Chalkhill

[Dad-1]

I think I'm setting myself up for a failure, but I have two sections of flat panel doors sitting here.
Each is 44" long and 27" wide.
To compress and achieve the maximum number of sidings I'm looking at using mostly Peco Set-track points.
Some problems arise from that, but I have somewhere between 15-18 of each hand here. On my recent
shunting layout I used the same points, but to improve running and take away the chance of shorts at the
common crossings have switched polarity with additional feeders to the metal check rails. Although additional
work probably worth it.



This has 11 points, thinking of stud & probe operation, something I've never done before. While I may have the
points I only have 8 point motors, buying 3 won't break me and I'm looking at mounting through the baseboard top



One of the most costly parts of my current thinking is adding edging out of 70 x 20 mm planed pine strip wood.
I'll need 4 lengths at a cost of £40 +. Why do that ?
Well I'm thinking of using the legs made for my Thomas layout. They are held by 6.0 mm screws into blind furniture
fixings that will be embedded into that edging. It makes sense to me to have a second use for these legs.



The Thomas layout is still being used, currently booked for it's 42 outing, but no reason why not to have a second
application for the legs.

Anyway that's a plan, can I be bothered ??? That's the serious question.

Geoff T

[Chops]

Your carpentry, for starters, is enviable, if I may say. The whole thing looks quite clever and I hope for all the success with it. The use of dowels looks quite professional. I had tried to add some once to a number of modules; it about did me in. Yours are much better. Please keep us updated.

[Dad-1]

Thanks Chops,

Had a shock this morning - I've used all my rail built flat bottom type rail Peco Bufferstops.
Looked on line to find Hatton's @ 1.80 were out of stock and those advertising through Amazon
and Ebay were from 3.25 and I need between 10 & a dozen. Rails came to my rescue at 1.95, but
be warned when both these suppliers get new stock in it'll be at the new higher prices.

In the pre-plan I need 11 point motors, found one more in the loft so I currently have 9 and while
ordering the bufferstops added 2 to the order.

I shall probably 'Do' part of the siding board today as there are no ponts and I easily have enough
track from either code 100 flexitrack, or the 80+ standard Peco set-track straights I have.

Still not certain about the timber edging. Were this being made for public display it really needs
doing, but as it may just stay at home I can comfortably sit on trestles I already have.

Geoff T.

[Bufferstop]

Geoff have you made a jig for drilling the dowels, or was the end piece glued in between the sheets after drilling? Old doors are definitely a quick way to a firm baseboard. Will the point motors poke out of the bottom or can you keep them in the thickness by chopping off the tail ends of the pins?

[Dad-1]

Hi Bufferstop,

The Dowels were positioned by my usual ruler and eye, didn't workout too bad.
The point motors pin is fully enclosed within the door structure.
The lower facing has suffered, while the top may splinter a little as I drill, or jig saw it's all on the inner (lower)
face. When drilling right through the lower face is the one that splinters. They were never made for this type
of treatment, a jig saw is not a gentle tool.

I've not ordered my wire yet so not able to run more than a few inches..

The full size showing both boards where I'm laying out the second board which will have 6 long sidings, no points,
or complex trackwork. I currently think a virtual quarry will be along the wide edge. Here is part of my engineers
stock, the obvious thing alongside the ballast storage.





Geoff T.

[Bufferstop]

I've found that the quality of ply used on doors is best cut with a milling cutter in the Dremel or the Proxxon, which is more useful as it has a routing attachment with a depth stop. The Proxxon is genuine German engineering and it shows. The Dremel by comparison is a little rough around the edges, but then it came to me by misfortune, it comes in useful for the rough and ready jobs.

[Dad-1]

I've had to wait for the last few point motors before cutting into the door skin.
An example of the myriad of wires, here the three points that make up the
engine shed sidings.



My rather untidy working bench in the shed, never mind having it all there saves having to look for things
other than just in front of me.

All 11 points, on the one board will be driven through a stud & probe system. The small mimic board will
be made of ply and the two studs for each point will be small self tapper screws I have here. The remains
of a box containing 500 that I needed back in the 1990's for some jobs on the touring caravan.
My rather rough looking test piece shows a wire soldered to the ground off and tinned end of the screw.
While it may look rough I can't pull it off, so I know this will be adequate.



No rush, and every point needs it's circuits testing before I go any further.

Geoff T.

