3D Plug Track - from Templot

[Horsetan]

Would this work for Irish 21mm gauge?

Sure. Works for all gauges and scales, whatever you can set in Templot.....

But at present only for bullhead. Which for Irish prototypes means only GNR(I)...

That's encouraging. Worth publicising to the Irish modellers, I think - there has been quite a bit of discussion about getting into 21mm.

[Martin Wynne]

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Just a bit of update on this.

There was a problem with the L1 bridge chair, which I have solved by putting the pin and slot at an angle:



L1 bridge chair:


P slide chairs:




Usual cruel close-ups. Impossible to photograph the translucent chairs unpainted. The resin has to be translucent to allow the UV light to cure it.

All the chairs on this test piece are loose-jaw.

When I started this project I assumed the chairs would be slide-on, in the same way as injection-moulded chairs. The idea of separately fitting a loose outer jaw seemed crazy.

Until I tried it. It is actually working well and quite satisfying to do. Put the rail in place on the chairs, and push in a loose jaw to lock it into the chair against the opposite jaw. You can feel a slight click as the key passes the rail-head and snaps into place below the head. The loose jaw can't then be pulled back out without the use of a tool, and the rail is locked firm.

Not needing to thread the chairs on the rail saves so much time and faff that you can afford to spend more time on carefully fitting the loose jaws. It's a bit fiddly, but no more so than lots of P4 jobs, and soon speeds up with practice. We can 3D-print various tools and jigs to help. For example these tweezer tips, which grip around the pin on the loose jaw and prevent it pinging out across the room as can happen with conventional tweezers:



More and more this seems to me to be the better way forward.

Not having to thread the chairs on the rail, or sort them into the correct order first is great -- you can just drop them into their sockets as you cut them from the printing raft. Then a quick tap with a pin hammer, using a cocktail-stick punch on the rail seat, and they are home.

And the best part is not having to fiddle about filing a lead-in on the rail ends, or trim the rails after sliding the chairs on. You can just touch the cut rail end against the sanding disc, getting a nice flat prototypical square end, and drop it on the chairs. Some blobs of Blu-tack between the timbers keep it upright while you get the first couple of loose jaws in.

Having square flat rail ends, not only looks prototypical where they are exposed. It also means we can have very close isolation gaps of only a few thou, which will hardly notice. With a smear of epoxy on the rail end to ensure isolation long-term. And some prototypical-looking fishplated joints -- 3D-printed fishplates applied from the side with a thin rear tab which fits between the rail ends. With randomised fish-nut rotations, of course.

Follow this project at: https://85a.uk/templot/club/index.php?t ... /post-5439

cheers,

Martin.

[JackBlack]

Hi Martin,

I've been following this for a while, but I've just finally acquired a resin 3D printer. Having spent the last week getting to grips with it, a bit of a learning curve, I've just printed off the test S1 slots and jaws and I have to say I'm staggered by the detail! I had no idea they would be this good!

This is a huge development in the hobby, especially for someone like me that lives in a country with limited access to supplies.

I'm inclined to try and print some sleepers and see if I can put a section of track together. However I'll pick this up in the thread on the Templot Forum.

Many thanks, Nick

[Martin Wynne]

Hi Martin,

I've been following this for a while, but I've just finally acquired a resin 3D printer. Having spent the last week getting to grips with it, a bit of a learning curve, I've just printed off the test S1 slots and jaws and I have to say I'm staggered by the detail! I had no idea they would be this good!

IMG_20230104_182323199.jpg

This is a huge development in the hobby, especially for someone like me that lives in a country with limited access to supplies.

I'm inclined to try and print some sleepers and see if I can put a section of track together. However I'll pick this up in the thread on the Templot Forum.

Many thanks, Nick

Thanks Nick. Looking good!

What make is the printer? What settings did you use? I'm hoping we can build a "knowledge bank" of info for users.

See also: https://85a.uk/templot/club/index.php?t ... nyone.599/

cheers,

Martin.

[Philip Hall]

Can I throw in a slight worry here, nothing to do with the way it’s made or the excellent results!

It’s the ‘square flat rail ends’ that bothers me. It might look great and prototypical, but our vehicles are naturally prone to a little more sideways slop as they roll along. Wheels also may have a slight wobble on the axle, however good our skills or intentions. The slightest burr on a rail end (with our vaguely ridiculous flanges) has the potential to have a vehicle off the rails and in the ballast. A decent chamfer on at least the inside and upper faces of the rail (and smoothing off the transition between the two) will prevent this. Yes, it compromises the appearance a bit but for me reliability is king.

Just a personal opinion based on lots of test running and experience over the years.

Philip

[Martin Wynne]

Can I throw in a slight worry here, nothing to do with the way it’s made or the excellent results!

It’s the ‘square flat rail ends’ that bothers me. It might look great and prototypical, but our vehicles are naturally prone to a little more sideways slop as they roll along. Wheels also may have a slight wobble on the axle, however good our skills or intentions. The slightest burr on a rail end (with our vaguely ridiculous flanges) has the potential to have a vehicle off the rails and in the ballast. A decent chamfer on at least the inside and upper faces of the rail (and smoothing off the transition between the two) will prevent this. Yes, it compromises the appearance a bit but for me reliability is king.

