For various reasons, I prefer NOT to solder two three foot sections of flex track together. This results in a minor, but significant, kink at the joint of 24"radius
What can I do to lessen or eliminate this without pre-soldering? BTW it is HO and mounted on cork over foam.
BB
Do you mean not soldering at all or just not soldering before curving?
If I solder I do it after the track is in place:
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?page=-1&TOPIC_ID=43800&REPLY_ID=465206#465206
I have done this with 18" radius with no problems.
I suspect that your problem is not the track… specifically the rail… but the base you are laying it on… it just isn’t holding the track (rail and ties) in place. I take it that you are not pinning right through all the material under the track.
I put some stuff into recent threads on ballasting which might help explain the theory(sorry don’t yet know how to give you the link).
You might try something beneath the rails under the sleepers to make the location of both stiffer longitudinally. the prototype does this by bolting rail to the ties in the 4’ way at some locations… you could do this too… or, if you want it out of sight, go beneath the track as above.
Please let us know what you find works.
Bruce, if I recall correctly, the trick is to get the pieces together so that the sliding rail is met with the other rail HALFWAY along the section on the curve. This staggering of solders/seams acts as a kink preventative.
If you see what I mean… the non-sliding rail rests along your curve, but halfway along that fixed rail is where your two sliders join. Clear?
Of course, you still do the soldering with the sections aligned, neither flexed nor fixed in place.
I hope that buys you a lot of work. [:D]
One of the reasons I cannot solder the joiner is that there is NO joiner at this spot. I need to spike or glue the sliding rail so that the ends remain exactly the same as I curve the rest of the piece. It is the edge of a lift up bridge. Spikes may not hold enough in cork and ACC glue is no good in shear. Maybe I can curve the rest and THEN slide the rail in position. That way the sliding forces will be less to spike or glue. I think that I just answered my own question. What say you?
BB.
You don’t want a joiner on this spot?. not even an insulated one? (1) how about laying the flextrack’s center at this spot, and solder the two end’s?
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buy some TRUSCALE miilled roadbed with ties, and spike your own rail.
Problem: you have to buy a complete circle of whatever radius -
HAND LAY your own track and ties at this spot. Not use flex track.
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use SECTIONAL track pieces. It’s pre curved.
5 LAY the flextrack , secure it, and cut track @ angle at the lift bridge joint with Dremel tool.
What I recall doing to lay my flextrak was that when I got the curve of the track figured out, I Nailed the track the where it needed to be nailed to keep the shape. Then, I cut off the extending rail to where it was the same length as a normal rail. Finaly I filled the connection. I hope this helps![:)]
Easiest solution might be to make the last half dozen or so (maybe ten) ties printed circuit board (like we used to make track)…
If you set the length of flextrack to the curve you want on a seperate piece of board… take out the ties to be replaced… solder in the PCB ties - checking that gauge is maintained as you go - and not letting the soldering melt any ties - then cut the rails… either in middle of 12/20 or at end of 6/10… your new ties should hold the curve rigid. Just one thing… a railroad would always attempt to make the approach to a lift bridge straight… even if it meant tightening the curve before a very short straight… this would help solve your problem and - as in the prototype - reduce the risk of derailing problems at the joint onto the bridge… so - what you might do - is insert the PCD ties as 6 to hold straight track and 4 starting the curve.
As it is the entry to a bridge… which would normally have gaurd rails inside each running rail… you could start your guard rails (including the angled in ends) at the start of the 6/10 ties and solder them to every tie as well.
This would have the double benefit of strengthening the whole structure (making it pretty near rigid) and doing the job the guard rails are there for.
If you haven’t used PCB ties before… you cut a circuit brake in the copper skin anywhere between the rais on every tie… you can do this in a line or at random. A little paint soon covers the knife line.
Don’t know where you get PCB ties over there but Marcway in Sheffield do USA size ties over here… specify USA size or you’ll get UK size.
Have fun!
I believe to insert the link you would just click on the insert hyperlink which is the icon between the HR and email icons once you click on the globe which is used to insert hyper link it’ll give you 2 things exactly like shown you simply copy the web address from the web page and paste it between the 2 url 's in the brackets. I myself would like to read up on ballasting etc
I have had very good luck soldering 2 3 foot lengths of flex for a large radius by first removing 2 sleeper ties from the joining ends of both flex to be joined and put the connecters one on each rail and solder them while there straight not curved now once soldered place the flex on the premarked radius on the bench work. After the track is in place and spiked down to the roadbed just have to put the ties back in place
Now this radius is not 30" but is 22" and I would think the larger the radius the better for a nice curve. another way u may wanna try is using a copper tie at the soldered joints this gives a bit more solidity [:)]
Still haven’t worked out the link…
Found this though… sorry it’s long… might answer a few Qs…
As someone who has walked on a lot of it I can tell you that ballast varies with location and age as well as regular (or irregular) maintenance.
It also varies by source… different roads would get different ballast from different quarries. This means that the original material can vary significantly in colour… from pink through grey and white to green… blue probably gets in there somewhere. Slag based balast will tend to be black.
That applies to new ballast.
Once it’s on the formation the local environment will influence the way the stone weathers… just the same as a stone building… put it in a smoky city and it will go black… countryside it may green… especially with a lot of trees around.
What happens will also depend on how well drained the roadbed starts out and has remained. Wet beds are not the sole problem of parents.
It takes time for weathering to impact the visual condition of ballast. During that time many things can happen…
Coal, iron, phosphates and sand traffic can all leave spillage that gets into the ballast… in yards it may hide the ballast (and ties) completely.
Spilled grain may also germinate… I’ve heard that this even happens on top of covered hoppers.
Maintenance can also top up the ballast with new ballast… sometimes this is planned, sometimes surplus from a nearby planned job is run off where the local crew know they need it.
Then there’s modern ballast cleaning… the ballast lifted out, cleaned … the rubbish sifted out… and the good stuff put back… this will have the changed (older) colour but the open grain of new ballast. .
…which introduces the point that new ballast is more open textured while older is both compacted and filled with crud… to put that technically “the interstices can become obstructed”. The interstices in ballast are important for two reasons.
well I don’t know about anyone else but I sure feel educated now in balast
[:)]
Yeah, I could write a paper on it. A short one, but one nonetheless. What does this have to do with laying flex track? I got lost.
A6
In this situation, I would suggest you lay the track slightly longer than necessary, then use a rotary cutting tool (or similar) to carefully cut the rails exactly where you want. Be sure to file the ends of the rails to eliminate any burrs or sharp edges that might catch on wheels, trucks or couplers. Do the same when you lay the track on the lift-up bridge : Lay the track then trim it to length. (A particularly useful technique if the cut is not perpendicular (ie: at an angle or on a curve) to the track.)