Stawberry Valley Light Railway

[nlc1072]

Hello all!

I will share my progress on my new garden railway which is 45mm LGB.

It has 40m of running around the edge of our garden.

Mainly I'm posting here to that mistakes I make get caught early!

Thanks,

NLC1072.

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[ge_rik]

Great start! Make sure you firm up the soil beneath the blocks as you lay them to try and discourage them from settling.

Rik

[nlc1072]

Thank you ge_rik!

I have been out jumping up and down on the dirt and then the blocks to make sure they are all compacted since your mentioned that now. I added some more blocks and track.

Here is also an overview of the basic track plan so far.

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[nlc1072]

So today I bought twenty more bricks (it's the most I can fit in the boot of my saloon car!) and laid those this afternoon, taking care to lay them firmly so there will be no subsidence.

I had time to sit back and watch some trains go around! I apologise in advance of the high speeds of the trains as they had to deal with some sharp inclines on other parts of the loop I have yet to lay the track bed.

The gap in the track bed in the video is to put in a bridge which I am 3D printing as we speak a prototype in PLA to see what I like and dislike, I have to get some ASA later to print the finished product which will do better in the sun - Thanks to Trevor Thompson of this forum for the inspiration to get a proper 3D printer and see what I can do.

[philipy]

It certainly seems to run smoothly. If it will take those speeds without disaster, it should look good at more realistic ones.

- Thanks to Trevor Thompson of this forum for the inspiration to get a proper 3D printer and see what I can do.

Welcome to the dark side! What printer have you got?

[ge_rik]

Good to see trains running already.
Will follow developments within interest.

Rik

[nlc1072]

It certainly seems to run smoothly. If it will take those speeds without disaster, it should look good at more realistic ones.

- Thanks to Trevor Thompson of this forum for the inspiration to get a proper 3D printer and see what I can do.

Welcome to the dark side! What printer have you got?

I have a Bambu Labs H2S, the inbuilt camera is going to prove very handy. I specifically picked this printer because of the large bed size for g scale and the enclosure to enable easy ASA printing as it needs a high temperature environment to set well. The printer was a used purchase at about half the current RRP with an AMS2 included.

Had some bed adhesion problems last night, wiped the bed down with warm soapy water and still problems. I took the bed downstairs and gave it a boiling water soapy wash. Seems to of cured the issues for now...

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[philipy]

I cant speak for Bambu printers, but in general bed adhesion can often be improved by cleaning the surface with IPA rather than water, and the other thing that helps is a squirt of "3D LAC". One squirt wiped over lasts for ages, I've had a bottle for about 4 years and its only about 15mm down. Some people swear by using hairspray and others use PritStick, but I found that the glue builds up on the bed and causes more problems than it solves. I've never used hairspray so cant comment on that.

[ge_rik]

I use very cheap hairspray - just a squirt every so often - seems to do the trick

Rik

[nlc1072]

I use very cheap hairspray - just a squirt every so often - seems to do the trick

Rik

I'm back to adhesion problems, could be the worn bed or the old PLA. I'll get some hairspray for the time being, and then 3DLAC. IPA I'll pick up in the week and give that a go also.

I'll replace the printer bed and filament next month after pay day!

Thanks again

[GAP]

I the printer auto levelling? I found that after cleaning with IPA then hot soapy water I had to do a re level to stop the problems
Also check bed temperature settings I'm using PETG and have to have my initial temp high.

[nlc1072]

I the printer auto levelling? I found that after cleaning with IPA then hot soapy water I had to do a re level to stop the problems
Also check bed temperature settings I'm using PETG and have to have my initial temp high.

Thank you!

I had an incident with the 3D printer... the old filament broke off in the print head, I accidentally tore one of the ribbon cables so I have that on order now to replace, along with the new build plate. I am off travelling the end of the week so it'll be a couple of weeks before the next update on that I would say.

I relevelled the bed a whole load and it made no difference, but I do hope the new print bed fixes the issue once I have repaired the print head.

I took some videos yesterday of the loop as it currently sits, half 3d printed bridge in place as well. You can even see where the bed lost adhesion but the printed part was heavy enough to hold on just, but it's made an indentation...

There's more bricks to be picked up on Wednesday, so that will probably be my final update for a couple of weeks.

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[philipy]

could be the worn bed or the old PLA.

Ahhh... could well be old PLA in that case. PLA is hygroscopic and picks up moisture very easily and if it gets damp it causes all sorts of problems. I noticed a lot of stringing in an earlier picture, that could be the same cause. Unles you are going to print again very quickly its a good idea to take it off the machine and store the reel in a reasonably airtight container with some silica gel - I use round plastic sweet boxes . i.e 'Celebrations', etc.

