Steve Cook
Flying Squad
I need to send you some cuttings from one of mine - I left it growing after dismantling the old railway as it was the first plant I planted, now there are bits of it down on Simons line too, got to keep it spreading out 
Steve
Steve
JimG
Western Thunderer
I've at last got round to working in the garden again. My main problem earlier in the year was that with the dry winter we had had, the heavy clay soil was like concrete and very difficult to work. Then the rains came and it became too soggy to work easily. So it was a matter of waiting for a bit to let it settle down to a reasonably nice state to work. First I tidied up the west part of the oval ready to to prepare for a path round the outside and a bit of turf laying in the inside.
The next part to work on was the east side of the garden round the apple tree. This would be the area for the steaming bay and one part of the triangular junction to the terminus.
...which had started to ressemble a jungle again. The spade is leaning up against the apple tree and it has just been used to transplant a large clump of day lilies to another part of the garden - the lilies coming from the disturbed patch in the centre of the picture.
The view from the other side didn't look much better.
...but today we are ready to start putting posts in. The moved day lilies are on the left and they seemed to have survived their move so far. The weather tomorrow looks to be cloudy bright with rain in the evening, so I'm hoping to get a few posts in.
However, I still have to work out the positions of the posts and that will be done on the drawing in AutoCAD. The position of the apple tree is the two small round red markers just inside the track of the steaming bay - the trunk of the tree splits and I had to show both parts to make sure I didn't foul with anything. The larger circles on the track drawing top right is me working out the lengths of the baseboard segments so that they are just under four foot long and can be cut from across an 8' x 4' sheet.
Jim.
The next part to work on was the east side of the garden round the apple tree. This would be the area for the steaming bay and one part of the triangular junction to the terminus.
...which had started to ressemble a jungle again.
The spade is leaning up against the apple tree and it has just been used to transplant a large clump of day lilies to another part of the garden - the lilies coming from the disturbed patch in the centre of the picture. The view from the other side didn't look much better.
...but today we are ready to start putting posts in.
The moved day lilies are on the left and they seemed to have survived their move so far. The weather tomorrow looks to be cloudy bright with rain in the evening, so I'm hoping to get a few posts in. However, I still have to work out the positions of the posts and that will be done on the drawing in AutoCAD. The position of the apple tree is the two small round red markers just inside the track of the steaming bay - the trunk of the tree splits and I had to show both parts to make sure I didn't foul with anything. The larger circles on the track drawing top right is me working out the lengths of the baseboard segments so that they are just under four foot long and can be cut from across an 8' x 4' sheet.
Jim.
JimG
Western Thunderer
I took the opportunity of good weather today to start a bit more construction work in the garden. I printed out part of the plan of the baseboards and supports and clipped it to my old Rotring drawing tablet as an aide memoire of measurements.
I use the distance measurement in AutoCAD LT to give all the distances between the various key points - mainly post centres. AutoCAD gives the dimensions to three decimal places in millimetres but I'm rounding them down to whole numbers until I get a vernier attachment for the spade.
...and a closer shot of my scribbled figures on the plan.
I also got the water level set up again and double checked it with one of the posts set up last year. I had stored it in the garage over the winter with corks in the ends to keep the water in. But the water seemed to have grown a life of its own so I flushed it out and re-filled with fresh.
I opted to start at the southern, or house, side of the layout I had to start with the second post from the existing posts since the tree in the middle of the garden gets in the way of the measuring lath from the post in the middle of the garden. So here the lath is set round for the second post, also triangulated from one of the existing posts. A plumb line is used to mark the centre on the ground for digging the hole for the post.
Moving on, the second post has been set in place and Postcrete filled around it. The water level is used to set the post top about 5mm below the underside of the baseboard top so that there will be no danger of the posts getting in the way of adjusting the baseboard levels. The centre for the first post had been drilled in the lath between posts and the plumb line is in place to mark its centre.
...and a while later, the first post is in place with its level checked and Postcrete poured around it.
...and the two posts in situ with all the clobber cleared away.
