Custom 9V tracks

[CrispyBassist]

Moving the switch mechanism to the other side would be fine by me. That should reduce the issues I have with long cars catching their center on the switch mechanisms.

[bricks n bolts]

Yes, I think moving the switch mechanism to the other straight side is the best solution. Only issue is the minor 'edge of table' one as far as I can see.

[Cale]

Moving the switch mechanism to the other side would be fine by me. That should reduce the issues I have with long cars catching their center on the switch mechanisms.

Oh yes. I'm well aware of that issue.

I too say move the switch stand. It will just make things so much better.

Cale

[legoman666]

Moving the switch mechanism to the other side would be fine by me. That should reduce the issues I have with long cars catching their center on the switch mechanisms.

No kidding. I usually leave the yellow levers off my switches for that very reason.

[CrispyBassist]

No kidding. I usually leave the yellow levers off my switches for that very reason.

I've taken to doing that too, but some cars (i.e. my RDC) still catch.

[coaster]

Very good. Anyone not in favor of moving the switch plate?

[HiFish]

I'm not realy against it, i just wanted to point out that it interferes with this kind of siding:

But i guess once there are different length straights availble you could simply offset the switches so the switch plates don't collide in the middle. If i had to choose between the 2, then parallel sidings it is!

It would be great if the final switch plate design was compatible to manual and powered switching, powering the stock 9v switches hasn't been much fun for me.

Edited April 9, 2016 by HiFish

[Cale]

I'm not realy against it, i just wanted to point out that it interferes with this kind of siding:

But i guess once there are different length straights availble you could simply offset the switches so the switch plates don't collide in the middle. If i had to choose between the 2, then parallel sidings it is!

It would be great if the final switch plate design was compatible to manual and powered switching, powering the stock 9v switches hasn't been much fun for me.

This problem is easily solved by shortening the distance the switch stand protrudes from the track. If the end of the switch stand is kept to 4 studs max from the track ties then two switches could be placed side by side without them interfering with each other.

Cale

Edited May 16, 2016 by Cale

[coaster]

Moved the switch stand to the straight side, and kept it to 4 studs:

Question of the day though, is an 8-wide coming through the turnout going to clip the switch?

Still waiting on the new official switches to arrive so I can modify the guards.

[bricks n bolts]

Question of the day though, is an 8-wide coming through the turnout going to clip the switch?

With one of the yellow things attached, it will be pointing towards the track on the turnout (I think?), taking out about 1.5 studs, so there might be an issue on some models.

Will the axle hole mechanism still be an option or have you had to ditch that idea? Also thinking using the 'current official' mechanism with only 4 studs leaves little room for automation.

[M_slug357]

What about a reversible option? Where the yellow throw and its holster are not connected to the main switch assembly, and the bar that connects to the flipper(?) can then be attached on either side. Also, maybe have that bar have 2-3 evenly spaced notches/ holes in order to accommodate variable distances from the switch....

Did this rambling make any sense? I could badly sketch up a diagram to illustrate what I mean.

[coaster]

M_slug, that does make sense. I think what I shall do though is make one with the switch stand on the straight side @ 4 studs max (as I show above), and we'll just try it. Will anyone be at Brickworld in Chicago with a large engine? If so, let's arrange to meet up and try it out.

While that's running, I'll continue to look into both A) making the switch stand be movable to either side; and B) changing it to be easily motorized.

[CrispyBassist]

Will anyone be at Brickworld in Chicago with a large engine? If so, let's arrange to meet up and try it out.

I think there will be plenty of large engines there, judging from the turnout the past few years! I'll have my RDC there, which I know is not necessarily a big engine but has all the steps, couplers, etc. at each end mounted to the chassis rather than the trucks (i.e. low vertical clearance at the ends, which swing out through curves). I'd happily help test it out.

[Cale]

M_slug, that does make sense. I think what I shall do though is make one with the switch stand on the straight side @ 4 studs max (as I show above), and we'll just try it. Will anyone be at Brickworld in Chicago with a large engine? If so, let's arrange to meet up and try it out.

While that's running, I'll continue to look into both A) making the switch stand be movable to either side; and B) changing it to be easily motorized.

I think there will be plenty of large engines there, judging from the turnout the past few years! I'll have my RDC there, which I know is not necessarily a big engine but has all the steps, couplers, etc. at each end mounted to the chassis rather than the trucks (i.e. low vertical clearance at the ends, which swing out through curves). I'd happily help test it out.

Yes. There will be plenty of big engines at Brickworld to do some testing. PennLUG will have our fleet of steamers there.

Cale

[zephyr1934]

Oh wow! Excellent progress. I let my day job distract me and look what I miss. Here are a few cents worth of comments.

1) I think lego put the switch throw on the turnout side so that they fit in to a smaller box.

2) Why have a single design if you are going to 3D print them? You could have left and right throws available for a given switch geometry.

3) Wide and long equipment have various conflicts, all depending on where the points of rotation are. Some steam engines swing wide to the outside because the rotation points are closer to the center while some diesel engines and passenger cars sweep through the inside of the curve. I could see the occasional steam cylinder hitting the straight-side mounted throw in the most recent image.

4) Why keep the lego design throw? That design is a major pain in the !@#$% to add remote control to and as per above, causes clearance issues for wider/longer trains. Why not do something with a technic pin hole? Or maybe use a "slider lever", basically a rack gear (3743) that you slide by hand in and out with your finger, keeping it low profile and one could easily mount a technic construction to remotely move the rack in and out.

[coaster]

Oh wow! Excellent progress. I let my day job distract me and look what I miss. Here are a few cents worth of comments.

1) I think lego put the switch throw on the turnout side so that they fit in to a smaller box.

2) Why have a single design if you are going to 3D print them? You could have left and right throws available for a given switch geometry.

3) Wide and long equipment have various conflicts, all depending on where the points of rotation are. Some steam engines swing wide to the outside because the rotation points are closer to the center while some diesel engines and passenger cars sweep through the inside of the curve. I could see the occasional steam cylinder hitting the straight-side mounted throw in the most recent image.

4) Why keep the lego design throw? That design is a major pain in the !@#$% to add remote control to and as per above, causes clearance issues for wider/longer trains. Why not do something with a technic pin hole? Or maybe use a "slider lever", basically a rack gear (3743) that you slide by hand in and out with your finger, keeping it low profile and one could easily mount a technic construction to remotely move the rack in and out.

Hey! Stop leaving! Real life can wait!

As for the 3D printing of these, that's certainly still on the table for the more exotic geometries, but I've gotten some reasonable estimates on actual injection molded tooling, so it's not outside the realm of possibility that I end up molding the switches as well. If nothing else, designing for a mold and ending up 3D printing is much easier than going the other way.

I had an idea for the switch that I'm fleshing out now. Give me a couple days and I should have something to show.

[Ashi Valkoinen]

I can't add to much for designing, programming and printing, but I fell in love with those long radius points. I really hope that test-parts will function good and after some time these points will be available for LEGO train community.

Really thanks for the effort, work hours and euthanism you out into this project!

[coaster]

Alright, here we go!

Modified the switch mechanism to return to the 1/4 turn turntable style. Also was able to shrink it down to size:

Currently stands 2x plates tall, and the axle hole goes all the way though. Like the official switch though, no tubes or negative stud area on bottom; just flat. Still clicks between 2 positions.

But wait, I thought we were putting the switch stand on the straight side? Well, if you don't want it on the curve side, take it off and move it:

The mechanism is reversible as well, so if you have an arrow on it, you can set it such that the arrow correctly points to the corresponding direction.

The removable switch definitely opens up some design space, as now you can you have a switch opposite a yard ladder, sort of like this:

And now, it's way past time for me to go to bed.

