tools

Mr Hot Wire 4000

A slight detour from the regular program today as I make a new hot wire cutter...

After the untimely demise of my hot wire cutter yesterday, I decided that making a replacement was a fairly high priority. So while waiting for slow running test scripts to finish I scribbled up a quick plan on Inkscape for my new cutter:

Then once work was over I took a trip down to the Masterton Maker Crate where we proceeded to cut out my design from a sheet 3mm MDF on their 80W laser cutter (versus my 3W one). Cutting MDF sure is smokey work, perhaps it is just as well mine can't cut MDF as the sticky tar-like smoke goes everywhere.

The Chopper

One of the most tedious parts of hand laying track is cutting sleepers to length. I get my sleeper stripwood in 2ft lengths, which then need to be chopped down to 15mm. The wood is quite strong, and it is quite a slow process to measure, cut, measure, cut, measure, cut. If only I had a machine to do it for me...

A plan is born...

So I decided to build an accurate chopping machine! I've seen commercial units, but really how hard can it be? I'd need blade that lifts up and down, a guide to keep things square, and another guide to set the length.

I sat down in front of Inventor and 30 mins later I had a machine all made up and chopping virtual sleepers:

I popped into town and picked up an M8 bolt, nut and washer set, some single edge razor blades, and a bit of w...

Static grass

Mid-west Utrainia is famed for its vast fields of waist-high grass, so naturally I had to model this. A recent innovation in model railway circles is static grass, and after some hunting and researching I set about making some of my own.

The grass fibre

First ingredient is static grass fibre, apparently a side-effect of textile manufacture. I got mine from ebay, from Aussie Scenics. I used their Wheat Fields, Late Harvest Brown, and Desert Scrub flavours. Since ordering they have come out with a new expanded range of dry looking colours which I am keen to try. Another source on ebay is War World Ltd, also on ebay.

The Grass Blaster

The other ingredient is a static grass machine. Mine is a home made one, based on a very simple circuit of power-pac...