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  • The Plug Track functions are experimental and still being developed. Some of the earlier pages of this topic are now out-of-date.

    For an updated overview of this project see this topic.   For some practical modelling aspects of using Plug Track see Building 3D Track.

    The assumption is that you have your own machines on which to experiment, or helpful friends with machines. Please do not send Templot files to commercial laser cutting or 3D printing firms while this project is still experimental, because the results are unpredictable and possibly wasteful.

    Some pages of this and other topics include contributions from members who are creating and posting their own CAD designs for 3D printing and laser-cutting. Do not confuse them with Templot's own exported CAD files. All files derived from Templot are © Martin Wynne.
  • The Plug Track functions are experimental and still being developed.

    For an updated overview of this project see this topic.   For some practical modelling aspects of using Plug Track see Building 3D Track.

    The assumption is that you have your own machines on which to experiment, or helpful friends with machines. Please do not send Templot files to commercial laser cutting or 3D printing firms while this project is still experimental, because the results are unpredictable and possibly wasteful.

    Some pages of this and other topics include contributions from members who are creating and posting their own CAD designs for 3D printing and laser-cutting. Do not confuse them with Templot's own exported CAD files. All files derived from Templot are © Martin Wynne.

Building Yeovil Pen Mill in EM.

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Andrew Duncan

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This topic is a continuation of the previous topic at:

https://85a.uk/templot/archive/topics/topic_2547.php



Hello Martin

Well, that was a surprise/move that I wasn't prepared for! A bit daft to say a surprise when obviously it's difficult to be prepared for something that's a surprise! But anyway I've read your reasoning and as usual, it seems sound and logical. I thought I'd read that you may be bringing some stuff across from the previous forum, but when I went to check that I'd read it correctly I couldn't find it. Do you have plans to do so?

Kind regards
Andrew
 
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I thought I'd post the last three photos from the old site postings here by way of some continuity.

Here is the curved trackbed that goes under the MPD and branchline, hoiked out to make track laying easier.

4276F232-41E3-4014-BBF3-594E48FA95E2_1_105_c.jpeg


And here the junction board temporarily installed again

9DED90BB-9094-4B83-A4C0-674AC2C49FF3_1_105_c.jpeg


And lastly a rather poor overall view of the works so far with the junction board from the previous picture bottom right and the curved trackbed from the first picture installed centre behind the drill and wire.

91B5A613-24D1-4091-9310-31E15C86E5D6_1_105_c.jpeg



I must say Martin that uploading photo's with this software is a lot easier than the old one! Well done for the change, must have been a lot of work.

Kind regards
Andrew
 
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Hi Andrew,

Welcome to the new version of Templot Club. :)

Yes, I have plans for everything! Unfortunately I'm as new here as everyone else, so finding out exactly how to do things is taking time.

Simply copying the entire 13-years-worth of the old site across here isn't very practical technically, and wouldn't be sensible anyway because it contains a lot of Templot stuff which is now out-of-date, and a lot of transient day-to-day stuff which is pointless keeping.

What I'm planning to do is to create a searchable static archive from the old site, which will be easy to find from here. I've barely started on that yet, so exactly how it will work is still not clear. But for the time being it is still all accessible on the old site at https://85a.co.uk/forum

cheers,

Martin.
 
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Going back just a bit, to those 247 Developments kits, the one marked as being a C15, is described as being a composite and they are normally in the E diagrams, even with a brake. The C diagrams are normally only 3rds. I would be interested to know which bit is correct. It would be great if these kits were to reappear.
 
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Going back just a bit, to those 247 Developments kits, the one marked as being a C15, is described as being a composite and they are normally in the E diagrams, even with a brake. The C diagrams are normally only 3rds. I would be interested to know which bit is correct. It would be great if these kits were to reappear.
Hello Phil
I’ll see if I can find out any more. Report back when I do !
Andrew
 
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Hello Everyone
A few pics of prgoress in the last few days...

