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topic: 1885gluing sleepers
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posted: 24 Mar 2012 18:34

from:

julia
 
 

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What glue do people recommend for gluing rail to sleepers?

Julia

posted: 24 Mar 2012 19:12

from:

Ian Allen
 
Milton Keynes - United Kingdom

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I personally wouldn't recommend gluing rail directly to sleepers. Glue chairs to sleepers or solder rail to copper clad paxolin sleepers.

Ian

posted: 24 Mar 2012 19:18

from:

Paul Boyd
 
Loughborough - United Kingdom

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I would go along with Ian.  Having said that though, I have heard of people gluing flat-bottom rail directly to sleepers to represent light railway practise, and I think Thixofix was suggested.  Personally, if I was doing that I would use Loctite 435 plus the appropriate activator (no possibility of adjustment though!).  I would also use Proto:87 spikes, and a bottle of whisky to take away the tedium :D

posted: 24 Mar 2012 19:50

from:

wcampbell23
 
Hamilton, Scotland - United Kingdom

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Hi Julia

You will get more useful advice if you could let us know what you are trying to achieve - scale, gauge, narrow gauge, type of rail and material used for timbers for example.

Another approach would be - "How did your prototype secure the rails to timbers?" - and then go about it in the same way.

Regards.

Bill.
Last edited on 24 Mar 2012 19:52 by wcampbell23
posted: 24 Mar 2012 21:16

from:

Martin Wynne
 
West Of The Severn - United Kingdom

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Paul Boyd wrote:
I think Thixofix was suggested. Personally, if I was doing that I would use Loctite 435 plus the appropriate activator (no possibility of adjustment though!).
Hi Paul, Julia,

Try a hot-melt glue gun. :)

1. cut a long groove in a stick of wood.

2. FB rail upside down in groove.

3. Advance slowly along it with a dry soldering iron in one hand and a hot-melt glue gun in the other following immediately behind. Heating the rail first makes it possible to apply a thin even film of hot-melt adhesive.

4. Wait for it to cool until the adhesive is no longer tacky.

5. Position the rail over the timbers with gauge tools in the usual way.

6. Work along it with a dry soldering iron, heating each joint in turn and firming the rail down with a suitable tool.

7. If you need to make adjustments, re-heat and adjust in the same way as for soldered construction.

8. Wait until the adhesive is stone cold, i.e. overnight or in the fridge. Any surplus adhesive can then be easily cut away with a craft knife.

regards,

Martin.

posted: 24 Mar 2012 21:38

from:

Nigel Brown
 
 

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Hi Julia

My first ever attempt at making track was gluing FB rail onto balsa sleepers stuck on a balsa sub-base. It worked OK. I did get into trouble from my parents as the rail was extracted from some Hornby Dublo 3-rail track; in my defence, it was a somewhat battered bit of track which we'd somehow acquired second-hand. I used Durofix (remember that?).

I'd suggest picking any likely candidate and just trying it, to see how it works. You'll soon see if it's strong enough. I'd don't see why it shouldn't be at least as good as soldered construction on copper-clad sleepers.

As Bill said above, it would help if we had more detail as to what you've got in mind.

Cheers
Nigel
Last edited on 24 Mar 2012 21:38 by Nigel Brown
posted: 5 Apr 2012 02:17

from:

julia
 
 

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wcampbell23 wrote:
Hi Julia

You will get more useful advice if you could let us know what you are trying to achieve - scale, gauge, narrow gauge, type of rail and material used for timbers for example.

Another approach would be - "How did your prototype secure the rails to timbers?" - and then go about it in the same way.


In this case it is for my H0e (9mm gauge, 3.5mm scale) narrow gauge layout. At Alli Pally I had a nice chat with the guy from the EMGS stall who showed me a really neat jig that he uses for making curved/straight track. I would like to try and replicate this. What I have been doing for my normal track so far has been to use 1 PCB sleeper for every 4 wood sleepers (bass wood from Eileen's Emporium). This gives a nice balance between the strength of the soldered PCB sleepers, with the cost and appearance of the wooden sleepers. I am using code 55 flat bottom rail.

My layout is freelance and not based on any particular prototype, but there is a loose resemblance to Baden Würtemberg in Germany.

