We’ve made a number of improvements over the Summer. Some we’ve already covered. Some not. We’re making progress, albeit slowly. The main focus is getting trains running again, and to do that, we need to start laying track again, not pulling it back up.
Something that’s been bothering me is the lack of progress on setting the last batch of roadbed bricks in place. It’s been a couple of months since the last batch of bricks was cast and laid in position. That’s mostly on me for not improving the state of the garage. It’s in no shape to work on any project. Not until recently anyway.
I’ll save how the garage and the office were updated with new shelving and other improvements for another post. To say the least, the casting bench is ready for action. And speaking of casting, it’s time to set those roadbed bricks in place then cast more and place them.
Some Filaments Are More UV Resistant Than Others
If you remember from the Roadbed Bricks – Round Three post, some of those 3D printed ballast profile molds had warped and yellowed from the UV exposure. What’s left of them are sitting in a bucket outside the carriage doors of the garage. So the “then cast more” part is going to have to wait.
Setting The Bricks
We’ll get back to that later. Now it’s time to set the rest of those bricks in place. They’ve been lying there on top of what’s left of the artificial turf that needs cut back to make room for them. Time to better protect that 14# power feed cable in the process by “hiding” it under the turf next to the bricks.
My “wheelie cart” helps save me from having to crawl around on my hands and knees. Lately my knees painfully remind me I’m not getting any younger. In the spirit of “there’s always something else that needs done first”, the tires need inflated. They’re not quite flat, but they could definitely use some air.
My Helper As Always
I grab the Dremel saw bag and the retractable extension cord and get that ready to go while waiting for the compressor to build up pressure. The retractable air hose makes it easy to fill the tires just outside the side garage door. Much better!
The first thing I find once I get going is most of the four bricks are already sitting right on the dirt. If it weren’t for that black “weed control” fabric and just a wedge of turf, they could be set right in place, if the dirt had been moved anyway. Time for the yard cart… Which is full of water!
Well, not all the way full, but Hurricane Debby dropped a good amount of rain on us. Easy enough to dump it out and roll it over to the job site. I made sure when I ordered the new Gorilla Cart™ it came with the solid tires. No worrying about flats!
A couple of quick cuts with the Dremel saw make quick work of that turf wedge. And the black fabric can be pulled out of the way enough to set those first four bricks in place. It takes a few tries to remove enough dirt and test fit the contour for each brick.
The First Four At The Job Site
Annoyances
That fabric certainly is annoying though. Not only does it NOT stop the weeds from growing, it’s so flexible it’s nearly impossible to cut with the Dremel saw! The one thing it DOES do well is keep the seams between the sections of turf from “puckering”, for lack of a better term.
Puckering describes the way the dirt washes away at the seam and builds up under either side, like lips puckering. At this point, it’s no longer necessary with the bricks in place. The work progresses a brick or two at a time while cutting away the turf and fabric and fitting them in place.
By the time I’m finishing up, the shade has disappeared. The new umbrella Ann got me is working fine to block the sun though. It wouldn’t have taken so long if it weren’t for the post and remnants of the stringer that were in the way and had to be removed.
The Stretch To The Switch Set In Place
Unfortunately that left a patch of dirt exposed leading up to the switch. Thankfully a chunk of turf previously cut out of the way covers it and fits the bill quite nicely. It will be good enough until the next batch of bricks is ready to finish that stretch.
But Wait, There’s More
But it’s not done yet. There are three more bricks on the other end of the “cast in place” failure. Alright, it wasn’t a total failure, but it ain’t very pretty and that’s for sure. These three fit between the other end of the “cast in place” section and the end of the previous batch of bricks.
It’s a bit harder to get the turf cut this time because of the surroundings. On one end is the the previous batch of bricks and the other is cast in place concrete. But the most difficult part is the tight squeeze getting everything to fir in that space!
That end brick from the last batch actually had the corner crack off, but it doesn’t want to go back in place without a fight, or leaving a gap. After more finagling, and even more stomping, they finally fit. Probably best not to disturb the bricks already placed last time around.
The Last Of The Batch Set In Place
Levelling Up
Next up is levelling that 4×4 that sits proud of the first batch of bricks. All those 4x4s along the lower loop started out level when first installed. Over time they settled, heaving or slumping in the process. Every one of them sit on dirt with the exception of the one sitting proud.
That 4×4 sits proud because it’s resting on a wedge of turf. A wedge of turf that should have been cut out of the way when it was first installed a few years back. The time has come. But first the 10′ section of flex track that sits on top of it has to be removed.
This allows access for refitting the 4×4 to sit lower and level with its neighbor and the first round of bricks. Turns out not only is there one wedge, there’s two! A convergence, where two different sections of turf meet. This discovery forces removing the first batch bricks, disturbing the pile of rubble they sat on.
After struggling with getting the high spot out of the middle and trying to eliminate the rocking motion, the 4×4 finally sits flat and at the proper level. Getting that rubble and the bricks to sit flat and level is even more of a struggle, but eventually everything lines up.
Many Infrastructure Items Resolved
More Levelling
Unfortunately that 4×4 wasn’t the only one that needed attention. Ann had been working in the front yard, adding pavers and removing dirt to do so. She nearly filled the dump cart and I dumped that dirt where the track leaves the deck. The idea is to build up the terrain there.
After removing the section of track, I backed the heavy dump cart over the 4×4 and released the latch to dump the dirt. Why does this matter? Those aren’t the 4x4s that need levelled! It’s the ones in front of the deck step. Yet another 10′ section of flex track needs moved.
Thankfully this time the turf didn’t need trimmed, but it did need pulled out of the way while adjusting the 4x4s. While I still have the track out of the way, it’s time to trim the turf along the 4×4 that staircases the terrain where the dirt was dumped.
Dirt Terraced And Track Laid On Levelled 4x4s
The cutoff piece of turf isn’t quite big enough cover all the dirt, there’s still an exposed patch, but it’s mostly covered. Time to put the track back together. Of course, the Split Jaw™ couplers needed new socket head bolts to replace the bent, mangled originals.
Thankfully the track just falls into place, having retained their shape from using the rail bender when they were first installed. The hold down screws are left out for now with the idea that some 1×2 blocking will be fabricated to hold the rail in place.
For now, even the end that was uneven drops right into place. It doesn’t even take concrete blocks like it did months ago. It probably would have waited, except the Bozos that installed the new copper A/C line set grabbed them and used them for seats and step stools.
The Track Finally Fits The Roadbed Bricks
Sour Grapes
Definitely some sour grapes there. First of all, who told them they could use those blocks? And they didn’t even put them back where they got them! I had to download the security camera videos just to know whether they took them with them when they left.
Second, but more importantly, who misdiagnosed the leak was in the line set to begin with? Nothing like having to pay $1500 for a non repair! Still leaking and no A/C a day later, in Florida, in the middle of August no less! Ends up needing a brand new condensing coil and we get to pay to have that installed too!
Guess I should be happy we finally got someone that knew what they were doing. So frustrating paying supposed “professionals” to have it done right and I end up knowing more than they do! I’m paying you to fix it so I don’t have to!
Broken Stringer And Extra Track Removed
But enough whining. I don’t need them to hold the track down anymore, and that was the goal. To keep the puppies from poking their eyes out, I removed the sagging 3′ straight track section and the broken stringer that was no longer holding it up.
I left the plastic pipe to mark where the track goes in preparation for the upcoming trestle work. You can see from the pictures how much more track work remains. Next step is to add back more of the 10′ flex track sections into the roadbed bricks.
Still struggling with the decision to use wooden or metal for the trestle and bridges. It may end up being 3D printed PETG that looks like metal, but still have to experiment with PETG and its durability when exposed to the elements. Time will tell.
“Then Cast More”
I promised to say more about the “then cast more” part of the discussion. One of the things accomplished when making the casting bench operational was to cut the 8′ long pieces of the roadbed brick casting forms into two sets 4′ long.
They’re sitting on the casting bench waiting to be reassembled. I’m still looking for another chunk of 2×6 that’s 4′ long to create a third 4′ long form. I’ve also 3D printed at least three more ballast profile molds for that section, but will probably need more
This is a short follow up on the original 3D Printed Casting “Mock Ups”. Considering the length of the original post, that’s an understatement. But sometimes it’s necessary to fill in the blanks when progress is low and discouragement is high.
Even though progress has been slow, it’s actually been beneficial in this case. The original design is based on our “fleet” of Bachmann passenger cars, literally dozens and dozens and dozens of them. Some modified with our Passenger Car Lighting systems, some still sporting the original 9V battery twin light bulb version. All of them suffering from flimsy, rubberized plastic handrails.
I wouldn’t mention those handrails except we’re talking about 3D printing. What better replacement for plastic than plastic? Well, metal for one. Brass to be exact, but then we’d need jigs for bending the brass to shape, most likely 3D printed as well.
Steps Barely Clear Capstones
Design “Flaws”
Just like those original handrails that failed the test, so did our original casting design. Well, at least the mock up did. The first flaw was discovered when first fitting the 10′ diameter curved track section. A redesign doubled the number of segments to better fit the curve. This was discussed in the first installment and it works quite well.
The next “flaw” is genuinely a “new” one, as in there’s not enough clearance for the new USA Trains Heavyweight passenger cars. And before you ask, no, there are not dozens of them. But there is a decade of them. There was a bulk deal on ten of them around Christmas time, so I pulled the trigger, as well as ordering a pair of F7 A-B units for A-B-B-A running.
They’ve been packed away since then, awaiting completion of all these “infrastructure improvements”. After unboxing one of them to test with, it was readily apparent the design was too narrow for these behemoths. The car is longer than the mock up! The wheels just fit on a single curve section though.
The steps and the equipment boxes both will interfere with the platform or the capstones. Back to the drawing board! It took some doing, and some days to do it, but I managed to add a “crude” approximation of the new passenger car to the mock up design.
Steps Interfere With Pillar Capstones
Back To The Drawing Board
The test fit also reveals a flaw in the “track trough”. Not sure where I picked up that fault, but for whatever reason, the track is sitting proud of the platform rather than flush with it. To give an idea of how the prototype fits together, most platforms are slightly higher than the track, by about 4″ (10cm). In scale, that’s roughly 1⁄6″.
I figured giving the equipment that little bit of a height boost would hopefully compensate for any errors made while measuring their dimensions. Looks like I worried about the wrong measurement errors. Add that to the list of things that need fixed.
I’m back and forth with whether to try to forcibly disassemble the mock ups or just print all new pieces. I say try because the chemical solvent I use to cement the plastic pieces literally melts the two together into one part. Printing all new pieces is going to take a lot longer.
Each 4″ x 7″ retaining wall segment takes 4½ hours to print. Two of the pillars that join the wall segments take 3½ hours. An 8″ long track trough takes 5 hours. It should have been obvious when the curved track trough only took 3½ hours to print.
Anyway, these flaws are certainly obvious now. Not to worry though, the entire reason for all these mockups is to find the errors and flaws before they’re cast in stone, er… concrete.
Time Better Spent As Debby Approaches
Time Is Of The Essence
Alright, being overly dramatic, but time certainly is the essence of the conundrum. As in there is not enough of it to get ahead of everything that needs done. So little to do and so much time… Strike that. Reverse it.
Some say if deadlines are not set, they’ll never be met. Tell that to hurricane Debby. Now instead of spending time moving closer to the goal of running trains, it will now be spent preparing for a hurricane.
Retract the SunSetter™ awning. Stash any loose items that will blow away, like lawn chairs and cushions. You get the idea. Now add to that the garage where those items are usually stored is still the disaster it was right after the A/C decided to leak all over everything.
Progress is slow, but progress is progress. The large empty storage bin that used to sit in front of the table saw because there was no place else to put it is now filled with HO scale items that used to occupy a slot on the bookshelves in the office. It will fit beneath the work cell, taking up the wasted space under it.
