Track Benders

[alec dawe]

Well, it seems that the engineering in the garden will start soon.
For bends of 8' rad I'm using pre-formed track, but I'll have some sweeping bends of bigger radii. Should I get a track bender? Is the trackshack one, at £82, any good? I'm a bit loathe to spend upwards of £150 plus all the duties etc etc for one from the USofA.

If bending big radii, what's the best method of securing the track to the 'foundations' (could be concrete or perhaps paving stones). I'm assuming that complete rigidity is a no no because of expansion and contraction, was thionking opf aralditing short lengths of stid bar into drilled holes, then clamping the tracl down onto this, but leaving a little scope for movement?
What are your recommendations?
Alec

 

[nicebutdim]

I have about 100ft of line and don't really notice any issue with expansion, just leave a little gap at rail joints if laying it cold. With regards to bending it, nothing beats a nicely rounded belly to curve the track Where I have attached to concrete I've used normal yellow Rawlplugs and screwed the track down. To be honest it is personal preference.

 

[beavercreek]

To allow for expansion (only really needed on very long runs) there a few ways to fix the track down. One is to leave small gaps at each join to allow for the rail expansion (only if using rail joiners not clamps).
Another way is to fix the track to the base with two screws through a short plate (I use old Meccano). It allows the track tie to slip if there is any stress.
a bit like this:

 

[bobg]

I have a minor problem with expansion, on a section that the sun sweeps, i.e. works it's way from one end to the other, through the day. The rail in the sun expands and meets the next length which in turn starts to expand against it, so pushes away, moving up as it does so. the length behind cools as the sun leaves it and also moves up following the second length, and so on, so after a while the gaps are all closed up at one end and massive at he back. It isn't a major problem but every so often I just have to work a few lengths back down.

 

[Martino]

Re the track bender. I have. Train-Li USA one and I'm very pleased with it. I think it's worth every penny (or cent!) my wife paid for it as. Christmas and Birthday present.

Easy to use, robust and accurate. It's been an absolutly great tool for me.

I've never had any problems with expansion, and temperatures can vary here from a couple of degrees below freezing to 100F or more ( not in the same day though!)

I do leave some gaps, but not many.

There are very few areas where I've fixed track down, just floating it on ballast or resting on blocks. I've just started using a bonded ballast so we'll see if this summer has an effect on that expansion wise.

 

[maxi-model]

8 years ago I first tried the "round the girth" method but found it unsatisfactory for creating even and gradated curves that met properly at the joins. It also created some running problems. I swiftly got myself a GRS rail bender and redid all the track, works a treat and it now all fits together and runs great. I use a mix of set-track, straights and points, all LGB R5 and flexi. I use both LGB and Tenmille code 332 track systems with adapters to join them.

My track like the previous post is floating on ballast. I have no problems with expansion and it was never laid with intentional gaps. The track is part in sunlight, part shade and subject to temperature ranges from -10c to+30c. The track is "pinned" at 18-24 inch intervals with 5 & 6 inch nails through the ballast "trench" through to the soil. Set up like that it is very easy to modifiy or add to formations and rectify faults if they occur.

I recently started using track clamps (Hillman) to stabilise some track formations as my garden is on an incline and there was a tendancy for it to be gradually "hammered" apart by heavy locos in certain locations, mainly when they met the curves. That fixed that minor issue perfectly.

No track joints are bonded. I just use careful application of LGB graphite paste or Coppergrease and make sure joining surfaces are cleaned and recoated if there is any reassembly work carried out. I've had no electrical problems in the 7 years the layout has existed.

Max

 

[owlpool]

We've got 100m or so of track, mostly LGB flexitrack
the first part was laid ages ago using the Mark 1 tummy bender [sounds dodgy]
for my 50th my wife got me 60m of flexitrack and a Massoth Rail bender from Jeremy. the track was much easier to lay with better curves and more stable with no springing requiring re-positioning like the older track. expensive but well worth it, great for later deviation and rebending too.
the track is mostly laid on trackboards which are covered in roofing felt, screwed at intervals, small gaps left at joins. even though the sleepers/ties are screwed down, the rail slides within them, no expansion problems, but it never gets that hot here

 

[owlpool]

just noticed that it is £233 - £100 more than 4 yrs ago if my memory serves me right
I would still consider it a worthwhile investment

http://www.dragon-gscale.co.uk/massoth-8105001track-bender-for-g-scale-998-p.asp

 

[mmts]

Did Steve (back2bay6) not have one that was available for hire??