The new hidden tracks that will be behind a backscene ( a lower backscene in front of the main one already there) climbing about 1:65 from low on right to high on the left.
In front of that is the line falling at about 1:70 on its way down to Weymouth. It should actually be climbing but we couldn't work out a way of achieving that!


Over view (1).jpg


A very happy new year to you
Kind regards
Andrew
 
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Hello Everyone
A few pics of prgoress in the last few days...

The new hidden tracks that will be behind a backscene ( a lower backscene in front of the main one already there) climbing about 1:65 from low on right to high on the left.
In front of that is the line falling at about 1:70 on its way down to Weymouth. It should actually be climbing but we couldn't work out a way of achieving that!


View attachment 93

A very happy new year to you
Kind regards
Andrew
Happy New Year to you too Andrew. Another teasing photo showing piles of unbuilt kits (and one of your Festool products as usual)? Mail me a list of the bargain priced ones.... :) ( kits that is - not power tools, I will stick with Makita and Ryobi )

Rob
 
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Happy New Year to you too Andrew. Another teasing photo showing piles of unbuilt kits (and one of your Festool products as usual)? Mail me a list of the bargain priced ones.... :) ( kits that is - not power tools, I will stick with Makita and Ryobi )

Rob
Hello Rob
Are you the Subaru driving, single malt drinking (out of a Ravenhead glass ....sad...!) cattle breeds fancier, late of Manchester, but now apparently lost somewhere north of Birmingham south of the border, Rob, or another Rob? And if you are one and the same why the mysterious change of monika....?

Kind regards
Andrew
 
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Hi Andrew,
Yes, it is the 'shaving in the bath with the mirror on his knees Rob'. I came up with the alias to test out Martin's new forum and I rather like it as it reflects my modelling strategy at the moment - viz, get a kit out of the stash, spend three days putting some of the bits together and then place back in box before storing away for a rainy day ! We ( wife and I ) have been trying to move house for several years so the Rainy City moniker would have gone at some point.

I am not a fancier of cattle either, still got kick marks off the last sheep I chased:oops:

Hope you are well, good to see you making progress with the layout and hope the sums added up OK over the festive season.

Rob
 
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Hi Andrew,
Yes, it is the 'shaving in the bath with the mirror on his knees Rob'. I came up with the alias to test out Martin's new forum and I rather like it as it reflects my modelling strategy at the moment - viz, get a kit out of the stash, spend three days putting some of the bits together and then place back in box before storing away for a rainy day ! We ( wife and I ) have been trying to move house for several years so the Rainy City moniker would have gone at some point.

I am not a fancier of cattle either, still got kick marks off the last sheep I chased:oops:

Hope you are well, good to see you making progress with the layout and hope the sums added up OK over the festive season.

Rob
Ah yes, the mirror incident, I don't know why, but that went completely out of my head when thinking of alternative ways to describe you...? Sorry to hear that a sheep got the better of you, I trust you're healing well? Henceforth I shall dismiss any connection between you and our clove-footed friends.

And thanks for asking about business, all things considered, we fared better than we might have done with our shops shut had we not had the websites to fall back on.

Kind regards
Andrew
 
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One picture which is a bit of a non-event. Just shows the BUS making its way slowly around the front panel of the layout. Its the heavy gauge 32 / 0.2mm black and red twisted, to help with reducing interference, one pair for each of the 4 districts. If you look carefully you can see the feed coming off for the UP Main and DOWN Main disappearing through two holes in the front panel, to reappear moments later next to 4 solder tags screwed to the sub baseboard, from which the tracks will be fed.

Wiring inc the bus (1).jpg

But I'm making progress, to the right of the picture is the fiddle yard, completely covered in junk. So once the wiring is finished and the tracks tested I will be clearing the fiddle yard so that I can run just the two up and down main lines until they cross via the high-level flap to come into Yeovil from the north, where unfortunately there is still the most northerly station baseboard to finish... Will it ever end?

