Toto's Traversers

Ok an update, while I have a so called break - taxi duty

I've cut a 2.4m length of CLS in halve, then cut down the middle, planed to approx 15 thick.
As the americans would say, a half inch rabbit was cut along the length of each piece - honest no animals were harmed in this process. These will form the side stiffeners / stock protectors down the side of the traverser table.

In addition 6mm ply track spacer bits were cut 2 x 12mm and 3 x 25mm for each table.

Dry run assembly looks like ......


The corners on the CLS still have to be rounded off, and yes it is supposed to be short of the end.

Dry run of the sliders


The height of the mounting brackets has yet to be determined.

Paul

 

OK - a reasonably productive afternoon - in between taxi runs.

The first traverser table has been made up.



The track is not secured yet - but is gripped nicely by the 6mm ply spacers.

The line at the front is the center line of the traverser, and where the entry / exit tracks will be.

Here's a slightly better pic



To align with the last track the traverser will have to extend beyond the baseboard, a three road traverser would have stayed within the baseboard confines.

To accommodate this I've had to remove part of the side frame - the other side has still to be done.





And just in case anyone was wondering why the side supports are short - these traversers are to be double ended, so when the to entries aren't required a stop board will be in place.



Paul

 

Ah, but the motor mount probably will, and the slides and lead screw are supposed to be for a 3D printer.

Toto Traverser No.2 three or four roads, definately need the four road one for Luib Bridge carriage works end, but its up to you what you want for the other end.

Paul

 

Well with his holiness due back from his hols, coupled with finally getting a weekend off, thought I'd better have something to show

The wooden side plates for the traverser table extend too far below the base, and will foul the slide bar supports.

So I clampe a piece of 5mm ply to the base and used a router with a bearing flush trim bit (or flush) fitted to thin it down.



This was done for both sides

Next up was to mark out the positions of the linear bearings, and attach a mounting block.




Just waiting for the wooden blocks to dry then seal the traverser table.

Paul

 

First coat of exterior satin varnish applied to underside ....... but remains sticky for hours before I can flip it over and do the top and sides.

Time to cut the grass then

no point putting a piccy up of varnish drying

Paul

 

Flipped over and the top surface given a coat before I went to bed - shows how bad a social life I have

Hopefully it will be dry enough to fix the linear bearings.

With any luck I may have an un-powered version for Toto to be able to test / mate up to his layout, being double ended he will be able to connect it up to either end of the layout and finalise his track positions.

Paul

 

As his shed can only take two boards up at a time, (after all its rainy season in Scotland (January to December)), so putting it up outside for testing has severe planning issues. But this first traverser will be the master and the track centers will be used as the jig for the second traverser.

I have seen modular layouts with upto 3ft between layouts, with a piece of ply joining the layouts and a loose piece of flex joining the layouts up, avoiding the need for precise alignment.

Paul

 

Bearings fitted, and support brackets fitted to the base.



The center piece of ply will be for the stepper motor, lead screw and support bearings and all the electronics - height and position still to be determined.

The glue is still setting, hence the clamps and supports.

However here is the table placed in position.

In the center



and over to the outer tracks



and the other way



The height on the table is deliberately lower than the frame by approx 5mm. This will let me 3D print spacers of the correct height.

Paul