Concrete Tie strip for N Scale and Code 40 Rail

[ednadolski]

It's still subtle.

Simple and subtle are exactly what I am looking for

On my little Loop layout, I built the Walong siding 1/32" lower than the parallel mainline.   The effect was very hard for most folks even to notice, but to my eye it still was enough to see something which was subtle even on the prototype.

In your vid there, I think the camera angle make is easiest to see the SE effect on the first curve after the bridge.

Ed

[GaryHinshaw]

Nice video Mike. 

Here is a quick & dirty shot of the S curves through Allard, just upgrade from Tunnel 2:



If you look closely you can make out the SE transitions, and you can also see how the foreground ties sit above the cork by .020".

-gfh

[Ed Kapuscinski]

How does the SE look with equipment on it?

[GaryHinshaw]

It's pretty subtle:

[basementcalling]

It's pretty subtle:

Subtle but effective. Really looks good,  Gary. It's much easier to notice with tall rolling stock on the curve.

[ednadolski]

Subtle, even with double stacks.  These pics are one with vs. one without the SE  (leaving it as an exercise to the viewer to decide which is which.... sorry the DOF is not very good).






Ed

[GaryHinshaw]

I'm going to guess that the closer curve has the SE, based on what appears to be a slight lean in the first well car.  But either way, it's subtle.

As long as you're thinking about tapering the ties, it occurs to me that you're in the unique position of being able to do the proper thing of lowering the inner rail rather that raising the outer rail.  That might be fun to experiment with.

[BTW, what's with the 1:1 scale covered hopper ladder in the background?  ]

[ednadolski]

you're in the unique position of being able to do the proper thing of lowering the inner rail rather that raising the outer rail.

Interesting, I never knew it was like that.  For modeling that would mean that the tangent track needs the 0.020" spacers under each rail.  I guess that could be done with flextrack too.

[BTW, what's with the 1:1 scale covered hopper ladder in the background?  ]

Colorado building codes again.... that's a fire escape ladder that the builders have to put into the basement window wells (even if the space is unfinished).

Ed

[Jbub]

Interesting, I never knew it was like that.  For modeling that would mean that the tangent track needs the 0.020" spacers under each rail.  I guess that could be done with flextrack too.


Colorado building codes again.... that's a fire escape ladder that the builders have to put into the basement window wells (even if the space is unfinished).

Ed

Not just Colorado, I think it's in the national code for fire egress. I had to have them in Utah and I think it's for any window well that's more than 30" deep.

[ednadolski]

Here is a batch with the latest design, fresh off the printer (welll, ok, out of the curing station).   I'm able to fit 19 strips into one print 'block', at about 4 3/4" per strip that should be good for about 90" of track per block.   That seems to be about the most that will fit onto the build plate of the printer. The block on the LHS of the first pic is the standard/regular thickness for tangent track, and the block on the RHS has a 0.020" superelevation cant included across the length of each tie  (sort of like a wedge doorstop).

One thing I like about the integrated cant is that there is no shimming to be done, which should make installation a little easier & quicker, plus the results should be more consistent. The canting supports the full length of each tie flat against the roadbed with no gaps, which seems like a bit of extra assurance against possible cracking over time (something that traditional flextrack does not need to worry about).  I'm planning to make some variants with 0.005", 0.010", and 0.015" elevations, for use in transitions. 

(Side note, one of the things that I changed in this revision was the cross-section of the webbing between the ties.  Previously it was semi-circular and larger, now it is smaller and I made it from just a few beveled surfaces.   It seems that with curved/circular surfaces, the slicing software (Chitubox) takes exponentially longer to compute the slices, esp. as the number of strips is increased.   (I thought my Mac was going to melt.)  They are probably using some rudimentary algorithms that do not scale very well.   The software also seems rather buggy, in that I found certain shapes will confuse it into producing odd slices that do not print properly.)

Next up are some painting and assembly jigs. 














Cheers,
Ed

[ednadolski]

Here is my home-brew version of "pad printing" to paint the rail clips.   I simply took a small piece of the denser kind of packaging foam (in this case, from a package for a replacement cell phone battery) and taped it onto a flat bit of thin plywood.  Then I paint a thin layer of MM Acryl Red Oxide paint onto the foam, and lay it face-down on the ties strips so that it touches only the tops of the rail clips.   A few light taps gets a pretty even application of the paint onto all the rail clips,  but you do have to be careful -- if you tip the pad at any point then it is easy to get paint where you don't want it, and some follow-on touching up will be needed.   The foam does absorb some of the paint, and you have to put a fresh layer of paint every few strips or so, but overall it is way faster and neater than any other method I have tried so far.   The whole block of 19 strips took only about 10 minutes to paint the clips this way.

N.B. this is my latest version of the tie strips (it's at v4.5 now).   I made the rail clips a little taller, and also found that I had to widen the spacing between the clips in order to allow the rail to fit readily.   Seems there is a bit of shrinking during the printing process that I need to compensate for (esp. on the side where the web is).







Ed

[ncbqguy]

Bits and pieces of random thoughts come to me at odd hours....
The latest is your painting problem for these tie strips.
Since you have the file for the tie strip, why not use it to make a painting mask?  I think you can us it to make a negative surface in a new solid, then cut that to expose the tie plates and clips to be painted.
Charlie Vlk

[peteski]

Bits and pieces of random thoughts come to me at odd hours....
The latest is your painting problem for these tie strips.
Since you have the file for the tie strip, why not use it to make a painting mask?  I think you can us it to make a negative surface in a new solid, then cut that to expose the tie plates and clips to be painted.
Charlie Vlk

Great minds think alike Charlie.  I suggested this (including a sketch) back on page 10 of this thread, in reply 141 (Dec 2019). 

[ncbqguy]

Polacks and Bohunks rule!
Charlie Vlk

[peteski]

Polacks and Bohunks rule!
Charlie Vlk

Right on Charlie!   

However, I do think that the stamp method Ed came up with is pretty nifty too.

I'm thinking that if he created a fixture which holds the ties and lines up the stamp above them, so it is parallel to the tie surface, and limits its travel to just "kiss" the spikes, it would make it easier to get consistent results