Next Steps
Immediate steps are hurricane preparation, like dumping the work cart full of dirt at the end of the driveway where it has washed out around the apron and sidewalk, then retract the awning so as not to create a cart full of mud.
Beyond the immediate, back to the drawing board. The track trough and curved section redesign has already begun, old hold temporarily to prepare for Debby. I don’t like leaving the 3D printer sit idle for any length of time, but short of printing more 4″ x 7″ retaining walls, it will have to wait for the new part designs.
The big ticket item is capturing the step by step process for actually creating the station platform from all the separate cast pieces and how to create forms with them for a concrete pour. So far the mockups have captured segments of the final product, but not the process of creating those final products.
The garage needs a few more items completed before it’s ready for casting concrete patch into those retaining wall panels. There’s a stud space or two where the sill plate is totally rotted that could use a new chunk of 2×4 before setting the table saw in front of there.
The new shelves are already installed but need some thought put in to organizing what should go there and what will fit. All the things that haven’t been used and won’t be any time soon were thrown out to make more space.
It continues to evolve, like the wall cabinet for electrical items expanding to occupy two cabinets. Next is going through that cabinet that has all the “might be useful” items for the model railroad, ripe for harvesting more trash that will never be used.
Long Term
Long term is 3D printing with PETG, a more suitable material for use outdoors. Definitely more heat resistant than PLA. Not sure about its UV resilience, but paint can mitigate any shortcomings there.
The first designs will be concerned with ties and insulated split jaw parts. The originals printed in PLA lasted about ten minutes before they started to melt and deform in the Florida heat. Those stainless steel rails get mighty hot in the sun!
Next will be structural items, like window and door frames, “gingerbread” decorations and supports on buildings, etc. The ultimate goal is to create our own switches and turnouts, custom fit to the needs of the Barkyard Railroad.
I’ve been busy 3D printing lately. So busy I’ve gone through nearly eight 1Kg spools of filament so far. That’s almost twenty pounds of plastic and I’m not finished yet! Why so much? Well, that’s a bit of a story, but I’ll try to keep it brief.
I’ve been struggling with optimizing the casting process, or rather, processes. Roadbed bricks. Buildings. Infrastructure, like retaining walls and culverts and such. You name it. I’m struggling with it, and how to marry the castings with pouring concrete using the castings as forms for the concrete.
It’s difficult to visualize how all the parts need to come together to make one final piece. How do all the puzzle pieces fit together? How to hold the castings in place? How much concrete and where? A lot of questions with no answers, even with many design drawings to help.
Lone Passenger Car Testing Mock Up
The photo shows the initial mock up for the culverts and retaining wall of the station siding along the patio. That passenger car looks mighty lonely sitting there all by itself. Why so much mockup? I’ll blame learning curve for that. Learning from the mistakes of the initial design, and iterations that followed, to reach the final design… For the mockup.
And that’s just the tangent (straight) part. The curved portions require their own designs, and one for every different curvature! While one design is printing behind me, I’m sitting at the computer working on the next design element, be it a different part or an iteration of an existing one.
The work bench is littered with inadequate parts from failed designs. Stacks of parts yet to be assembled await the remaining pieces necessary to put the next 8″ unit together. Be it tangent or curved, each unit is based on an 8″ length.
Pieces Parts Awaiting Assembly
Design Constraints
Why 8″ and not some other length? There are two main reasons why that size was chosen. The first was a matter of print volume. The old 3D printer’s bed is roughly 8½” x 8½”, capable of printing to a height of a little over 9″. All my original designs had to fit within those limits.
The new 3D printer has a print volume of 12″ x 12″ x 15″, so my later designs don’t have that constraint, except for the second reason. The sectional curved track requires a certain number of sections to complete a circle. The smaller the diameter, the larger the track section can be, requiring fewer sections to make a circle.
For example, the 10′ diameter sections are roughly 32″ long, and require only 12 to complete a circle. By contrast, the 20′ diameter sections are nearly 48″ long, and require 16 to make up a circle. So here’s some math for you. What’s the lowest common denominator for those two sizes? That’s right, you guessed it, an 8″ length!
Design Constraints Made Easy
The next choice in the design may not seem so obvious, but it’s time to select the angle occupied by each roughly 8″ section. In the case of the above design capture, it takes three 10′ diameter curve sections to create that 90° arc. It takes four of those 8″ units for each curve section, by three sections, for a total of twelve segments. Each sweeps a 7.5° angle.
While the wood stringers and other structures made up of thin, “laminated” strips may be formed into continuous curves, we don’t have that luxury when it comes to concrete. Granted, continuous monolithic slabs can be formed.
But when multiple, separately cast parts are involved, not so much. The design has to be segmented to allow for many individual parts to be cast independent of one another. And at different times. These cast wall parts are made in assembly line fashion, one or two at a time.
Design Decisions
The whole point of 3D printing these mockups is to better visualize the overall casting approach. Let’s take a closer look at what we’re dealing with. Near the center and moving to the right are the casting molds for a cut stone retaining wall and 8′ diameter arch culvert. Note those additional pieces on either end.
Developing Casting Sequence of Events
These pieces can be fitted as necessary to create 7″, 7½”, and 8″ long castings, roughly ¼” thick, made using concrete patch. This is very similar to the process used to cast the Downtown Marketplace building faces. Those older castings were made using a brick pattern sheet and crude foam blocks. But that’s another story…
Another piece is precision fit to the arch of the culvert section, knowing the difficulty of slicing a piece of foam to fit that opening. The piece on the very right is meant to cast the “pillars” used to disguise the joints between each of the wall or culvert sections.
The top left portion shows how the various parts, including the casting mockups from the bottom half, fit together. This helps to visualize developing a plan around pouring concrete, the external mold parts, and the steps involved.
It doesn’t reveal all the pitfalls that await, like how to form that depression for the track or how to form the pillar in place over the joints, but it will help to reduce the number of avoidable mistakes before they become mistakes.
Discoveries
That’s not to say I’ll find every problem by constructing these mockups, but it sure does help to get “hands on” experience with parts before the first casting is created. It’s too late to find out the track won’t fit in the casting or the passenger car steps will hang up on the pillar capstones once the concrete’s already set.
Bachmann Passenger Car Test Fit
I’ve already found that the track won’t fit the curved mockup, we’ll call it a “track trough”, so the design needed modification. Even then it’s a tight fit, but hopefully that will help hold the track from going places, especially with the pups pounding on it.
And while the Bachmann passenger car steps clear the capstones with no problem, I have yet to try it with the new USA Trains heavyweight passenger cars that are nearly twice as long. At almost three feet long, it will require two of those 32″ sections to accommodate testing even one car.
I suppose with a little “modification”, those early sections already assembled with the faulty “track troughs” could be reworked to allow the track to fit. The original straight section was divided into two straight segments at half the angle each.
In other words, if that design drawing above had 24 segments instead of 12, and each 8″ unit included two segments rather than one. Looking ahead at the next steps is much easier with mockups in hand.
Next Steps
Speaking of next steps, what are they? Now that mockups can be made in assembly line fashion, it’s time to address how things need to come together to produce the desired outcome, a more or less permanent concrete fixture.
First is to define the process, from start to finish, and the steps involved. This includes what forms and external rigging are needed, along with an estimate of the amount of concrete needed, optimizing for 60# or 80# bags if possible. Of ultimate importance is how to keep it puppy proof while curing.
Once the process is defined, it’s time to test how well it works, making changes as needed. But even then, many questions remain. This will most likely be an iterative process, experimenting with different approaches before deciding on the final definition.
Will the new, “wetter” mix allow the track relief to be worked in place?
If so, will a mold need left in place (to overcome slump)?
If not, will it take a roadbed brick equivalent to be laid on top of the fresh pour?
Will each 8″ unit need to be poured solid or can it be made hollow, like a concrete block?
If solid, how to allow for segments and/or expansion joints?
If hollow, could a sacrificial 3D printed insert be used and left in place if necessary? How will that affect simple footing?
Will the retaining wall and culvert castings require a dedicated footing? The designs simply use a block of wood in place of a footing currently.
No dedicated footing – Simple formed and allowed to run out the bottom as one monolithic pour.
Dedicated footing – Needs to be poured first then built upon.
Determine how capstones work. Cast as separate piece and placed atop the pour?
Modify designs for “staircasing”, i.e. gradually build altitude above terrain or lose it as terrain rises.
Measure and record terrain height map. See if it can be imported into SketchUp.
What format for import?
And honestly, some of the next steps have nothing to do with mockups, or even casting at all. It’s been a balancing act between work, home improvement, and making progress toward these Barkyard goals. There’s always something else that needs done first!
Excuses, Excuses!
Work has been absolutely brutal lately, busier than it’s been since I started there more than two years ago. As for home improvement, let’s just say it’s not our goals, it’s our individual goals combined. Ann wanted the raised bed planters along the fence by the driveway removed.
I wanted to get all these 3D printed mockups and jigs complete enough to get the assembly line started, saving all that hard work of removing the planters until Fall when the weather finally cools down from the “feels like 107°” by eleven o’clock in the morning, already here at the start of Summer.
Ann removed one of the planters and even transplanted the ponytail palm herself. She did not ask for, nor want my help. Unfortunately, that left me with bent screws and the aftermath of just ripping everything loose. Not wanting to sound like sour grapes, but not the kind of work I prefer doing in the Barkyard either.
That left behind a large area of dirt in need of turf. I’ve had a 7′ x 13′ roll waiting for placement elsewhere that got “requisitioned” for this task. The hardest part was getting that old chunk of turf out of the way, now full of dirt, and twice as heavy.
Always Something Else That Needs Done First
That revealed the ragged, rotten bottom edge of the 6′ tall fence panels we put up not even five years ago. Add to that one of the 4×4 posts is rotted out right at the ground, allowing the fence to sway with the breeze, and it’s time to replace that fence before it blows over.
And while replacing the fence doesn’t necessarily mean the other raised bed planter has to go, it does mean the dirt has to go somewhere while the fence panel gets replaced. The fence used to be only 4′ tall, but was replaced with 6′ tall fence to keep Brigel from jumping over it and chasing the neighbor’s cats into their yard.
Now that Brigel has crossed the Rainbow Bridge and the neighbor cats are seldom out during the day, we’d like to go back to the 4′ fence. Well, guess what Lowe’s no longer carries in stock and must be special ordered and delivered, to the tune of an added $75? All for three fence panels!
Plan “B”
Time for plan B. B, as in cut off the rotted Bottoms of the 6′ panels to make them 4′ panels! I got set up with the makeshift bench on saw horses, ready to make the cuts and coat them with wood preservative, while Ann and Nick handled wrangling the panels and posts.
We got ahead of ourselves on the first panel. It went up before I could cut the post down. Try as I may, I couldn’t get a clean cut, even with Nick removing the panel out of the way. It wasn’t certain that the rotted post was rotted off until the last screw holding the panel to it came out and the post toppled over.
Nick was able to fish the rest of the old post out of the ground. What was left of the post was just tall enough to go back in the same hole, once I gave the bottom a coat of preservative that is. Cutting those last two panels went quickly, but Nick was having a time of it, getting those two gate posts separated.
That gave me time to cut the gate down as well. One of the gate posts needed cut to length, and both needed a coat of preservative before they went back in the ground. Things kind of went downhill from there.
All Downhill
The drill bit broke off when it hit a screw in the post while Nick was making a pilot hole for the new hinge location. That meant even more work as the entire hinge needed relocated on the gate to avoid the bit still stuck in the post. Then one of the carriage bolt’s threads were stripped when it hit another screw in the post.
