RAIL BENDING

muns

muns

Well-Known Member
Staff member
GSC Moderator
Country flag
I bought a rail bender from Garden Railway Specialists - will bend 1 rail at a time unlike the Massoth one wich does both together. Costs around £50 - the GRS one that is.
 
I must admit I use the Massoth - but it was a birthday present from my wife
made life a lot easier, and well worth the investment if you've a lot of track to lay IMO
before that we used the time honoured way of bending it around my stomach [being larger than my son's]
more difficult to get the ends right, and some of the joins on the older track have had to be bolstered with rail clamps, and some of the curves have sprung the sleepers a bit
all adds to the run-down character, though
 
I made my own (if this post appears twice its because I thought it had loaded - but it hadn't).
The device is crude and I made the pegs instead of rollers because I didn't have a lathe at the time.
Heres a pic below.
a56b324b3f5b41c38364be29fb2cf064.jpg
 
Old roller bearing skate wheels and a Workmate. One wheel one side an two the other, like the peg thingy. wind in a bit at a time as you go. You get the drift.
 
Not much good to you lot but I have a single rail bender that I use over here works a treat. But the reason for this post is, we have a pretty tight little community here at GSC why can't we have a little whip round and buy say the massoth one (being good quality an all that) and have it as a on loan item? the overall cost would'nt be that great I'm sure Jeremy or one of the other traders will give us a good deal on one? and then everybody could benefit from it. I know I thought I would never need one..............until I did!!!!!!!
 
minimans said:
Not much good to you lot but I have a single rail bender that I use over here works a treat. But the reason for this post is, we have a pretty tight little community here at GSC why can't we have a little whip round and buy say the massoth one (being good quality an all that) and have it as a on loan item? the overall cost would'nt be that great I'm sure Jeremy or one of the other traders will give us a good deal on one? and then everybody could benefit from it. I know I thought I would never need one..............until I did!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

This idea was put forward on GSM but nobody took it up and it died a death. Is is however a good idea.
 
ROSS said:
An excellent production. I would imagine instead of pegs- wheels or ball races would effect an even smoother curve!

Mmmm...food for thought here..looks simple enough to construct for a model engineer (my mate is..could be he gets a job!)
Click to expand...

Hi Ross
- I did profile the pegs using an electric drill and a file. My original post (which failed to load because of an interuption to my connection) mentioned the use of a Jim Crow - which basicly hooks over the rail head and you apply pressure on the opposite side via a crow bar manipulated acme screw thread (more 1 to 1 size really). Having experience of this method made me think that even my device would work. It is tedious though.
Rollers would help prevent any marks on the rail and also allow the rail to move easier of course.

Mick
 
I've re-radiused some R1 to something like R2 on the curve at Quarry Junction.

I removed the rails from the sleeper web and bent them very slightly, using a B&D Workmate.

I used the marks from the sleepers on the underside of each rail, bent the track at the first mark, reclamped, bent the rail at the next mark, and so on until I got to the middle, then turned the rail round and started from t'other end.

Refitted rails to the sleeper web and checked against an R2 curve. I got it right first time luckily for me....
 
Mister ROSS,

You need to first decide whether you wanna take the rail apart, then there are cheap options, bending each rail separately. I find it a pain.
Or, you bend the whole rail in one go, and I'm afraid there's not too much choice. I am a fan of the Massoth, now I have an identical copy I was lucky to pick up at Grootspoor for 100€!
Also, I have a stack on unwanted R1 curves, some of which I bent into 1/2 pieces of R3 or R5, or even straights!
 
muns said:
I bought a rail bender from Garden Railway Specialists - will bend 1 rail at a time unlike the Massoth one wich does both together. Costs around £50 - the GRS one that is.
Click to expand...

I bought a GRS (allegedly) railbender a couple of years ago but for the life of me can't make it work.
It was claimed to be LGB compatible but the roller profile doesn't match LGB, Accucraft, Aristo, Train-li or Peco!
I will post a photo perhaps someone can confirm if it is GRS or not.

EDIT: On second thoughts I won't post a photo. I appear to have put it somewhere "safe". :-
 
Hi all
When laying the H&MGR I way up buying a rail bender but opted to use Aristo-craft "set track" curves but since then through one of our Wellington Garden Railway Group members have used both single and double rail benders. The double if a great tool, but both need a bit of practice to get right. Done the beer belly bending to but not very well. The great advantage of a bender is not being stuck to a set radius, but unless you able to borrow/hire a bender and are doing a small railway perhaps "set track" curves might work out cheaper? ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom