Am getting ready to lay cork roadbed for the first time. I’ve seen all the advice to use latex caulk, so am planning that. Any other tips?
Thanks,
Jack
Cork roadbed can be laid with white glue or caulk. The key is to have a good centerline marked on the sub roadbed. I lay the cork against the centerline using carpenters glue, using small wire brads to hold it until the glue sets up(a couple of minutes). I cut it/bevel it for turnouts rather than use the available commercial turnout roadbed blocks. Once it is fastened and the wire brads are pulled, I use a ‘sureform’ to sand the top(lightly) and to sand off the sharp bevel on the sides, I then lay the track down the centerline of the cork. When you mark the location of a turnout, draw pencil marks extending from the side of the throwbar on both sides. Make these marks long enough to extend beyond the wide base of the cork. Use this as a ‘guide’ to cut about 1/8" into the cork below the throwbar. This will allow the thowbar to move free, and not bind on loose ballast, etc…
Jim
I use yellow glue - slightly less water-soluble after it dries.
As I position the strips of cork, I stick straight pins in about every four inches on curves, and about every six inches on straights. I make sure I don’t have a cork joint near a curve start. After sticking down the cork, I go along and press it firmly down one last time between all the pins.
After the glue dries (overnight at least, and usually I wait a full day) I remove the pins and sand the top of the cork smooth. I cut grooves for the turnout throwrods as needed, and start laying track.
If you’re going to be using a lot of cork, it may be cheaper in the long run to buy a roll of cork and cut your own strips. Commercial cork roadbed is very expensive. I bought a 4’ X 50’ roll of cork that is yielding 4’ strips of roadbed for about 10 cents each.
Thanks for the great suggestions. I’ve quickly learned that a quick check here will save me lots of “do-overs.” Mark – I like the idea of buying by the roll. Where does one buy a roll of cork?
well ,depends on what your useing,foam,or ply wood,im using plywoow so when im laying my road bed i use a electric staple gun works great
Carl
Jack,
I bought two rolls, one 1/8 thick for spurs, yards, etc. and one 1/4 thick for mainlines, from these folks:
http://www.corkdirect.com/
I had to lay some of my roadbed in the shape of curves, so I just used an electric stapler, to staple it to the benchwork. I could not think of a way to hold it in the curve shape long enough for glue or caulk to dry, so I just stapled all my roadbed down.
If you want my honost tip. Here it is. CIRCULAR FILE IT. I don’t use it don’t like it and recoment against it.
I use yellow glue also. I have a set of 2 1/2 lb weights from an old barbell set that I use to hold the cork down until the glue dries.
i use latex contact cement… once you brush it on to the subroad bed…and the back of the cork…let it dry…and once you start to pu***he cork down…its set…and it ready for track as soon as you get it all down… takes only a few mins for it to dry and it is just as strong a bond as any other glues that eveyone else is suggesting… the upside is that it is ready for track alot faster…cuts down on build time…and cleanup is a snap…just some warm water since it is laytex baced… oh yea…it also will bond just about any type of styrofoam together too…its great for blue insulfoam…and will bond to just about anything…
csx engineer
to hold down the cork use the coloured pins for office display boards…available from supermarkets…very good for laying n gauge track…exact fit…peter
Two questions…
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Why do you not like cork roadbed ?
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What do you suggest as a substitute ?
Hi lester,
I also was wondering why you don’t like the cork?
Sometimes I’ve used rubber cement to hold the cork when I’m not sure how it will all look or how track alignment will actually turn out. It is then easy to peel up and restick the cork for final alignment if necessary. When all is ok I then hold the cork down permanently with some track nails or small brad nails.
I just nail it down with track nails. A lot easier to pull up & move if necessary, no waiting for glue to dry. Of course, this assumes you’re using plywood subroadbed like I do. If you’re using foam you’d have to glue it.
Hey Jxtrrx,
Like yourself I am just laying my cork down, and like yourself I came on here to look for advice on how to curve cork as I could not quite recall how I had done this in the past. After laying a fair bit of cork today, I found the best way to lay the cork is pretty much as everyone has mentioned (the centerline approach).
I did however run into some issues when I trying to go around a curve, I found that the cork was puckering and did not want to lay flat. Initially I thought about making relief cuts as someone had mentioned as a means of addressing the puckering, but I could not recall doing this on my older layout.
Then it hit me, I needed to moisten the cork. I got out a kettle, filled it with water and waited until the water boiled. Once it boiled I placed the entire piece of cork into the boiling water and kept it in there just long enough to get it moist. After it was moistened I pulled it out, and to my delight I found the two corks half’s separated away from the other very easily, and both pieces were now flexible enough to get around turns.
Like everyone else did I applied a mixture of white glue and water to the cork and started to fit it according to the drawn centre lines position. I found tacking the ends with small nails or pins helped.
Something that also came back to me was when you separate cork; both pieces are not normally the same width. One is visually narrower than the other, this is not poor Q.C. but rather done intentionally. The narrower piece is meant for the inside of a turn, as the inside of the turn tends to be slightly tighter and a larger piece might pucker a bit.
Once I had both pieces down I placed my track over top and made sure that the track was sitting in the dead centre of the two pieces of cork and that I had roughly the same amount of overhang of cork on either side of the rails.
Judging by th
I use a pneumatic brad nailer for attaching the cork to my plywood base & hand nail the track with track nails - it works for me! I did a quickie oval on a 4x8 plywood in about 15 minutes once the layout lines were drawn!
I use a hot glue gun. Dries fast and if you notice any areas where additional glue is needed you can stick the nozzle of the glue gun under the cork and inject some. You can lay track immediately with this method.
Jim
Jim, what type of Glue do you use? I thought of using hot glue as well, but found that if I use Glue from a Glue Gun that it would melt the styrofoam I use for my base and risers? Also what size glue gun do you use?
Thanks in advance for the info.
Rob
Count me as one of the users of staple guns.
I carefully draw center lines. Position cork and hold in place with push pins. (Cut cork as needed for turnouts.) Staple. Remove push pins.
After stapling I will make sure staples are not protruding above surface. Tap with hammer if needed.
If you have more than one brand of cork, make sure they have equal thickness.