But even with all the trouble at the end, we managed to knock it out in just two and a half hours! The only things that remains is installing a new gate latch. I mentioned I may have one in the garage we could use, but Ann was having none of that. She’ll go pick one out tomorrow.
Tomorrow came and Ann went to Lowe’s, only to be disappointed they didn’t have the latch she wanted. Turns out I had the exact slide bolt latch she wanted sitting right there in the bottom drawer of the desk in the garage the night before. Oh well, all’s well that ends well.
If you thought that was the last of the distractions, the relentless things that needs done first, think again. Ann decided to remove the other planter and transplant the other ponytail palm a bit further away from the fence.
Then came the inevitable new turf to replace the old, now inadequate to cover the area required of it. The new roll is sitting outside the fence, waiting on me to cut up the old piece into strips more easily handled than the entire chunk all at once.
But wait, there’s more!
The split unit A/C in the garage decided it was going to flood the shelves, workbench, and table saw beneath it when the condensate line clogged up. I had just spent the last few weekends getting things squared away enough to start using the casting and trestle workbenches again.
Nope. Not this weekend. Now I get to move everything out of the way, everything I just moved out of the way of the casting bench by putting it away! And now I get to climb up and down a ladder with my bum knee just to get thing apart enough to work on it.
In the end the fix was to vacuum out the clog in the drain line. Sounds easy enough, but when the vacuum is on the other side of everything that had to be moved out of the way, now in the way of getting the vacuum out… Can’t win for losing sometimes.
The good news is everything is put back together and working again, without flooding the garage. Again, not so much sour grapes as comic relief for others. Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans indeed!
It’s easy to see why it takes me so long to get anything accomplished on the Barkyard.
Other 3D Printing
And the 3D printing hasn’t stopped with casting mockups. I’ve even designed multiple trestle jigs for assembling the massive curved trestle from the deck to the new bridges and beyond.
Beyond that, it’s time to do something with that PET-G I’ve had for over a year now. Everything I’ve printed so far has been PLA. I bought so much PLA, and in so many different colors, that I didn’t notice my favorite maker, 3D Solutech, went out of business!
They are the only filament manufacturer I’d found that had such a wide variety of color selections. All the other have red, green, blue, black, white, gray, and that’s about it. Maybe yellow and orange. None of them have denim blue or steel blue or wheat or even brown for that matter.
Thankfully, white and gray will do for now, and I have plenty of it. At least another 8Kg anyway.
We recently raised up the deck by an extra 3½” with the thought of placing new bridges high enough off the ground so the dogs can safely navigate beneath them, without hurting them or themselves. The next step is to raise up the track to match the new deck and bridge height. The problem is the wooden stringers. You guessed it, they’re rotted.
The wooden stringers were a means to an end, and that end was to run trains. Needless to say it’s impossible to run trains when there’s no track to run on. The track is, well, was secured to the stringers every 8″. But not anymore… With two dogs we could barely keep ahead of them and the maintenance. With three it’s a losing battle.
It’s hard to describe how much destruction the pups have caused to the Barkyard Railroad. Imagine most of the track on the ground from the bridges to downtown missing, parts and stretches ripped loose and removed a little at a time, until there’s no track left. Nothing left but the stringers, if they hadn’t already rotted away that is.
A New Approach
It’s obvious that the previous track arrangement no longer fits our needs. We need a new approach. While the roadbed brick production is ramping up to remedy the situation, we still can’t keep up with the destruction of the track on the ground.
Even so, the roadbed bricks can’t address the elevated stretches of track and stringers that need attention. The plan has always been to replace certain elevated stretches with trestles. The time has come. The old infrastructure allowed us to run trains until it didn’t. No regrets.
Soon to be Trestle
We’re no strangers to scratch building trestles. At least not the straight kind. We even scratch built a four foot long Howe truss bridge. It used to stretch across a pond with a waterfall. But like everything else, it didn’t hold up to the dogs or time.
The new part to all of this is the curved aspect. All the jigs and such we made way back when only deal with straight (tangent) sections. If you’d like to know more about the history of the railroad, you can refer to the Bit of History section below.
This trestle from the deck will have both 14′ and 20′ diameter curved sections, along with the tangent sections. So far there’s a design for the 14′ diameter sections, already 3D printed and ready for testing.
There’s added complexity in addition to the curvature. The trestle has to rise at more than a 2% grade, a full 6″ over 23′ of track. From 18″ at the deck to 24″ at the bridge. Previously the ruling grade was kept to 1%, but that’s out the window with the triple decker (re)arrangement of the upper loop.
Trestle Bents With 14′ Curve Jig (Shown in White)
The Particulars
To put things in perspective, each bent must rise above the previous by 3⁄16″, and each bent is about 8″ from the last, for roughly a 2.34% grade. For the 14′ diameter curves there are four bents per track section, 16 per circle, roughly 32″ long and 22.5° per section.
By the time the fifth bent is reached, the track has climbed ¾” from the start. The plan is to make the bents for each section all the same height, and account for the rise by increasing the height of the footings, to be cast of concrete. Each footing will be roughly 2″ x 2″ x 16″ long, adding 3⁄16″ with each successive footing.
The footings are reset to 2″ when the next track section is reached, again grown by 3⁄16″, and height of the bents for that next section increased by ¾”. The photo doesn’t do a very good job of showing it, but there are six 14′ diameter track sections, then a 20′ diameter track section, followed by a 3′ tangent section.
But that’s a lot of talk with no pictures to show what we’re talking about.
Arrangement of Increasingly Taller Footings with Single Height Bents
The previous bridge approach trestles sat loosely on concrete block “caps”, roughly 2″x8″x16″, placed together and leveled. Nothing attached the approach trestles to the block caps. They were free to be repositioned every time the dogs smacked into them.
And smack into them they did! I don’t know how many times I would find the approach trestles upended or cocked at an angle, with the track and the bridges on the ground. We’re hoping to anchor the bents to the footings this time around to at least slow down the “remodeling”, pun intended.
New Needs Means New Jigs
So far only the jigs for the 14′ diameter curves are reality. The design for the 20′ diameter section along with the tangent section will begin soon. The design is made up of a number of identical parts with a handful of unique parts to address the areas where specific size and shape is necessary.
The trestle jig parts either press fit or snap together. The only gluing required is to attach the progressively taller adapters to the standard bases. This is only necessary to allow 3D printing of all the parts without needing supports.
The standard base cradles the bottom of the trestle bent in a 3⁄16″ deep notch. Because the base is only 8″ wide and a standard 20″ tall bent is nearly 16″ wide at its base, the jig has index marks to align with the bent’s center leg.
Each standard base has two legs designed to press fit into the next. Each base is at an angle to the next. Each successive base is 3⁄16″ taller than the last, hence the glued on adapters. The first base has no legs and needs no adapter.
Testing 14′ Diameter Curved Trestle Jig
The design provides alignment for five trestle bents and stretches over 32″. Next are the cross arms that hold the bents vertical. There are two sets of cross arms, one set for the inner curve, and one set for the outer.
Each set has its own inside and outside components that snap together in the middle. These cross arm assemblies then snap onto the legs that connect the standard bases together. The arms have a block, a peg of sorts, that fits in the ½” gap in the horizontal members of the bent section.
Of course, now that I’ve 3D printed an entire set, it occurs to me that this will only work for those bents that have a complete section at the bottom! DUH! But this is why we mock up the models and test fit. Back to the drawing board!
This further reinforces the shortcomings of trying to consider everything from just the drawing board. My need to have hands on pieces to manipulate and consider other options that never would have come to mind is the reason why we’re testing the designs before committing to them.
Close Up of Base and Cross Arm Interaction
Model vs. Prototype Considerations
There are many more considerations, like limitations of models as compared with the real thing. For the sake of this discussion, it’s not limited to just modelling, but modelling a prototypical railroad.
Curves
As with any model railroad, some “allowances” are made for the model compared to prototypical practices. The best example is that of curvature. Most model curves are far tighter than anything in the real world. Prototypical curves are far straighter than anything we have the space to model.
Track also doesn’t just change dramatically from tangent (straight) to curved. The use of easement curves on the prototype helps ease the train into the curve without abruptly slamming everything into a corner. Think of a spiral that goes from nearly straight to tighter and tighter curves.
Our tightest curves are ten feet in diameter, huge compared to the toy like four foot diameter curves. Even so, 10′ diameter curves are really beyond anything seen on the prototype, including the tightest industrial sidings and spurs.
Those 10′ diameter curves are only used where space is at a premium on our pike, like the station spur and the tight fit of the mainline behind the shed. Everywhere else, we simulate an easement by starting with a 20′ diameter curve leading into the 14′ diameter sections.
That doesn’t help much when they’re all 20′ diameter sections though. Other parts of the layout are “flex track” which allows us to bend it to any curvature. Here we’re able to ease in to the curve by slowly increasing the force when using the rail bender, creating a more gradual curve.
Trestles
So why all this talk about curves? Beyond the modelling consequences related to track alone, it also influences modelling the structures that support and convey the track off the ground. In this case, trestles. And because the curves are tighter than on the prototype, allowances must be made for those structures too.
The way the prototype did things, each bent grew from the top down, growing the length of the legs as necessary. This leads to sections of standard height, with only the lowest portion varying from one bent to the next. We chose scale twenty foot section heights, or 10″ each at 1:24 (half dollhouse) scale.
The key take away from this is everything is designed from the track level down when it comes to a trestle, each section depending on the one below it, in a standardized fashion. The reason for this top down design is to ensure the stringers are directly supported by each bent without the need for shimming.
The rail stringers are perched atop the bents directly because the bents are built exactly as tall as required. Shims would diminish the strength and stability of the structure. These stringers are made up of staggered members, whose lengths span three bents, landing on the two outside bents in a joint.
This is to ensure there is at least one solid member at every joint atop a bent, and bolted together, again to increase strength and rigidity. There’s a stringer beneath each rail, generally with three individual members to provide redundancy for failure of any one of them, and each spaced apart to provide an air space so water is not trapped between them.
Making Allowances
So why does that matter to us? It all goes back to the discussion about curves and the allowances we need to make in our models. That staggering works great for tangent track, but not so much for curved track on our model. The prototype spacing between stringer members is around 3″. That’s 1⁄8″ in scale.
Unfortunately, the spacing between the members on the curved sections far exceeds 1⁄8″! At scale, each 8″x18″ member is roughly 5⁄16″ x ¾”. Over the 32′ length, a scale 16″, the overlap would be more than ¾”. That’s more than double the scale 5⁄16″ thickness of each member!
That means the stringer members can only span between bents without a noticeable deformation that would look totally out of scale. Of course, the shorter than prototypical member length will also be noticeable, but not as much so once the tie strips are in place.
Generally the prototype used longer ties to provide a walkway of sorts on at least one side of the track. These longer ties, bridge ties, are also more closely spaced on a bridge or a trestle. That along with a railing made it much safer to walk along the track that high off the ground.
Back in the days of steam, red hot cinders could fall from the ash pan onto the trestle timbers and set them on fire. A fire barrel filled with water or sand was placed every so often along the walkway, on even longer ties so as not to block the walkway, to provide a ready means to extinguish a fire.
Model track comes with one option, standard length ties. For that reason, a slide for the table saw was created that allows notching wooden “guard rails” to fit over the ends of the wooden bridge ties to be assembled into 8″ tie strips, long enough to span between two bents.
Unfortunately, that only works for tangent track sections. It would need reworked to accommodate curved sections if not totally remade just for curves. In this case, I was overly obsessed with true to prototype realism in my modelling.
That’s a holdover from my HO scale days where anything that’s out of scale stands out like a sore thumb, making everything look toy like. It definitely kills the illusion of realism. In the case of the notched tie strip guard rails, not all railroads notch them.
For the sake of simplicity and rapid production, the Barkyard Railroad will no longer notch its guard rails.
A Bit of History
Back when we first moved here to Mount Dora in 2014, we had to tear up all the track we had laid at the old house in Wekiva. There were plenty of projects that took priority over getting the railroad out of mothballs and back up and running. Slowly but surely we renovated pretty much the entire house.
One of the earlier renovations was the garage. With just two stripes of concrete and a dirt floor, it was a carriage house in every sense of the word, complete with carriage doors. You guessed it, they were rotted and needed totally replaced.
But first we had to do something about that dirt floor. It was like silt, a very fine mix of dirt and sand, stirred up into a cloud at the least provocation, sticking to our legs, ankles, and feet. Better plan on taking a shower if working in the garage.
Adding a Floor to the Carriage House
Nick helped us install a plywood floor over the dirt, using the foundation blocks and concrete stripes to support a 2×4 framework covered with ¾” tongue and groove plywood. Benches soon followed along with a new table saw.
About that time we had to replace the dilapidated fence between us and our neighbor to the west. Most of the fence panels were rotted away to nothing, but some of the wood that still had some life left in it was saved as raw material for building trestle bents.
Early Trials
It was a brave new world learning to use the new table saw and fashioning a crude template to hold the pieces of a trestle bent together while assembling it. In case you’re wondering, a trestle is made up of individual trestle bents, lashed together with horizontal girts and diagonal cross braces.
The bents themselves have their own cross braces and other means of securing the legs together which divide the bent into multiple sections. So the crude template used small chunks of wood, strategically placed, and screwed to a chunk of plywood.
Assembled Bents
Repeatability was questionable at best. That is to say no two bents were interchangeable. Originally each of the legs was cut individually, and required new setups for the three different angles in involved. Getting a repeatable length was nearly impossible.
It soon became apparent that a better quality template was necessary. The new template was custom cut on the table saw to the correct angles, making dado cuts to hold the entire length of the legs in position, along with the horizontal joining members.
Other changes were made to increase productivity as well. The new design accommodates using the template as a “sled” for the table saw to trim all legs to the proper angle and length in one operation. Runners to fit in the T-slots were attached to the back, holding it in perfect alignment with the saw table.
That Was Then, This Is Now
All that seems so far away now, around Halloween of 2015, sitting in the living room, assembling trestle bents into an approach trestle for the scratch build Howe truss bridge. Fast forward to the task at hand today. The simplistic jigs I fashioned back then for holding the bents together did little to align or secure them in place.
And they were only meant for the straight sections to boot. Back then I would have been happy to have even the tangent trestle I built survive, but too many other things had to happen first, and many false starts, before we could think about a permanent garden railroad.
Again, permanent is a relative term. The dogs and the elements would beg to differ with the “permanent” moniker.
So here we are again, talking about roadbed bricks. Third time’s a charm? Well, not exactly…
While this go round is certainly an improvement over last time, there’s still more fine tuning that needs done. And while I’d love to say we’ve moved into the production phase and show how easily all the stringers for the ground level trackage were replaced, that’s not the case.
The wetter mix is definitely the way to go. And even though the release agent was used this time, the concrete still shrank and pulled away from the forms in the same jagged fashion. I’m thinking I’ll take the “draft” out of the 1×4 sides of the form and see if that helps.
Unfortunately, the new, taller dividers I 3D printed for this go round were too tall. Their height prohibited an end to end screeding sliding the shovel along the top of the form. But that’s easily remedied with a new round of prints for the next go round.
A Wet Mix Even Wetter
How Not To Screed
All things being equal, this time it took two glue sticks to prepare the form instead of one the first two times. I use hot melt glue to attach the 3D printed ballast profile molds to the bottom of the form as well as attach the dividers. It’s not a big deal that it uses two, but the inability to explain why it took two is bothersome.
The beauty of using hot melt glue is twofold. First, it’s not a permanent attachment and easily removed after a pour. Second, I can use the cordless glue gun to avoid tripping over cords. The battery still has plenty of power left after prepping the entire eight foot long form. Time to pour concrete!
Unfortunately while screeding this time around, I end up knocking one of those tall dividers loose, creating a goofy “wedge” slope between two of the bricks. I did this the first time around as well, trying to work the drier mix into the form. Again, not a big deal, as long as those two bricks are used together as a pair.
Round Three Roadbed Bricks
Taking A Different Approach
The main difference this time around is keeping the concrete wet. The hope is it will prevent the shrinkage and increase the strength of the bricks. I may have gotten a little overzealous while spraying down the excess concrete spilled on the driveway, by not missing the fresh concrete in the form by as much as I should have. Oh well.
I tried to wet the bricks every few hours, but even that wasn’t enough to keep the bricks from shrinking away from the form in the same jagged pattern as last time. Maybe next time keep the fresh pour out of the sun and a tarp? Regardless, the bricks remained in the form for a several days until I finally took the time to free them.
As much as I’d like to blame an uptick in work escalations, the truth is I got a bit lazy about it too. When I saw that same ragged edged shrinkage as last time, even using a mold release agent, it just didn’t seem as important anymore. Once the bricks were carted to the Barkyard, the 3D printed pieces were left strewn across the driveway, haphazardly stacked, for days.
Warped 3D Prints
That’s a mistake not to be repeated. The PLA plastic is not all that heat resistant, so it doesn’t take much to guess what happened to them, in June, in Florida, on a concrete driveway. That’s right, they melted. Well, they didn’t really melt, but they certainly became warped and misshapen from the Florida Summer heat.
In a moment of disgust with myself at leaving them stacked atop one another long enough to warp, I decided to lay them out flat on the drive, individually, to see if baking in the sun would flatten them out again. And it did! Talk about surprised. Once they were flat, I stacked them off to the side, where they would be shaded.
So a few more lessons learned on this batch. Don’t leave the freshly poured concrete or the 3D printed mold pieces out in the sun. Don’t have dividers that are too tall. Don’t wait to wash the concrete off the 3D printed pieces after breaking down the forms to release the bricks.
Prepping For Round Four
Along those lines, for next time I’m considering cutting that eight foot long form into two four foot long forms, hoping to be able to more easily move them after a fresh pour. The addition of a third four foot long form should help to avoid the waste when mixing up an 80# bag of concrete too.
I’ve already 3D printed a new, shorter set of dividers, and test fit them to be sure. I may need to 3D print more of the ballast profile molds as well. Several of them were printed with less UV resistant PLA than the others, and they turned yellow and brittle sitting out in the sun for days on end. Some others need glued back together.
The biggest change will be removing the “draft” angle formed between the 2×6 base and the 1×4 sides of the form. Hopefully this will help reduce the amount of shrinkage and eliminate that ragged gap, or at least minimize it.
Are We There Yet?
Not yet. I already bought a couple more 80# bags of high strength concrete mix. Hopefully the next post will show some real progress in roadbed brick laying. There’s much more to accomplish before that can happen, and even more work to be done to run trains again. Baby steps.
If you read the previous post about the casting mockups, you may remember the setback when the A/C split unit in the garage “flooding” the table saw, shelves, and the casting bench beneath it. It’s setbacks like that to take away any momentum I had to start the concrete patch castings for the station retaining wall and culverts.
I had just spent the last few weekends getting things squared away and put back in their place enough to start using the casting and trestle workbenches again. All that work was wasted when I had to move everything back out of the way to gain access to the A/C indoor unit!
Bet you can’t guess where everything was left sitting afterward. Disgusted and discouraged I turned my attention to better organization, both in the garage and in the office. Along those lines, I picked up a couple of 12″ x 8′ shelves to replace the waterlogged and now hopelessly swollen and warped cheapo depo laminated ones the garage.
New Shelves Over Casting Bench
For the office, I bought a 16″ x 6′ shelf to replace the functional but stupid looking 2×6 over the window. Is it really stupid if it works? Here it would depend on the definition of stupid. If we’re talking stupid looking, yeah, it still looks stupid. Not for long, but that’s another story…
Making Progress… Slowly
I’ve been moving a chunk of furniture grade plywood around the office, generally every time it’s in my way again. Time to remedy that. It’s roughly 24″ x 45″, so ripping it down the middle yields two 12″ x 45″ shelves. One of them is now “floating” above the monitors for the work cell, thanks to the leftover floating shelf brackets from the previous shelving upgrade post.
The other shelf is now above the doorway to the bedroom, in hopes of relocating all the ½” plywood remnants from my old HO layout at the other house. AS part of this latest organizational effort, I cataloged all the pieces and their sizes in a spreadsheet. I went full OCD and captured models of them in the SketchUp drawing of the office too!
But let’s get the Barkyard back in operation before even thinking about yet another layout to build and maintain! The plan is to relocate those plywood pieces, mainly various radii curve sections, from the top of the shelves they are prone to falling off of to an out of sight and out of mind perch on that new shelf.
Speaking of OCD, I took pictures of the trestle bent inventory when last organizing in the garage, and created an inventory spreadsheet with all their sizes as well. This complements the design drawings for the various trestle templates. There is much more detail in the Trestle From The Deck post.
Next Steps
Most everything that needs done has already been captured, but prepping for round four did not include any activities outside of casting more roadbed bricks. The casting mockups for the curved approach to the station retaining wall sections revealed the original design is too narrow to accommodate the new USA Trains heavyweight passenger cars.
Thankfully there’s space for all these 3D printed mockups with all the new shelving, but there’s still more work to do there before we can expand the concrete casting to include those detail castings as part of the forms. It won’t be long now though.
We finally got around to the second pour of the roadbed bricks. The first pour was not the best, and for a number of reasons. First was the quality of the form and the 3D printed mold inserts used to shape the concrete into a roadbed profile. Second, and more importantly, the quality of the actual concrete mix itself.
The form itself held up well, but the sides need to be tighter against the bottom if we’re going to try a wetter mix. Breaking down the form after the first pour reveals enough of the mix managed to get into the gaps between the sides and bottom. Gaps large enough that the concrete needs cleaned off the pieces before the form can be reassembled.
Closing those gaps is easy, just add more screws between the ones already there. The 3D printed profile molds now fit snugly as well, which should help hold the 3D printed dividers in place better than the first time around. The problem the first time around was the dividers moved on us, probably because of using the brick trowel to work the mix into the form and breaking them loose.
Ready For Second Pour
Fitting the molds and dividers in place takes the same amount of hot melt glue this time around as it the first time, one stick. That’s a dot on each of the four corners on the molds themselves and two or three dots on each divider. Somehow it seems more sturdy than the first time. Here’s hoping…
The weather is still pleasant enough to sit outside on the deck this time of year while we prepare the form for the pour. As you can see, the railing provides a suitable work surface for assembly. It can also slide back and forth on the railing as needed. The added bonus of easy access for Rocket to bring the Jolly Ball makes it even more enjoyable to sit outside in the Barkyard.
Enjoying it while we can. It won’t be long before the oppressive heat will keep us indoors all but early mornings and late evenings. We’ve already had a few record breaking days recently in the 98°-99° range. Soon it will be every day in the upper nineties, without relent, until Fall.
Ready To Mix
Time To Mix
Now that the form is ready, it’s time to mix the concrete. The first time around, we used ~5 quarts of water, not quite twice the maximum of three quarts recommended on the bag. This time we’re mixing it wetter, “soupy” is the term, “Thick as a milkshake, but not so thick that you can’t suck it up with a straw.” Now the only problem is how to translate that into quarts of water per 80# bag of concrete.
Starting with 6 quarts, the mix is still too “dry”, as in not wet enough for all the mix to be easily incorporated. Adding another quart still isn’t enough. One more quart makes it a total of 8, and finally wet enough to call “soupy”. Beginning to wonder if they meant three gallons and not three quarts. After all, eight quarts is two gallons.
