Jason-Train wrote:Everytime I look at real rails, they never seem straight to me. I eye-ball my n-scale flex and sort of enjoy watching the train shift slightly as it goes along.
Agreed. As far as I'm concerned as long as they start and end at the same point (in relation to the sides of the module) it is straight. I like my rails to be a bit crooked. Not laser straight.
Here are three pictures of the Level examining track. The block on the track is to highlight the location of the rail and serve as a target for the level.
Joe Daddy
jbloch do you have a link for Ribbonrail or a dealer that sells them. I spent my last day off laying some 22" turns that came out good but the gauges sure would save some time.
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust
UP2CSX wrote:... I have a few spots that seem to always give me trouble - not enough for a derailment but enough that I know something's wrong. The trouble is my conventional level always shows things are fine but I'll bet I have a rail joint that's slightly too high or too low. I just can't tell which but a laser should pick it out right way. Maybe it's just a matter of adding a shim or slightly jacking a section of track back to perfectly straight. Great idea and I never would have thought of it if I hadn't read this thread.
... I have a few spots that seem to always give me trouble - not enough for a derailment but enough that I know something's wrong. The trouble is my conventional level always shows things are fine but I'll bet I have a rail joint that's slightly too high or too low. I just can't tell which but a laser should pick it out right way. Maybe it's just a matter of adding a shim or slightly jacking a section of track back to perfectly straight. Great idea and I never would have thought of it if I hadn't read this thread.
I hope you don't mind my interjection, but if you have trouble-prone sections of track, it could be things that a laser will not reveal. For example, gauge is not always perfect in commercial track, and less so on curves. They tend to tighten in gauge on curves. Also, rails that are not at the same height; left is marginally higher than the right, say, and the rolling items will visibly wobble, or engines loose their footing and spin there/slow. Dips can be revealed by a laser if shot along one rail, and the same applied for rises. But a quick way is to use a straight edge and backlight the rail tops while you get your Mark 1 eyeball down to that height. If you see light one place and not another, you have uneven trackwork.
Class I rails normally run in a straight line where they're supposted to be straight. I think you know what I mean. Beyond that, all bets are off, especially on Short Lines, little used branches and sidings.
joe-daddy wrote: Safety Valve wrote: Those qoutes are not doing me any good. I dont know who is agreeing with who with that dots image.... one thinks I wrote too much garbage on that post or another thinks I did not.So which is it?Cheers.I removed the offending dots and replaced with snip. To be clear, I agree with you, straight track is important and devices other than the laser level have not been completely successful for me. Hope this clarifies. Best regards! Joe
Safety Valve wrote: Those qoutes are not doing me any good. I dont know who is agreeing with who with that dots image.... one thinks I wrote too much garbage on that post or another thinks I did not.So which is it?Cheers.
Those qoutes are not doing me any good. I dont know who is agreeing with who with that dots image.... one thinks I wrote too much garbage on that post or another thinks I did not.
So which is it?
Cheers.
I removed the offending dots and replaced with snip. To be clear, I agree with you, straight track is important and devices other than the laser level have not been completely successful for me. Hope this clarifies.
Best regards!
Joe
Thanks, I learned something today about dots.
Hopefully no hard feelings. I tend to shoot my mouth off.
Safety Valve wrote:Those qoutes are not doing me any good. I dont know who is agreeing with who with that dots image.... one thinks I wrote too much garbage on that post or another thinks I did not.So which is it?Cheers.
Safety Valve wrote: joe-daddy wrote: Safety Valve wrote: There is a item that is basically a plate that sits on a rail between two tracks. However it has a spacing of about 2.5 inches and not always useful.In all my vain attempts to lay straight track was for naught until I learned to use the simple laser a few days ago. Now I feel much more confident about laying track that is reasonably straight.snip I thought I was totally agreeing with you. Joe What he said! Joe You lay YOUR tracks, I lay mine.Enough said.
joe-daddy wrote: Safety Valve wrote: There is a item that is basically a plate that sits on a rail between two tracks. However it has a spacing of about 2.5 inches and not always useful.In all my vain attempts to lay straight track was for naught until I learned to use the simple laser a few days ago. Now I feel much more confident about laying track that is reasonably straight.snip I thought I was totally agreeing with you. Joe What he said! Joe
Safety Valve wrote: There is a item that is basically a plate that sits on a rail between two tracks. However it has a spacing of about 2.5 inches and not always useful.In all my vain attempts to lay straight track was for naught until I learned to use the simple laser a few days ago. Now I feel much more confident about laying track that is reasonably straight.snip
There is a item that is basically a plate that sits on a rail between two tracks. However it has a spacing of about 2.5 inches and not always useful.
In all my vain attempts to lay straight track was for naught until I learned to use the simple laser a few days ago. Now I feel much more confident about laying track that is reasonably straight.
snip
I thought I was totally agreeing with you.
What he said!
You lay YOUR tracks, I lay mine.
