forum:forumtrack:forumsingleslip

Single slip build

This was published on the forum - author Tommy Day

First, Get your Template, you can design yourself in Templot, buy one from one of the Traders or if you are really keen and slightly mad draft it by hand.

When you print your Template it pays to use a decent weight paper, as this will be more durable and stable, and to print a spare for reference when your main template is covered in part built track. I built my single slip using C&L Timber Sleepers, chairs and rails; my interest is BR Southern so I used 3 bolt chairs, slide chairs, bridge chairs, 1mm copperclad strip, nickel silver rail, and etched and plastic fishplates.

Building a single slip probably isn't a great idea for your first track construction, so build a simple turnout first, I did and here's my standard A6 turnout:

I learned a few things along the way which will turn up as I go through the Slip You'll need a solid base to build on, probably the best is a scrap piece of melamine board, but a decent bit of ply (painted white in my case) will do the job.
I tried various ways of attaching the template, spray glue etc, but eventually settled on Double Sided Tape, covering most of the surface. Use a wider tape for this !
If using Templot you'll need to trim to the match lines and take care to line the parts of the Template up correctly. Redo it if you make a mess of it, there's no point in going on with a dodgy template !
Set narrow double sided tape along the outside of the timber line on each side, keep the tape top backing in place and roll it back as you fit the timbers later.
Probably one of the main problems here is to not use too much tape, as it can be pretty powerful and can make it very hard to remove the finished track unit without damaging it !
Cut your Sleeper Strips to the required lengths then attach them to the Template and it should end up looking a bit like this

Next Step is to make the V Crossings

Update/Reply No 1
Reply by S. Bannister
Forum post No 1450
Date 7/3/2017

So V Crossing Time
There are a number of ways to make your V crossings , the two most popular seem to be the way I am doing it or bending the rail back on itself, soldering the “bend” solid and then prising open to the correct angle with a screwdriver, then filing the V. I chose the way demonstrated by Bob Aldeman in his article on “How to Build a C&L Point Kit” in the May 2012 Gazette

Cut a piece of rail plenty long enough for the crossing and its approach rail Either using the spare template you printed or by drawing out the angle for your crossing, mine were 1:6, bend the end of your rail to the required angle, the picture below is easier to follow; then file the outer side of the “bend” to remove the web so you have a flat outer end; and then file the other side straight in line with the rail (top edge in my picture). Make sure you preserve the angle when removing the web. I found it much easier and quicker to do this with a decent course file and then work down to finer files near the end. I also made myself a simple clamp to hold the rail still, see photo, nothing new here but it makes it so much easier for a few minutes preparation.

You can buy specialist jig for all this but I managed OK with this simple set up You now need to make one more like this and two of the opposite “hand” ie starting with the bend in the opposite direction. Make sure you have the wider bullhead section at the top of the rail ! Now again, make a simple jig for making up the V. You can use a copy of the template for this, use pins, card, thin wood etc I drew it out on an old scrap of oak flooring and it looked like this

A piece of thick card cut to shape with the point removed acted as a wedge to hold the rails in place ( One rail of each hand). Then Solder it all up making sure you get a good joint by applying plenty of heat.

Update/Reply No 2
Reply by S. Bannister
Forum post No 1453
Date 7/3/2017
One of my Learning points from the first point I built was that the V crossing and its check rails needed to be robustly assembled and there is little opportunity for gettin enough chairs in the limited space available and there is no ready source of suitable block chairs as per the real thing. So I resorted to using thin copperclad strip (from C&L) under the rails.

I used a copy of the template to aid this; Bend up rail for the check/ closure rails etc according to the template; On SLips with sharper V crossings you'll need to check your rail joints are clear of switches and shorten your check/ closure rails accordingly.

I used lengths of copperclad longer than needed to make soldering easier and the trimmed carefully back to the rail (I'll add cosmetic half chairs later) and bridge chairs and ordinary chairs, all lined up with the sleepers. I used a straight edge to line up each side through the crossing in turn and a check rail gauge to maintain the check rail gap. Take care to keep the gap through the throat of the “Y”. Check that the assembly sits flat and level, I needed to file the copperclad a bit thinner as it seemed to be a bit “thicker” than the chair height. My copperclad was 1mm. The picture below shows the top and bottom of my finished crossing units

Next Step is to position the crossings on the timbers and bend the outer “stock” rails to shape and position them

Update/Reply No 3
Reply by S. Bannister
Forum post No 1525
Date 8/3/2017
Taking as much care as needed, I positioned the crossings exactly in position over the template and glued down with a touch of epoxy under the copperclad and Butanone for the chairs, Once satisfied, I left these overnight to harden in position as I did not want them moving again !