[luckymucklebackit]

Hi Geoff, one thing to watch for when using these doors for boards is that due to the surface finish, nothing will stick to them. Did a club layout once using a door and we abandoned it as the cork underlay wouldn't stick at all.

Jim

[Dad-1]

Thanks for that Jim,

I'll rough up with sandpaper before I stick anything. Perhaps yours had been wax polished ?
Certainly have to try a few experiments, particularly with watered down PVA ballasting as
that's what most of this will be.

Geoff T.

[luckymucklebackit]

Hi Geoff, it hadn't been waxed, just the shiny veneer that is common on theses doors, we did try roughing up with sandpaper which had some success. Agree that some experiments are recommended before proceeding.

Jim

[Bufferstop]

Double sided tape and low quality paper sticks to those doors, then you can use PVA to stick down anything. The tape is a real swine to remove as long as what you stick to it has little strength of it's own!

[Dad-1]

No Glue tests yet, but I now think this will be built.
After testing all 12 point motors wiring I started to lay out into their permanent position
all the rails running to the small engine shed. Tried a few DCC powered runs with the
Ruston. One point caused some stalling, but as these are reclaimed points I added a few
additional track pins to hold flat and the problem vanished.



Lots more droppers to go in, I use an overly light 7 strand 0.2 wire, but as every piece of
track including all point stock rails have their own feed I feel it's quite adequate.



Geoff T.

[Dad-1]

A wee touch more, all the siding lines to the top edge now ready for adding droppers
and generally sorting out the insulating joints required.



I'm not particularly happy with the ride through the points ladder and struggling with
the isolating of BOTH 'V' rails where on one side the metal rail joiners are spot welded
onto the rails. In one place I'm trying an open rail join with no joiner to keep alignment.
That location will be severely superglued, with perhaps an alignment guide on the outside
of the rails to assist in keeping aligned.
These isolating problems come with Set-track points, with Streamline there are no permanently
attached rail joiners so you can easily hold in place with the little nylon IRJ's. The difficulty
comes when all your other sections of track have their own track power feed.

The 'Ride' problem is one where I now cast doubt on the regularly quoted rule of thumb that
back-to-back measurements need to be set at 14.5 mm. With that setting, the usual standard I've
used for years the ride over Streamline is fine if not perfect. However on Set-track with the tighter
turn I find that the flanges tend to just catch the plastic insulated 'V' and a slightly tighter setting
of 14.3 is better, the 14.3 seems to work well over streamline points and slips as well.
On Derry's Yard I use the tighter setting, but have also filled the base of the flangeway with a very
thin piece of plasticard on which the Hornby flanges run which removes the jerk of wheels dropping
into the common crossing void.

More 'Fun' to come !!

Geoff T.

[Bufferstop]

There's a nasty void at the centre of a settarack frog, just waiting for a small loco wheel to fall into it. I converted some by pulling out the V rails and pushing in longer sections of rail filed to a point whilst holding a 75W iron on the tip. Once the plastic had cooled down I cut away the remnants of the plastic tip and filled the bottom of the void with Plastic Padding, so that there was some support for smaller wheels as they passed across the gap. They worked quite well and forced me to do something about Lima pizza cutters. Like grinding the flanges down to the same depth as Hornby and Bachmann ones. The may have worked well but they weren't going to look to good, so they went into the fiddle yard.
The method of butchering dead frog points was described by C J Freezer once he had moved on from Railway Modeller and Peco. He kept quiet about it out of loyalty to his employers, mainly the boss Sydney Pritchard. It was said to be the only disagreement they had that they never resolved. In the end Peco were forced into producing Electrofrog points, when other manufacturers (mainly Graham Farish) started to make them.

[Dad-1]

As you say Bufferstop that void at the 'V' is the major problem.
Can't really blame Peco as the void size is dictated by the tight angle of turn.
It probably comes as no surprise that a Wrenn wagon is the smoothest runner,
proving why such wide wheels were necessary.
In fact even short Streamline points have the same problem although not as severe.

I will be filling out the flangeway with thin plasticard as here on ' Derry's Yard', then
with Hornby wheel sets it's smooth, still makes a wagon rock with either Dapol, or
even worse Alan Gibson wheels. Most locos with 6 driving wheels run over O.K ... ish !!



Been powering up sections with jumper leads to sort out the best solution to wiring in.
My little Ruston runs over MOST of the time, but Don't super crawl !!

Geoff T.