A few more quarts would make a fairly thin mix, but still workable if pouring. Maybe nine quarts next time? Let’s not count the chickens before they’re hatched. It’s certainly something to consider, but let’s see how this batch turns out before making more changes. It would be nice if this batch wasn’t so crumbly like the first batch for sure.
“Soupy” Mix Ready To Pour
Time To Pour
Well now we know eight quarts equals soupy. This time all it takes to fill the form is to shovel the mix into it. No working the mix into the form is required. It’s certainly hard not to be sloppy though! Each shovelful fills about two brick “slots”. Screeding the mix toward the next empty slot helps to level off with the top of the form.
It helps to angle the shovel toward the middle of the form to keep from pushing the excess mix over the edge and onto the driveway, but there’s no amount of careful that can prevent even a little spillage. We’ll wash that away with the hose when we’re done. It also helps to turn the mix over a few times before the next shovelful to keep the water from floating up and separating from the mix.
It’s about this point I remember I never sprayed the form with WD-40 as a release agent, even though I reminded myself twice before starting. Oh well. Too late now! Guess we’ll find out how much we really need a mold release agent. Hopefully it won’t cause too much trouble.
Round 2 Pour Complete
Once the pour is complete, it’s time to clean off the driveway, starting with shoveling the excess mix off of it. Next is a good wash down with the hose to push any remaining concrete off the edge of the driveway, carefully avoiding the fresh pour.
Now We Wait
Nothing left to do but wait for the pour to setup enough to remove from the form. Because the first pour was so crumbly, we’re waiting longer than a day. Besides, it’s way too hot the next evening to even think about doing anything with this latest pour. I do saturate the concrete with water to help keep it hydrated, but it will have to wait until tomorrow.
I was curious to see if the lack of a mold release agent will keep the concrete from pulling away from the sides like it did the first time. I was surprised to see that not only did it NOT keep the concrete from pulling away from the sides, it actually caused a jagged separation line, like part of the concrete wanted to stick to the sides while the rest pulled away from it.
It’s disappointing to say the least. I’m wondering if maybe I should have worked the mix into the form better. Maybe the mix didn’t fully fill the form, leaving it weak enough to separate in that jagged fashion. Doesn’t quite explain why it did it along one side and not the other though.
Disappointing Results Without Mold Release Agent
Mixed Results
Noting the telltale cracks above the dividers, it’s time to release this batch of bricks from the mold. Taking most of my lunch hour to remove them, I drag the form through the gate onto the back stoop, where I can sit and work on it. The bricks fall right out of the form one by one, splitting cleanly along the crack at the dividers without fail.
But I find another problem related to the lack of a release agent. While the bricks may be popping right out, the 3D printed molds are sticking to them like glue. For the most part, the dividers pop off without issue. All but two. Those crack along the ear on one or the other, snapping apart at the ear that’s still stuck to the concrete.
It takes quite a bit more force to pry those 8″ molds loose from the concrete though. It acts like a vacuum tight fit, where once the seal is broken, the rest of it peels right off. But even those suffer damage from overstressing the glued joints, often splitting the joint, sometimes for the full length. A number of them are now separate pieces again and will need to be reassembled.
Lack Of Release Agent Causing Breakage Of 3D Printed Molds
Better Results
While these bricks are crumbling along the jagged separation line, they are NOT crumbling anywhere else. The bricks from the first attempt would have broken with the amount of force it took to remove the molds from this time. These bricks have much more strength. They’re holding up well to the strong arm handling.
In fact, they’re resisting my attempts to trim where the dividers didn’t quite reach the top of the form. That’s one change we’ll be making for the batch. I’ll need to print a couple of replacements for the broken ones anyway.
Another thing that worked quite well was the placement of the dividers and they stayed where I put them. Not working the mix into the form with the brick trowel seems to have saved us from having misshapen bricks. They also peeled right off with the bricks and didn’t require removing the sides of the form like the first batch.
The best part is the 100% yield! All 12 bricks came right out of the form and none of them are cracked or broken. I can even read the writing from the embossed text on the dividers! Round two is a success! We’ll give them the rest of the week to cure and put this idea to the test.
Comparison Of First Batch and Second Batch
Time To Lay Bricks
Well, almost. First we need to clear a path for the bricks to sit on. The two concrete blocks with the chunk of 2×6 across them is to protect the puppies’ paws from the sharp ends of the track. We’ve been losing ground lately with three puppies pounding things to pieces, having to remove more and more track to keep it from getting damaged and them from getting hurt on what’s left.
In fact, all that’s left are the stringers that survived where the track used to lay. This “experiment” is meant to mitigate that damage and provide a means to protect the track and the pups. Time to pull the stringers out of the way and replace them with the roadbed bricks.
It only takes removing a few screws and the first stringer is free, after releasing it from the join with the next stringer of course. Now we need to lay out the bricks and cut the turf along the edges to make room for them. But first we need to rake all those leaves out of the way!
A leaf blower will just make a huge mess everywhere and a big rake won’t fit, so it’s a good thing we have a “mini” rake that’s about as wide as the bricks are. It makes quick work of moving just the leaves we want out of the way. Pretty handy. Not our first either. IIRC this is our third.
Replacing The Stringers With Roadbed Bricks
Bumps In The Road(bed)
Anyway, time for the Dremel saw. It does an adequate job of cutting the turf without much effort. If there is a single complaint, it would be the lackluster locking mechanism for the foot. It’s a flip / twist handle that gets cinched down to lock the foot and set the depth of cut, but the damned thing is at its end of travel before it actually tightens, constantly coming loose!
It would do a great job if the depth of cut didn’t need constant attention. You may think you’re cutting, but guess what? That damned foot is once again set to not cut at all! This time it’s taking two, three, even four tries to get a cut, and the cuts are now crooked and ragged. But enough “belly aching”, it’s just another unnecessary annoyance due to poor quality control.
Part of the problem is uneven terrain and cutting along the edge of the bricks, laid out in the circular pattern where they’ll sit. That uneven terrain is also causing an “elevation” problem with the first few bricks after the track leaves the 4×4 roadbed. The problem is twofold. First is having to make up for the height of the 4×4 itself and second is the 4×4 is sitting proud of where it should.
You can see how the track is dangling off the end of the 4×4 in the picture above. Those PVC pipe risers were also in the way and have been removed. Because the first batch of bricks is so crumbly, it begs the idea of crumbling them into “rubble” to restore the elevation needed.
Time To Play (Jolly)Ball Dad
Rocket is helping too, making sure to pace me by “pestering” me to throw the Jolly Ball… Constantly! But that’s okay. He didn’t get much play time this last week because we’ve been so busy with the latest “emergencies” at work. “We must overreact immediately!” comes to mind. Can’t wait to retire and kiss all that constant chaos goodbye!
On the plus side working remotely still has its advantages. After all, I was able to spend my lunch hour to get these bricks out of the form and ready to work with now. We get to stay home with the pups so they don’t have to go to “Doggy Daycare”, and we still get to play with them during the day, even if it’s not as often as they’d like.
Crumbling Infrastructure
What was originally a disappointment is quickly turning into an advantage, an opportunity to use those crumbly bricks in a way they were not originally intended. Where’s my hammer? My favorite place. Somewhere. Oh well, hopefully the “mini” hammer will do the trick. Let’s finish the job of crumbling them into rubble.
Rocket Inspects My Work Waiting For Me To Throw The Ball
The idea is to crumble them the rest of the way and use them as fill to make up the height difference at the end of the 4×4 roadbed. One won’t be enough. Turns out even two isn’t enough. Three? Nope. More. In the end, all but four of them are pulverized to become fill beneath those four that remain. But not all at once.
I start with a first course of crumbled bricks, spreading it even and level until more is needed. Then start the next course, levelling it, and so on. As I sit there pounding those bricks into rubble, I continue to test fit until pleased with the progress.
One thing’s for sure, that 4×4 needs to sit down in the ground at least another ½”, if not more. The track doesn’t like bending over the edge of that 4×4 much. Side to side, sure. But not a sudden drop of ½” or more. A concrete block coerces it into position for now. Maybe the tie strips can be adjusted to leave an opening so the track will sit down over the end of the 4×4.
Close Up Of Troublesome 4×4
Lessons Learned
DO NOT FORGET THE MOLD RELEASE!
Tamp the mix into the form with the shovel to ensure complete fill, then screed.
Vibrate the mix to remove trapped air and eliminate gaps.
Make the dividers extend all the way to the top of the form (redesign).
Increase the font size for the end marks or just assume one size fits all?
The first two are fairly self explanatory, plus I covered them earlier. What I didn’t cover was the amazing amount of detail the wetter mix captured. I can see the layer lines from 3D printing the molds in the concrete! The only thing that spoils it is air bubbles and “inclusions” where the concrete didn’t quite fill the gaps. Need to try vibrating the form once tamped and screeded next time.
Making the dividers tall enough to meet the tops of the 1×4 sides of the form should avoid having to snap off the jagged excess by hand to make the ends flush. That means a redesign of the divider model then printing more with the new STL. Some of them broke and need replaced anyway.
While we’re at it redesigning the dividers, it’s time to think about a one size fits all approach. Rather than having bricks of varying degrees of curvature and having to stock many different types, including tangent, why not have one that can be used for everything? The difference between the various curves is at most 3.75°, so a small gap one way or the other will barely be noticeable.
Another bonus is tangent track can be accommodated by alternately rotating the bricks 180°, such that the angles point left, then right, alternating to effectively create a straight section. If you look close in the picture with Rocket inspecting things, you’ll see I had to do that in a few places to help adjust accumulated error in the curvature, a straight section as part of a curve.
We finally threw in the towel! Using wood stringers as a roadbed is just not working out. It’s been one thing after another using wood. The first setback was rot. We finally found the answer to that, but the next thing was keeping the track fastened to the stringer – with a couple puppies constantly pounding on it. Even adding screws every 8″ didn’t help! We now have track with much larger holes in the ties where the screw heads pulled through them.
Fast forward. We’ve added yet another puppy to the team, Jasper. Alright, three full sized German Shepherds! None of them are little puppies anymore. We were barely keeping ahead of things with two puppies pounding the track into the ground. But now we’re fighting a losing battle with three, we’ve been removing track, not adding it. And that’s moving in the wrong direction!
Concrete roadbed should certainly hold up to the constant pounding, if sidewalks and driveways are any indication that is… Beyond that, the idea is to shape the concrete with a center depression, a “well” of sorts, that will “cradle” the track. The only question left is whether molding roadbed bricks will work better than forming concrete then screeding the profile.
After all the trouble we went to on the forms for the trial version of casting concrete roadbed, only to be thoroughly disappointed with the results, we’re hoping the roadbed brick approach will be more successful. This time around we’re counting on the forms to produce a much more defined profile and a better defined well for the track to sit in.
3D Printed Casting Molds for Curved Segments
The Design
The molds are all 3D printed a “standard” 8″ in length, with a ballast profile. A picture is worth a thousand words. At the top of the diagram are the individual parts on the right and how they are assembled into a casting mold, or form, on the left. At the bottom are the “dividers” for the various diameter curved segments.
The molds are designed with the deep well profile, the center part of three. The other two are meant to emulate a standard ballast profile. The three parts are glued together, held in place with three of the “assembly jigs”, seen beneath the assembled 8″ brick mold. This assembled mold consists of a 2×6, with sloped 1×4 sides, and the assembled 3D printed parts set inside the “U” shape formed by the lumber pieces.
The dividers are designed for the three different curved track segments we use, 10′, 14′, and 20′ diameters. Each has a different angle and number of segments for the associated diameters and there are left and right version for each diameter. You can see the text slightly raised above the divider body, and mirrored so as to emboss the brick casting correctly. Can’t wait to see if it works.