The next step is to fit the “bent” stock rail, not the “curved one.
I cut a piece of rail to the required length, marked the mid point, and then ( following a tip I found somewhere on the net), laid two scrap pieces of rail on a hard surface about 2 rail heights apart, positioned the marked mid point in the middle of the gap (at right angles to the scrap rail), positioned a small cold chisel at the marked centre point and applied a controlled clout with a medium- large hammer. This gives a reasonably “sharp” bend, you want to achieve a bend slightly more than you need then by comparing with the template ease it back to the required angle by carefully squeezing back with pliers. The old adage of larger tools applied gently gives better control seems to work.

The picture below shows where I have threaded chairs onto the rail and placed it on the template At the positions of check rails, crossings, switches etc a bit of ingenuity is needed to work out how to support the rails adequately when there is not enough space for full chairs,; if you are lucky you can do this by trimming chairs or using bridge chairs but there is not always space and I wasted a fair number of chairs by over trimming. I picked up a technique for check rails where you use alternate full chairs on the rail and checkrail then use half chairs in the positions where the chair is missing. You need to allow for this as you thread chairs onto the rail. Chamfer the bottom of the rail and make sure you put the keys on the outside of the rail or else your trains are in for a bumpy ride!! Note I have not fixed the stock rail yet.

Update/Reply No 4
Reply by S. Bannister
Forum post No 1610
Date 10/3/2017
Before I fixed the “bent” stock rail , I prepared the “curved” stock rail which you can see under the slip in the picture above. This forms part of the switch at each end of the slip and so requires a “Set” in it at each end. A Set is where the rail is bent to accomodate the moving switch rail. and in the picture above , if you look carefully, you can see a definite “bend” at each end. It is easier to to this while the rail is still straight. You need some details of the switch design for your template. Real switches are generally designated as A, B, C etc with A being the shortest, Most modellers will find that A and B switched meet most needs but in real life these tend to be reserved for yards, places where slow speed working is the norm etc, modellers tend to not have room to use longer turnouts !!
Switch details can be found in the Guild Manual and on various web sites; the Templot Companion Site has the details needed
http://www.templot.com/martweb/gs_realtrack.htm?zoom_highlight=switch+planed+length#switch_types

My switches are A and have a Set angle of 1:24. I drew this out on the edge of my spare template, marked the position using permanent marker at each side of the rail, then used two pliers each side of the mark to bend the rail, checking against my drawn angle until it was right. For Templot users the start of the set in marked on the template for you but it coincides with end of the switch rails. Once both Sets were OK I curved the centre of the rail using my thumbs until it matched the template.

Right , now to fix the “bent” stock rail

Key objectives here are:

to gauge the stock rail correctly at the V crossings
To align the corresponding V crossing rail with the stock rail at the other end of the slip
Achieve 1 & 2 at both V crossings at the same time !

I used my OMF Gauges, A straight edge and blutack !

Thread your chairs onto the Bent stock rail, line them up with the correct sleepers, then use the gauges to position the stock rail in relation to the Crossing

Do this at both ends (This picture shows the gauges on the Curved stock rail but the principle is exactly the same, use the straight edge to confirm alignment of the V with the opposite end of the stockrail; If you've matched the template up to now this should be OK but its not too late to undo and correct if there is a problem Make sure the center section of rail matches the template, glue the chairs in position

Then repeat for the curved stock rail, ensuring the set start positions align with template and make sure it is not “tight”, i.e. it tends to be on the wide side of gauge, if “tight” you may have trouble gauging the centre slip …hope that makes sense

Update/Reply No 5
Reply by J. Snowdon
Forum post No 1611
Date 10/3/2017
If I were you, I would use the same copperclad technique for making up the obtuse crossings, as you need to be very precise about both the point rail alignment and the flangeway gap, which needs to be as tight as possible as the flange on the wheel needs to bridge it in order to check properly. It will also sort out the impending problems of not having sufficient space for the compound chairs used through the crossing.

Update/Reply No 6
Reply by S. Bannister
Forum post No 1626
Date 10/3/2017
Jim, that sounds good advice which I'd give now ! I have made some good progress in the last 24 hours and this thread has not caught up yet and I have made the first K crossing already.I did consider it originally but shied away due to the number of rails involved but on looking at it again I think I have worked out a way of doing it although it will involve using a small disc cutter to make the final trim of the copperclad in situ. I am going to follow your advice for the second K crossing out of sequence I have posted a picture of the first and it would be good to hear if you think this will be up to the job! I will not be able to get to my soldering kit until next week so maybe I'll just describe the preparation of the rails until I have made the second crossing.I can probably attempt a bit of retrofit to the first crossing I have done.