I had hoped to get more done today but I had underestimated the time it took to dig the holes for the posts. This garden has about two inches of top soil then a mix of heavy clay and rubble underneath that, so digging the holes finishes up with me on my knees with a lump hammer and a jemmy to batter my way down to a reasonably depth of hole, and not to mention the tree roots.
The weather tomorrow is not going to be good, so it looks as though it will be Thursday before I break sweat again.
Jim.
I use the distance measurement in AutoCAD LT to give all the distances between the various key points - mainly post centres. AutoCAD gives the dimensions to three decimal places in millimetres but I'm rounding them down to whole numbers until I get a vernier attachment for the spade.
...and a closer shot of my scribbled figures on the plan.
I also got the water level set up again and double checked it with one of the posts set up last year. I had stored it in the garage over the winter with corks in the ends to keep the water in. But the water seemed to have grown a life of its own so I flushed it out and re-filled with fresh.
I opted to start at the southern, or house, side of the layout I had to start with the second post from the existing posts since the tree in the middle of the garden gets in the way of the measuring lath from the post in the middle of the garden. So here the lath is set round for the second post, also triangulated from one of the existing posts. A plumb line is used to mark the centre on the ground for digging the hole for the post.
Moving on, the second post has been set in place and Postcrete filled around it. The water level is used to set the post top about 5mm below the underside of the baseboard top so that there will be no danger of the posts getting in the way of adjusting the baseboard levels. The centre for the first post had been drilled in the lath between posts and the plumb line is in place to mark its centre.
...and a while later, the first post is in place with its level checked and Postcrete poured around it.
...and the two posts in situ with all the clobber cleared away.
I had hoped to get more done today but I had underestimated the time it took to dig the holes for the posts. This garden has about two inches of top soil then a mix of heavy clay and rubble underneath that, so digging the holes finishes up with me on my knees with a lump hammer and a jemmy to batter my way down to a reasonably depth of hole, and not to mention the tree roots.
The weather tomorrow is not going to be good, so it looks as though it will be Thursday before I break sweat again.
Jim.
Les Golledge
Active Member
I had hoped to get more done today but I had underestimated the time it took to dig the holes for the posts. This garden has about two inches of top soil then a mix of heavy clay and rubble underneath that, so digging the holes finishes up with me on my knees with a lump hammer and a jemmy to batter my way down to a reasonably depth of hole, and not to mention the tree roots.
The weather tomorrow is not going to be good, so it looks as though it will be Thursday before I break sweat again.
Jim.[/QUOTE]
Hi Jim,
For digging in your soil type when building an extension to my house we had to hand dig so we used my SDS drill with a spade type chisel bit, this broke up the soil nicely which made for easy removal. If the hole is too small to take a chisel bit I do wonder if a masonary drill bit would work in helping to break up the soil, probably the larger the better.
Best wishes,
Les.
The weather tomorrow is not going to be good, so it looks as though it will be Thursday before I break sweat again.
Jim.[/QUOTE]
Hi Jim,
For digging in your soil type when building an extension to my house we had to hand dig so we used my SDS drill with a spade type chisel bit, this broke up the soil nicely which made for easy removal. If the hole is too small to take a chisel bit I do wonder if a masonary drill bit would work in helping to break up the soil, probably the larger the better.
Best wishes,
Les.
JimG
Western Thunderer
Les,
I remember when working in my school holidays as a labourer in the plumbers' shop in the local distillery that a tool of choice was a Kanga hammer for belting holes in anything that didn't move.
It looks as though your SDS drill does something similar and I could make good use of one for my sub soil manoeuvres if I could find one to beg, borrow or steal. But the model railway budget is assigned to things like plywood and wood to go on top of the posts so the lump hammer and jemmy will still be the level of technology applied to the task. The physical effort will probably limit the expansion of my waist line which will be a good thing. Jim.
Les Golledge
Active Member
Hi Jim,Les,
I remember when working in my school holidays as a labourer in the plumbers' shop in the local distillery that a tool of choice was a Kanga hammer for belting holes in anything that didn't move.
Jim.
An SDS drill works like a small Kanga hammer but also has rotary action with or without hammer action. It would be useful to dig the top 6-8" of the hole, it would be worth borrowing one, as for exercise they are fairly heavy so require some muscle to lift.
