I have not been overly happy with the module joins as there track isn't that good where they butt up. The Ed's take a distinct 'over the hump' move as they cross. several weeks ago, in a fit of frustration, I took a hammer to it to see if I could beat it flat. While this failed in the short term (quite catastrophically) it did force me to fix it. At rail-X among other things I purchased a razor saw. with this it was relatively easy to remove the dogs dinner that was the module join.
The rasp sorted out the high points in the end plates rather quickly. I then cut 2 rails to length and slotted them into the gap.
Now all I have to do is solder in the sleepers and solidly fix the rails down. Hopefully (I must avoid using this word at work, apparently one does not hope for science to work) It will hold in place and not wander off again. then I'll take the razor saw and cut everything to size. With my experiences over the weekend I'm also wondering about swapping my module connection system from the ex-Aquaflow pressure tube to a split hinge system, which seemed to work very well for the 9mm layout.
The other purchase I made at the weekend was a couple of second hand Digitrax panels cheap.
now I'll have to do some thinking about where I want to position them. the options are under the layout so that I can use them from both sides, or recessed into the fascia board where they will look stylish.
3 comments:
Perhaps for smooth joins it would be worth soldering the rails direct to a length of pcb like I've seen in the MRJ. Recess the bases to glue something beneath that would take little countersunk screws to hold the pcb reasonably firmly and some shims of thin plasticard to set the level right. If the screws are staggered they might not be too hard to hide.
re: Hammer method. This ECT approach to modelling to break out of an impasse appears more effective than the modeller's more usual Homeopathic approach of endless tiny tweaks and mounting frustration at incrementally slow resolution. Interesting. (maybe I should start reading New Scientist for inspiration as well as MRJ...)
Quentin
If you need some wide PCB strips, let me know - I have some PCB cutting jobs on right now, can cut some specials while I've got the machine set up.
Paul
Thanks for the offer paul, but I think that they might be a bit thick. I'll just stick a stack of 2mm ones in the area and glue them down with no more nails which should hold better.
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