Sort of club for Dutch/German/Belgian members?

[Densha]

Well I did, but I overlooked it. :P

[Martijn Meerts]

Stuff you know you have but never needed always seems to disappear just before you end up needing it ;)

[cteno4]

Then when you do find it you find two or three!

 

Jff

[Martijn Meerts]

Yeah, and mostly right after you bought a new one too ;)

[Bernard]

Yeah I just cleaned out our garage and the line I kept saying over and over was "So that's where that thing was?!" and then I proceeded to find 5 ice scrapers for car windshields......

[cteno4]

boy you found those just in time there! Murph's law...

 

jeff

[Densha]

I actually bought some spray-thingy they use for plants but it didn't work as I wanted it to. But for €0,69 I'm not complaining and now I can spray my plants with it! ^_^ :P

 

Anyways, with studies starting up again I probably won't have much free time till July, but I hope to do something on the weekends. Would be great if I could at least start with module building around then.

Edited May 6, 2014 by Densha

[Martijn Meerts]

It looks like I might have 1 or 2 weeks off in June, so I'm planning on having some schematics done before then to have lasercut. Work is real busy at the moment, but should slow down a bit soon, which means I should be able to finish Domino's decoder install soon, which in turn also means I'll be able to continue drawing the module that requires some custom lasercutting. I really need to check what it'd cost to have 2 sheets of 3mm wood cut instead of just 1 sheet. Setting up the machine and converting the CAD drawing to their cutting software costs quite a bit, the cutting itself is cheap though. Should really get enough modules cut to at least be able to build a little loop ;)

[Densha]

Just a thought: what about putting both a curved and a straight module on one sheet?

(although I prefer to start with straight ones first but we do indeed need to have a loop at one point)

[Martijn Meerts]

That was the idea.. I need to figure out what's possible with the dimensions of the sheets and the modules themselves. It involves quite a bit of puzzling to get the maximum amount of parts cut from the sheets :)

[Densha]

I noticed something nobody thought of, but it can become a problem. I have some modules from Toni lying around and noticed that the spacing (especially with the platform) is too small to let trains through without scraping alongside the platform. This made me think of the Kato standards and spacing tool that Ken elaborated further on: http://www.sumidacrossing.org/Musings/files/120629_Standards_The_NMRA_and_Japanese_Trains.php

 

What about adding the standard Kato spacing to the guidelines document Toni made? Especially the free space in width (=gauge) for 'normal' track sections and for platforms both width and height are important.

 

I think these are the measurements we need:

- standard gauge width: 28mm

- platform distance: 11,5mm from track center = 1mm overlap on the track bed

- platform height (from ground surface): 14mm*

(* is also maximum height for platforms because trains with higher placed doors don't exist, lower platforms are fine because they are prototypical of course)

 

Picture to illustrate (not to scale):

Edited August 9, 2014 by Densha

[Bri]

This could be what you mean

 

http://www.kato-unitrack.co.uk/images/Kato_PDF/Kato_platform.pdf     Fig.6

Edited August 9, 2014 by Bri

[Densha]

That's also very helpful, but the reason I mainly want to use a standard for gauge is when using a non-Kato platform. Kato platforms will align automatically, but other platforms don't so you need to raise the platform a bit and you have to align it correctly so that trains can actually go trough the station. ^^;

[katoftw]

That's also very helpful, but the reason I mainly want to use a standard for gauge is when using a non-Kato platform. Kato platforms will align automatically, but other platforms don't so you need to raise the platform a bit and you have to align it correctly so that trains can actually go trough the station. ^^;

That is what the little blue tool on Densha's post is for.  Other than pulling joiners out.  The slots on it fit to the track, and it any track is correct scale, then the blue tool will work for any track being used.

 

Anyone that is using Kato probably has many spare floating around they could give to non Kato users.

Edited August 11, 2014 by katoftw

[Densha]

Oh so that's what the hole in the tool is for. :P How exactly do you use it to pull out joiners?

[cteno4]

Put it over the unijoiner sticking out on the large hole side and then slide down to the small hole side behind the exposed unijoiner flanges and pull (better to rock to one side along the plane of the track). Makes pulling them a snap!

 

Jeff

[Ben]

Hi guys - just to let you know that I'm still alive and still living in Delft - I got pretty busy and then moved house and kinda forgot to check this board! I never did have time to make any modules :-/ however I do have my trams set up in my new place... Great to see you guys are still working on this!

 

Ben

[Densha]

Hi Ben! Great to hear from you!

 

Well, I'd love to say I'm working on it but I didn't accomplish anything yet though. :P

 

Fancy meeting up sometime? I still have a break right now.

[Martijn Meerts]

Well, we're not exactly 'working' on it, more like planning to work on it ;) Spare time has been a real issue in my case lately.. 

 

However, I did manage to buy me a new desk, so I can start working on creating a new hobby space soon. Of course, the designated hobby space is currently occupied with a whole lot of cardboard boxes which need to be sorted out, and I probably have a TON of stuff which needs to be thrown away.

 

 

As for the issue with the platforms, it's probably a good idea to add that to the documentation yes.

[Densha]

Just a link dump for another interesting take on laser-cutting modules: http://tsugi-wa.com/post/104774830366/lasercut-ttrak-model-railway-module-version2

 

Makes we wanna start sometime on this. How is it going over there, Martijn? I guess very busy with work as always.

[Martijn Meerts]

Well, just had 3 weeks of holidays, which I ended up spending by doing just about nothing. I guess I needed the break more than I expected, ended up sleeping a lot mainly :)

 

I did do a little work on the storage yard and helix, but not much on the T-Trak stuff.. The worst thing is that I'm nearly finished with the modifications to my laser cutting template to account for the 3mm plywood as well as the width of the laser. Pretty sure I can actually finish everything up in a day or 2 and get the new template lasercut .. I really should get it done and see if I can get 4 corners and a bunch of straight sections sent out. Seeing the test modules I had cut a while ago does make me feel like working on it more though.

[Densha]

I don't know why I missed this post...

 

Anyway, I also spent my vacation almost only sleeping, so no worries there. ;)

 

No hurry has to be made, I don't have any time now for this now anyway :P

[Martijn Meerts]

It would be nice to actually got some new modules lasercut and get a final template done. Even if it's just so I can actually work a little bit on landscaping and the like as well. The static layout is still pretty much only planning and laying track (or, getting more wood cut and building the frame for the helix at the moment) .. It just sucks that during the weekdays I have very little time to do anything, and I keep planning on doing all sorts of stuff during the weekend, which usually means I have too much to do during the weekends as well ... (and then end up not doing anything at all ;))

[Densha]

All very, very recognizable. ;) I also tend to waste my spare time on nothing, but I really should spend it more on fun things.

As for model trains there's another little problem, that all my train stuff is at my other home where I barely am. Getting it elsewhere might be a bit difficult.

[Martijn Meerts]

Well.. It's been a while, but I finally managed to sit down, redo all the schematics, and get something sent to the lasercutters. It got cut today, and they're shipping it out today as well, so I should have the new modules before the weekend.

 

Ended up getting 4 corner modules and 4 straight modules cut. Went with 3mm plywood this time around instead of the 6mm I tried with my first lasercutting attempt. 3mm is a lot faster to cut, so I managed to get all 8 modules for about the same price as the 3 modules I got cut from the 6mm plywood. 

 

Scenery wise, I'm going with an Enoden theme. I have quite a few of their trains, and it's mainly single track with plenty scenery changes along the line, so it should be a nice subject to start with.