Modelling loose heeled switches in 4mm

Discuss the prototype and how to model it.
User avatar
Martin Wynne
Posts: 1172
Joined: Mon May 14, 2012 4:27 pm

Re: Modelling loose heeled switches in 4mm

Postby Martin Wynne » Wed Feb 27, 2019 5:31 am

seanmcs wrote:I'd like to explore the GWR turnouts on Templot. Possibly would save me making up my own templates, as the printed ones are unsuitable. Can I look at it with a Mac?

Hi Sean,

Yes, there are 3 ways to run Templot on a Mac. Full details at:

http://templot.com/companion/for_you.php

cheers,

Martin.
40+ years developing Templot. Enjoy using Templot? Join Templot Club. Be a Templot supporter.

User avatar
Dave K
Posts: 247
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 6:11 pm

Re: Modelling loose heeled switches in 4mm

Postby Dave K » Wed Feb 27, 2019 1:27 pm

seanmcs wrote:The switch rails need to be filed in the special loose heeled filing jig. This produces a switch rail that has its flat face to correspond with the straight of the stock rail. The running surface is concave curved at the radius of the switch rail for the selected turnout. These radii are in Smith's GWR Switch and Crossing practice.

Attached is a photo of the jig produced by my good friend Roger Sanders, of “Mint Gauge” fame, to make the “GW Old Type Curved Switch Blades” used on Hallatrow, and an example of a switch blade.

5011573B-C0F5-4853-BC27-F8F26B5B89D3.jpeg


Dave
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

seanmcs
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed Dec 10, 2008 12:57 am

Re: Modelling loose heeled switches in 4mm

Postby seanmcs » Sun Mar 03, 2019 7:27 am

Thanks for the picture of the loose heeled filing template. We will take a look at a couple we have here in Sydney next month, in our regular Sydney meeting. I wobder if they are now available again? With instructions.

Turning to the Brian Morgan joggling fret, Craig W was expectant, having failed to make any joggle with these frets.

Meanwhile I brought a section of early iteration of C & L Hi-NS rail, in a profile that does not splay out the C & L chairs at all. A small vice and some robust Alu alloy jaw covers, as suggested by Brian Morgan. Put a section of the rail into the fret to produce the GWR joggle, and screwed down the vice as tightly as possible. Result: Mangled fret, and no visible nor finger feelable joggle. Then tried using the top of the vice as an anvil and tapping hard with a machinist's hammer: Another mangled fret and a bit of bent rail. David M opined that the NS was probably as hard as the brass fret, and a much more robust profile then the 0.2mm flat brass. Maybe the fret is designed with soft steel rail in mind?

He demonstrated a jig that uses a couple of short sections of rail in parallel, a rail section placed thereupon and a screwdriver then tapped with the machinist's hammer. With practice, can do the job.

Any other solutions, please? I've read about small slivers of brass in a vice, but maybe the same problem with resistant NS rail?

David M printed out some Templot versions of the GWR loose heeled B7 turnout that will be studied closely . Probably my Timber Tracks B7 laser cut bases won't quite work.

All work in progress.

Sean

junctionmad

Re: Modelling loose heeled switches in 4mm

Postby junctionmad » Tue Mar 05, 2019 12:18 am

seanmcs wrote:Thanks for the picture of the loose heeled filing template. We will take a look at a couple we have here in Sydney next month, in our regular Sydney meeting. I wobder if they are now available again? With instructions.

Turning to the Brian Morgan joggling fret, Craig W was expectant, having failed to make any joggle with these frets.

Meanwhile I brought a section of early iteration of C & L Hi-NS rail, in a profile that does not splay out the C & L chairs at all. A small vice and some robust Alu alloy jaw covers, as suggested by Brian Morgan. Put a section of the rail into the fret to produce the GWR joggle, and screwed down the vice as tightly as possible. Result: Mangled fret, and no visible nor finger feelable joggle. Then tried using the top of the vice as an anvil and tapping hard with a machinist's hammer: Another mangled fret and a bit of bent rail. David M opined that the NS was probably as hard as the brass fret, and a much more robust profile then the 0.2mm flat brass. Maybe the fret is designed with soft steel rail in mind?

He demonstrated a jig that uses a couple of short sections of rail in parallel, a rail section placed thereupon and a screwdriver then tapped with the machinist's hammer. With practice, can do the job.

Any other solutions, please? I've read about small slivers of brass in a vice, but maybe the same problem with resistant NS rail?

David M printed out some Templot versions of the GWR loose heeled B7 turnout that will be studied closely . Probably my Timber Tracks B7 laser cut bases won't quite work.

All work in progress.

Sean

I’ve tricked around with shim steel ( you could use feeler gauges ) and a big machinist vice. Easy to over do things , but it works

Phil O
Posts: 363
Joined: Sun May 05, 2013 5:23 pm

Re: Modelling loose heeled switches in 4mm

Postby Phil O » Sat Mar 09, 2019 8:47 am

I soldered some 10 thou wire to a couple of pieces of brass with an end stop on one the correct distance from the joggle to the rail end, also drilled the brass and fitted pegs to keep the bits in alignment. Sorry I can't post a picture, but I am away at my parents and due back home on Tuesday. I will try and remember to take a picture or two.

Phil.

User avatar
Winander
Posts: 842
Joined: Thu Mar 20, 2014 12:19 pm

Re: Modelling loose heeled switches in 4mm

Postby Winander » Sat Mar 09, 2019 7:43 pm

seanmcs wrote:
Can I look at it with a Mac?