Andrew
 
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The good the bad and the ugly. Well this is certainly ugly but lets hope its not bad. It is tested and working freshly washed with a meths water mix that I use to remove the flux from soldered joints. I know that with wiring I'm meant to just allow the cored stuff to do its stuff but often find it frustrating when it beads like mercury. So I've given up and gone back to my standard solder with just the merest smidgen of power flux applied with a syringe. but even that amount would go green over time if I didn't wash it off ....so that's what I do!
Yeovil got to Fiddleyard (1).jpg

Hooray...I've cleared the fiddle Yard, or almost cleared anyway, and enough to temporarily lay Up and Down main lines. The Mosquito is a rather poor Revel model rather poorly painted that I got diverted onto a few years ago when track making got too much!

Yeovil got to Fiddleyard (2).jpg



And here's a closeup that shows up the top of the gradient that I've been laying the track for, over the last few days and weeks. Satisfactory to have got this far.
Yeovil got to Fiddleyard (3).jpg
 
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Whilst in posting mood here is a mock-up of how I plan to hide both the Up and Down hidden main lines coming up from underneath the station. The backscenes are leftovers from the old Yeovil in 00 that I could not make myself throw away....yet. The real things will be lower than these mockups but high enough to cover both the double track mainline and the branch line that will run above it.

Yeovil F-Yard - Backscene arrangements  (1).jpg


Rob here, to put you out of your misery, is my unbuilt kit pile in all its glory...I blame EBay!

Yeovil F-Yard - Backscene arrangements  (2).jpg


and talk of rapid progress.....drum roll, is a buffalo halfway up the sort of cleared fiddleyard, that got there under its own power. Here you may also see the door and just the other side on the extreme left is the north end of YPMill.... progress indeed.

Supper calls...
Yeovil F-Yard - Backscene arrangements  (3).jpg


Kind regards
Andrew
 
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Hi Andrew,
So now I know who keeps outbidding me on Ebay - what is your User ID ? - I will write to them and get you banned:( I take it the plastic containers in the kit pile ( ice-cream ? ) are part built things. I am terrible for doing that - sometimes I just lose interest half way through or come across something that won't fit and give up.

Your work is always good to see - it takes a lot of stamina to do what you are doing.

Rob
 
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Hi Andrew,
So now I know who keeps outbidding me on Ebay - what is your User ID ? - I will write to them and get you banned:( I take it the plastic containers in the kit pile ( ice-cream ? ) are part built things. I am terrible for doing that - sometimes I just lose interest half way through or come across something that won't fit and give up.

Your work is always good to see - it takes a lot of stamina to do what you are doing.

Rob
Hello Rob
Not me, I haven't bought a thing on eBay in several years, which you'll now understand I take it. As to the icecream tubs, yup guilty as charged or to be a bit more accurate, they are collections of stuff for a particular model. On the other side of the shed are one or two models that I've taken apart and not got around to reassembling. My Finney curved frame Bulldog being one, and now I can't remember why I took it part in the first place. Go to be converted to EM now anyway.

Thanks for the compliment, I'm back to really enjoying myself once again. Stops it being a chore. Also a very good reason for not doing what I've done, but doing something that can be finished, working, and looking good in a year or two. I think if you look back to when I first started this thread it was 2014 before infact we built the shed! I do hope it all works ok when I eventually get all the track complete...:unsure:

Andrew
 
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Hello Andrew,
Yes, I think it was one of Iain's early books that got me into storing parts for loco projects in their own little ( or big ) boxes and it is a nice idea. I use a 6x4" card index system now with 1 card per loco ( or coach/other rolling stock ) and jot down on that what I have in all the project boxes. That way I don't have to keep opening up all the boxes to see what is still required.

The way things are you will be doing virtual running sessions for us all and we can wave off the Weymouth train together....

