- Location
- West of the Severn UK
- Info
@Steve_CornfordWould it be possible to produce a laser cutting file (I assume that would be .DXF) for a trackbed layer complete with sockets?
This could be laser cut in cork or 2mm greyboard.
Then lasercut the sleepers in 1.5mm ply or 1.6mm basswood, complete with sockets.
Produce resin 3D printed chairs with longer plugs, or some temporary alignment plugs(ABS say).
Stick down your trackbed.
Stick the sleepers onto trackbed using the temporary alignment pegs (or the the chairs with longer pegs)
Remove temporary plugs
Thread rail onto chairs, then plug the chairs into the sockets.
Hi Steve,
Thanks for your ideas.
Most of that is already possible in the current version 228a -- but so far for plain track only. (I haven't yet done the special chairs for pointwork, and the socket sizes will vary.)
At present you can't have the sockets without the timber outlines for the trackbed, but I will fix that. For the DXF file most of the features are in their own layer, so if importing into a CAD program it's easy to switch layers on and off to get whatever you want for the laser cutter.
The plug depth on the chairs is already an option setting, and you can switch off the chair jaws to print some socket locators, like this:
Ideally they need to be a fraction smaller than the press-fit chair plugs, which is also doable now, but I will add some specific options to make it simple.
To make it easier to locate timbers on the trackbed it would be better to have the plugs only, without any tops, and with an upper taper, so that the timbers can be dropped over them. So I will add that option too.
I want to add whatever options anyone wants to create a flexible system for whatever equipment they have access to. But it means a formidable array of tickboxes on the export dialog.
cheers,
Martin.
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