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Home   Forums   Events Calendar   Sponsors   Support the RRLine   Guestbook   FAQ     Register Active Topics | Active Polls | Resources | Members | Online Users | Live Chat | Avatar Legend | Search | Statistics Photo Album | File Lister | File Library [ Active Members: 0 | Anonymous Members: 0 | Guests: 249 ]  [ Total: 249 ]  [ Newest Member: Stuart W ]  All Forums  Model Railroad Forums  Model Railroad Construction  Harmony Junction Switching Layout Previous Page | Next Page  New Topic |    New Poll |   Reply to Topic |  Author Topic Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 of 16 George D Moderator Premium Member Posted - 11/28/2020 :  4:47:00 PM     Thanks, Mike, Mike, Rick and Dave. George Fly Army Country: USA | Posts: 16811 George D Moderator Premium Member Posted - 12/01/2020 :  11:21:35 AM     I cut up more pieces for the rerailers. I'm still messing with the design. These are a shortened version of the between the rails pieces. I'm writing about this because of the handy tool I found for snapping small pieces of styrene after the parting line had been scribed. I've been using this tool for several years now and might have mentioned it in one of my other projects, but I like it enough to mention it again. It came from Harbor Freight, so it's not super expensive, though I don't remember what I paid for it. It's designed for bending metal seams. It's very handy of you're trying to break off a long narrow piece – a 1/8” or 1/4” wide piece of a thicker styrene. I'm working with 0.040” styrene here. The scrap pieces are on the right. It'll be a while till I use most of those pieces on the left, so the challenge is to put them somewhere where I can find them again. George Fly Army Country: USA | Posts: 16811 George D Moderator Premium Member Posted - 12/14/2020 :  8:30:09 PM     I've finally completed a couple cassettes. To review, the base is a 1”x3” board with hand laid code 70 rail. I've added 1/8” luan sides, which are there to prevent cars from falling off when lifting and moving the cassettes. The handles are made out of 3/4”x1/8” aluminum stock with broomstick handles. The key to the cassettes working are the connecting pins. The first cassette I made was 12” long and I've been using it for design work. It also serves as my standard for pin and rail alignment. Everything, cassettes and layout track ends, match this standard cassette. The connecting pins are 7/64” OD brass tubing and are only on the cassettes. They slide inside 1/8” ID brass tubing that are soldered outside the rails on both the layout and the cassettes. These pins align the cassettes to the layout tracks and also provide electrical power to the cassettes. I added a piece of 3/32” diameter brass rod inside the sliding pins to make handles that make these pins easy to slide in and out. Here's a picture of these alignment pins on the end of the cassette (right) and the tubes for the pins on the layout track (left). This picture shows the cassette connected to the layout. f you look closely, you can see little wooden stops next to the end of the side boards that prevent the pins from coming all the way out. I was planning on adding a removable vertical pin between the rails at the end of the cassette to keep cars from rolling off the cassettes when they were being moved or turned. Dumb luck on my part – the pin handles laying across the rails serve that purpose. I've seen other cassettes that had rerailers to ensure the wheels on trains entering the layout were all on the track, so I cut some out of styrene and added them. I have two more cassettes awaiting handles. I need to buy more aluminum stock. I've been playing with the cassettes and need to do some more testing to ensure things are reliable. After that, I need to hook up my DCC booster and I'm ready for operations. George Fly Army Country: USA | Posts: 16811 Tyson Rayles Moderator Premium Member Posted - 12/15/2020 :  08:40:14 AM     Country: USA | Posts: 13441 Dutchman Administrator Premium Member Posted - 12/15/2020 :  10:15:52 AM     Nicely designed and executed, George. Bruce Country: USA | Posts: 33320 Bernd Fireman Posted - 12/15/2020 :  11:00:25 AM       Yes, what Bruce said. Very nice design and build. Bernd New York, Vermont & Northern Rwy. - Route of the Black Diamonds Country: USA | Posts: 3964 George D Moderator Premium Member Posted - 12/15/2020 :  11:32:34 AM     Thanks, Mike, Bruce and Bernd. The Brits frequently use cassettes on their little exhibition layouts. My design comes bits and pieces I've picked up while reading British model railway magazines, going to their train shows (exhibitions) and internet searches. One