It is so satisfying when a project works out perfectly, as this one does. I am completely satisfied both with this track cleaning car, and the project that built it. Not sure how long it will last but I can flip it over and use the other side when it is worn, and I have more if and when. At a scale 40 mph, that meant running it for about an hour and a half to fully clean and polish my Mainline #1, which is 135 feet around. It takes about thirty passes to clean visibly cloudy track to shiny new, and I ran it for fifty to get the track really shiny. This car works well but creates a lot of drag – as much as a long train, so I use a pair of Lionchief Plus SD60s – heavy, two motor diesels – to pull it. The weight bin holds 1.5 lbs of wheel weights, which does a good job of really pressing it down on the track. (After these photos were taken I painted all those white pieces flat black so they disappear from view when the car is operating). The next few photos show the car disassembled, with the modifications made of white styrene. A guide tube in the bottom of the car keeps the eraser steadied and flat against the track surfaces. The car holds the weight bin and keeps it centered on and atop a plunger while that weight really pushes that Brightboy eraser onto the track. A lot of weight held in a weight bin – one and a half pounds – pushes down on a plunger that is holding a Brightboy eraser flat on the track. The car is simple in concept and operation and not difficult to make. I wasn’t and am still not sure if that matters, but I decided not to take a chance when I set out to make this car. I used an MTH ore car because of all the different ones I had, it had the tightest, smoothest swiveling trucks and by far lowest friction wheel bearings. I think any O-Gauge ore car would work as well in this application. The car below is a track cleaning car I made from an MTH ore car that applies a Brightboy eraser twith “a lot of elbow grease.” It works well. That takes a lot of time and, ugh, elbow grease, which is always in short supply at my home. But I can always make the track cleaner and shinier if I go ahead and clean it by hand with a track cleaning eraser like a Walther Brightboy, using a lot of elbow grease. All use a wet or dry pad to clean the track, and they do an adequate job. Klingspor Flexible Abrasive Block - Fine Klingspor Flexible Abrasive Block - Fine Product Code: KLI-13803 Zoom Tags Klingspor 13. Here's a nice writeup about cleaver technique that might help also.I have three commercially made track cleaning cars. I'd recommend setting the primary bevels to your liking, and then going up to a medium grit (I leave mine at around 1-2k). The blade is probably as thin as you will find in a knife, so thinning is not necessary, but it does benefit from a full initial sharpening out of the box. Additionally the knife feels much more comfortable with some easing/rounding of the spine choil areas. There was a bit of gap in the ferrule where the tang enters, which I filled with epoxy to keep water out. The grind is not the most consistent, with unevenness and low spots in areas. It's since been straightened, but even without, it still worked perfectly fine. I actually used it for about a year before realizing. The one I bought from a local restaurant store several years ago came majorly warped. This is not to say that the CCK is perfect. Also doesnt break the bank at less than the cost of your typical entry level J-knife. The steel is simple carbon which doesnt have the best edge retention, but sharpens up with little effort. So for a compact 210mm length knife, you get the thinness of a "laser", mass of a "workhorse" 240 to help move through food, plenty of finger clearance, plenty of relatively flat spot, a usable tip (compared to a nakiri), and the knife also functions as a scooper for moving around product. In terms of cleavers, the CCK 13xx is pretty lightweight at around 260g.
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