I have a quick question, I ordered some track and tools to get started on my trackwork, but I received my order only to find out they were out of the Xuron rail cutters. Is there something you can buy that’s similar at Lowes, Ace, etc., or do you really need a special type of “rail cutter?”
Though not the best I would agree, using wire cutting dikes works for me. Tends to leave a little burr but it does work.
Peter
a 409 wheel in a Dremel works well, but trust me…find yourself a Xuron rail cutter. They are superior to any other method.
The trick with diagonal cutting pliers (dikes) is to put the flatter side toward the good rail, squeeze a nick into the railhead, then bend down sharply, Done right, the rail will fracture cleanly. Dress the cut end, and be sure to knock the sharp corner off the inside (toward track center) of he railhead.
Chuck (who cuts rail with dikes, and has for the last 50 years)
Xuron rail cutters are the best, just don’t use them to cut spring steel (like Athearn handrails) or you will have little nicks in the cutting faces. You can use a pair of dikes, like Chuck said, but be careful when knocking off the burr with a file so don’t tear the rail out of the ties. Using a Dremel to knock the burrs off will lower the chance of pulling the rail up. But you might as well use it to cut the rail in the first place, if you have one and don’t have rail nippers.
As a side note Chuck (who cuts rails with dikes), I was once told (by a supervisor I had) that I had to call them “side cutters” not dikes. She (the supervisor) also called a carpenters square an “angle iron”.
Yeah, find a set of Xurons, even if you have to go on-line and order them. Keep them for cutting track only and don’t be tempted to snip wires or anything else. Xurons also have a flat side and a sloped side, and only the flat side will give you a nice clean cut.
“Dikes,” as I recall, is a shortening of “diagonal cutting pliers.” They have nothing to do with levees in Holland, or whatever else JMac69’s supervisor thought they meant.
I concur with this completely. Buy your Xurons (don’t forget the LHS) and use them ONLY for track. They will server you very well.
It is my understanding that a Dike is a ***. Not that theres anything wrong wiyh that.
To me a dike is a bit of a volcano
Xuron cutter are by far the best, dremel with cutoff wheel next. As stated above no matter what you use clean that cut up well.
Absolutely, yes…a must. It might not be a problem when using track joiners for like-code rails, but try getting adapter joiners onto rails nipped even with a Xuron. So, I have learned, the hard way, that you might as well reach for the jeweller’s file right away and dress up the foot flanges, top AND bottom. The web seems to be okay.
And, please do yourself a huge and cheap insurance trick against derailments, as Chuck noted. While you have the rail end in one hand and the small file in the other, do a gentle scrub of the inner flang path at the ends of the rails, and make a little bevel at the top race of the rail. It may not be huge on straights, but on curves, your flanges will glide over these dressed meetings like on the real thing. The tighter the curve, the more this is useful.
hmmm… I just ordered an Atlas modelers super saw today. wonder how that’ll work?
Sorry Guys,I still prefer my trusty Dremel when it comes to cutting track…[:D]
Me too. I cut from the back side to the front and have no trouble at all.
It’ll work, if you don’t mind spending all day sawing. Using a saw does increase the chance of ripping the rail off the ties though.
I’ve been using the Xuron cutters for years now, I rarely use my dremel for cutting rail anymore. It’s just faster, period.
BTW I also use the smaller Xuron cutters at the workbench for cutting brass wire and plastic. Never use them for cutting hard metals, they weren’t designed for it, just soft metals like copper, brass, nicklesilver, etc.
The problem I have with using a Dremel and a cutoff disc is that the bulk of the Dremel tool forces me to cut the rail at an angle. I have to make sure that I hold the tool over the part I want to save so as to undercut the rail, otherwise I have a gap at the top. Other than that, it’s my preferred method of cutting rail. It’s N scale rail, BTW.
I used to use a razor saw. I have a tool that fits tightly over the rail (a block of metal with slots in it) and the saw fits into a slot in the block. The tool hold the rail steady while it’s being sawed. When I got a new blade for my razor saw, it wasn’t deep enough to fit in the block properly. It did a pretty good job of holding the rail, but if I didn’t hold it down really tightly sometimes the saw would pull the rail out.
I also use sidecutters, but the most important thing is to file the burrs off the cut edge, no matter which method you use. In N scale, even the smallest burr can be a problem.
Yeah, go with the Xuron.
Seems that there are about as many ways to cut rail as there are people doing it - and all of them work.
The one thing not mentioned above is, no matter what your cutter (even a razor saw,) WEAR EYE PROTECTION! Getting a cut-off rail end, or even metallic sawdust, in your eye can ruin your whole day.
As for the names people call things, back at the start of the whole “political correctness” movement, a city councilperson (female) in Berkeley, CA, objected to a budget line item for “manhole covers.” Seems she thought “manhole” was sexist. One of the city engineers had to point out that there was no listing for “personhole covers” in any known hardware catalog!
I wonder if JMac69’s supervisor ever got an angle iron when what she really wanted was a framing square. (Up aside the head?)
Chuck (who doesn’t hesitate to call a spade a ******* shovel)
I’m with BRAKIE. I use my dremel with a 1 1/4" ruby cutting disk. No angle problems whatsoever. Plus with the Xuron tool I don’t like the fact htat you have to go clip off the otherside if you want to use that piece of track. the dremel cuts and dress the end of the rail in one step. but to each their own. everyone has their own way.
6 or 7 years ago a coworker and I were discussing the use of the word dike for cutters.
We were feeling pretty politically incorrect calling them that, then were relieved to discover it stands for diagonal cutters, as someone mentioned above.
P.S. just got a pair of Xuron rail cutters - beautiful.
I guess that my framing square would be called the “Aluminum L”, what’s this PC world coming to.
And to the question, Go with the Zuron, but remember the Dremel does have it’s use as mentioned.
Bob K.