To give credit where credit is due this item came about because of inspiration from Richard Massey (Onizukachan). Also the end result was caused by Bachman. So, I just finished and placed a caboose on it to test it out. Of course the idea was to have a ramp to make it easier to "rail" a long articulated loco. I cut and pasted 2 Kato ramps to come up with one: Sure ,it would be easy to have the loco power off by itself and I can't afford to buy one of Bachman's, so here is my adaptation. The caboose was used to test for power. The needle nose pliers are the brake. Had good conductivity by just placing the ramp on the track as normally done. Don't know about a loco, I will check that in a day or two. Thanks for looking. Be well, Carl
I'm assuming those are copper strips of some sort? How will you prevent oxidation or will you need to clean it often so clean electrical contact is maintained?
Good questions! I'll just have to swipe them before using, I guess. Yes, the strips are conductive copper tape wit conductive glue on back side. I shall see! Carl
looks like the adhesive copper strips used in stained glass making. I used that once for building a slot car track out of a piece of MDF and a router.
Very cool Carl! Let us know how it works with you articulated steam. With my luck, I'd probably get distracted by a shiny object and have a loco doing a Dukes of Hazard move.
You are right Massey. Stained glass is one of many uses, the one I like is it will keep slugs out of your pot plants. Just wrap a strip or two around the pot and the slug will not cross over. Seems the copper strip picks up an electrical charge from the atmosphere? ? ?
I shall report on the results. If it doesn't work, no biggie, not a lot of $$ in the project and I will still have the extra long ramp, which I have used and was quite happy with it. Yea, I would be p***ed if I dropped my challenger off of it, so will have to be careful.
There is electricity in the atmosphere, all around us. In fact if it was visible, you would not be able to see your own fingers an inch from your eyes. This is commonly known as radio waves, plus there is a bit of static electricity as well.
Very cool Carl! Like the addition of the copper strips! I’m going to have to borrow the reinforcing styrene side strip idea.
As promised, here is a short YT video of my powered re-railer. Please, excuse the shaky hands, I think my meds are acting up. As mentioned in the vid. I will update with a steamer later on.
Looking good Carl! I solved the rear stability issue by using the bottom section of the unijoiner tool that clips onto the rails. So mine locks in front and rear.
Not the best but... when you buy a rerailer you also get the unijoiner tool in the package. Since I bought two from Fifer to make mine... I had two tools. you can see one on the bottom of my rerailer as a brace. The other one I cut the very bottom of it off and that piece is on the tall end of my rerailer. Slightly lighter blue color. so it clips to the track in the front, and in the rear.
Thanks Richard, Good idea but I did not buy my KATO ramps. I used to travel to shows with "The New Mexico Rail RunNers" club and picked mine up @ the KATO booth. I was not aware of that little tool. Oh well, what I did works. Cool prop up!
No worries, now I know what happened to my other unijoiner tool... won’t have to spend any more time looking for it. I think one comes with the unijoiner feeders so I will have some more when I buy a few of those from Mike in a week or two.