This page from Hombase will give you an idea of what they are like:- Search Results
Best wishes,
Les.
oldravendale
Western Thunderer
I had a Bosch SDS drill which had an option to use just as a percussion drill, ie with no rotation of the bit. I've had it for years and it's channeled out no end of wiring runs in brick and was the fastest thing I'd ever used to drill holes in concrete/brick/insert medium here. I tried to use it about a month ago to break up some concrete. I just bought a Makita. Don't ask why.....
But basically, I couldn't manage without an SDS drill. They save hours if used correctly.
Seriously, SDS drills are intended for light percussion work only. I reckon it'd be good on subsoil and removing ballast from the garden, but don't try to break up concrete.
Brian
But basically, I couldn't manage without an SDS drill. They save hours if used correctly.
Seriously, SDS drills are intended for light percussion work only. I reckon it'd be good on subsoil and removing ballast from the garden, but don't try to break up concrete.
Brian
ceejaydee
Western Thunderer
You don't realise how much hard work using a hammer drill is putting holes into brick and concrete until you try an SDS or SDS+ drill.
I have a couple - a large 5kg and a smaller one around 2.5kg.
Lidl had a cracking one a few weeks ago for just £40 with a 3 year warranty!
Mind you for post holes, hard subsoil, digging out roots etc. you might want to get yourself a Newcastle Drainer shovel - I use a Spear & Jackson all steel type.
I have a couple - a large 5kg and a smaller one around 2.5kg.
Lidl had a cracking one a few weeks ago for just £40 with a 3 year warranty!
Mind you for post holes, hard subsoil, digging out roots etc. you might want to get yourself a Newcastle Drainer shovel - I use a Spear & Jackson all steel type.
oldravendale
Western Thunderer
Ah yes, I'm reminded. Both mine have been/are SDS+, which is probably why they have the non-rotating bit option.
B
B
JimG
Western Thunderer
We got some dry weather down Bristol way yesterday, so activity re-started in the garden...
...so another four down, seven to go on this section around the apple tree.
The ground was a bit easier to dig for the posts so the process went a bit quicker this time round. Tree roots were the main problem rather than rubble. I might get another four in today before the rain comes - forecast to arrive early afternoon.
Jim.
...so another four down, seven to go on this section around the apple tree.
The ground was a bit easier to dig for the posts so the process went a bit quicker this time round. Tree roots were the main problem rather than rubble. I might get another four in today before the rain comes - forecast to arrive early afternoon.
Jim.
JimG
Western Thunderer
More work got done today.
I started at the other end of the apple tree area with the intention of building towards the other posts to allow for any slight adjustments necessary when they meet. The picture shows the inner post being "planted" beside the outer post which has been "planted" last year.
The hole for the inner post had actually been dug last week but I checked the measurement to the outer post and found it was over 50mm out. I then checked all the posts round the northern semi-circle to find that they were all out by the same amount. The penny dropped - the measurement should have been 3471mm radius and was closer to 3417mm. It looked as though I had swapped the last two digits when measuring the centres on the beam I had used last year to set these posts out.
So it was back to AutoCAD and Templot. I redrew the the drawing of the baseboard supports to reflect actuality in the garden, then imported that back into Templot under the track plan and re-jigged the track on the northern curve to suit the altered position of the posts, then re-imported the modified trackplan back into the CAD program again. That work took a fair part of the weekend since I was fighting a limit within Templot on the size of DXF file I could import so there was a lot of messing around until I worked how I could get round the problem.
And at close of play today, another five posts in and only two to go to finish off the apple tree area. Digging the holes has been a good bit easier in this area which made the process a lot quicker. There's still a bit of belting a crowbar with a lump hammer, but nowhere near as much as for the holes done last week. The weather looks as though it will be OK tomorrow, so I should get the last two posts in.
Jim.
I started at the other end of the apple tree area with the intention of building towards the other posts to allow for any slight adjustments necessary when they meet. The picture shows the inner post being "planted" beside the outer post which has been "planted" last year.