Enough said.
joe-daddy wrote: Safety Valve wrote: There is a item that is basically a plate that sits on a rail between two tracks. However it has a spacing of about 2.5 inches and not always useful.In all my vain attempts to lay straight track was for naught until I learned to use the simple laser a few days ago. Now I feel much more confident about laying track that is reasonably straight. What he said! Joe
Safety Valve wrote: There is a item that is basically a plate that sits on a rail between two tracks. However it has a spacing of about 2.5 inches and not always useful.In all my vain attempts to lay straight track was for naught until I learned to use the simple laser a few days ago. Now I feel much more confident about laying track that is reasonably straight.
Safety Valve wrote:There is a item that is basically a plate that sits on a rail between two tracks. However it has a spacing of about 2.5 inches and not always useful.In all my vain attempts to lay straight track was for naught until I learned to use the simple laser a few days ago. Now I feel much more confident about laying track that is reasonably straight.snip
Alex V. wrote:I've never used flex very much, but I'd probably just eye it up - after all, real track isn't perfectly straight anyway, right?
Alex,
Real track, especially the mainlines is typically very straight, been looking at prototype pictures last couple of days and the 1:1 is certainly straighter than mine is. If the track is wandering through a forest or ravine, it is not so much an issue, but if you are working on a 20' yard that you can see from one end or the other, straight gets to be real important quickly.
Just my
whywaites wrote:These tracksetta's are a tight but easy fit and is 12" in length take a look here they're both N & HO scales availablehttp://www.ontracks.co.uk/index.php?page=product&prodID=61328&catID=662
These tracksetta's are a tight but easy fit and is 12" in length take a look here they're both N & HO scales available
http://www.ontracks.co.uk/index.php?page=product&prodID=61328&catID=662
Great conversation and sharing fellows!
I have two of them but they don't provide the solution for me. I'd like to see one of them that is a couple or three feet in length, but from what I have seen in the past 48 hours, the Laser level might just do the trick for me. I am still thinking about painting the track to make it stiff, which, IMHO is the root of my problems.
In the past I would simply hammer 2 inch nails deep into the ties of crappy brass track and watch my trainset engines flex 6-10 scale feet in all three planes of motion as they traveled to thier eventual derailment.
The wobblers in the train gets taken to the workbench and issued 3 point truck treatment until the wobble goes away. Believe it or not, some wobbles seems to match a harmony at a speed and derails if you so much as look at the thing.
Also with large steam such as the Duplex T1 4-4-4-4... you gotta have first class trackwork. When that thing hammers through, it will find flaws and with it's weight you dont want it derailing at speed.
I advise not looking at the walls too much. The hung over carpenter who just shoved a bent square and called it good enough on that corner will be revealed with these laser things.
Here in the UK we have a product called tracksetta it sits between the rails to give you either dead straight or fixed radius curves and is superb, so if we have it here in the UK you must have something similar in North America.
Shaun
Lynn
Present Layout progress
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/p/290127/3372174.aspx#3372174
Seems I have a perfectly good laser level I hardly ever use. Laid it on some track and was pretty amazed at how easy it was to spot problems. I think it would be alot easier to get Atlas flex track straight if I painted it first then laid it down, as painting really stiffens the track. Adding feeders and soldering jointers to painted track is not a trivia exercise so I've not jumped into that . However, thinking about it one could pre-attach feeders and keep the ends of the track clear of paint. I may give that approach a try.
thinking, thinking, thinking
I'm not to the track laying segment of my layout yet (still building the benchwork) but I have a six foot and four foot straight edge that I was intending to use to get the flextrack straight.
I never thought about using my lazer level on the track but I may to see how it works out.
Thanks for the idea.
Bill
I tried a section tonight with the laser and it seems to mark where the rail diverges from the straight. When the rail itself is straight under the beam, the beam sorta disappears.. if that makes sense.
I may build a set of adjustable "Feet" made up of inverted wing nuts for the base of my laser device so I can get it centered Yaw and Pitch before laying rail at the height it needs to be.
Some really good ideas and creative thinking in this thread.
Thanks!
Lasers? Kewl!
I got one sitting on my tool pile.. only problem is that it is destructive to human eyes and it is exceedingly hazardous in my opinion so it hardly ever gets used.
Now I have a reason to use it but worry alot about reflected laser energy etc off those shiney rails.
The link works....and now it's a working link.
http://layout.fotopic.net/p2972086.html
Don Z.
Research; it's not just for geeks.
I used a 4ft carpenter's level ( one without end caps! ) to butt the ties up against. Whether you glue or nail the track doesn't matter, but have some solvent on hand if gluing to clean the level. Then before you call it a day, use your lady-friend's vanity mirror to sight along the rails and do final tweaking. The mirror effectively gives you twice the rail-length to see the wows. Don't use the magnifying-side as it introduces distortion..
You can see vertical pitches if you have a small light in the far distance to watch its reflection off the railheads.
Have fun.... George