 

[beavercreek]

Did Steve (back2bay6) not have one that was available for hire??

Not sure if Steve has one.
I loaned a Massoth one off Jeremy (Dragon G-Scale) back in 2006 when I was building my layout.

 

[Glengrant]

Here are a couple of pics from very early on in the construction up here. As you see one section was done properly as this flexi-track had to go into a 2foot6inch radius 180 curve, so I just laid out the baseboard on the garridge floor and screwed the track on to it. The other bit was much more tricky because of the variable curve, so here I used, as some of the experts have mentioned here, the "bellyitis" method, bellytitis being something I do suffer from. There are problems with bellyitis, of course, the worst being that the radius of the belly has not remained fixed, it has tended to vary over the years, and you can guess in which direction. As to track fixing, well, my layout is not long enough for me to worry too much about expansion, but occasionally it is necessary to go around with the hammer and chisel to close gaps. However, my recent venture into clamps has paid dividends, especially on tight curves. The obvious point on curves, everyone knows this except for me, is to avoid having opposite joins, stagger 'em. Finally, fixing to the baseboard. Well, the layout area suffers from subsidence and has required a lot of attention over the years but I have found that the solution to this often results in tie down screws being removed as I tamp up track and slowly the trackwork has depended less and less on being rigidly held down but is moving naturally to much more of a float as it were. OK, so now you know, it's a bliddy mess, but I like it

 

[bobg]

I used a combination of belly, and one of these for the errant ends (Jim-Crow).

I later developed the Mk 2 version (Mk 1 only fitted Peco, code 250),

which are still available.

 

[Rhinochugger]

KISS

Track bending - Mk 1 Belly-bender

Track fixing - Occasional wooden pegs in the ballast (every 10 ft or so) and pop a scre down through a sleeper into the top of the peg, then let the rest float on the ballast

 

[Glengrant]

KISS

Track bending - Mk 1 Belly-bender

Track fixing - Occasional wooden pegs in the ballast (every 10 ft or so) and pop a scre down through a sleeper into the top of the peg, then let the rest float on the ballast

that's about it Rhino old boy

 

[steve parberry]

I used a combination of belly, and one of these for the errant ends (Jim-Crow).

I later developed the Mk 2 version (Mk 1 only fitted Peco, code 250),

which are still available.

That's a lot lighter than the Jim Crow I Know!!!!

 

[bobg]

I used a combination of belly, and one of these for the errant ends (Jim-Crow).

I later developed the Mk 2 version (Mk 1 only fitted Peco, code 250),

which are still available.

That's a lot lighter than the Jim Crow I Know!!!!

Yeah! I's bin on a diet!

 

[Northsider]

I bought a Massoth twin railbender from GRS last year, as I was due to lay 4' radius curves of Peco code 250 flexitrack. I tried forming a few lengths by hand, but with poor results, so the sales pitch of 'buy it, use it, and then sell it on' clinched the deal. That said, I've not sold it on, as there are one or two alterations to do, a couple of sidings to lay...and then an extension, perhaps...

 

[bobg]

It's not a bad plan to make yourself a template out thin plywood or even cardboard and work to that. You can move it round as you lay each piece, including over the joints.



Only one Mk2 Jim-Crow left.

 

[Glengrant]

'course the big snag with the bellyitis method is, how do you measure the radius of the belly? I mean would you stretch a tape measure round the whole circumference and divide by four? And one would have to take into consideration the possibility of seasonal variations, you know, summer slimming and all that. Thinks There is rather nice dolly in my local, Miriam, very obliging she is, I might ask her to do my circumference, well, wifie is off to Menorca next week, for a month!!!!!!!

 

[alec dawe]

'course the big snag with the bellyitis method is, how do you measure the radius of the belly? I mean would you stretch a tape measure round the whole circumference and divide by four? And one would have to take into consideration the possibility of seasonal variations, you know, summer slimming and all that. Thinks There is rather nice dolly in my local, Miriam, very obliging she is, I might ask her to do my circumference, well, wifie is off to Menorca next week, for a month!!!!!!!

You're not thinking about using Miriam for any sort of tight radius curves are you? I'd have thought that you could possibly get down to about 6 or 7" diameter, with the right 'appendages'!
Sorry. my mind is wandering!