rails to match the ties. Then it's just a matter of fitting the frog and inner rails to match  the outer rails. For S scale or larger I glue down the ties to the roadbed and spike the rails but for smaller scales I usually glue down PC board ties every 3rd or 4th tie and fill in with dummy wooden ties then solder the rail to the PC board ties and just let it float over the wooden ties. The big advantage of not using templates is that every turnout can be built to best fit it's specific location instead of trying to fit a jig built or commercial turnout to the location.......DaveB

I just use the Fast Track

I just use the Fast Track filing jigs as weights when soldering. I usually end up with some upward bend after I file the stock rail. 

DYI Railbender

Here's one I made back six years ago. Of course it helps to have a Bridgeport in the basement.

Bernd

Nice Bernd!

Nice rail bender!  And I like your approach to tools - you avoided the expense of a small and relatively cheap special tool by buying a large much more expensive special tool to make it with.

About tools

I'm a Professional iron worker.

I use precise Tools for my job and this is Worth well the investment.

For my train I use first rate Tools especialy because I model in N scale and tolerances are tight.

The result when I build something is for the most the lack of error or the need of adjustment.

I use Fastrack jig for my N scale turnouts and I use for the most the Tools offered by Fastrack to build them.

Some are build since 2009, never had any troubles including curved ones.

I use the roller bearing rail bender of FT, they give accurate curved track with precise radius, yes the Tools is  not cheap but the results are excellent; when the tool is properly adjusted, you obtain a rail which nearly drop in the jig with no stress

So before you have gray hairs which pop out your head because of trouble in the making of a models or a turnout, I highly recommand you to buy the tool you need and good quality ones.

These help so much and avoid sometismes to be degusted when building something.and can win a lot of time beside adjustement which are not all the times the good answer.

I have open a blog about scratchbuilding a wharf in N scale on the site, and I show some of the precise Tools I use to make a plan, duplicate it, and finaly cut and scratch all the pieces necessary.

In less than two months this big project is nearly finished, no real mistake or big adjustement where necessary because of the use of professionnal and precise Tools; there is no doubt about that.

I Belgium we say" you must be rich to buy poor quality Tools" because you need a lot of them to achieve good work; one good quality tool is generaly enough for a modeler life but it also help to have good job on the first trial.

Just my opinion

Rail Straightener

Hi,

I am an O Scaler and use code 148 rail and Right-O-Way castings.  I just spike it down.  If you doubt the this will hold then use longer spikes. I have had no problems with switches that have been down for ten or more years.

Sometimes, we can overthink some would-be problems.  When I suspect that I am doing it, I sit down with a diet Coke and a cookie.  Pretty soon, all is right with the world, at least, the world in my basement.

Best of luck,

Ed

East wind, have you tried

Missing

I must be missing something.  I've been handlaying switches and track since about 1977 and have never used a rail bender.

@ Ken

Thanks Ken. Yes I did avoid the expense of a small tool. The more expensive machine cost me $5000, plus some time getting into the basement one piece at a time and then re-assembling it. I was into live steam before this forum was thought of. You need a large machines to make 1.5" scale parts. Also if your second hobby is home shop machining you need these kind of LARGE tools.

Bernd

My basic rail bender. A few

My basic rail bender. A few plastic sliding door rollers, scrap wood, some longer nuts and bolts. $5 plus 1 hour of work to complete. Been woring fine for 5 years.

I have the seen the same problem of the rail bending upwards after filing the stock rail to accept the point rail. My rail is flat when starting the build process but the upward bend is noticed AFTER cutting and filing the rail. It might be the heat caused from the filing motion affecting the rail profile; code 83 gets fairly thin on the stock rails. After filing the rail, I let the rail sit in the jig for a few minutes letting it "cool down" before removing it.  A small clamp to hold the rail flat on the stock filing jig might help too. After the turnout is installed, a slightly upward bent turnout will lay flat with extra spikes. 

Twisted Rail

Eastwind,

On my railbender I was able to do exactly what you want to do. There isn't much difference between mine and Fast Tracks except for material used. I do agree that's it a bit of expensive. I'd say build one like the others have shown in the pictures and should be able to straighten out your bent rails.

Bernd

Turnout building

Hi, I have been reading this thread with some interest, as I am currently building a Scalefour layout. Different scale but similar issues. I noticed one contributor commenting on the difficulty of fitting standard purchased turnouts into a plan, or even messing about with pre-printed templates to build a one-of-a-kind turnout. An elegant solution is to print your own using the very versatile Templot software. I've built about 30 so far, including two double slips and a three way, and I am just finishing a curved D12. The templates you can print from Templot show the precise positions of the frog nose, the guard rails, and the length of planing on the blades. You can choose from multiple gauges, or even define your own. And its free (although its creator does appreciate a donation). Tom

Rail bender not required??

Hi Eastwind,

This might be a bit heretical in approach, but if you can follow the logic, maybe you can save some of the vertically curved problems, and not have to worry bout building/buying a rail bender.

Here's how it works -  (pinched from elsewhere on here)

For a short length of rail, only a single cut would be required. If you can visually sight where the kink occurs, then that's where you make the cut. If the kink is too gradual to be detected visually, then you can place the cut where-ever it has the least visual effect in your turnout.  This would give the rail enough flexibility to lie flat when spiked, yet still maintain structural integrity through your turnouts.

For your consideration,