Keep at it.
Rob
 
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yes that would be a lovely thought. Keep thinking that Rob and maybe one day, in the not too distannt future it will come to pass!
 
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Go on Andy, Nigel's shown us his a while back, Rob got bit carried away with his ideas about the same time, and you showed us the inside of your shed that you were threatening to tidy up. Its now only one small step to the inside of the railway sanctuary....
 
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Hello Everyone

A photo taken early this morning with the beginnings of the high-level flap having temporary track laid across it. Temporary because there is going to be point work on the flap, but I'm not stopping to build that yet.


Sunday 10th Jan  2021 progress (1).jpg


Later this afternoon I'd got the track round passed the flap and into the north end of the station. Photo just showing the end of the fiddleyard.

Sunday 10th Jan  2021 progress (2).jpg


I'm having trouble posting the next two photos so I'll try again later...
Andrew

Edit:
Here it is, track complete on the flap ...for the moment.

Sunday 10th Jan  2021 progress (3).jpg


And lastly the very north end of the station with the track coming though from the fiddleyard. The left hand UP main line is just laid there over the sleepers that are already stuck down ready to receive the rail for the various turnouts in the area.

Sunday 10th Jan  2021 progress (4).jpg


That's it for now.
Kind regards
Andrew
 
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Last edited:
My progress this weekend so far is to have taken baseboard no6 up to the house in an attempt to finish the point work that you can see below the length of flexible track in the photo on the previous post. This will allow running through the station going north, across the flap, and into the fiddleyard.

So here's the baseboard back on the end of the kitchen table again. It hasn't been here I think for over a year. It will be very good to get this finished once and for all! But don't hold your breath ....I managed to make two joggles for the goods shed road off the up mainline and that's about it apart from locating all my track building kit which in the ensuing time had been scattered to the four winds.
It's a bit like an old friend returning to a familiar place, rather nice...

[Yeovil Brd 6 North  (1).jpg


If I make more progress tomorrow and its worth talking about, I'll let you know.
Kind regards
Andrew
 
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Hello Everyone
I've made a little progress this weekend and thought I'd show you how I hinge the loose heeled switches.
I'm using 1mm thick double sided copper paxolin. Holes drilled 2.5 or 3mm for the hinge bolts to pass through. I countersink these to avoid solder getting too close to the thread ...

Yeovil lose heeled switch (4).jpg


On the underside, I place a 10BA nut held roughly in place with the 10BA bolt, pre-oiled to prevent soldering everything up solid. Apply the merest smidgen of Power Flux paste from a syringe. Tiny amount each side of the nut.
Yeovil lose hinged switch (1).jpg



Apply a minimum of solder to nut and the job is done usually without soldering bolt to nut.

Yeovil lose hinged switch (2).jpg


Once I've two nuts soldered to the underside of the timber I turn it right way up and superglue in position where I've previously drilled two holes right through the baseboard so the bottom ends of the bolts can have track feeds attached to feed the switches themselves. Here one bolt has been screwed all the way down and protrudes below base board for the feed. The other is waiting to be screwed down. I gap the timbers, top and bottom, twice to be on the safe side and test them for shorting, before installing.

Yeovil lose hinged switch (6).jpg



Kind regards
Andrew
 
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That’s a very well timed post, Andrew. I’ve been pondering how best to do this for a 3-way stub turnout, and this will work for me very well indeed. Thanks!
 
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That’s a very well timed post, Andrew. I’ve been pondering how best to do this for a 3-way stub turnout, and this will work for me very well indeed. Thanks!
Hello Paul
I'm glad it helped, and I know that I should know the answer to this question, but what is a stub turnout?
Andrew
 
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I'm glad it helped, and I know that I should know the answer to this question, but what is a stub turnout?
To grab a quick screenshot, it's one of these! The red rails are the loose heel blades which are simply moved to the appropriate exit track. (I've just discovered that you need to click the "View media item" after clicking the picture otherwise it's too fuzzy)

Capture.PNG
 
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and here the most northerly turnout in the station under construction. I tried doing the crossing itself in situ, but it isn't as good as building directly on a copy paper plan, giving them a good wash and brush up in the sink before installing. So I shall go back to my previous method for the last two turnouts. I can't believe that I'm that close to completing turnout construction for the station itself....!

