Soldering jig for common crossings?

[mattots]

Previously I've used a piece of wood with drawing pins pushed into it to hold everything together while soldering up common crossings. However, it's not the most user-friendly method and doesn't allow for much adjustment, resulting in a rather hit-or-miss approach!

Is there anything out there by way of jigs, or suggestions for how to make one myself (simply!) to help with this? Is there just some sort of material that will accept pins easily and allow for adjustments, and is relatively heatproof?

[grovenor-2685]

Matt,
There are two current topics covering this very issue. I will merge the topics later,meanwhile see http://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=546
Two specific approaches are illustrated there.
Regards
Keith

[mattots]

The vee isn't so much of an issue for me - I already use your method although the EMGS jig looks very nice and I might just have to invest in one!

The main area of difficulty for me is getting the wing rails accurately positioned and held in place during soldering.

The method I've used so far is:

1) tin surfaces to be joined (I use 3 seperate strips rather than a single baseplate)
2) assemble the whole crossing, using Carrs heat-resistant tape to hold connecting strips to the work surface, and drawing pins to try and keep all rails lined up and in position
3) apply heat via soldering iron to the whole assembly so the tinned parts are sweated together

The problem is in getting everything lined up accurately in all planes. Once you've pushed a drawing pin into a piece of wood there's not much scope for adjustment, and they don't always go in straight either!

I'm intrigued as to how Jim manages to keep everything absolutely in position during soldering without any sort of jig to hold it all in place. I find that unless everything is absolutely solid even before the solder is applied then once I start applying heat everything starts sliding around all over the place! Maybe I just need to grow a couple of extra hands!!

[grovenor-2685]

Matt,
I guess I don't have this problem as I have always used soldered construction and I solder the wing rails direct to the rivets in the timbers, lining things up from the stock rails.
To assemble the wing rails to the vee as a stand-alone assembly I would try one of the jigs as sold by the EMGS, which is really no more than a metal strip with a few notches filed in it and fixed to a block of wood (You have to provide your own wood).

There was an article on this in MRJ or Scalefour News, I'll look up the reference, it should be easy enough to make one yourself.
Regards

[grovenor-2685]

Harder to find the right article than I expected. The EMGS item is their 8793F but there is no indication on the price list whether it is for EM or P4.
http://www.emgs.org/PDF/Price_30.pdf

MRJ 46 has an item on assembling the crossings using drawing pins which is probably what you have already been trying, MRJ 138 an article on making a jig for this purpose using pins which looks OK but not as easy to use as the brass strip version.

I can remember the article quite clearly so I must have it somewhere, I'll look again later.
Regards

[dcockling]

I can remember the article quite clearly so I must have it somewhere, I'll look again later.
Regards

Hi Keith,

Try Scalefour News 147 page 6: "Common Crossings - an improved jig for the alignment of", by Michael Godfrey.

All the Best
Danny

[grovenor-2685]

Ha, having just spent an hour looking for the article, I come back triumphant to reveal all just to discover that Danny has beaten me to it. serves me right for looking in MRJ first!
Anyway, if you don't have Scalefour News 147 you can download it from the members' pages via the link in the header bar at the top of this page. While you are at it get S4 news 125 as well, that initial article by Paul Kehoe is actually the one I was remembering.
Regards
Keith

[mattots]

I'm interested by mention of the EMGS jig. Has anyone got one of these or had experience using one? 2 questions - can it be used for P4 and how exactly does it work?

The article in MRJ 138 is useful too, but does anyone have any idea where I might be able to source 0.65mm steel wire from?

[kipford]

Matt - The EMGS wing rail jig will work fine in P4.

[grovenor-2685]

Kipford,
Would I be correct in my assumption that the EMGS jig is the one described by Paul Kehoe in S4News 125, and elaborated on by Michael Godfrey in S4News 147?
Regards

[hollybeau]

Forgive me but isn't this what you want:

As seen on RMWeb recently.
I don't understand the question about whether it suitable for EM or P4. Surely all it is doing is holding the rail securely so you can file it at the correct angle and then (as a separate task) securing the two rails to be joined by soldering. The RMWeb piece is worth a look since it is a series of photos taking you through the whole process of constructing the common crossing.

[grovenor-2685]

Forgive me but isn't this what you want:

Well no actually, we've been there and Matt explained that his problem is assembling the wing rails to the vee, not building the vee itself.
Hence the references to S4News 125 and 147.

The EMGS item being looked at is their 8793F. But if its the Kehoe jig then you could file up your own a lot quicker than waiting for the postman.
Regards
Keith

[jim s-w]

I'm intrigued as to how Jim manages to keep everything absolutely in position during soldering without any sort of jig to hold it all in place. I find that unless everything is absolutely solid even before the solder is applied then once I start applying heat everything starts sliding around all over the place! Maybe I just need to grow a couple of extra hands!!

Hi Matt

As mentioned I use the filing jig to hold the Vee and then I solder 1 wing rail at a time in place using a track gauge to hold the rail. You should use a check rail gauge really but this method works just as well. So you only need to hold the rails and jig in 1 hand and the soldering iron in the other. To feed in the solder the following may help.


Heres the dilemma - to solder this wing rail to the base you need
1 hand to hold the gauge and rail
1 hand to hold the soldering iron
and 1 hand to hold the solder.

assuming you haven't actually got the third hand the answer is surprisingly simple


Just cut a tiny sliver of solder and pop it in place, then holding the gauge apply the iron


End result - dead easy

PLEASE NOTE - the picture shows my preferred method of using a gauge to set my wing rails . The gauge I use is not the correct gauge for the job and while it works for me there are proper check rail gauges available (I lost mine years ago!) Thanks to Martin for pointing out this potential source of confusion - see the comments linked to this post.

Cheers

Jim

[mattots]

Thanks for posting that Jim. Looks pretty straightforward really. How do you avoid the other joints coming unsoldered at the same time?

Matt

[jim s-w]

Hi Matt

There's a lot of metal here so the heat soaks away pretty quickly. Actually unsoldering the joints deliberately is quite difficult.

Cheers

Jim

[grovenor-2685]

The gauge I use is not the correct gauge for the job and while it works for me there are proper check rail gauges available

That gauge is described as a checkrail gauge certainly but the end of it that you are using is intended to fit correctly in the crossing flangeway so there is nothing wrong with using it in the way you are.
What it does not do which the 'Kehoe' style jig will do is hold the wing rail in the correct position lengthways so that the running edges are lined up. Are you doing that by eye or do you adjust it against a straight edge before picking up the soldering iron?
Regards

[jim s-w]

Hi Keith

First wing rail is lined up with a rule - second by eye.

Cheers

Jim