HI Folks: Hopefully going to start cutting wood and building in the next day or 2, and I have been wondering if cork roadbed on directly on the 1/2 inch plywood or if putting 1 inch of pink foam under it first (allowing me to carve creeks and rivers and other depressions is the way to go. Ive in my other thread about cork / homosate ive gotten a variety of opinions, and I've decided that Homosate is out for sure, but I'm curious about using foam, and how to secure track if I do? Thanks TIM
Tough question with all the variables involved. But to illustrate one method and some insight I’ll show you a photo of the layout I’m currently taking down. This is my point-to-point layout that I’ve had for years with zero trouble with track work. It is Midwest cork roadbed glued to 2” foam board using Liquid Nails for Projects adhesive. As I ballasted the track with ballast and diluted white glue and glued scenery and ground cover down to the foam it got real quiet real quick. The two inch foam base allows for total freedom to have a deep river bed or canyon or crater or whatever you want. But I’m a minimalist and some folks use oak planks with 1” plywood roadbed and heavy duty construction techniques and hardware. Some layouts need that level of heft but small layouts not so much. The older I get I try to downsize and go for lightweight.
Hi JimJ: Did you use switch motors or under table controls for the switches, or were they manual? If you used switch motors, did you have trouble getting the system to work with the long reach from motor to switch?
Are you going to use servos are a commercial switch machine? I'm going to use manual throws for some of my turnouts with the switch machine I'm 3D printing .... http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/3D-Printer/page-1.html .... and servos for the rest. I've decided to go with 1 inch foam over the 1/2" plywood as that worked fine with the servos I'm going to use... ... and feel that I could probably go 2" on the foam with the servos also after testing. More on the testing here... http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/Trackwork/page-8.html Sumner
How do you plan on controlling the servos? One way would be with say an Arduino via DCC. This requires more computer type knowledge and expense. If you want to operate them from a more traditional control panel or multiple switches on the fascia near the turnout itself which I'm going to do I modified an idea that Dave Bodnar came up with. The servos can't be thrown with only a switch, they need a controller of some type to control their movement and how far they throw (rotate). Dave came up with a circuit to use the $1.50 controller shown above. I took the circuit and added a few items to it, a push button switch and some LED'S and .... ..... with some simple wiring you can mount the push button switch, toggle switch and LED's on a control panel or near the turnout and throw the turnout one way or the other. One nice thing about the circuit is that you can initially or later easily control how far the points or thrown so there isn't excessive force on the points. Also this helps to control the throw if you have different distances between the servo and the points (more or less foam or no foam). After that you only use the toggle and push button switch to throw the turnout and the LED's will show the route chosen. You connect from where the switches are to the servo at the turnout with inexpensive 3 wire servo control cables that plug into the servo and switches and can be bought in different lengths. The servo and all the components to control it can be bought for around $5.00. Lots more info on all of this here.... http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/Trackwork/page-7.html Sumner
HI Sumner: My plan is to go with the Arduino setup designed by Geoff Bunza -- I have all the parts for one in the drawer beside me. I want the ability to throw the switch from the throttle, as well as to have a central panel and individual panels, and the ability to set routes etc, Your system has the advantage of simplicity and lower cost (although the arduino setup is not expensive) -- it would be cool if there was a way to modify it so that it was not necessary to make 2 moves (flip the switch AND push the button) to throw the switch Have a real awesome day and thanks for the suggestions TIM
