Thanks Crandell and Rich. I’m loathe to grind but that could be a last resort. I don’t think it’ll come to that but you never know. Tilting the table will raise one side but (once the glue or replacement AC glue dries I’ll see how much has been imporved) the approach tracks and stall tracks are already at equal height. It’s that bridge sitting low that’s the problem.
I held down the “sprung” rail ends/track at the stalls with a finger and things looked like they’d enter the r.h. with a very small bump up but I didn’t have a lot of finger room. Hopefully it’ll become workable once all tracks are glued down. It’s a shame the t.t. post doesn’t have some kind of easy adjustment. This must happen with others from time to time, even though the yard and r.h.tracks are level with each other.
Once the tracks are all glued and set, if there is still enough of an issue to be a problem I’ll give Walthers a call in a couple of days. I have a tech’s extention and left a voice mail a couple of weeks ago with a different t.t. question and still haven’t heard back.
I’ll try email too, next. Let’s see how the glued tracks play out.
Ok, the Alenes Tacky glue worked for some but not enough tracks. Super glue will be used tomorrow.
I can get Zap a Gap at a hobby shop 20 miles away tomorrow. Would you recommend the thin, medicum or gel versions? Bob, your recommendation of thin makes sense, but considering my stall tracks are lifted/sprung up a bit, wondered if gel might be better?
I’ve considered Loctite gel because I can get it at the hardware store in town. Any strong opinions regarding using the glue to stick rails to t.t. pit? If that doesn’t work, I’ll try caulk. In the past I’ve never had luck with ACC but probably bought cheap stuff. Shied away from it 'til now.
Thanks if you guys can help me choose the ACC. Is Zap a Gap superior? How gap filling is ea. version? Bob, how long should I weight the thin to set up? Just a few seconds?
When I did my tt about 2 years ago I had the rail sitting flat on the tt rim and using a hypo needle on the water thin ACC I ran it down both sides of the rail while holding it. I don’t think it was more than 15-20 seconds and it has held solid since then. I like this method as the ACC runs along the rail flange and makes a very strong bond. I also happen to use Loctite gel for a lot of other applications and would recommend it. I am not sure what you mean by the rails are sprung, but if they can be pushed down against the pit rim I would hold them and use the ACC liquid. The Loctite would work as well but you need to get it under the rail and quickly press it in place. I also used the liquid for all the roundhouse (Walthers kit) rails all the way back to the end and that worked great. Hope this helps.
Thank you, Bob. My Roundhouse was pre-built from a donation to the local club.
The stall rails are sprung/bent up, a bit form the r.h. floor to the end of the stall rails at the pit. I can hold them down with a little finger pressure though so sounds like the water thin version will work. I’ll pick some up tomorrow.
I read that alcohol can remove Zap a Gap if necessary with repeated soakings. That would be less scary if I everneed to remove or replace a track, than if I used paint thinner or acetone.
Someone suggested Walthers goop but that’s solvent based so…besides my train room has no windows and the bedroom is next door and Goo stinks for days. Wasn’t sure how long i’d have to hold the rail down with it either as the label mentions fully hardened in 48 hrs.
I appreciate the help everyone. The title of the thread should have read 130’ Turntable. Sorry for the typo!
I have been using the ZAP-A-GAP Medium CA+ for years with no problem’s. I used it to glue the rails to the base in the buildings. Hold for 15 seconds. I use that particular CA, because it can hold all disimilar materials together, Plastic to wood,leather, glass. metal and many others. Will not harden in container, been using a 0.5 oz container now for three years.
I bought a bottle of Medium CA adhesive at Hobby Lobby.
I put down 9 stall tracks and at least 6 other approach and utility tracks.
I used small boxes of nails and screws as weights to hold the tracks down while the glue dried, about 5 minutes as I recall. I have had no failures for 10 years now.
You could drill the turntable pit lip with holes, then spike the rails. Easy to remove in the future. And/or you could spike the rails close to the outer edge of the pit lip: that’s what I did, and the rails are quite snugly in place.
Hi all. I promised to report back in… I used medium Zap CA and got done what took 2 1/2 days of messing with weighting one track at a time with a diver’s weight belt weight (no clearance for more) and still not having it work.
Although I’m concerned about future removal of the tracks should the turntable need repair , etc. but I figure it likely that should the pit give up the ghost and if a replacement bridge/motor isn’t available I’d have to tear it out anyway.
The drill holes and spiking seemed to be a great idea and if I hadn’t already super glued, I might have tried it. I wanted to see if I could solve things without drilling, grinding slots, etc. into the rim and file tracks if necessary. The super glue has gotten things close enough that the minimul bumping is already acceptable.
A few of my gaps between the bridge track and pit tracks are slightly wider than 16" but seeing as the originally installed stall tracks would have had to be replaced to make them more “even” I decided to live with the existing gaps. I’m very close to getting some operations session going while I complete scenicking/structures and after 5 years wanted to be able to finally turn engines at both ends of the layout.
Anyway, very happy for now! Thanks for the advice and good fellowship!
Rich, I’d be curious as to the downside to the spiking idea through drilled holes. It seemed less risky than grinding slots…
Cheers and hope eveyone is having a good holiday weekend and keeping it’s true purpose in mind,
You won’t throw the rails out of gauge if you use a Ribbonrail gauge or an equivalent gauge used for handlaying track. The Ribbonrail gauge also helps you align the approach rails with the bridge rails. Also, you can just as easily glue the rails out of alignment if you are not careful.
Dante
PS. I said to spike the rails, not nail them. Edit: I also said that I spiked the rails close to the pit edge, but they are next to but not actually through the pit edge (not sure that I was clear about that). That works fine; the ends of the approach rails rest on the lip, unsecured to the lip, but are short and stiff enough to hold their gauge. No grinding, no drilling, no gluing.
If you spike the rails befor the lip of the pit, are you able to hold down the end of the rail on the lip at the edge of the pit?
If the rail rises even just a little, that could be a major problem.
When I first installed mine, before deciding to glue the rails, I nailed them down through the ties before the lip, but the ends of the rails did not rest securely on the lip of the turntable.
I have one last (I think addition. Last night, I filed down the pre-existant (pre-built/pre owned stall track ends to nearly 1/2" as Rich detailed in a PM. At lst, it seemd rather “severe looking” after hoping for a horizontally level rail to rail meeting but it did the trick. The morning after, it looked relatively normal and not so severe.
Due to the pre-existing tracks superglued into the r.h. some of my gaps between the t.t. and stalls had a larger than the recommended 1/16" so the filing helped there too. I would have rather it had all been a touch more craftsmanlike but it was the most useful compromise.
Also, last night on a youtube video (#45) I think of “Eric’s Trains” (a 3 rail O gauge modeler who does realistic scenery) that he used a viny roadbed for his whisker tracks/garden tracks. He has no roundhouse. BUT he used screws through the track to compress the vinyl roadbed and track to meet a lower t.t. bridge track and it worked effortlessly and could be adjusted forever. Wish I’d seen that before I placed the r.h. and t.t.
In the interests of paying it back (forward?) I wanted to mention this technique to future t.t. installers as I think it an easy solution. I personally don’t care for vinyl roadbed in general, but in this application it’s a real problem solver.
The best thing about the video was realizing that the non-level meeting of t.t. bridge track and stall/approach tracks is indeed common. Misery loves company…
addition. Last night, I filed down the pre-existant (pre-built/pre owned stall track ends to nearly 1/2" as Rich detailed in a PM. At lst, it seemd rather “severe looking” after hoping for a horizontally level rail to rail meeting but it did the trick. The morning after, it looked relatively normal 
and not so severe.