Construction . . . Part III

Picture I

The next two pictures show the method for the Floating Tie-Bar....... a system I have used for a number of years with flat bottom rail. It was developed in order to avoid the flexing and possible fracture of soldered joints that occur when the point blades are soldered directly to the tie bar. The point blades are initially bent to the position shown below......roughly about twice the distance of the actual gap required. The tie bar is made from the same copper clad as the ties .....about 4cm long and about 2mm wide. File an insulating gap in the middle if the operating rod is to be soldered to the tie-bar. If the operation is by a wire below the baseboard then drill the hole in the centre of the tie bar and cut your gaps close to each side of the hole.

Picture I

Picture J

Using two pieces of small flat nickel silver or brass bar (1mm wide) , make the two small rail clips as shown. These will hold the rail in place onto the tie bar and allow the point blade to flex naturally. Use a hair grip to to hold the point blade firmly against the stock rail so you have both hands free to work on the rail clips. Hold the clip with tweezers and only solder the clip at the point furthest away from the point blade....... do not allow any solder to get into the gap between the rail clip and the flat bottom of the blade...... otherwise you have ended up with a solid joint which is not what is wanted. Use the NMRA gauge to check the point blade clearance. Because the forces in each blade are equal and opposite, it is easy to move the system from side to side.

Picture J

Picture K

Depending on how the turnout is to be wired there remains to gap the rails as appropriate. I use a "live" frog wired through the turnout operating unit and each point blade and closure rail is live to its adjacent stock rail so there is never a chance of a short circuit. The gap in each closure rail is cut close to the crossing vee and filled with a small drop of PVA to prevent any expansion in hot weather causing another electrical problem.

The final step is a cosmetic one but is well worth doing to improve the appearance of the turnout. Using a large diameter cutting disk in the rotary drill, very carefully grind off the copper clad leaving enough at each rail/tie joint to simulate the base plate. Be careful not to press too hard or the disk will bite into the tie...... unless you wish to produce a (very) worn trackwork appearance.

And that's it. Good luck.

Picture K

(One I made earlier :-)

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