The hole for the inner post had actually been dug last week but I checked the measurement to the outer post and found it was over 50mm out. I then checked all the posts round the northern semi-circle to find that they were all out by the same amount. The penny dropped - the measurement should have been 3471mm radius and was closer to 3417mm. It looked as though I had swapped the last two digits when measuring the centres on the beam I had used last year to set these posts out.
So it was back to AutoCAD and Templot. I redrew the the drawing of the baseboard supports to reflect actuality in the garden, then imported that back into Templot under the track plan and re-jigged the track on the northern curve to suit the altered position of the posts, then re-imported the modified trackplan back into the CAD program again. That work took a fair part of the weekend since I was fighting a limit within Templot on the size of DXF file I could import so there was a lot of messing around until I worked how I could get round the problem.
And at close of play today, another five posts in and only two to go to finish off the apple tree area. Digging the holes has been a good bit easier in this area which made the process a lot quicker. There's still a bit of belting a crowbar with a lump hammer, but nowhere near as much as for the holes done last week. The weather looks as though it will be OK tomorrow, so I should get the last two posts in.
Jim.
martin_wynne
Western Thunderer
Hi Jim,
Can your CAD system export metafiles? (EMF/WMF format, EMF preferred). Most CAD systems can. It may be under export an image rather than save as.
If so you can import them with no size limit onto the Templot sketchboard, and then display sketchboard items on the trackpad background in the same way as DXF in the background shapes. You would get a much more detailed import from metafiles than the imported DXF files.
You need to first start the sketchboard with your trackplan on it so that the sketchboard page size is scaled to match. Use the boundary rectangle option to set it large enough for your garden.
Then add item > image > metafile image. Drag it out, and then adjust it to exact size and position using the modify tab. It would help to put a rectangle round it of a known size in the CAD program.
You can set it to a larger size than the sketchboard page size, but the overlap won't appear on the trackpad, hence using the initial larger boundary rectangle.
I'm sorry the rather primitive original background shapes function is limited to 30,000 shapes in the DXF import. That seems a lot, until you find that curves are imported as a series of short straight lines. I intended that the sketchboard functions would replace the background shapes, although at present the two are running side by side because the picture shapes are better for map screenshots -- more on those in the next update shortly.
As a secondary question, what are you doing in the CAD system that you can't do in Templot? You can add target marks for your posts, print trackbed edges along your tracks, etc. You can use dummy track templates (set centre-line only) as all sorts of construction lines, intersects, etc. If there is some specific need which your CAD system provides which Templot doesn't, I would like to add it if possible.
regards,
Martin.
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JimG
Western Thunderer
Martin,
My problem was re-importing the CAD file back into Templot. I was only wanting to re-import the layers with the support posts and trig points data but hadn't twigged that AutoCADLT exports everything in a DXF although the active layers are all that is displayed. So all the other bits and pieces and the Templot track elements were going in the DXF file as well and bringing up the limit error in the Templot DXF import. In fact my slightly ancient copy of LT (2006) refused to generate an ASCII R12 DXF file and I had to use Draftsight. I got round it by making a temporary file with all the unwanted stuff deleted to create the DXF.
As for doing everything in Templot, I've got so used to doing all my drawing in AutoCAD LT, and now Draftsight as well, that I would probably still use them even if Templot had more CAD facilities. I do that with Cut2D which I use to produce files for the CNC mill. The latest Cut2D version has a lot of CAD utilities included but I still prefer to do it all in LT and import the DWG file into Cut2D.. Old dog and new tricks springs to mind.
Jim.
My problem was re-importing the CAD file back into Templot. I was only wanting to re-import the layers with the support posts and trig points data but hadn't twigged that AutoCADLT exports everything in a DXF although the active layers are all that is displayed. So all the other bits and pieces and the Templot track elements were going in the DXF file as well and bringing up the limit error in the Templot DXF import. In fact my slightly ancient copy of LT (2006) refused to generate an ASCII R12 DXF file and I had to use Draftsight. I got round it by making a temporary file with all the unwanted stuff deleted to create the DXF.
As for doing everything in Templot, I've got so used to doing all my drawing in AutoCAD LT, and now Draftsight as well, that I would probably still use them even if Templot had more CAD facilities. I do that with Cut2D which I use to produce files for the CNC mill. The latest Cut2D version has a lot of CAD utilities included but I still prefer to do it all in LT and import the DWG file into Cut2D.