thing I spotted after my last post is the possibility of a short if the two pin handles touch while they're hanging over the track. I'm going to have to dig up some shrink tubing and cover them. George Fly Army Country: USA | Posts: 16811 Frank Palmer Fireman Posted - 12/15/2020 :  11:46:45 AM       Nice going on the alignment pins. They should be 100% effective. Frank Country: USA | Posts: 6134 Guff Fireman Premium Member Posted - 12/15/2020 :  11:57:17 AM       Very interesting design and execution! David Guffey Country: USA | Posts: 2103 jbvb Fireman Premium Member Posted - 12/15/2020 :  6:03:44 PM       Looks good, George. I have a couple of hand seamers, one with compound leverage. I use them for brass and aluminum parts, plus breaking styrene and acrylic. Learned about them in an MR 'Kinks" column long ago. Country: USA | Posts: 6817 George D Moderator Premium Member Posted - 12/15/2020 :  6:20:02 PM     Thank you, Frank, Dave and James. I've had two seamers too, James. A friend borrowed my first one and I had to go out and buy a second one. George Fly Army Country: USA | Posts: 16811 BurleyJim Fireman Premium Member Posted - 12/15/2020 :  8:00:11 PM     This has been a great learning session on "how to's" for a lot of facets of the hobby. Excellent George! Jim Take the red pill Country: USA | Posts: 6187 Michael Hohn Fireman Posted - 12/15/2020 :  8:42:19 PM       Well done, George. Country: USA | Posts: 7257 George D Moderator Premium Member Posted - 12/16/2020 :  09:00:57 AM     Thanks, Jim and Mike. It's been a learning lesson for me too. George Fly Army Country: USA | Posts: 16811 George D Moderator Premium Member Posted - 12/17/2020 :  9:28:00 PM     One step forward, two steps back. Up to now, I've been using a 44 ton diesel switcher to pull and push cars around to test out the layout's trackwork and the cassettes and everything has been fine. Today, I grabbed an 0-6-0t and immediately had a problem. The front steps hit the tubes that hold the aligning pins at the end of the cassette. If the loco would run perfectly straight everything would be fine, but the short wheelbase switcher wobbles a bit. I tried an 0-4-0t and had the same problem. Back to the drawing boards. I moved the tubes further from the rails. Here's a comparison of the old and new tube locations. Of course that meant unsoldering the tubes and resoldering them in the new position. The unsoldering was the difficult part. I messed up a couple ties in the process, which added to the aggravation. It's slow going and I'm only half way through the cassettes I've made, but I am moving forward again. Here's a picture of the locomotive's clearance with the tubes further away from the rails. George Fly Army Country: USA | Posts: 16811 Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 of 16 Topic    New Topic |    New Poll |   Reply to Topic |  Previous Page | Next Page Jump To: Select Forum Railroad Line Administrative Forums       Forum News       Administrative Posts General Forums       WorkShops, Garage, Machines and Tools       The Tour Bus       The Arrival Track       RR-L Member Personal Websites       The Crew Lounge       The Classroom       Interchange Tracks       Rail Events       Reference & Research Model Railroad Forums       The Sn3 Branch       Mike Chambers' Craftsman's Corner       HOn30 and HOn3 Forum       Early Rail Forum       Dead Rail Forum       The On30 Line       Railroad Photography Forum       Small Scale Model Railroad Forum       Mid Scale Model Railroad Forum       Large Scale Model Railroad Forum       Logging, Mining, & Narrow minded       Model Railroad Construction       Micro & Mini Layouts       Layout Design / Operation Sig Forum       Startin' from Scratch       DCC, Computers and Electronics for Model Railroads Shop Talk       Vehicle and Non-Rail Transportation Modeling       The Steam Shop       The Roundhouse       Rolling Stock: the Car Shops       The Diesel Shop Company Store       Railroad-Line Swap Meet       New Product Announcements Fallen Flag Railroad Forums       Erie / Lackawanna Railroad Forum       Raritan River Railroad Forum Railroad Software Forums       Atlas Right Track Software       Railroad Line Software Library Model Railroad Club Forums       The Model Railroad Club Forum Sponsor Forums       Rusty Stumps Scale Models       KingMill Enterprises Railroad Line Weblinks       Badger Creek Lumber Co.       Central Missouri & Southern RR       Raritan River Railroad       Thor's All Gauge Page  -------------------- Home Active Topics Frequently Asked Questions Member Information Search Page Railroad Line Forums © 2000-2020 Railroad Line Co.
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