Just a personal opinion based on lots of test running and experience over the years.

Philip

Hi Philip,

The final task with any track-building and laying is always a rub along the rail corner with abrasive paper or an abrasive rubber block. Not least because most model rail tends to have a more square top corner radius than the prototype. That should remove any burrs, and has always produced smooth running for me. I'm inclined to think that filing actual chamfers on the rail ends would be detrimental to that, although each to his own of course.

cheers,

Martin.

[Philip Hall]

Martin, I see your point. I actually like the bigger gap my method produces (actually not mine, Walter Ward - Platt late of Railway Modeller) as I get a louder clickety click as trains pass over! On a more serious note, small gaps and bigger chamfers have been proven to be of little use here because of temperature variations.

I could post a video or two of results but not sure if it would gum up the Forum! And before anyone says YouTube, I don’t want to go down that road.

Philip

[Martin Wynne]

Your Templot bases look very interesting for pre-grouping - the difficulty being the printer. What sort of file is output? Is there any reason that file couldn't be uploaded to Shapeways or one of the other online printer firms?

Hi Stephan,

Templot exports STL files for 3D printing. Before printing they need a round trip to an online mesh-fixing service such as this one (free):

https://www.formware.co/onlinestlrepair

That's just a couple of clicks to upload the file and download it again. After that, if you don't have your own printers the files can be sent to a commercial firm for 3D printing, or for laser-cutting in plywood. However I have asked that folks don't do that while the project is still experimental. The files could contain issues and problems, leading to expensive mistakes and waste. I don't want to be responsible for that. See:

https://85a.uk/templot/club/index.php?t ... inued.673/

cheers,

Martin.

[Martin Wynne]

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Two years after starting this topic, I'm pleased to report that I have today released Templot update 241a. Which for the first time makes it possible to create Plug Track for a full turnout. This is part of an F-20 turnout in EM:




A 1:8 crossing, using the old-style cast "A" chairs. The later slab & bracket "A" chairs will be coming shortly:




An FDM-printed timbering base, showing the rarely-modelled soleplate on the toe timber:



To summarise:

Bullhead chairs can be resin-printed. Press fit them into timbers which can be FDM filament-printed, resin-printed, laser-cut, CNC milled. No glue, no solder, no gauges needed. No CAD skills needed, Templot generates the 3D files ready for printing. For any gauge or scale or radius or turnout size or rail section.

If desired the outer jaw part of the chair can be printed separately, and used to clip the rail into the chair. This means there is no need to thread the chairs onto the rail, or to chamfer the rail ends.

Templot and the files are free. The entire project is an experiment to find out what is possible, and there is still a lot to do.

The bottom line(s):

• Make fully-chaired turnouts of any size from A-4 to F-20 or anything in between. Curved or straight. Plus diamond-crossings*, tandem turnouts, slips* and other complex track formations. *not yet.

• Very low cost, less than £1 (+rail) for a typical turnout. But you need the equipment first (or pay a commercial firm to make the parts for you). The cost of equipment to get started is roughly equivalent to a couple of RTR locomotives -- and it can be used for lots of other modelling tasks apart from track.

• No CAD program or skills needed. Templot is a tool for your workshop, not a drawing office. Lots of friendly support on the Templot web site at:

https://85a.uk/templot/club/index.php?t ... inued.673/

cheers,

Martin.

[Winander]

This is a momentous and exciting achievement, and having read at least the new thread (11 pages) on the Templot forum, I thank and congratulate you for the significant effort you have made.

Can I ask how thick wooden timbers would have to be, is it the same as the FDM ones, 3.2mm?

[Martin Wynne]

This is a momentous and exciting achievement, and having read at least the new thread (11 pages) on the Templot forum, I thank and congratulate you for the significant effort you have made.

Can I ask how thick wooden timbers would have to be, is it the same as the FDM ones, 3.2mm?

Hi Richard,

Many thanks for the kind words.

As with almost everything in Plug Track, a one-line question requires a page to answer.

The default thickness is 1/8" - 3.2mm.

But you can set the timbers to any thickness you require. And nearly all the other settings (dozens of them).

A few points to bear in mind:

The loose-jaws option requires a long pin to work (and be easily handled). Anything less than about 3mm deep is not going to work very well, so it needs a 3mm depth on the chair plug. The plug could project below thinner timbers if they were packed up on battens between the plugs:

If you don't want the loose-jaws option the plug can be set much less deep for use in thinner timbers. However, if you make the plug too thin, the chairs become very fiddly to locate over the sockets, and the press-fit doesn't work so well. The deeper plugs have a taper which makes locating them in the sockets very easy before pressing the chairs home. I think 1.5mm is probably the minimum timber thickness to work for press-fitting.

