Code 40 to Code 55 Transition Joiner

[wazzou]

Is there a little offset in the alignment?

[C855B]

No. For simplicity they are center-to-center. The offset - about 0.005" each side - seems to take care of itself in the flex. Test cars ran through it fine, just wheel clicks on the small gap.

[davefoxx]

I'm not crazy about the rail gaps, and what is the joiner going to look like after painting?  I fear it may seem a little clunky.  I'm still a fan of crushing half a rail joiner and soldering the joint together, but I can very much appreciate the need for this joiner to speed up track laying.

DFF

[C855B]

Yeah, I've done the crushed joiner thing in seven or eight spots and, frankly, every one was a fraught process. With my yard and industrial plan, in the end I think there are going to be close to 100 transitions, so something in that process had to change. Not nearly as clunky as Atlas insulated joiners, which I have been using in certain instances such as crossovers, albeit foreshortened to reduce the mass. I may mod this transition joiner for C55-C55 for that very reason.

The gap is not as bad as you think, hard to see but there is a filler tab.

[davefoxx]

Yeah, I've done the crushed joiner thing in seven or eight spots and, frankly, every one was a fraught process. With my yard and industrial plan, in the end I think there are going to be close to 100 transitions, so something in that process had to change. Not nearly as clunky as Atlas insulated joiners, which I have been using in certain instances such as crossovers, albeit foreshortened to reduce the mass. I may mod this transition joiner for C55-C55 for that very reason.

The gap is not as bad as you think, hard to see but there is a filler tab.

Yes, sir, I couldn't see the filler tab in the photo.  That addresses my issue with the rail gap.

DFF

[C855B]

I can't believe that it's been three years since the original post. EdK had every right to bust my chops about working on the layout. Anyway...

Last night I ran a new batch of these joiners with a AnyCubic Photon D2 for the first time, using the artwork linked above. Vast improvement. The "original" Photon I have was bad for filling-in small holes with exposure "bloom". The D2-printed joiners are crisp and precise, and I'm not having to force the rail into the joiner to override the resulting fillet. Amazing how much the technology has improved.