The relationship between the three designs for 10′, 14′, and 20′ diameter curves are shown in comparison below. A quick explanation will help to understand the information it contains. Obviously the arrangement of the bricks into the three different curves demonstrates the 8″ segmentation, but not so obvious is the arrangement with respect to the track segments.
Relationship Between Various Roadbed Brick Curved Segments
The Explanation
Note there are two angled guidelines. One is 22.5° with respect to horizontal and the other 30°. These angles are related to how many track segments required to complete a circle of track. For 14′ and 20′ diameter circles, 16 pieces are required, 22.5° per piece. The 10′ diameter circle requires only 12, 30° per piece.
Let’s look at the 10′ curve to begin with. Counting the number of bricks required to complete the curve to the 30° mark, we count four. Observe that while the nominal size is 10′, it’s really 59.055″ because Aristocraft decided to try to stay compatible with European track makers. Doing the math, one of those track segments is ~30.92″ long, just shy of 32″… That’s roughly four 8″ bricks.
If we round off to ~31″, we need to lose roughly ¼” per brick, making them 7¾” long. Note that these dimensions are along the centerline of the circle. Adding the extra 1¾” to get to the outside edge of the ties is ~31.84″, which rounds nicely to 32″.
Now consider the 14′ diameter curve. This time we’re using the 22.5° guideline to count bricks. Again four are required for a single segment of track. And again, it’s not really 14′, but 82.677″. That yields a length of ~32.467″, again roughly four 8″ bricks, only this time we add about 1⁄8″ to each brick.
The 20′ (118.11″) diameter curve is similar, using the 22.5° guideline except now we count six of those 8″ bricks to match a segment of track, ~46.382″ in length. Again we subtract roughly ¼” per brick, making them 7¾” long. By now it should be abundantly clear why the 8″ length was chosen.
Roadbed Brick Casting Form Ready for Pour
The Decision
If all that math hasn’t turned your brain to mush, the key point is all the bricks are roughly the same length, with roughly the same angle on their ends. The angles range from 3.75° to 7.5°, but they must be halved to obtain how much the end angle diverts from perpendicular with respect to the centerline. It’s 1.75° to 3.75°, which is large enough to be discerned with the naked eye.
So let’s start with the 20′ bricks, the ones with the smallest end angle of 1.75°, and see just how noticeable it is. While the picture shows an independent 8″ mold for each brick, a more practical approach starts with an eight foot or ten foot long 2×6, and matching length 1x4s. The ten foot length is preferred since an 80# bag of concrete mix will just fill it, give or take.
Unfortunately all we have on hand is eight footers, but that just means a bit of wasted material, roughly three bricks worth. The thought is to attach the 1×4 sides in a sloping fashion to provide enough draft that the casting will slide out of the form. The 3D printed ballast profile has a built in draft angle spacer effect, this is it’s slightly wider than the 2×6, which should cause the 1x4s to splay out by just enough.
Sounds good anyway. In practice, putting this together demonstrates how imprecisely everything actually fits. Every single piece of wood is warped. Trying to precisely fit the dividers at the precise angle is an exercise in futility. At this point, those 3D printed parts are held in place with hot melt glue. The main 8″ piece gets a dab in all four corners and the dividers get a bead along both edges. That rechargeable hot melt glue gun sure did the trick though!
Close Up of the Form Ready to Pour
The Pour
The directions call for 3 quarts of water for the entire 80# bag. Despite using one of the measuring buckets to dispense three quarts exactly, the mix is too dry. Adding another quart results in a mix that’s still too dry. Not quite another quart and now the mix seems too wet. This time I used the correct (read larger) mixing tub and still manage to spill some of the mix over the edge.
Oh well, I’m more worried about getting it mixed and tamped into the form, which lays across the driveway just outside the gate. About the only place I can put it that’s pretty much level and leave it sit for a few days. Tamping the mix into the form then screeding it off with the same square shovel floats quite a bit of moisture from the mix.
I should mention I liberally sprayed WD-40 over the entire form as a mold release agent before mixing the concrete. Continuing to shovel the mixture into the form until it’s full, the extra goes in the spot along the drive where the old well used to be.
There’s quite the story about having the trees removed from the Barkyard and the crane’s front wheel “falling” into it up to the axle. We filled it in with chunks of the trees and old scrap concrete and whatever was available at the time, but over time it’s slowly settled, leaving a void beneath the edge of the drive.
The Cure
I think my phone is messing with me. I’m pretty sure I took pictures of the pour right after and the next day. Guess what? No pictures! GRRR!!! Looks like I need to get in the habit of checking afterward. Seems like this isn’t the first time it’s happened either. Guess I’ll have to describe what I saw…
Just hours after the pour, the edges had shrunken back from the sides of the form already! That seems odd. It’s definitely unexpected. The next morning, I noticed thin cracks had formed above the divider locations. At first I was worried they didn’t stand quite as tall as the 1×4 sides, but figured the stress on the small amount of concrete would make it easy to split the bricks apart anyway.
Removing one of the sides of the form later in the day, I noticed the concrete itself was still quite crumbly, more unexpected oddness. I did expect where the concrete seeped through the cracks would be weak, but not the entire brick. When the brick on the end started to crack and split into pieces trying to remove it from the form, it was decided to use a different approach.
Perhaps just rolling the entire form over with the other 1×4 side still attached would give them more support and aid in removing the entire form all at once. Considering how some of the dividers stayed with the wood and tried to pull the bricks alongside with them, that was probably a mistake too.
All in all, nine of the twelve bricks survived the rough handling. Two of them pretty much crumbled when exposed to any sort of stress. Another split along the entire length at the edge of the well. The “crumbles” got thrown in the spot along the drive where the old well used to be on top of the extra concrete.
The Nine Survivors out of Twelve
The Result
While 100% perfection was not the expectation the first time through, a 75% yield of lesser quality, low strength bricks is less than pleasing. Worries that too much water was used soon turned into questioning whether not enough water was added, leaving the mix dry and crumbly.
If you’ve ever seen one of those videos where they compare the strength of “dry cast” concrete, tamped in the forms dry, then wet afterward, to casting already mixed wet concrete, the bricks had the strength of the dry cast method. Hopefully it’s as simple as that, mix it “soupy” next time and compare the results.
Perhaps a slump test would prove more useful, but it’s easier to just measure out the same amount of water per 80# batch and go with that. Once the magical amount is known that is. Nick says mix it soupy, so soupy it is for the next round.
The dividers sticking is another issue to be dealt with. A redesign may be in order both to help better align them without the need for tools and to eliminate the need to hot glue them in place at all. Aligning the divider angle within the accuracy of even a few degrees is difficult without some sort of alignment tool.
Hot melt glue is the quick and dirty method of “loosely” assembling the mold parts into the forms. There were a few that had too much hot melt and refused to let go. Clean up is a pain too. Normally the blobs of hot melt will pop right off with a bit of persuasion. Too much persuasion for wet fingernails!
Crumbling Lengthwise Split at the Well
The Comparison
As far as the amount of work involved, the most work is mixing up the concrete by hand with a shovel, but that much is required using either method. Let’s compare the two methods, which takes more work, and the pitfalls of each, starting with the trial version first.
By far the method involving the most work is setting the forms in the ground and screeding the profile into the wet concrete. It takes days just to get everything formed proper and level for pouring. If the mix is too dry, we know using a screed tool won’t work, it needs to be a trowel. And that trowel’s a guess since it hasn’t been tried. If the mix is too wet, the profile will slump regardless of what method is used to create it.
Using the casting molds approach is much simpler to prepare for pouring, using a dab of hot melt glue on each of the four corners to hold the mold to the 2×6 form base. A couple more dabs of hot melt to hold the dividers in place and we’re off to the races. The best part is the only screeding required is to level the top of concrete with the sides of the form.
As far as pitfalls, the formed in the ground method is almost as much of a pain to disassemble and it was to assemble. The form slats are held to the stakes by one small brass screw, removed one at a time, the same way they went in. Granted, disassembly can be accomplished in hours compared to days to assemble. At three days for every ten feet of right of way, it will take forever to finish.
For the brick molds, it takes a few hours to clean them up too, washing away the remaining concrete residue and removing all those hot melt globs. Those raised letters are nearly impossible to read. Vibrating the form may have helped alleviate some of the small voids and filled in around the letters more, but just working the mix into the form with the shovel did a pretty good job otherwise.
Cleaned Mold Parts Ready for Reassembly
Next Steps
The advantage goes to the brick mold. Those parts can be turned around and assembled into a form ready to reuse in about an hour. The first thing to try is a wetter mix, perhaps even vibrating the form too. If that fixes the voids and the strength issues, then maybe a few tweaks on the dividers. It would be nice if they were thicker and snapped in place instead of needing hot glued.
This post is a bit off the beaten path compared to other posts about the Barkyard itself. Why a post about the office? We’re refitting “Data Central”, the heart of Barkyard designs, gadgets, and posting of course! Just about everything associated with the Barkyard starts here in Data Central. An idea starts here and grows here. Whether it’s online research or Arduino coding, it all starts here.
What used to be drawn up with pencil and paper is now captured electronically, and has been for years now, decades even. And over those years, the applications used have changed, many so old they are no longer supported by modern operating systems. For example, while my favorite Windows 95/98 programs continued to run on Windows XP, they absolutely will not run on Windows 10 or 11.
What does all this computer speak have to do with refitting the office? Everything. Within reach of my office chair are two servers and three laptops. The two servers share physical keyboard, mouse, display, and USB devices via a KVM switch. While not really necessary, it certainly comes in handy when we can’t reach the Internet for whatever reason, when I can’t use Chrome Remote Desktop to access the other server.
The Start of Good Things To Come
Computers Are Great… When They Work!
These posts are created on the new computer, with a brief hiatus while the failed boot drive was replaced. Short version is just before the year warranty ran out, the 2TB SSD failed miserably and the computer refused to boot. I put in a warranty claim, then waited months before I was finally able to talk to someone who cared, and he express shipped a replacement SSD to me.
What’s the kicker? By the time the normal warranty chain played out, they ended up sending me another replacement SSD a few weeks later! As much as I complained about their cumbersome and exasperating support process, or lack thereof, it serves as a striking example of how not to do things. But it paid off for me in the end! I’m still chuckling about it.
Whether designing a new gadget or coding a new Arduino sketch or writing a new post or just plain research for the Barkyard, computers are a vital part of it. The older server provides large data storage and backup, both for applications and data. The new server is optimized to compose and render videos, perform CAD/CAM, and provide enough local storage to save all the collective research.
A Bit of History
There are two work cells, one devoted to personal servers, the other a gadget work cell “around the corner” from the first, now shared with work computing. That’s where the laptops come into play. When I started back to work more than two years ago, I needed another computer work space, separate from my personal computing space, for the work laptop and its associated devices and monitors.
The original gadget workspace was a set of cabinets, one 42″ and one 36″, that supported a ¾” cabinet grade plywood top. The 42″ cabinet forms an “L” with two more 36″ cabinets along the back wall facing the Barkyard. All in all, it’s a Galley style arrangement when the computer desk is added along the opposite wall.
I wasn’t pleased I had to share my gadget assembly and testing area with my work computing. Work by day and projects by night? Sounds good until there’s a project laid out that can’t be put “back in the box” the next morning when booting the computer and getting back to work. At least it pays the bills.
Preparing to Install the Split Unit
Original Rework
The makeshift computer work cell using the original 42″ cabinet was not optimized for computing. For that matter, it wasn’t meant for computing at all. The cabinet sat on the floor, which runs downhill toward the back wall. Originally this was the sleeping porch, now closed in and under air. In fact, it has it’s own dedicated split unit now to handle all the heat those computers and printers throw off. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
About the only thing that can be said is it’s level so things don’t roll off it. It’s home to all sorts of electronics and parts assortments and Arduino kits, haphazardly arranged on a custom shelf arrangement that was previously meant to store CD jewel cases. Thankfully the top shelf is just wide enough to hold up another set of monitors.
