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Custom/Modified track capabilities

Started by Mike from CT, July 12, 2013, 11:31:34 PM

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Mike from CT

There are times when decreasing the overall length of a turnout or crossing is too long (see attached using two Peco N scale Code 55 10° crossings) and needs to be trimmed.  It'd be nice to be able to actually trim these tracks (at planner's risk) to make the connection.

I only suggest this because I know you have nothing else on your plate at the moment ( ;) ) but it has been something I could have used more than once.

And, while you're at it......

A personal custom track library (for things like properly spaced ladders)?  Right now, I keep mine in a separate .any file and that works fine, but if the above trim-a-track is possible, since we need a place to store those.... ::)

Jeff

Mike,

Since I agree wholly with the end result, I cannot complain about your reasoning. However, I am forced to say that every use of a tool that let's you carve commercial sectional track items into little bits should, at the least, be accompanied by a huge warning, in red, saying that the user is an idiot and anything untoward that happens to cause harm is richly deserved ( :+).

That said, I've got my own uses for it and would like to see it rolled out no later than next week. Oh, well. Now that I've got that out of my system, I have a question: how do you propose to keep this tool from cutting a bit too close to the quick, as it were? I'd hate to, for instance, chop off the end of a guard rail or a frog!
Later,                                                AnyRail Fanatic
Jeff                      and Unofficial Guy Who Knows Almost Everything About It

Mike from CT

#2
Quote from: Jeff on July 13, 2013, 01:54:13 AM

<snip>

That said, I've got my own uses for it and would like to see it rolled out no later than next week. Oh, well. Now that I've got that out of my system, I have a question: how do you propose to keep this tool from cutting a bit too close to the quick, as it were? I'd hate to, for instance, chop off the end of a guard rail or a frog!

Actually, in the example I gave, it's inevitable that I would have to cut through the guard rails - but I wouldn't cut the price perpendicular to the rail; rather I'd cut it at an angle  most like parallel to the rails I'm not cutting.  If I'm truly clever, I'll actually place and secure one crossing over the other and let my cutting wheel cut them both at once.  When it comes to trimming a turnout, I'm going to be measuring on the actual turnout before I trim my AnyRail version.

AnyRail doesn't "recognize" that kind of cut and that's no more of a problem (i.e. none at all) than when one curves a piece of flex, one has to trim one rail more than the other.  AnyRail lets me plan *what* I can do, not *how* I have to do it.  It doesn't come close to telling me where I'll end up cutting (or not cutting) track.

(BTW, I agree it's *my* problem if I tell it to make a cut that just won't work in the real world.)

Jeff

Ok, I see what you're after. I was wondering- if we draw a line through offset-stacked parts (like your crossings), and you print that part of the plan at 1:1, will AR print the line? See, if you draw the line where you want to make the cut and it prints the stacked parts and the line, at least you would have a cutting guide.
Later,                                                AnyRail Fanatic
Jeff                      and Unofficial Guy Who Knows Almost Everything About It