Yoevil north T out (1).jpg


That's it for tonight
Kind regards
Andrew
 

Attachments

  • [Yeovil Brd 6 North  (1).jpg
    [Yeovil Brd 6 North (1).jpg
    734.9 KB · Views: 238
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To grab a quick screenshot, it's one of these! The red rails are the loose heel blades which are simply moved to the appropriate exit track. (I've just discovered that you need to click the "View media item" after clicking the picture otherwise it's too fuzzy)
Hello Paul
Thank you for the explanation. So you'll hinge at the far left-hand end of the red rails I take it? Not sure why I say this but might it be too sharp a deviation? Having written this, I suppose it's the same as my use? Except that with my application I only have to get one rail in good alignment, and the one not in use is out of alignment it but doesn't matter of course. I'm probably concerned needlessly.
Kind regards
Andrew
 
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Hi Andrew,
Nice job with the loose heel pivots. I did see the same thing at track making demo a few years back but he used smaller bolts ( can't remember the size ) that were not visible once the rail was soldered on top. He did admit to thinking that maybe a larger size bolt would be more robust in the long run so maybe you have it spot on. I guess the cosmetic chair on top will hide the bolt though ?

I have been doing a few track items today. Batch filing of frogs common crossings and switch rails in code 82 flat bottom rail for some US project I have in mind. I also milled down some copperclad to use in the turnouts as thin copperclad strips are hard to find and expensive if you do.

Rob
 
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Hi Andrew,
Nice job with the loose heel pivots. I did see the same thing at track making demo a few years back but he used smaller bolts ( can't remember the size ) that were not visible once the rail was soldered on top. He did admit to thinking that maybe a larger size bolt would be more robust in the long run so maybe you have it spot on. I guess the cosmetic chair on top will hide the bolt though ?

I have been doing a few track items today. Batch filing of frogs common crossings and switch rails in code 82 flat bottom rail for some US project I have in mind. I also milled down some copperclad to use in the turnouts as thin copperclad strips are hard to find and expensive if you do.

Rob

Hello Rob
Thanks and yes I could use a smaller size of bolt and yes it would be neater, or infact turn down the head a bit which would do the same thing probably, and you know, the perfectionist in me thinks "yes what a good idea". But did I do it? No. I suppose I'm a bit of a bodger as well at heart. When I see \ read the attention to detail that many go to, John(Hayfield) and Tony come to mind, and there are many others, who will go to great lengths to model the track in the correct length panels and make sure that exactly the correct chair is used in the right position in the point work, and I do actually identify quite strongly with that level of commitment. But I am building a largish layout by myself and am trying to create a picture of how the place looked in 1922. The picture is by no means a photograph, it's more like an impressionist painting (trust Monet, Manet at al will forgive me!) and I know that if I'd been unable to get the correct two bolt chairs, then I'd have used 3 bolt instead and actually that wouldn't have worried me too much. Partly because my eyes aren't that good these days and partly because it I'm a broad brush stroke sort of bloke. I'm happily using C&L flexi track and I doubt that's correct for GWR 1920's but it doesn't worry me.

What would concern me though is bullhead rail soldered/attached directly to the sleeper, because that, to my eye, really does show. The elegant rather delicate look of bullhead track makes the most huge difference to the look of the layout I think, and although the rail is only raised a smidgen over half a mil off the sleeper, it matters a lot to me that it's there (the gap).

Writing about this rather gungho, lackadaisical approach on this, a track building forum, is possibly a risky strategy, but I'm not really telling you Rob, or any of you who have observed my antics for the last 7 years, anything you didn't already know. You have always been kind and constructive in your criticism and I've had loads of encouragement, friendship and humour that continues to make it hugely enjoyable.