It doesn’t take long to realize that not only is it not optimized for computing, it’s in no way ergonomic either. The pain in my back, through my hip, and down the side of my leg is telling me something has to change. Assuming it’s constantly fighting that tendency to roll downhill since the pain is on that side. Of course, having to keep my feet up in that cabinet probably doesn’t help.
That 42″ cabinet has to go. Go where? Out. It doesn’t matter where. But that doesn’t help fix the downhill slope of the floor. The plan is to lay down a 4×4 sheet of ¾” plywood, strategically supported to keep it level. The only problem is that 36″ cabinet, but there’s nowhere for it to go. Now what? There’s just enough space to push those other 36″ cabinets along the back wall far enough to spin that 36″ cabinet around and inline with the other two.
Long story short, the floor is now a level sheet of plywood with a nice rug to cover it and the gadget workspace is now a dedicated counter supported by a set of custom brackets. Custom brackets that used to support my HO scale layout at the old house, sitting in the garage waiting to be useful again nearly as long as we’ve lived here.
Data Central Two Years Ago
The Problem
Well, there’s more than one problem, but the main problem now is the haphazard arrangement of everything in relation to everything else. There are five 27″ monitors, and no two sets of them are at the same height. The two monitors dedicated to personal computing are at just the right height off the desk, sitting atop its “Pidgeon hole” cabinet, roughly 9″ at the base. The middle of the screen is just at eye level. No neck strain.
The base of the single monitor dedicated to the surveillance system sits right on the gadget counter, but that sits about 3″ lower than the desk, about 12″ lower than the first set of monitors. And even though that counter is lower, the custom shelf arrangement holds the base of the two monitors dedicated to the work laptop at a good 6″ – 7″ higher than the personal computing set.
As if that isn’t goofy enough, the counter isn’t long enough to complete the “L” with the desk, so there’s a gaping 20″ chasm between the wall and the edge of the counter. That monitor for the surveillance system teeters precariously over the edge and the USB hub sitting next to it is always falling into the abyss. What should be a Galley style arrangement isn’t. The issue is the metal and glass shelving unit that promised to be more useful than it turned out to be. All it does is collect dust and it needs to go away too.
Another problem is the loss of storage space with the loss of that 42″ cabinet. To that end a drawer was added under the counter and between the custom brackets. But because it wasn’t well thought out when installed originally, a compromise was made. More like a complex set of pieces were needed to force the drawer and slides to fit, even after it was cut down from its original wider size. Between that and constantly banging my knees against it, that will need to be addressed as well.
The Solution
The solution to these problems and more is a refit. That is to say a retrofit to re-fit everything together in a more purposeful, organized fashion. I’ve been updating my office layout in SketchUp, mainly to try some “what ifs” without having to tear everything apart to test fit ideas. It definitely helped me figure out where that 42″ cabinet would fit, along with the rest of everything else.
I’m not going to lie. Part of that effort was to catalog and look at some “what ifs” for placing the old HO scale layout sections in a bookshelf layout arrangement, fitting and reusing the various shapes and pieces of ½” plywood sub base that’s been waiting to become useful again along with those custom brackets. But that’s on hold for now. More pressing matters to address.
More pressing matters like continually deteriorating infrastructure and soon to be installed fiber service. That’s right, it’s finally here. Nearly twenty years after we were originally promised fiber at the old house, and by the same company no less! It’s probably a good thing I didn’t know that until their trucks showed up out front or I would have told them to pound sand! But that’s another story for another time.
Not that we were unhappy with our service provider, 250MB per second download speeds are nothing to sneeze at, but we’re lucky to get 10MB – 12MB per second upload speeds. The one and only time we tried to go live failed miserably because of those limited upload speeds. With fiber we can speed less and get more, like 1GB per second down andup! In fact, we can cut our costs further by going with the 500MB per second plan.
Before Slicing and DicingAfter Slicing and DicingPlywood Sheet Conveniently Cut Into Shelves
The Refit
That’s the motivation for the refit, and the motivation to get the refit done now, before they come to install the fiber. So what exactly is the refit? Good question. Glad you asked. To boil it down into its most condensed form, it’s slicing up a 4×8 sheet of ¾” furniture grade plywood into dedicated shelving that solves all the disparities already listed.
A new counter section that not only fills the missing gap, but also adjusts the height and solves the constant knee banging.
A new shelf to align all the monitors at the same eye level height along with increased storage space.
A new shelf along the wall over the personal computing and surveillance system monitors for more storage space.
It begins with the shelf over the monitors so there’s someplace to put the Gramazon, and the track and rail cars sitting on top of the work monitors, and anything else that needs a temporary home while fitting the new counter and the other shelf. The shelves are cut 12″ deep for the 8′ length of the sheet. That leaves the remaining 24″ for the new counter. All that remains is fitting to length and capping with screen mold for a clean, finished look.
“Hidden L” Brackets
Originally I was going to make custom wooden brackets for the shelves but the more pressing need to finish before the fiber is installed put an end to that idea. Looking at various options online, I came across the “Hidden L” arrangement. Essentially a thick, flat piece of metal with an attached mounting bracket at a right angle that is partially hidden by the shelf it supports. My only concern is how much they’ll sag under load.
The Rethink
The shelf for over the monitors is shortened to 6′ to fit the available space between the wall and the door frame. Then the screen mold is glued and brad nailed into place. Finally the piece is sanded smooth and ready for placement. After attaching the brackets to the wall at every stud, 16″ on center, the shelf is set in place. I can pull the shelf down at least ½” applying a lot of force. Even though they’re rated for 100#, I imagine I could bend or break the brackets if I hung my full weight on them.
I’m pleased with the fitment and the resilience of the brackets but soon realize I forgot to cut the angled notch out of the corner for cord relief. No matter, there’s enough clearance on either end that only the fattest power cord wouldn’t fit. Considering the only power cord so far is for the amazon dot and it could fit in the space between the bracket mount and the back edge of the shelf, roughly 0.2″ thick, it’s not a big deal.
The New Counter and Monitor Shelves Waiting For Trim In The Garage
The office isn’t quite 8′ wide, roughly 90½” from the inside wall to the outside wall. The original plan was to place the counter from wall to wall with those 36″ cabinets lifted and levelled to match, mainly to allow access to the floor plywood to rework the levelling supports beneath it to firm things up. Best laid plans…
After seeing how the wooden bracket that supports the 3D printer shelf would interfere with the back runner on the cabinet and how much trouble it was trying to maneuver the new counter into place, the plan to make everything level was quickly abandoned. Cutting to fit wall to wall turns out to be a bad idea, an awful idea in fact.
After multiple back and forth trips to trim the length it’s still a bear to get the thing maneuvered into position. Short of nearly standing the thing up just so the corners clear when rotating it into place, it’s nearly impossible to clear what used to be the porch banister, still a major structure on that wall. Add to that the overhang sagging on either side of the custom brackets and we need a new plan.
The Replan
More like we need a replan. We can add another one of those custom brackets on the end by the desk, but we’re out of luck on the end over the 36″ cabinet. The decision is made. The counter will be cut to fit up to but not cover the 36″ cabinet. That is to say we’ll remove 24″ from the 90½” length. We’ll also add that third custom bracket near the inside wall to support the sag on that end.
Next step is to rework the mounts for the drawer slides. Starting with a 1×4 doesn’t give enough clearance for the contents of the drawer. The big offender is the mixer board, stashed there until needed. The idea is to leave it connected and just pull out the drawer when we want to use it. Switching to 1x6s. My knee aren’t smashing into the drawer anymore, just the corners of those 1x6s!
The new shelf for the other monitors is cut to fit wall to wall, which is still a bad idea. After multiple back and forth trips to trim the length it finally fits. The biggest issue this time is it deviates from the plan and there’s not quite enough space for the surveillance system monitor in its planned position.
New Counter and Monitor Shelf, Complete With Third Starship Liftoff!
The picture above shows the halfway point so to speak. This is the work laptop setup. On the left in the foreground, glowing green, is the new power supply for the audio amplifier. Behind that is the surveillance system, it’s PoE ethernet switch for the cameras, and the battery backup (UPS) for those and the amp. The monitors and the laptop itself have their own dedicated battery backup (off screen to the right).
The keyboard and mouse sit atop a piece of 1×6 that spans the front of the drawer and acts as a keyboard shelf. The dedicated microphone and audio amplifier for the associated speakers is visible on the right, left speaker visible on shelf to left. The surveillance system monitor has been relocated to the right side of the work monitors. Regardless of its placement, the work monitors must shift one direction or the other. Time to go back to plan.
The original plan calls for a “round the corner” fitment for the shelf on the left end, pretty much where the left speaker and Gramazon are sitting. What’s a Gramazon? Good question. Glad you asked. See that blue thing there that looks like a gramophone? The base contains my Amazon Dot 3 and the gramophone part guides sound to and from it. It’s one of the first 3D prints I made, starting with one for Ann’s Dot 2.
“Around The Corner” Shelf And New Fiber Modem/Router
Time’s Up
Because they had to locate the utilities, pull the permits, and trench in the new fiber before they could connect us, it gave us a bit of a reprieve of maybe a week or so. The picture above shows we’re still working on getting the refit finished. It didn’t stop the installation or even slow it down. Having to go through three different fiber modems set us back more than our refit, still in progress, but at least they figured out what was wrong with their system and fixed it.
You can see the fiber modem/router in the picture above, white case with a green light. I dressed out the ethernet cables from the surveillance cameras using short lengths of Velcro® looped around on itself, and the excess length coiled beneath the fiber modem. To the right of that and under the square chunk of shelf is the surveillance system (NVR) and the PoE switch to manage all the connections.
At least this time I remembered to cut the cable relief in the back corner of the shelf. Still missing is the planned angled cut on the front corner facing out of the picture. The plan called for an 18″ square piece with a 6″ triangular relief cut from the front corner. That plan was modified to avoid having to move the shelf bracket. So 16½” it is. Hopefully that will provide enough space for the surveillance system monitor to sit above it.
Installation Finished
Both the fiber modem and office refit are installed and we’re happy with both. It certainly took some doing though. What started with dropping the Internet connection a few times a day turned into swapping modems twice, each time getting worse, not better. The last attempt and we had maybe ten minutes of connection before dropping again. Totally unacceptable! Now I’m wondering if we haven’t allowed the same company to totally screw up our Internet once again.
Both Ann and I have 100% remote jobs that require a reliable Internet connection. At least Ann has an Air Card supplied with her work laptop. Me? Not so much. I had to tether through my phone until they fixed it! They had to replace some “filter” downtown at the office just blocks away from us. This played out over the course of a week or more.
I must admit, now that it’s working reliably, 540MB per second speeds both down and up is really much better than we had before. Maybe we’ll try one of those livestreams again to really test it out. It certainly was a distraction from more pressing issues, not to mention the extra stress of having to deal with it at all. Now back to the matter at hand, the refit.
Refit Installed, Monitor Shelf and Counter Shown
A place for everything and everything in its place is the ultimate goal for the refit now that the new counter and shelves are installed. Even the idea of hanging the battery backups from the underside of the monitor shelf panned out. Most of the project “pencil boxes” are back where they sat on the counter, but all the parts kits and such are still sitting in a large tub in the corner of the office, their place yet to be determined.
The picture shows one of the benefits of having a second computer space for laptops. That’s my personal laptop, but it can share the same docking station that came with my work laptop. Convenient. Very convenient. Both are ThinkPads, but my personal one has the super sized screen, which is why it’s folded down to fit on the counter. I do like having three screens for sure.