Update/Reply No 7
Reply by S. Bannister
Forum post No 1665
Date 11/3/2017
So to complete the middle and more complex centre part of the slip I need:
4 off “point” rails, 2 of each hand
1 curved double ended switch rail (the slip rail)
1 “bent” double ended switch rail
1 short symetrical check rail (sits between the point rails and slip rail on the slip side)
1 longer check rail

To make the the “point” rails the technique I used was exactly as I described to make the two components of the V crossing earlier. The required point angle is the same as the V crossing angle. Make sure you make these slightly overlength so they can be trimmed back to exact length later when they are fitted.

Making the “curved” and “bent switch rails is very similar. Cut a piece of rail to length from the template allowing for the curve or bend in the rail, Square off the ends of the rails. Now you need to carefully file a switch at each end of these rails without losing the overall length too much or you'll have to start from scratch again. Firstly, you need to establish the planing length of the switch you are using. This is all explained in the Guild Manual Track Section and also in the Templot Companion link I used before i.e.

http://www.templot.com/martweb/gs_realtrack.htm?zoom_highlight=switch+planed+length#switch_types

The other piece of information you'll need is the number of slide chairs for each type of switch. Again I found this in table I found on the web which seems to give the “standard” information for most switches; If you are building for an esoteric railway company etc you may have to search further

http://85a.co.uk/forum/view_topic.php?id=1931&forum_id=6

What this tells you is for an A Switch there are 10 slide chairs, 5 on each side, and for a B Switch there are 12, 6 on each side.

Back to the rails
For my A/ 9ft switch the planing length is 66” or 38.5 mm for us. We need to file the side of the switch rail which will butt up to the stock or point rail to a fine point over the end 38.5 mm on both ends of the switch and to file the top bull head on the opposite side to a fine point. You do need to make sure the end of your switch is not wafer thin or it will not last long. It is much easier to do this before you bend/ curve the rail. I did this by blacking the ends of the rails with a permanent marker and scribing the 38.5 mm point on the rail. In future I'll also put a piece of tape on the block and mark this too as the scribed mark on the rail can be easily removed during filing. To be honest I do not think it matters to much if you stray a mm or two either way but particularly with a short A switch I'd be concerned about flexibility if it was too short. I clamped the rail to my clamp block used for the Vs, see the earlier picture. I discovered the hard way that it is a good idea to keep the end of the rail at the end of the block and not to extend it beyond the block end….that point is going to get very sharp ! Again I found the process was speeded up by using a good coarse file to begin with then moving to finer files as I got close to the end point.

When you have your two switch rails with filed switches ready, you need to bend the “planed” sections so the outside of the rail on the planed side is “straight” with the rest of the rail. Once this is done the curved one can be curved to match the template between your thumbs. On the bent one I used the cold chisel and hammer techniquie I described earler to achieve a distinct bend, measure the mid point of the rail, bend it there and ease the bend back to match the template. Also, place the rails in position, once the point rails are in place, and make sure you are happy with the fit against the corresponding stock/ point rails, fettle as required.

The check rails are a fairly straightforward measuring, cutting and bending exercise, noting that the shorter one for the slip side may need filing on the side which faces the slip rail but this is better done when you are fitting the rails. I ended up with rails looking like these….

Update/Reply No 8
Reply by S. Bannister
Forum post No 1840
Date 14/3/2017

Next Learning Point ! Double sided tape may make it nigh on impossible sometimes to lift the finished trackwork from the template, but leave your partly built template at an angle and it will slide !!!! I was staggered to find my part built slip was no longer aligned to the template and could not work ouit how it happened until I tried standing it on its opposite side and leaving it awhile and Bingo ! back in alignment !!! Phew !!!!

