[Ted Doskaris]

"...So, did Aristo Craft make a 8 ft switch at one time?"

No,

-Ted

 

[Ted Doskaris]

Posted By NYC Buff on 21 Jan 2014 02:25 PM
SNIP
Aristo-Craft made 3 switches 1) 8 ft. diameter 2) wide radius [10 ft. diameter] and 3) #6.
SNIP

Respectfully,

NYC Buff
Can anyone identify the Aristo-Craft part number for the cited "1) 8 ft. diameter" switch?

Thank you,

-Ted

 

[Ted Doskaris]

I agree with Garratt (Andrew) and think the Aristo Turnout cited as 8 foot was wrongly identified and is actually about 4 foot diameter for its turnout path.
Also, note the part numbers on the box end for the various offerings for this basic switch.

-Ted

 

[Ted Doskaris]

Andrew,
I agree with you. The reason for my response was in reply to "NYC Buff", since he stated: "Aristo-Craft made 3 switches 1) 8 ft. diameter 2) wide radius [10 ft. diameter] and 3) #6."
After which Dick stated "what is a ART-11200"
Thus, it seems the ART-11200 was mistakenly considered as an 8 foot diameter switch track.

-Ted

 

[Ted Doskaris]

Posted By rlvette on 23 Jan 2014 09:59 AM
I'm not sure where the Wide Turnout and X wide came from, but when I went looking for 8 foot dia turn outs from Aristo Craft, I was told they didn't make them in 8 foot but that their 10 foot turnouts were close enough that they would work. So I bought them and they do work with 8 foot Aristo Craft curve sectional track. Allowing for the fudge factor used in Aristo Crafts dia determinations, the wide / wide X switches should work well with either diameter curve you're using, unless you are expecting perfection.
Randy, comparing the Aristo WR turnout to both 10 foot and 8 foot Aristo track sections, it looks like the WR turnout is close to the 8 foot curvature with the 8 foot only slightly tighter.
Given that, it's my experience when making a complete 360 degree circle of connected track sections, the diameter becomes slightly less when compared to stand alone track sections - probably owing to a "memory" effect during the factory rail bending process that tends to "spring-out" the track.

-Ted

 

[Ted Doskaris]

Having debugged / modified an Aristo Stainless Steel Wide Radius (10 foot dia.) switch track, I tried testing it as a section within an foot circle of track. It's hard to tell it being a mismatch except for a gap where the rails butt - some of which owing to the rail placement tolerance of the turnout itself.

See Video:



-Ted

 

[Ted Doskaris]

Thank you Andrew,

In actuality, the gap at the turnout would not be as pronounced as shown in the video for a few reasons if I took the time to do some fine adjustments:

The straight rail in the turnout itself is not "squared-up" with the curved rail. If I corrected this the gap would be reduced about 1/3.
The Aristo 8 foot diameter circle of track surrounding the turnout has a few gaps in some of its section's rails that I did not take the time to correct. (Rail connections are butted togehter for either inboard or outboard rails.)
My experience with Aristo pre-bent track sections is that they tend to spring out a bit until they are all connected in a complete circle. Therefore, the un-sprung sections diameter is slightly greater than when all are connected together.

Spending time to do some tweaking would make the turnout in the whole 8 foot diameter circle look much better.
That said, I don't intend to actually use the WR turnout in an 8 foot circle. I used the 8 foot circle for testing of the turnout only. I did use 3 WR turnouts in a 10 foot diameter circle.


As to the difference in length of the turnout's diverging path compared to an 8 foot dia. track section:

The curved path of the WR turnout is a bit more than 1/4 inch longer than an 8 foot track section.

-Ted