Sean,

I run Templot on a late 2011 Macbook Pro using wine. The OS is Mavericks 10.9.5

If you install wine in your users directory, you can run it with the command below - note you have to substitute <your username>. If you put the command in a script called templot.sh, you can then put that script on the Dock...

wine /Users/<your username>/.wine/drive_c/TEMPLOT_DEV/templot_2.exe

hope that helps, PM me if you have any problems.
Richard Hodgson
Organiser Scalefour Virtual Group. Our meeting invitation is here.

Phil O
Posts: 363
Joined: Sun May 05, 2013 5:23 pm

Re: Modelling loose heeled switches in 4mm

Postby Phil O » Wed Mar 13, 2019 2:22 pm

Phil O wrote:I soldered some 10 thou wire to a couple of pieces of brass with an end stop on one the correct distance from the joggle to the rail end, also drilled the brass and fitted pegs to keep the bits in alignment. Sorry I can't post a picture, but I am away at my parents and due back home on Tuesday. I will try and remember to take a picture or two.

Phil.



Here's a couple of photos of my rough and ready joggling jig.

Jig 1.jpg




Phil.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Last edited by Phil O on Wed Mar 13, 2019 6:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Phil O
Posts: 363
Joined: Sun May 05, 2013 5:23 pm

Re: Modelling loose heeled switches in 4mm

Postby Phil O » Wed Mar 13, 2019 2:24 pm

I have no idea why it' put two of photo one in the post.

Phil

User avatar
grovenor-2685
Forum Team
Posts: 3917
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2008 8:02 pm

Re: Modelling loose heeled switches in 4mm

Postby grovenor-2685 » Wed Mar 13, 2019 2:49 pm

Phil,
It would be finger trouble, you did the 'place in line' twice, but both times for the same image, hence the other image just appears at the bottom.
You can just go back in and edit it.
Regards
Regards
Keith
Grovenor Sidings

Phil O
Posts: 363
Joined: Sun May 05, 2013 5:23 pm

Re: Modelling loose heeled switches in 4mm

Postby Phil O » Wed Mar 13, 2019 6:42 pm

grovenor-2685 wrote:Phil,
It would be finger trouble, you did the 'place in line' twice, but both times for the same image, hence the other image just appears at the bottom.
You can just go back in and edit it.
Regards


Hi Keith,

I have now sorted it, I saw two attachments and thought it was one of each, but turned out to be two of one.

Thanks

Phil.

User avatar
Julian Roberts
Posts: 1388
Joined: Sat Jan 09, 2010 11:33 pm

Re: Modelling loose heeled switches in 4mm

Postby Julian Roberts » Fri Dec 03, 2021 10:51 am

Just a few thoughts after making a looseheel turnout for the Garlieston club layout under construction.

Templot gave me a template to follow with the switch changed from the default REA to a straight switch. The interleaved sleepering is my best guess at something credible.

Dave Bradwell earlier gave a perfect way of making the looseheel, the problem being the availability of the cast fishplate. I opted to be rather heathen and rely on some phosphor bronze wire to act as a fishplate with bolt at each end.

20210826_220537.jpg

Thread the blade onto the wire
20210828_171750.jpg

20210830_092744.jpg

The blades have been curved to lie exactly in place in firm contact as far as the stockgauge and correspond with the drawing as accurately as possible
Second blade threaded
20210828_222040.jpg

20210917_171222.jpg

Now primed, fishplate bent back properly
20211107_203628.jpg


The below operation will be hidden.


:-o There are joggles - this being what was required for the club.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

BorderCounties
Posts: 42
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2010 6:19 pm

Re: Modelling loose heeled switches in 4mm

Postby BorderCounties » Sat Dec 04, 2021 9:28 am

An alternative to the Exactoscale fishplates that Dave Bradwell uses is the Peco finescale offering (SL-114). The only variations I use is to open up the fishplate using the tip of an electrical screwdriver (just the right size), and put a little bit of blackening fluid on the fishplate end of the switch - Sod’s Law dictates that if you don’t then at some point your loose heeled switch will become anything but!

davebradwell
Posts: 1173
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2019 3:48 pm

Re: Modelling loose heeled switches in 4mm

Postby davebradwell » Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:10 am

That's reminded me to point out that with this general system, the electrical feed to the blade via the pivot can be rather iffy, possibly due to corrosion by flux residues or just being loose. I've never done anything about it as I only use 9ft and 12ft switches but for more ambitious mainline use, some sort of bonding wire would be worthwhile. Perhaps there's some sort of conductive goo out there.

DaveB

alan@york
Posts: 27
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:38 pm

Re: Modelling loose heeled switches in 4mm

Postby alan@york » Sat Dec 04, 2021 1:03 pm

davebradwell wrote: Perhaps there's some sort of conductive goo out there.

DaveB

Used to use copper grease for that when working in the oil industry. Not quite sure how that would scale down, and whether it would dry out....
a@y

User avatar
stephenfreeman
Posts: 153
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 9:13 am

Re: Modelling loose heeled switches in 4mm

Postby stephenfreeman » Sun Dec 05, 2021 1:15 pm

Having used both the the Exactoscale castings and the Peco joiners, I can say both will work, even etched brass ones will if you are careful, is that the Exactoscale ones look better.


Return to “Track and Turnouts”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: ClaudeBot and 1 guest