[nlc1072]

could be the worn bed or the old PLA.

Ahhh... could well be old PLA in that case. PLA is hygroscopic and picks up moisture very easily and if it gets damp it causes all sorts of problems. I noticed a lot of stringing in an earlier picture, that could be the same cause. Unles you are going to print again very quickly its a good idea to take it off the machine and store the reel in a reasonably airtight container with some silica gel - I use round plastic sweet boxes . i.e 'Celebrations', etc.

Thank you, the printer I got came with an AMS2 PRO, which is an airtight multi reel heated dispenser for the printer. I tried heating up the filament but it just made it brittle instead of taking the moisture out. Those old reels have gone in the bin. Not making that mistake again!

New filament to arrive in two weeks time to start printing again after the repair.

[GAP]

could be the worn bed or the old PLA.

Ahhh... could well be old PLA in that case. PLA is hygroscopic and picks up moisture very easily and if it gets damp it causes all sorts of problems. I noticed a lot of stringing in an earlier picture, that could be the same cause. Unles you are going to print again very quickly its a good idea to take it off the machine and store the reel in a reasonably airtight container with some silica gel - I use round plastic sweet boxes . i.e 'Celebrations', etc.

Thank you, the printer I got came with an AMS2 PRO, which is an airtight multi reel heated dispenser for the printer. I tried heating up the filament but it just made it brittle instead of taking the moisture out. Those old reels have gone in the bin. Not making that mistake again!

New filament to arrive in two weeks time to start printing again after the repair.

I had issues with wet filament till I started to store my filament in sealed containers with dehumidifier boxes in them, they use calcium chloride in which It soaks up to 600% of its weight in water compared to silica gel which holds up to 40% of its weight. Since using them my wet filament issues are virtually nil.
I found the boxes work better for me in my high humidity environment.
I have 2 DIY dry boxes made from food storage containers that use them.

With rewind mod

The dehumidifer packs
https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/prod ... all-spaces
Rickey Impy has a lot of videos that are really informative.

[ge_rik]

That's really useful info, thanks Graeme.
Such a simple solution.

Rik

[Lonsdaler]

I'm loving your progress so far. Do you have plans to add sidings and passing loops? The biggest regret I had on my original GWLR railway was not including sufficient space for stock and areas where trains could pass. Looking forward to seeing the progress of your line.

[nlc1072]

I'm loving your progress so far. Do you have plans to add sidings and passing loops? The biggest regret I had on my original GWLR railway was not including sufficient space for stock and areas where trains could pass. Looking forward to seeing the progress of your line.

Thank you!

I got 40 more bricks and laid about 25 of them, mixing some narrower soap bar bricks with the larger ones.
The left over large bricks I shall use to make tunnel on the right hand side where the concrete fence finishes.

The plan for passing loops etc is to have it run through a shed near the house on the R2 corner, and immediately outside the shed have a passing loop and head shunt for a station.

The gaps on the curves in the brick I plan on filling with concrete later once I am happy with where everything is, then laying a suitable sharp edged ballast.

I have just bought a book on suitable plants for a garden railway, and I am also considering a water feature of sorts.

In other good news I have repaired the printer somewhat, new build plate and a new extruder sensor and it's printing like new again! I got it at half the price of a new one plus a free AMS2 Pro so it was still a brilliant deal. It came without the glass lid, which I have also replaced. I reckon the last owner got angry and shattered it when their poor repairs kept failing, and they really did try to repair it without replacement parts... a lot...

The old owner of the printer seems to of had it apart and screws are missing here and there, I have made do and it all holds together just fine now.

It needs a new extruder cable chain and base, but that can wait a while.

Surprised it came in the mail so fast from Germany before I go away this Sunday, so we're ahead of schedule so to speak.

[GAP]

From personal experience I highly recommend some form of edging along the track to;
1. Keep the ballast in place and
2. keep the lawn from growing over the track
Down here we can get cheap plastic edging in rolls from the garden centres with pegs and believe me for the cost, the time saved from weeding out lawn from the tracks an edge will be worth it. I used old terracota roof tiles (got 5 trailer loads for $50 from a house demolition place) for the edge and crushed ones for ballast.

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[ge_rik]

I force concrete into the gaps between the blocks to prevent weeds from filling them. I use rubber glove clad fingers rather than any sophisticated tools.

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Rik