Hence asking for suggestions for an adhesive for sticking metal rail to wooden sleepers. Superglue doesn't do the trick.

It is worth noting that after fixing the rail in place I have been making a 0.6mm hole in each sleeper next to the rail and inserting a pin, which gives the appearance of a small chair, this is a photo of a test to see how well this method worked:

TrackSpike-01_sm.jpgTrackSpike-01_sm.jpg

This is purely cosmetic and isn't intended to provide any mechanical strength.

J

posted: 5 Apr 2012 08:44

from:

Jim Guthrie
 
United Kingdom

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julia wrote:

Hence asking for suggestions for an adhesive for sticking metal rail to wooden sleepers. Superglue doesn't do the trick.
Julia,

Do you need to glue your rail to the wooden sleepers.  I used the same method of track construction on an N scale layout many years ago - using a PCB sleeper every four or five wooden sleepers,  and the PCB sleepers were more than adequate to hold the rail in place.  I've also,  more recently,  built track with the 2mm Association Code 40 wire rail.    This track is to represent street trackage with the sleepers hidden under cobbles,  so I have used PCB sleepers at roughly one inch spacing and the track is firm and won't need any further support between the PCB sleepers.

Jim.

posted: 5 Apr 2012 09:19

from:

wcampbell23
 
Hamilton, Scotland - United Kingdom

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Hi Julia

Another possibility - from the dim memories of the past.

I remember a magazine article describing the use of staples as baseplates to which the rail is soldered.  The article was for 4mm scale standard gauge with code 100 flat bottom track.

If you want all timber sleepering, lay the timbers (i.e. glue to your Templot plan), fashion a "staple" (this sort of shape |_| ) from wire to suit your rail, embed "staple" in timber (you may need to drill pilot holes) and then solder rail to "staple".  This should give you a neater fixing than soldering to copperclad and replicate rail fixings better in your scale than the pin you have used.

The main snag with this method is that it is rather labour intensive but should look good.

Regards.

Bill.

posted: 5 Apr 2012 12:14

from:

Nigel Brown
 
 

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Bill

This was a fairly common method a while ago. Can't remember the fine detail, but I think it used small commercial staples. I think the idea was that you fitted the staples to the sleepers before using them. I.e. drill a couple of small holes of the right distance apart lengthwise on the sleepers, on either side of where the rail should go (doesn't have to be too accurate), repeat for other rail. Insert staple and fold underneath to grip the sleeper (you might be able to use the stapler itself to achieve this).

Personally I think if I was going to use some copper-clad sleepers on track, I'd be inclined to use all copper-clad. Makes life whole lot simpler.

Nigel

posted: 5 Apr 2012 13:12

from:

Jim Guthrie
 
United Kingdom

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Nigel Brown wrote:
This was a fairly common method a while ago. Can't remember the fine detail, but I think it used small commercial staples. I think the idea was that you fitted the staples to the sleepers before using them. I.e. drill a couple of small holes of the right distance apart lengthwise on the sleepers, on either side of where the rail should go (doesn't have to be too accurate), repeat for other rail. Insert staple and fold underneath to grip the sleeper (you might be able to use the stapler itself to achieve this).

Personally I think if I was going to use some copper-clad sleepers on track, I'd be inclined to use all copper-clad. Makes life whole lot simpler.
Nigel,

If I remember correctly it was called the "Little Western" track system designed by (I think) Jack Russell to use on his Little Western layout.   I believe you could purchase sleeper bases with the holes for the staples already punched,  and the staples were a proprietary brand of the time (1960s).  Also,  IIRC,  the staples became difficult to source and the only other small staples available were a bit too large.

Jim.

posted: 5 Apr 2012 13:24

from:

Nigel Brown
 
 

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I knew Jim Russell had a lot to do with it. I think the track bases were fibre.

Cheers
Nigel

posted: 18 Apr 2012 14:17

from:

Andy Vines
 
Market Harborough - United Kingdom

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Just one thing that you may already be aware of.

If you are putting your small pins through double sided copper clad remember to gap both sided to prevent a short.

Like I say you are probably already aware of this, but its a stupid mistake I made recently when using a single copper clad sleeper at a baseboard joint... Doh!



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