[Ashi Valkoinen]

I've just noted that the straight part of your point is 40 studs long, which will totally not fit the standard train track geometry (causing a 8 stud offset which could be only solved with 2 pieces of flextracks, but losing the 9V option), or only with using two of this points after each other (2×40 = 80 studs which equals to 5 straight segments). As far as I've read in this topic it takes really tons of screen-gazing process, but I have to ask if you plan to design even longer points with the length of 3 straights. :)

[coaster]

Correct, they are 40 studs long, or, 2 1/2" straight segments. It was discussed here somewhere, but there is logic to it. It allows you have nested switches, as well as space for the yard ladder. Don't worry though, I'll have a track pack with various length straights in it.

[bricks n bolts]

These are looking pretty damn sweet, with the turntable and reversibility, any update for us on the injection molding? Does that mean you'll only be offering them in dark bley?

[coaster]

Dark bley? Eww!

If molded, then yes, I'll offer both the old dark grey and dark bley, and I'm open to doing other colors like dark brown too. Adding a new colorant costs about $300 (across the board, not just for one piece), so doable, but let's not get too carried away.

There's a manufacturer's show here in 2 weeks, so I'll bring copies of these and touch base with some vendors about getting quotes. Had some budgetary numbers from a few guys, but I'd rather have firm quotes across the board before committing to anything. Frankly, the plastic is the easy part, it's the rails, machining, stampings, and wireforms that are still question marks. But this is normal for the process, it'll all shake out.

[zephyr1934]

In terms of remote control I still think the slider with a gear rack top is the way to go. You could either motorize it on the spot with a motor and a single gear, or you could use a couple of axles to move the motor further from the track. Meanwhile, if you don't motorize it the gear rack makes for easy hand switching since the rack is inherently textured.

With the rotational mechanism you need bevel gears and more structure around the switch stand to motorize it. Or when hand switching the rotational motion needed for these switches requires at least one more part on top that will also add vertical elevation to the mechanism.

Mind you I've learned to live with the constraints of normal lego switches so any improvement would be welcome, and I suppose for the 3D printed versions making different switch stands would just be the design time.

In any event, one more thing to think of with these, can you configure the switches such that a pair of switches can easily be built in to single cross-overs? A key geometry that is sorely missing from the 9v world.

[bricks n bolts]

Dark bley? Eww!

Personally I was hoping for light grey, ether light bley or old light grey, being into '80s retro. Light bley would be the most consistent with the newer stuff.

If you think about it, that's what Lego should have gone back to once they removed the metal from the rails..

Edited April 29, 2016 by bricks n bolts

[coaster]

In terms of remote control I still think the slider with a gear rack top is the way to go. You could either motorize it on the spot with a motor and a single gear, or you could use a couple of axles to move the motor further from the track. Meanwhile, if you don't motorize it the gear rack makes for easy hand switching since the rack is inherently textured.

With the rotational mechanism you need bevel gears and more structure around the switch stand to motorize it. Or when hand switching the rotational motion needed for these switches requires at least one more part on top that will also add vertical elevation to the mechanism.

Mind you I've learned to live with the constraints of normal lego switches so any improvement would be welcome, and I suppose for the 3D printed versions making different switch stands would just be the design time.

Well, with the removable rack, we do have some flexibility here, so other switch mechanisms could certainly be developed. Overall feedback though is pretty positive towards the turntable approach. Don't forget, the axle hole goes all the way through, so you could easily motorize it from the bottom. And a few pieces on top should be fine. Remember, cars and engines won't swing out as fall on these.

In any event, one more thing to think of with these, can you configure the switches such that a pair of switches can easily be built in to single cross-overs? A key geometry that is sorely missing from the 9v world.

Yep, already set up that way:

Personally I was hoping for light grey, ether light bley or old light grey, being into '80s retro. Light bley would be the most consistent with the newer stuff.

If you think about it, that's what Lego should have gone back to once they removed the metal from the rails..

The light greys are fine too. I just don't think we'll be running in yellow, purple, or tan at all.