Well, that was a longer answer than either of us was expecting I'll wager! Does the cosmetic chair cover the bolt head....yes sort of, in a bodgerish sort of way...don't look too close!

Milling copper paxolin. What for exactly and do you have a picture or two..?

Kind regards
Andrew
 
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Andrew,
In some situations I like to have thinner than normal sleepers, think of goods yards/overgrown sidings etc, to give the impression that the truck is almost buried in the ground. Using a 'standard' sleeper depth means more work in raising the level of the surrounding levels to get the track to bed down as I wish. No pictures yet but maybe at some point.

I like to use plastikard sleepers cut from sheets - you get a lot per sheet - is the easiest way to approach it and 0.5mm ( 0.020" in old money ) is a good compromise thickness. You can't buy ( unless you know otherwise ? ) PCB in this size strips so last night was about milling down some 1.06mm strips to 0.5mm. I use a small jig that has a plastikard top and strips of 0.4mm plastikard set so they hold the original PCB strips in place under the cutter. It is fairly quick to do once the jig is made and the results are good although the cutting forces mean the strips come out with a pronounced curve. They form back flat by running them through the fingers.

It is similar to the principle of a router table for shaping wood, I was going to have the PCB strips fixed down and move the cutter over them but just feeding the PCB strips under the cutter whilst being guided by the plastikard strips is easier. The sleepers are double sided fibreglass rather than paxolin which I think would be weak in this thickness.

I am with you all the way with your layout. It must seem like work progresses slowly sometime with no end in sight. A little time saved here and there can help you to get though a little quicker. As you know I do so enjoy reading and seeing your progress.

Rob
 
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Andrew,
In some situations I like to have thinner than normal sleepers, think of goods yards/overgrown sidings etc, to give the impression that the truck is almost buried in the ground. Using a 'standard' sleeper depth means more work in raising the level of the surrounding levels to get the track to bed down as I wish. No pictures yet but maybe at some point.

I like to use plastikard sleepers cut from sheets - you get a lot per sheet - is the easiest way to approach it and 0.5mm ( 0.020" in old money ) is a good compromise thickness. You can't buy ( unless you know otherwise ? ) PCB in this size strips so last night was about milling down some 1.06mm strips to 0.5mm. I use a small jig that has a plastikard top and strips of 0.4mm plastikard set so they hold the original PCB strips in place under the cutter. It is fairly quick to do once the jig is made and the results are good although the cutting forces mean the strips come out with a pronounced curve. They form back flat by running them through the fingers.

It is similar to the principle of a router table for shaping wood, I was going to have the PCB strips fixed down and move the cutter over them but just feeding the PCB strips under the cutter whilst being guided by the plastikard strips is easier. The sleepers are double sided fibreglass rather than paxolin which I think would be weak in this thickness.

I am with you all the way with your layout. It must seem like work progresses slowly sometime with no end in sight. A little time saved here and there can help you to get though a little quicker. As you know I do so enjoy reading and seeing your progress.

Rob
Hello Rob
Ah I see now what you want it for. I recall a couple of years ago you and Nigel and one or two others suggested that approach to me for the sidings on Yeovil. I didn’t apply it because I’d already laid a good proportion of them but thought it was a good idea for the very reason you’ve talked of. And in fact I’m still going to have to build up the ground level more because the sleeper depth in the goods areas.

So thanks for the explanation and the photos and the kind comments. All very much appreciated and encouraging.

