Hello All
On my present layout, I used brass dowels of the type normally used to secure extra "leaves" in dining tables. These are quite short, and after 20 years do not seem to be aligning up accurately. Can anyone point me in the direction of a supplier of proper patternmakers' dowels, which are partly countersunk into the baseboard ends, and held with screws.
Thanks
John V
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331249879394?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2648&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Or a two pairs for
The late Jack Carter found with years of experience over the years that the shrinkage and swelling of the wood in layout construction made this type of spot on alignment give problems with rail alignment.
So we use bolts with wing nuts in enlarged holes. This allows us to line up the tracks exactly and then tighten up the wing nuts each time the layout is assembled. It only takes a couple of seconds and also secures the two board sections together, removing the need for any other form of attachment.
Exact rail alignment is achievable every time, even on layouts that are now over 30 years old without ever having to adjust the rail ends at all.
Brian Meldon
http://www.stationroadbaseboards.co.uk/cart_dowels.htm was where I got the dowels for the new Latham's brewery layout and cost
Hello Julien Brian & Mozzer.
Thank you for your replies and advice. I appreciate your point Brian. Probably warping rather than misalignment is my problem due to the way I built the boards originally. Everything lined up perfectly at the GCR Event - perhaps it was the uneven floor which improved things!!
I will experiment with dowels and see how get on
John v
Perhaps the bounce in the floor at the GCR also helped! :D
The first Latham's Brewery layout (along with Cefn Dŵr, Port St. George and the rest of the old Dorset Group layout) used split hinges screwed vertically to the edges of the baseboards. Not sure how the others in the group got on with this but alignment could be a pain, and when it got to the point of needing a hammer to get the pins into the hinges and pliers to get them out and the rails still did not line up right I went over to cabinet maker's dowels for alignment and catches (http://www.stationroadbaseboards.co.uk/cart_catches.htm) to hold things together. These were OK, but the dowels were only tapped into their holes and were able to move, especially if knocked whilst the boards were in transit (the worst one being where the fiddle yard board came off at right angles to the rest of the layout). If I had been able to work out how to retro-fit them and get the right alignment I would have gone strait over the the Pattern Makers' Dowels, and having fitted these to the new boards from the start they seem to be performing well. But then the layout has only been set up and taken down a few time and we'll see how they last over the next few years, but as they are held on place with 3 screws they should be less susceptible to knocks than the cabinet makers' dowels, though as Brian suggests ones woodworking skills (and stability of the wood used) needs to be up to snuff as the alignment on the pattern makers' dowels is so (too?) good.
Thanks Julien. Yes, I heard that the bouncy floor was a problem for others, but I was lucky. At Quorn, some shim I cut from spare lino-tiles helped to keep everything level and that seemed to do the trick
In essence, it is the stability of the boards which matter; the dowels will ensure that the boards will always align but if they warp, the track will still suffer.
Thanks again
John v
Quote from: B.Meldon on July 02, 2015, 12:30
The late Jack Carter found with years of experience over the years that the shrinkage and swelling of the wood in layout construction made this type of spot on alignment give problems with rail alignment.
So we use bolts with wing nuts in enlarged holes. This allows us to line up the tracks exactly and then tighten up the wing nuts each time the layout is assembled. It only takes a couple of seconds and also secures the two board sections together, removing the need for any other form of attachment.
Exact rail alignment is achievable every time, even on layouts that are now over 30 years old without ever having to adjust the rail ends at all.
Brian Meldon
Rather by accident rather than design that's the way I do it on my TTe layout, I did have dowels but with the even smaller gauge than the rest of you I found the "adjustable" nut and bolt method the easiest!
Retro-fitting of the much vaunted 'pattern makers dowels' is not a job I would care to undertake even after years of general wood working and cabinet work.
Ideally, they would be fitted to the end elements of a baseboard before assembly using a Forstner type bit matching the outer diameter of the seat part to be relatively knock proof, although the male half will still stand proud, a liability when being packed away in a vehicle.
Brian's point is very true, there is no 'wriggle-room' once they are fitted either spot-on or 'a tiny little bit out', thumb screws allow adjustment.
Should you be able to find suitable pipe in UK to snugly fit 6mm bolts, it is not difficult to drill temporarily aligned end frames, disassemble, insert two pieces of pipe in the holes and reassemble when needed with the bolt. I have soldered a penny washer in the bolt head slot, soldered the nut to another and screwed it to the inside so that it doesn't go missing.
I also use pattern makers dowels but to overcome the problem of drilling the end cross member I simply set this member back from the top of each baseboard to the depth of the dowel flange/faceplate thus allowing the baseboards fit up tight. Hope this idea will save someone the cost of a large diameter drill bit !