ME track,MAJOR installation discovery!

[LV LOU]

Last night I was working on my railroad.I had a few pieces of ME C70 that were in good shape,but were previously installed,and had glue on them.I wanted to get the glue off,so over to the upstairs bathroom I went,track in hand.I turned the hot water on in the tub,and put the track in.The water wasn't really that hot,I just put in a new energy saver water heater last weekend,it's only set at 120 Degrees.As I worked the track a little to try to get the glue out,suddenly..What? Huh??? The track had loosened up substantially,it moved far easier than it had before,I mean,to the point where the ends actually spring back on their own!!! It's still a pain,but since my water is only 120 degrees,I may try turning it up just to try it on my next batch of track to see if it makes it even better..As is,there was no change in gauge or adverse effects.I think the hot water expands the metal rail,and softens the plastic just enough so that when the rail expands,it pushes the spike heads out with it,and when the rail cools,the spikes stay where they are..  ME,if you're listening,I bet you'd sell a lot more track if you gave it a nice hot bath first,LOL!!!

[mmagliaro]

Holy cow, this works!
After I read Lou's post, I scrambled around here for a scrap of ME code 55, went to the bathroom,
let the water run hot, and sure enough, under hot water, the stuff bends loosey goosey and will hardly hold its curvature.
And then if you curve it, and hold it that way for a minute (or run it under cold water), it stiffens up again.

There are some applications where this won't really help, such as trying to bend a curve to a drawn center line
on the benchwork.  You could heat it up under hot water and then move quickly to the layout and curve it along
the line before it starts to stiffen up, I suppose.   
But for pre-forming curves off the layout, this really would help.  You could heat, bend, slip SweepSticks
(or Tracksetta gauges) in, and then let it cool and it would be much easier than bending/working it the "old" way.

[avel]

Nice!, no more kinked curves!   Saw your post on Trainboard last night too. So simple, thanks for sharing this information.

[Kisatchie]

Nice!, no more kinked curves!...

Hmm... I'd hate to see
Kiz's water bill once he
starts laying track...

[LV LOU]

Holy cow, this works!
After I read Lou's post, I scrambled around here for a scrap of ME code 55, went to the bathroom,
let the water run hot, and sure enough, under hot water, the stuff bends loosey goosey and will hardly hold its curvature.
And then if you curve it, and hold it that way for a minute (or run it under cold water), it stiffens up again.

There are some applications where this won't really help, such as trying to bend a curve to a drawn center line
on the benchwork.  You could heat it up under hot water and then move quickly to the layout and curve it along
the line before it starts to stiffen up, I suppose.   
But for pre-forming curves off the layout, this really would help.  You could heat, bend, slip SweepSticks
(or Tracksetta gauges) in, and then let it cool and it would be much easier than bending/working it the "old" way.

Max,the good thing is,it's really loose when it's hot,but even after it cools,it's still more flexible than it was..

[peteski]

How about using a hair dryer (or a heat gun on low setting) instead of water?  It will get the track warm/hot, and it is less messy. It can also be done in the layout room.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Damn you Pete, you beat my by 5 minutes. I hope my wife won't kill me when she finds her hair dryer in the basement. heh heh

[peteski]

Damn you Pete, you beat my by 5 minutes.

I hope my wife won't kill me when she finds her hair dryer in the basement. heh heh

Remember, keeping household harmony is the most important task for a husband!    Go to Walmart (or Wallgreens) and for about twelve bucks, get yourself a hairdryer for hobby use.  I myself have a second one in my workshop (and I'm single!)   

[LV LOU]

How about using a hair dryer (or a heat gun on low setting) instead of water?  It will get the track warm/hot, and it is less messy. It can also be done in the layout room.

  Feel free,but not me.Water is a medium where you can easily both regulate and judge the exact temperature.You put a piece of track in 120-140 degree water,it comes out 120-140 degrees,and you're heating the entire thing at once.With a hair dryer,you could easily overheat the ends of the ties and ruin the track,and there's no way possible to heat it uniformly from end to end and be certain of it.Just try to heat shrink a 4 foot long pack of wires together to see what I mean,it's impossible to heat evenly.In the layout room,if you wanted to try the "hot & wet" method,although I think it's not necessary,you could get a piece of PVC pipe big enough to completely submerge  a few pieces of track,and heat it with a submersible heater.Worth the investment if you're using a LOT of ME track..

[peteski]

I don' think that hair dryer on a low setting will do any damage (it is cool enough not to burn human skin).  I don't currently have any ME flex on hand - I only made a suggestion of an alternate warming method.  Judging by his post, Daniel will be the guinea pig for the warm-air method.   

[LV LOU]

I don' think that hair dryer on a low setting will do any damage (it is cool enough not to burn human skin).  I don't currently have any ME flex on hand - I only made a suggestion of an alternate warming method.  Judging by his post, Daniel will be the guinea pig for the warm-air method.   

Betcha he doesn't after he reads my post and thinks about it.Now that I think more,could be a good idea to use a small piece of PVC pipe,but instead of a submersible heater,heat the TUBING with the hair dryer,and check the temp with a thermometer..Also,I think the water actually is part of the equation,I believe the water may be acting as a lubricant to help the track slide..

[havingfuntoo]

I think if you used a hot air gun you would have trouble keeping the entire piece of track a constant temperature ..... one end will be hot and the other will have cooled and will be less flexible, and my fear would be over heating the plastic and ripping out some of the plastic rail spikes. I'm sure the water offers some lubricating properties that aid the flexing as mentioned above.   

[pnolan48]

What a neat discovery! I wonder if the plastic is softening just a bit, then re-hardening. I've straightened warped resin pieces (long hulls) by heating them to 140 degrees then weighting them down on a level board until they cooled.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Well we all know i'm all about the hot air.

I am pleased to inform you that a hair dryer does indeed work.

I don' think that hair dryer on a low setting will do any damage (it is cool enough not to burn human skin).  I don't currently have any ME flex on hand - I only made a suggestion of an alternate warming method.  Judging by his post, Daniel will be the guinea pig for the warm-air method.   

[peteski]

Well we all know i'm all about the hot air.

I am pleased to inform you that a hair dryer does indeed work.

Excellent Danie!l Thanks for the follow up and for being the guinea-pig.