As an aside, the Windows 11 driver for the CH340 serial controller doesn’t work, but the Windows 10 version does. You’ll never guess what’s running on the new computer. Good thing I can connect the laptop and have it talk to the Arduinos that use that CH340 chip! In fact, that’s pretty much what’s going on in the picture.
New Gadgets
Speaking of Arduinos, the refit inspired a new gadget. A new lighting gadget. You can see the first cut at it above running the “Christmas Tru-Tone™” effect. A little setup first might help. The monitors aren’t the only things sitting on the desk “Pidgeon hole” cabinet. Behind the monitors at each end of the desk are a set of lamps. Those lamps have Amazon Alexa compatible smart plugs attached so I can say, “Alexa, turn on Office 1” and the lamp on the left will light.
Convenient. Much more convenient than having to run the lamp cord by hand just to find the inline switch every time I want to turn one on or off. Unfortunately, the new shelf over the monitors on the desk blocks the light from the lamps. What used to illuminate the white ceiling and cast light throughout the office now provides just a backlight to the monitors. An unwanted backlight. We need something to replace the light we lost.
Inspired by my latest lighting adventures for controlling the lithophanes, I decided to dig out those LED strip corner frames I bought years ago to use for the train station lighting. The train station we no longer have, lost when we removed the raised bed planters along the patio. Anyway, the idea is to place the corner frame along the back of the shelf over the monitors, facing toward the ceiling and out into the office.
Those corner frames have a face at 45º to either side, meant for the LED strip to stick to, and a snap in diffuser over top of it all. While I didn’t really need the scheduling additions from the lithophane lighting sketch, I did want all the updates and bug fixes that came with it. I also expanded the “build from config” feature to get us closer to not having to create a dedicated HTML page just to control all the different lighting arrangements.
I’ll save all the exciting details for a separate post. Suffice it to say that it took some doing, both in hardware and software. The end product does what I want, provide a soft backlit atmosphere for the office, perfect to see what you’re doing but not so bright that I have to squint. This picture shows the shelf over the monitors. You can also see the split unit and the Gramazon on the right.
Let There Be Light! The New Office Lighting Gadget In Operation.
Finishing Touches
If anything remains to be done it would be to apply a finish to the new shelving. I think I’ll save that for when I have a week off of work and can take the counter and monitor shelf offline long enough to stain and finish them. I can take down the shelf over the monitors pretty much anytime I want, but I’ll probably wait and do them all at once. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get motivated to stain, finish, and level those 36″ cabinets too!
I may even break this into two parts, seems kind of long winded, even to me. Let me know what you think in the comments.
Let’s start with the obvious question, “Why lift the deck?” Good question. Glad you asked.
The main reason has nothing to do with the deck and everything to do with the dogs and the bridges… Well, what used to be the bridges.
Let’s rewind…
When we originally built the approach trestles for the Howe truss bridge, they were built 20″ tall, roughly forty scale feet tall. After we refit the upper loop into the “triple decker” arrangement, we needed a second bridge. We didn’t have a second bridge.
The Howe truss bridge was built over the course of months, with strong attention to detail, which explains why it took months. We don’t have months to build another, let alone time to “refresh” the old one. Not if we want to run trains anyway.
We’d been wanting to try using some metal channels as a stand in for deck plate girder bridge spans. We saved the metal channels from some discarded Levolor® blinds, the tops with the mechanisms removed, conveniently powder coated brown.
Long story short, we quickly cobbled together a couple of crude wooden frames to slide inside the channels and provide a means of securing the two new bridge spans to the set of bridge trestle approaches. Those crude wooden frames were attached to the trestles with screws to keep them in place.
Makeshift Deck Plate Girder Spans
The Problem
The trestles themselves weren’t fastened to the ground in any shape or form, so when the dogs plowed into the bridges, they just repositioned the whole kit and kaboodle! Eventually they managed to rip one of the bridge spans loose, exposing the sharp end of the screw that was torn away from the trestle.
Time to remove them altogether, along with the 10′ span of track that we’ve grown weary of placing back on top of the bridges. We kept telling ourselves if only the bridges were higher, with enough clearance for the dogs to run under them without hitting them, then they may stand a chance of staying where we put them.
Great idea. Only problem is the span that comes off the deck leading up to the bridges is already a 2% grade or better. The bridges would have to be at least 4″ taller, 24″ vs. 20″, but 26″ would be better. If we raised the deck by 4″ as well, it would solve the problem.
The Solution
We’ll stick with “lifting” the deck, since “raising” the deck sounds too much like we’re “razing” the deck. And we’ll have to compromise and go with lifting it 3½”, the thickness of a 4×4, rather than 4″. Regardless of how much we’re lifting it, it must remain level.
As a test, I thought I could lift the deck at one support point at a time while Ann placed a thick shim of wood between it and the deck. I was fooling myself about how heavy the deck is. Even using a chunk of 2×4 as a lever, the most we could place was a chunk of 1×6.
First Attempt To Lift By Hand
We did manage to get one entire side lifted, but it was all we could do to get those chunks of 1×6 in place, and now the deck is tiling a bit off level. That will have to be good enough for now. It’s going to take a hydraulic jack to lift the deck enough to place those 4x4s. And that will have to wait until the weekend.
Before the jack can be used, we’ll need some means to accommodate its placement. It sure would be nice if it fit beneath the lifting points, but it doesn’t. It’s close, but no cigar. A chunk of 2×2 that needs removed anyway should fit the bill. In most cases just attaching the 2×2 to provide enough of a “ledge” for the tip of the jack to gain purchase is all we need. So one by one each support location is raised and the chunk of 1×6 is replaced by a chunk of 4×4.
Deck Lifted 3½”
The Lift
It’s safe to say that where the deck rests directly atop the concrete post base a chunk of 4×4 is called for and where the deck joist rests in the slot in the base a chunk of 2×6 is required. On the side of the deck closer to the fence the ground is higher than the opposite side which is why part of the deck relies on the slots in the base. Thankfully the depth of the slot in the base is roughly 2″ deep.
There’s a hitch when it comes to lifting the side closest to the fence. The part of the deck that’s supposed to emulate an excavated rock face with a tunnel beneath for the lower loop is nowhere near complete. We’re still working on “what-if” scenarios, trying to figure out what works. The idea is to have a gristmill with a waterwheel fed by a waterfall, eventually, but we’ll save that for another post.
The other “feature” of that part of the deck is that it’s slotted to provide a path for the track to loop back under itself, creating the “triple decker”. That slot is framed on either side by a separate 2×6 joist, each with its own post base. We purposefully made that section of the deck only 6′ wide and angled away from the line of the fence to provide a wedge shape that grows to nearly 2′ wide at the exit of the track slot.
The final shape may not be a wedge exactly since it also needs to provide for a short tunnel for the lower loop to pass through. It’s difficult to find a design that accommodates all the requirements we’re giving it. The point is there are two jacking points, not just the one. That’s where that 2×2 had to be removed since it would be in the way of jacking those points.
Two Support Points Surround The Slot
The Future
That’s about all we can do for now. The next steps will be designing the trestle approach to the bridges and a means of solidly fastening it to the ground. Certainly hope that 24″ tall is enough to keep those bridges taller than the dogs.
We finally threw in the towel! Using wood stringers as a roadbed is just not working out. It’s been one thing after another using wood. The first setback was rot. We finally found the answer to that, but the next thing was keeping the track fastened to the stringer – with a couple puppies constantly pounding on it. Even adding screws every 8″ didn’t help! We now have track with much larger holes in the ties where the screw heads pulled through them.
Fast forward. We’ve added yet another puppy to the team, Jasper. Alright, three full sized German Shepherds! None of them are little puppies anymore. We were barely keeping ahead of things with two puppies pounding the track into the ground. But now we’re fighting a losing battle with three, we’ve been removing track, not adding it. And that’s moving in the wrong direction!
Concrete roadbed should certainly hold up to the constant pounding, if sidewalks and driveways are any indication that is… Beyond that, the idea is to shape the concrete with a center depression, a “well” of sorts, that will “cradle” the track. The question now is how deep of a well and how to screed and shape the concrete. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Cast in place or cast bricks? How Deep?
Choices
There are two choices that must be made. The first is whether to make the well as deep as the track and the ties are tall or only as deep as the ties. The second is whether to form the roadbed then screed the well into the freshly poured concrete or cast “bricks” that can be placed independently once cured. At the bottom center of the above diagram is the deep well profile “screed tool”, with the “only ties deep” version to the right of it. Above them are the “bricks”, along with some dimensions. That particular set is designed for 20′ diameter curves.
Let’s start with a continuous formed pour with a full depth well. Had we known how much work… Well, the work to “trench” out where either the forms or the bricks will sit is a wash, but the forms themselves take days to “perfect”. Essentially we want the track to be about flush with the terrain. That requires a thickness of at least 1½”, with roughly a ¾” deep well down the middle. It may not be readily apparent, but the profile we’re shooting for has a taper at the top, away from the well, to simulate a prototypical ballast profile.
Getting Started
But before all that, we need to cut out a stripe in the artificial turf roughly 6″ wide that follows the path of the existing wood stringer first. The Dremel saw with a plastic “blade” makes fairly quick work of that task. The before and after shots show the recent relocation of the lower loop track, sitting atop the turf, and the new path awaiting installation of the forms.
Relocated Lower Loop Before Cutting TurfLower Loop Track After Cutting Turf
You can see a start of staking out the forms using the 2×6 roadbed pieces we used to “elevate” the new middle loop track up off the deck. These are a perfect fit for spacing apart the ¼” thick x 1½” tall slats we’re using, attached to 8″ stakes “strategically” driven into the ground. This is just a test fit of sorts. The track is roughly at the desired height, but the forms need to be installed lower such that the top of the rails is even with the tops of the forms, a difference of ¾”.
After filling a yard cart with the dirt removed along the 10′ stretch we’re pouring concrete into, the real work of installing the forms begins. It’s taken a day’s work to get this far. It takes another day just to get all the stakes driven in the ground and the slats bent into shape. And yet another day to attach the slats to the stakes! It’s all adding up… Three days for every ten feet of roadbed means it’s going to take forever to replace the exiting wooden roadbed.
Finally Ready To Pour Concrete!
Regardless of the time spent getting here, we’re finally ready to pour concrete, starting with mixing. The directions call for 3 quarts of water for the entire 80# bag. Despite using one of the measuring buckets to dispense three quarts exactly, the mix is too dry. Adding another quart results in a mix that’s still too dry. Not quite another quart and now the mix seems too wet. At this point, I’m winded from all the mixing by hand using the shovel. It doesn’t help that I’m using the small mixing tub, which is obviously meant for 60# and not 80#.
After shoveling about three feet or so into the forms, I try to screed the profile using the 3D printed tools, but they’re just not working. It seems the tools would have been better designed like trowels to better float the profile into the pour. The tools are crudely scraping the profile more than smoothly forming it. Even working the tool back and forth like a simple screed board doesn’t seem to do much better.
So far this seems like a losing battle. By the time the entire ten foot length is poured, the only thing that worked as planned was the amount of concrete needed. I’m more than a bit discouraged by the outcome, but way to exhausted to do anything more than cover the fresh concrete to keep the pups out of it. We’ll see how it turns out tomorrow when we can remove the forms.
Ready To Remove The Forms
The picture tells the story. It’s obvious that the profile we were looking for did not materialize. It’s a crude approximation at best. Thankfully the track does fit in the well, but not very well. The sides that are supposed to protect the track and hold it in position are crumbling at the slightest touch. Removing the forms breaks large chunks of the sides loose. Not a good first impression to say the least. By now the meaning of trial version is apparent…
Stay tuned for more updates. A change in plans is definitely called for though.
