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Jig to help assemble 4mm signals

2511 Views 8 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  John Webb, 
John Webb
Right, folks, lets see if my new broadband connection lets me post some (pretty?) pictures.


A general view of the jig which is made from 10mm square hardwood strip glued to a piece of 12mm MDF.


A view from above. The 1mm hole, for the bearing tube, is 4mm from the stop at the right-hand end, and was drilled in a bench drill to get it vertical, using a section of the post tube to get the right spacing from the rear strip.

A length of the 1mm tube was inserted in the hole, and using a No. 80 drill in a pin chuck, a very small hole was drilled alongside the 1mm hole in the upper 'V' between post and bearing tube - this takes the 0.31mm fine wire supplied by MSE to act as the horizontal arm stop and saves having to solder with two different melting point solders.

The pencil mark gives the location of the top of the lamp-bracket to guide fixing that in place.


Here a partly-constructed post is in position. The fine arm-stop wire can be seen.


Just as an aside, the temporary 'lever frame' for my own layout 'Ashboughton'

Regards,
John Webb
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B
The jig must make assembly a lot easier - the lever frame looks superb.

Thanks for the pics.
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John Webb
One thing I forgot to say was that the 1mm hole was drilled first and the end stop then glued in place the 4mm away - a lot easier than trying to make the hole 4mm from the stop!

For posts with two (or more) arms, the appropriate holes for the bearing tubes and pencil marks for lamp brackets can be marked out and drilled below the top arm bearing hole.

Thanks for the compliments re the 'lever frame' - I hope eventually to make up a proper mechanical frame complete with the appropriate interlocking.

My apologies that the photos are not as large or as clear as I would wish - for some reason Photobox seems to reduce the image size for public viewing, I know not why.
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Lancashire Fusilier
Good stuff there John.

I too have headed the advice of Mick Nicholson aswell when it comes to the jig assembly method however I differed slightly in having mine built from aluminium strip instead which provides for a more robust item, resists soldering, acts as a heat sink and the holes never wear out! Only becasue my friend is an aluminium fabricator of course!
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QUOTE Thanks for the compliments re the 'lever frame' - I hope eventually to make up a proper mechanical frame complete with the appropriate interlocking.

having recently read an article in MRJ concerning construction of a fully-interlocking lever frame in brass, etc [an Australian item of manufacture, I believe]....I do declare you must be into self-punishment of the very worst kind.....worse than scratchbuilding an engine with full inside valve gear?

Are those old lever frame [switches] that Hornby used to produce...in various colours......still available?

they always seemed to me to be infinitely more in tune with a model railway than a push button [or qwerty key board]
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John Webb
Sorry for the delay in replying - the Forum keeps forgetting I've logged in, for some peculiar reason!

I went for the MDF because it seems quite resistant to soldering iron heat. The back of the jig has various holes in it for making up point cranks on axles and the bearing for holding the said crank on the layout, which I'd been doing for several years, and shows no significant signs of wear.

Also the insulating properties of wood/MDF means you don't have to apply heat for long as the brass tube warms up quickly.

Alistair: I assume the article in the MRJ was about the 'Modratec' system? I did look at this a couple of years ago, not long after starting working on the layout, but decided I'd prefer to have a go on my own - eventually!
I shall try something out in due course for the small layout I've built for demonstration purposes at St Albans signal box as that's a bit easier. The locking needs to be visible and overscale so people can see how it works, so I think (hope?) it should be easier than the inside motion on a loco!

Re the switches: Hornby do a 'passing contact' switch in black for solenoid-operated points, an 'on/off' for isolating tracks in green and a 'on-on' in yellow for their colour light signal and other functions.

Peco do 'passing contact' switches for points and signal operation in red, yellow, black and white levers, which of course gives you the three basic colours for stop signals, distant signals and points respectively. As a white lever in a signal box denotes an 'out of use' lever I assume Peco have produced a white one for you to paint as you wish!

Regards,
John Webb
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Lancashire Fusilier
QUOTE (John Webb @ 26 Aug 2008, 02:45) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I went for the MDF because it seems quite resistant to soldering iron heat. The back of the jig has various holes in it for making up point cranks on axles and the bearing for holding the said crank on the layout, which I'd been doing for several years, and shows no significant signs of wear.

Also the insulating properties of wood/MDF means you don't have to apply heat for long as the brass tube warms up quickly.

I see what you are saying John. Do you think that because I use the aluminium jig that it is acting as a heatsink and drawing heat away from the brass then?
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John Webb
QUOTE (Lancashire Fusilier @ 29 Aug 2008, 05:44) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I see what you are saying John. Do you think that because I use the aluminium jig that it is acting as a heatsink and drawing heat away from the brass then?

It's possible. Aluminium is a noted good conductor of heat - hence its use for heat-sink 'tweezers' when soldering heat-sensitive electronic items. It may be that there is an advantage in using the aluminium in that when you are soldering something in one place on the signal, the aluminium keeps the rest of the signal cool and stops other soldered bits from dropping off?

I'd really need to make up a signal with both types of jig to get a true comparison, but bearing in mind your location....!

Regards,
John
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John Webb
I forgot to make clear in my first post that the jig is based on the jig suggested by Mike Nicholson in his book on building semaphore signals, as Lancs Fusilier mentioned in his post. But having just looked at Mike's book again last night I was reminded about it.

First signal nearing completion - will post pics in due course.

Regards,
John
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