. Old dog and new tricks springs to mind. Jim.
martin_wynne
Western Thunderer
Hi Jim,
Thanks for the reply.
My point was that you didn't need to use a DXF file or worry about creating an R12 text version. If you exported an EMF or WMF file instead, you could have got it all into Templot without any limits. At least in theory -- I can't say for sure without seeing the EMF file, but it all works fine for my EMF files.
I understand about preferring old familiar software. I have a few programs like that myself, going back to stuff I originally used on Windows 95. Full marks to Microsoft for allowing such legacy software to run on Windows 10 -- you can't say the same for Apple stuff. Let's hope Microsoft don't lose sight of their old EMF and WMF metafile formats as the whole world shifts to PDF instead.
regards,
Martin.
JimG
Western Thunderer
Fairly good weather again today although it felt as though it might rain on a few occasions - but it never did.
The last two posts in the middle of the apple tree area have been "planted" and also one single post which is the start of the support for one leg of the "Y" to the station baseboards. This single post was referenced from a mid-point between the two trig marks on the wall and the post nearest it. I couldn't believe it but when I measured up to place the two posts next to the apple tree the measurement was pretty well spot on - certainly +/- 1mm. There appears to be a plethora of Postcrete bags but I took the opportunity to use up a lot of small amounts left over from previous work. The holes I dig use up a bit under one bag of Postcrete so I had amassed a good few nearly empty ones.
The scene all tidied up apart from the piles of earth after the hole excavations. But I can now go ahead and finish off the path behind the layout now that I know where the baseboard is going to be. I'll use the earth to build up a border along the wall for some future planting. I suspect that the shrubbery next to the apple tree will have to go to be replace with something that takes up less room.
The post work is not quite finished since I have to fill them all with concrete and I'll try and get that done over the weekend.
Jim.
The last two posts in the middle of the apple tree area have been "planted" and also one single post which is the start of the support for one leg of the "Y" to the station baseboards. This single post was referenced from a mid-point between the two trig marks on the wall and the post nearest it. I couldn't believe it but when I measured up to place the two posts next to the apple tree the measurement was pretty well spot on - certainly +/- 1mm.
There appears to be a plethora of Postcrete bags but I took the opportunity to use up a lot of small amounts left over from previous work. The holes I dig use up a bit under one bag of Postcrete so I had amassed a good few nearly empty ones. The scene all tidied up apart from the piles of earth after the hole excavations. But I can now go ahead and finish off the path behind the layout now that I know where the baseboard is going to be. I'll use the earth to build up a border along the wall for some future planting. I suspect that the shrubbery next to the apple tree will have to go to be replace with something that takes up less room.
The post work is not quite finished since I have to fill them all with concrete and I'll try and get that done over the weekend.
Jim.
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JimG
Western Thunderer
Martin,
I've just checked and my older version of AutoCAD LT will export only .WMF and the current version of Draftsight will export both .WMF and .EMF. So I'll give those types a try out next time I'm sending stuff to Templot.
Jim.
martin_wynne
Western Thunderer
Hi Jim,
Without interrupting this topic too much more, here is a quick screenshot showing how to do that:
Alternatively you can load metafiles into an ordinary picture shape:
Martin.
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JimG
Western Thunderer
The good weather over the bank holiday weekend meant that the ground has got into quite a good condition for working on it.
So I took a break from track supports and started my yellow brick road - well B&Q's small concrete slabs. I haven't made life easy for myself since the path is being laid on a gentle slope to match the very slight gradient across the lawn. I want to get this access path to the outside of the layout in place before much more happens with the baseboards and track. Rain is forecast for tomorrow so I probably won't get any more done until the weekend - so more work on the coaches until then.
Jim.
So I took a break from track supports and started my yellow brick road - well B&Q's small concrete slabs.
I haven't made life easy for myself since the path is being laid on a gentle slope to match the very slight gradient across the lawn. I want to get this access path to the outside of the layout in place before much more happens with the baseboards and track. Rain is forecast for tomorrow so I probably won't get any more done until the weekend - so more work on the coaches until then. Jim.