Spent last night making up the second K crossing as per Jim's advice using copperclad strip to solder the closely set rails around the crossing in alignment

I used a copy of my template on a flat surface, threaded a few chairs on for stability and height setting, and used blutack to hold the V rail in alignment, I also tinned the underside of the rail. I decided to try and do it off the main build as I thought it would be hard to trim the copperclad without damaging the sleepers ( you need to leave an extension to get a decent solder joint). I cut the required copperclad to length and slid into position. I removed the centre chair later and replaced with copperclad. I did not include the curved slip rail as I decided there was room for trimmed ordinary chairs and there are also a number of slide chairs. On the other side where the slip rail is there's a lot less space and I'll probably use copperclad across all the rails there in future. Here's a picture od soldering the point rail in position using my 1.5mm check rail gauge to get the spacing right, make sure it all stays aligned with the template underneath. Then the check rail, I used the temporary chairs at the ends to hold the checkrail in the right orientation. You can see one check gauge in the left slot, I used a second gauge in the right slot setting the gap right acros the K crossing to make sure I had the right gap all the way across. I swopped them over to check both sides Lastly I checked all the joins seemed to be sound and used a carborundum disk carefully to remove the excess copperclad in line with the rail ; I'll use half chairs to provide th right cosmetic look after fitting to the sleepers etc. The finished unit looks like this ……..

Update/Reply No 9
Reply by S. Bannister
Forum post No 2217
Date 21/3/2017
Finally got some time to continue the slip build……
The next thing to do is positon the second K crossing unit on the slip. There are a number of gauge and alignments to be aware of but if I have been careful and the crossing is accurately built it should all just “slip” into place…sorry !!

I threaded the required chairs onto the rails, in most positions normal chairs will do , I used bridge chairs in a couple of the narrower positions. I then located the crossing carefully and marked the required length of the “point” rails, trimmed these to length and filed square, checking there would be an insulation gap at each end. I had a practice run to make sure everything lined up, using my gauges in key positions, see the photo, trimming the chairs where needed and fettling to get the unit to sit comfortably in positon. The switches should only touch the stock rails lightly. When satisfied, I applied a dab of epoxy under each of the copperclad strips, then positoned the crossing setting in position with the gauges. Then I worked my way through with my butanone brush, gluing the chairs in place, ensuring nothing moved! I then left it all to dry overnight so it was firm. Now for the checkrails As I explained earlier I have adopted a method of using alternate chairs on the running rail and checkrail as a method of assembly to deal with the closeness of these rails. Afterwards, half chairs are added to the outer sides of the appropriate rails. I bent the checkrails to shape using my spare template as a guide then added the alternate chairs. I used my checkrail guide to get the right gap (I had to trim the tops of some chair bolts where they have to slide under the opposing rail) and then glued the checkrail in position. After leaving for a short while to set I added the cosmetic half chairs; the before and after shots below explain it all I hope!

Now repeat for the other checkrails and the end is in sight…….Last bits are to add the remaining cosmetic chairs, add the electrical ties, and fit the tiebars…….hopefully I'll get to this sometime this week.

Update/Reply No 10
Reply by S. Bannister
Forum post No 2558
Date 28/3/2017

Tiptoeing towards completion, Tie bars now completed and in place; I chose to use a method taking thin copperclad on edge, drilled for brass pins and bent into a U soldered to the switch blades; items needed: brass/ nickel silver pins, small brass tube to suit the diameter of the operating wire you plan to use, 1mm copperclad strip.

Cut the copperclad to length ( I smoothed the edged to aid sliding under the rails), allowing overlap for the switch movement, gap the copperclad on each side of centre and onboth sides of the copperclad, and drill 2 holes approximately 27 mm apart to suit your pins. Thread the pins through , bend upwards then over to lie horizontal when the copperclad is on edge. Shorten them to about 8 mm to give a good length for soldering. Cut a short length of the tube and solder firmly in the middle of the tiebar. The pictures tell the story !

Now position the first tiebar in position, I used scrap card as wedges to hold the tiebar firmly and touching the underside of the stock rails.I used a cocktail stick to manipulate the tail of the brass pin in one side into position, Solder, ensuring you have a good joint, and ensuring the top of the switch rail is gently pressed down level with the stock rails. To solder the second rail, I used my checkrail gauge ( it is aluminium so no chance of soldering the lot solid!)to space the second switch rail out from its stock rail. A slightly wider spacer can be used is you want but the checkrail gap is the minimum to use. Repeat the soldering process and you have finished your tiebar, check it moves smoothly and fettle accordingly. Repeat for the second tiebar. But for wiring and the cosmetic fishplates that's it about done. I noticed that some of the rails, especially the pointy ones will slide about a bit and so I will use some spots of superglue to keep them in place. Here's the nearly finished slip. Its my first one and I am pretty pleased with it although I ve learned a bit along the way and will do the next one better. I hope those of you who have taken an interest have found it helpful and interesting and will have a go; it does take a bit of time but the skills are not too demanding and should be within the reach of most O gaugers; there's not been too many suggestions along the way so maybe I have done a few things right !

Next, maybe I'll take up the challenge to design a tandem turnout in Templot !!!