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PROTO:87
STORES
TM
"SWITCH-WORKS"
DRAFT PRELIMINARY INSTRUCTIONS PAGE
BEFORE
UNPACKING AND SAFETY
READ
ALL THIS BEFORE YOU START UNPACKING!
When
you receive your new SWITCH-WORKS package, you will find the main
components are taped to a stiff back board to protect them from damage
in transit. Before carefully removing them, you must be aware of
that the parts are made of quite hard, thin stainless steel and have
SOME SHARP EDGES AND CORNERS INTENTIONALLY, for precision alignment.
Also they may even have some SHARP POINTED EDGE REMAINS of the holding
tabs used in their manufacture, around the outside edges, which can cut
your
fingers, etc., if not first filed down completely smooth.
FOR SAFETY, FROM THE VERY OUTSET, you should be prepared to treat,
handle and store the SWITCH-WORKS parts as carefully you would
LONG SAW AND KNIFE BLADES.
DO
NOT BEND THE PARTS! - The jig
parts are made of stainless steel and while the TIEPLATE SETTING JIG is
fairly flexible, the TIE FRAMER sides are meant to be rigid
and they should
always be kept flat, either in use or in storage. So please take care
when removing them from the shipping support board and do not attempt
to
bend them, as they could end up permanently warped or kinked.
NOW
YOU CAN REMOVE THE PARTS FROM THE BACK BOARD BY CAREFULLY CUTTING THE
TAPE AROUND THE EDGES WITH A CRAFT KNIFE. Handle the loose parts very
carefully and look for the remains of the tiny holding tabs in the
places shown in the diagram below. The RED DOTS show the
positions of the tabs. If any of these are still sharp, use a
small file and/or an emery/sanding block to smooth all those to become
completely safe
before further handling or using the parts. Only when that is
done, should you then remove any packing tape still stuck to the parts.
BECOMING
FAMILIAR WITH SWITCH-WORKS
THE TIE FRAMER
REMOVABLE CROSS
JOINERS ALLOW FOR CONSTRUCTION IN SITU,
OR ON THE BENCH.
The
Tie framer has one straight and one curved side, linked by two cross
joiners. These are aligned for use by first choosing the direction of
the switch (RH or LH) and placing the side parts the appropriate way up
and shape to get that desired direction. Note the end pairs of dowel
holes are closer together at the diverging end of the straight
side, matching those on the curved side. Insert three alignment
dowels from underneath in the ends of the straight section and two more
at the ends of the curved section as shown. These can be temporarily
held in place for easy handling, by adding small pieces of
"Scotch Tape" over the dowel bases. Then place the two joiners
on top of the dowels as shown. The
shorter joiner has three holes in order to set both sides in the
proper relative postion lengthways, while the narrow joiner just keeps
the wider ends of the framer sides the correct distance apart. LOCK
JUST THE STRAIGHT SIDE IN PLACE, by inserting Push Pins fully
down in the three small holes provided.
Note the dowels are deliberately a "sliding fit' in the holes, to make
it quick and easy to lift the other parts SWITCH-WORKS tools on and off
during the switch assembly processes. This means the lengthways
positioning of the curved side by the short joiner will seem to be
"sloppy" BEFORE you add any push pins to the curved side. While
the correct positioning is when the short joiner is aproximately half
way beween the two extremes of its "sloppy" movement, this position can
be verified by temporarily adding a tie and placing the TIE SETTING JIG
in its proper place on the dowels. The Curved side can then be adjusted
until the tie fully blocks its far side straight tieplate aperture
midway. ONLY THEN ADD THE PUSH PINS TO LOCK DOWN THE CURVED
SIDE.
Once the sides are locked, you can add the ties. Even if the
switch is being bench built, it helpls to use either a subbase that the
ties can be glued to, or some easy to remove sticky tape as shown, to
keep the ties from moving around to use
THE RAIL AND TIEPLATE SETTING JIG
THE RAIL AND TIEPLATE SETTING JIG ALSO
DOUBLES AS A TRACK PLANNING TOOL,
WITH BOTH CENTER-LINES FOR DRAWING
LINE POSITIONING -
AND GAUGE END MATCHING FOR
PRECISE INSERTION OF A SWITCH
INTO EXISTING TRACKWORK
INSTRUCTIONS
FOR "HOME MANUFACTURING" A SWITCH
In a
real factory, manufacturing a product is typically a multi-stage process,
with more components being added, <>and different operations being
performed, using specialized factory production tools, at each
stage. The SWITCH-WORKS "home factory" works in a similar fashion
and the basic operations occur in three main stages. These are:-<>
Stage 1 - Laying down the TIES
Stage 2 - Affixing the TIE PLATES
Stage 3 - Laying the RAIL, FROG and POINTS
These stages are covered in more detail below with a section for
each stage. Once you are familiar with the whole process you can
jump to each stage separately to reprise specific details.
LAYING DOWN THE TIES
THE TIE FRAMER SPACES THE TIES TO
REALISTIC, EXACT AAR DIMENSIONS,
WITH PROPER VARIABLE TIE SPACING.
ADDITIONAL EXACT SIZE HOLES FOR
SIMPLE PUSH-PINS HOLD THE FRAMER IN
PLACE ON VIRTUALLY ANY TRACKBED
To Be Completed
AFFIXING THE TIEPLATES
Before attempting to attach the tieplates, it is necessary to know
which tieplates to use for the particular switch and where to place
them. This information is provided below in two factory Assembly
Documents. Assembly Document 1 is the identification chart for the
tieplates:
Here we see
the Layout of the TPSW3 so that the individual parts can be easily
identified.
SWITCH-WORKS SPECIAL TIEPLATE ASSEMBLY
ILLUSTRATIONS
Please note the compact Two letter Abbreviations, as these are used on
the Assembly Illustrations below to more simply and clearly identify
each
tieplate position.
Note the Tieplate Assembly
Illustrations are different depending on the size and standard of the
switch
being manufactured. The
Tieplate Assembly Illustrations
for NMRA HO Switches are:
The
Tieplate Assembly Illustrations
for PROTO:87 Switches are:
LAYING THE RAIL
To Be Completed
TPSW3, TPSS70-X and TPSS55-X
ACCURATE AAR or NMRA HO SWITCH
MUSEUM QUALITY, SPECIAL TIEPLATES FRET
THE TPSW3 FRET
Click on
the picture for an expanded view
The TPSW3 parts fret alone provides the specialized tieplates detail
parts for building up to a #10 size AAR or NMRA HO switch
The TPSS70-X or TPSS55-X parts frets comprise both the TPSW3 and
the remaining appropriate sized plain tieplates needed to complete the
switch.
This WEB page last updated on 10/29/05. All illustrations, products
and
product designs are copyright of their respective owners, whether
acknowledged
or otherwise. All rights reserved.