If you want thinner sleepers, such as Brook Smith 0.8mm ply, I think you would need to set an easier fit, and glue the chairs in place. There is an adjuster to get the desired plug/socket fit -- after some trial and error no doubt:



For FDM-printed timbers, I added the side flanges as stiffeners where the socket wall is thin. The side flanges and webs are 1mm thick, and need to be hidden under the ballast, so I would think 1.5mm is a practical minimum for FDM timbers.

Although the 3.2mm timbers seem very thick compared with more traditional methods, they do offer the option to hide all manner of gubbins under the ballast. Pre-fitted dropper connections for example can be run to the side of the track. A hidden slider tie-bar device can run in the space between the timbers, with a card cover, hidden with ballast, and dummy cosmetic stretcher bars added.

If preferred 3.2mm FDM bases can be fixed with screws through the webs rather than gluing to the trackbed. Allowing for fine adjustments of the rail alignments and a less stressful track-laying experience. Proceed at your own pace, not that of setting glue. Ballast later when all is tested and running -- a bottom fill of coarse crumbled material, and a top layer of crushed walnut shell, or whatever.

It is still very early days for the Plug Track experiment, there are lots of ideas still to try for actually building and laying it. It is only now that full turnouts are possible that we can find out how best to use it.

cheers,

Martin.

[nigelcliffe]

I'm more impressed each time I return to this thread. The chairs with the separate pin is a great idea, much better than threading chairs.


For ash ballast, I'd be tempted to experiment with applying the ballast after sleeper laying and before fitting chairs - a technique a friend used to great effect with timber sleepers and plastic chairs fitted with solvent. Would require some temporary chair-hole plugs to keep the ballast out, but those would be very simple to print.


- Nigel

[Terry Bendall]

Would require some temporary chair-hole plugs to keep the ballast out, but those would be very simple to print.

But might be time consuming to fit and then remove and if the glue used for holding the ballast gets in the wrong place ... ?

Terry Bendall

[Martin Wynne]

Would require some temporary chair-hole plugs to keep the ballast out, but those would be very simple to print.

Hi Nigel,

Thanks for the kind words.

Easiest is probably to use 4mm wide masking tape along the timber:

https://www.arrowmodels.com/fastrax-lin ... -fast255-4

Quicker to apply and remove than dealing with each socket separately. Or cut your own strips. Should be re-usable a few times if kept on a glass or china plate afterwards. Strips cut cross-wise from a 2" roll would serve for the majority of a P4 turnout. Use two strips on longer timbers.

But I wouldn't advise ballasting after fitting the chairs if they are for loose jaws. The slots for the pins are quite tiny, and would be easily clogged with a speck of ballast. Not easy to protect them with anything. If ballasting before railing, it needs to be before chairing too, if using loose jaws.

cheers,

Martin.

[nigelcliffe]

Would require some temporary chair-hole plugs to keep the ballast out, but those would be very simple to print.

But might be time consuming to fit and then remove and if the glue used for holding the ballast gets in the wrong place ... ?

No "ballast glue" to worry about. The technique in question is, essentially;
1) fit hundreds of wooden sleepers to the track plan fixed to baseboard. Jig tool to aid fixing helps.
2) base colour sleepers with wood dyes, and acrylic paints. Mark strategic positions of various chairs to aid later alignment (because track plan about to disappear).
3) use light-weight plaster filler (Polycell brand, other brands don't quite behave the same) to spread a uniform layer, flush with sleeper tops.
4) as plaster is almost dry, lightly stipple surface to create some changes in texture
5) colour ballast with diluted acrylic paint, further touch up of sleepers if necessary
6) fit plastic chairs with rails to sleepers using solvent (using marks previously made to aid alignment).

Its a really quick process. I think its adaptable to Martin's plug-chairs (I agree with Martin, it needs to be "before any chair is fitted", not "after half a chair is fitted"). The plaster filler is very easy to remove should it be in the wrong place.


- Nigel

[Martin Wynne]

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Just to say that Editor Gavin will have a few bits of plug track with him on his demo stand at Scalefour Southwest this weekend.

cheers,

Martin.

[Martin Wynne]

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Just a note that James Walters will have a display of Plug Track bits and bobs on his demo stand at Scaleforum - "Starting in P4".

Since the previous posts in this topic I have revised the design of the chair plugs so that they now clip easily into the sockets without requiring an interference press-fit. James will be able to show you.

Martin.

[James Walters]

Those with an interest in Martin's excellent Plug Track my find this useful.

[John Bateson]

OK - I'm sold!
Been missing my layout since the attic became inaccessible, so planning to spend the housekeeping on baseboards as soon as I can get away with it.
It will also allow me to avoid what I am supposed to be doing.
John

[ralphrobertson]

That is a very informative presentation James, thanks. I haven't been following this too much lately as I have finished building my track as I posted on my workbench thread a couple of years back https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=6907&start=50 but I wish all this had been available then as I am sure it would have been a much more simple process for me.

Templot is a brilliant tool for the trackbuilder and I applaud Martin for the amount of work he has put in with this. It is a brilliant development.

Ralph