Would I be pushing my luck in asking for a track plan of the proposed layout?

kind regards
Andrew

PS. Love your vernier gauge, looks expensive and rather swish in its simplicity
 
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PS. Love your vernier gauge, looks expensive and rather swish in its simplicity

To be excessively pedantic for a moment, it is not a Vernier gauge. :)

Any form of caliper gauge tends to be called a "Vernier" but actually that term applies only to calipers which use Vernier graduations for accurate measurement:

vernier_scale.png


The Vernier scale was invented by Pierre Vernier in 1631. The basic idea is that 9 divisions on the main scale are divided into 10 divisions on the sliding scale. You can then estimate tenths of a main division by seeing where there is alignment with the sliding scale:

vernier_scale_ani.gif

CC BY-SA 3.0

More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernier_scale

What Rob has is called a Dial Caliper. It works by running a small pinion gear along a toothed rack. Much easier to read than a Vernier Caliper, especially in dim light. But having small moving parts it tends to be easily clogged up when working in dusty or swarfy conditions around machine tools. The Vernier Caliper has no moving parts other than the main slider and tends to be indestructible.

Nowadays of course most folks use a Digital Caliper instead, and hope the world supply of batteries never runs out.

Martin.
 
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Hi Andrew,
No I don't have any track/layout plans just yet. Watch this space as they say.

The caliper you see is one of these :
1611685551272.png


I think it was around £25.00 but the Ebay sellers don't seem to have any these days. It is marked in 0.01mm graduations which is probably not required for most of the things we are doing - it does correspond to approx 0.0004" in imperial. I also have a metric one that has 2mm per dial revolution on the other workbench which of course reads in 0.02mm increments..

As has been said on here before the issue with digital ones is that they don't properly power off when you press the off button - they just turn the display off. I got frustrated by the number of times I had to scramble around for a battery before I could take a measurement. if you have a digital one and want to know if is does properly power down just see if it remembers the reading after you power it off and back on - if it does then it didn't actually power all the way down.

Rob
 
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To be excessively pedantic for a moment, it is not a Vernier gauge. :)

Any form of caliper gauge tends to be called a "Vernier" but actually that term applies only to calipers which use Vernier graduations for accurate measurement:

View attachment 206

The Vernier scale was invented by Pierre Vernier in 1631. The basic idea is that 9 divisions on the main scale are divided into 10 divisions on the sliding scale. You can then estimate tenths of a main division by seeing where there is alignment with the sliding scale:

View attachment 207
CC BY-SA 3.0

More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernier_scale

What Rob has is called a Dial Caliper. It works by running a small pinion gear along a toothed rack. Much easier to read than a Vernier Caliper, especially in dim light. But having small moving parts it tends to be easily clogged up when working in dusty or swarfy conditions around machine tools. The Vernier Caliper has no moving parts other than the main slider and tends to be indestructible.

Nowadays of course most folks use a Digital Caliper instead, and hope the world supply of batteries never runs out.

Martin.
Hello Martin
I stand educated! Thank you and thank you for such a clear beautifully illustrated reply. Very clear.
Kind regards
Andrew
 
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Hi Andrew,
No I don't have any track/layout plans just yet. Watch this space as they say.

The caliper you see is one of these :
View attachment 210

I think it was around £25.00 but the Ebay sellers don't seem to have any these days. It is marked in 0.01mm graduations which is probably not required for most of the things we are doing - it does correspond to approx 0.0004" in imperial. I also have a metric one that has 2mm per dial revolution on the other workbench which of course reads in 0.02mm increments..

As has been said on here before the issue with digital ones is that they don't properly power off when you press the off button - they just turn the display off. I got frustrated by the number of times I had to scramble around for a battery before I could take a measurement. if you have a digital one and want to know if is does properly power down just see if it remembers the reading after you power it off and back on - if it does then it didn't actually power all the way down.

Rob
Hello Rob
Shame about the track plan, I'll remind you from time to time if I may? Might be a late "new years" resolution for you....?

Anyway thanks for the explanation as to why my digital ones run their batteries down so quickly. Not showing off you understand, but I've got three, two pretty accurate and one not so, and the two I use with some regularity both run their batteries down within the year certainly. But as long as Martin's scary scenario doesn't come to pass, then I'll be ok...
Andrew
 
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