Fiddle yard cassettes

[Jim de Griz]

So, after much effort to avoid using cassettes in my fiddle yard, I've had to bow to the inevitable. I'm planning to use a fairly standard wooden base with angle aluminium design, but never having worked with aluminium before I thought it might be worth asking for advice before I surge ahead with my hacksaw blade!

Does anyone have any advice they could offer to someone just starting out building cassettes, any lessons you wish you had known before you started?

Also, how practical are they to build with hand tools? Or should I swallow my pride and ask my Dad if I can borrow his shed for a weekend?

Jim de Griz

[exile]

1. take a multimeter and check for conductivity of the Aluminium. Very unusually the metal section I bought was not conductive! A quick polish and everything worked - for a few minutes and then stopped being conductive again. Clearly some reaction (oxidation almost certainly) was creating a non-conductive coating. This seem to be very unusual but best to check before you do lots of work. Almost all Aluminium profile sold is not pure Aluminium but rather an alloy. I am guessing the one I bought was either pure or some blend of metal not usually in circulation.

2. You will need an electric drill to drill screw holes through the Alu profile to attach it to the wood. I would not rely on a glue.

[mojo36]

It was probably anodised aluminium.
Maurice. C

[PGBerrie]

Clearly some reaction (oxidation almost certainly) was creating a non-conductive coating.

Yes, pure aluminium oxidises as soon as it is exposed to air - anodized aluminium has the same oxide coating.

Peter

[Jim de Griz]

Didn't think of the need to screw the aluminium into the wood, must admit I was just planning to use glue.

Ideally I wanted to keep the base as thin as practical to make building the approaches easier. That might complicate matters somewhat.

Jim de Griz

[RayS]

Jim,
I was forced to use cassettes at the two end of my U-shaped layout. I bought 1" x 1" angle from a company called Clickmetal, asked them to cut me exact lengths at a right angle. They did. I glued mine onto a tulip wood base ( the joiner over the road happened to have some 2m lengths going begging! and they don't warp or twist like deal). G-clamps all along held it while it dried and so far none have come adrift. No problems with connection - croc clips. End of each cassette has a hole drilled to take a dowel peg to stop trains rolling off when lifting and turning.
Gauge set using straight Traksettas between the two angles - I found a little filing at 45 degree angle along the inside edge helps a smooth transition from track to cassette. Only problem is with the two 2m long ones - holding a long train they are heavy.

Good luck

[exile]

Didn't think of the need to screw the aluminium into the wood, must admit I was just planning to use glue.

Ideally I wanted to keep the base as thin as practical to make building the approaches easier. That might complicate matters somewhat.

Jim de Griz

The screws do not need to be long. From memory mine were 10 or 12mm screwed into a 12mm thick base. With the depth of the Alu section they cannot protrude. I doubted that a metal to wood glue joint would be strong enough.