# From CAD to Track



## ripacheco (Jan 16, 2016)

Ok... this is an unexpectedly hard thing to do... I have my laboriously drawn CAD layout ready and printed 1:1 scale.
I need to cut the under-bedtracks (3" wide) for the tracks that are at a higher level 
I need to mark where the bench-level tracks are going to be...

how do i transfer this from the paper to the plywood?
Do i cut the paper and glue it in? ( i do that on model airplanes )
do i redraw it with pencil?
what u guys do?










http://www.modeltrainforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=149585&d=1456165433


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## Lemonhawk (Sep 24, 2013)

why not just paste the paper to the plywood and leave it there? It can be covered with scenery later


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## wingnut163 (Jan 3, 2013)

are you putting the track on to ply wood??

no sound profiting?


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## ripacheco (Jan 16, 2016)

wingnut163 said:


> are you putting the track on to ply wood??
> 
> no sound profiting?


cork bed then the track. no 1" foam as initially planned


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## ripacheco (Jan 16, 2016)

Lemonhawk said:


> why not just paste the paper to the plywood and leave it there? It can be covered with scenery later


thinking serious about doing that for sure... just wanted to know if there was something better than that


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## bluenavigator (Aug 30, 2015)

Of course, put the insulation foam on the table then cut the printout and place them on the foam. To make them to stick to the insulation, you can use anything like rubber cement so you can move them around a bit. Then lay the cork bed along the printed tracks. That is what I would do.


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## MtRR75 (Nov 27, 2013)

You have got to some over and under tracks to deal with. You needs set up your elevations before laying cork. Not my area of expertise (my layout is flat). Hopefully someone will address this issue for you.


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

My 1:1 printouts included the center-line.

Also my layout surface was 2" foam.

I attached the printouts with tape and then used a T-pin to poke holes into the foam, along the center-line, every 1/2" or so.

Worked a treat.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

I know you're a big CAD guy, and having read a lot of your other posts, my approach may make absolutely no sense to you, but here is what I do to get from paper plan to layout. My personal experience is that so called "cookie cutter" layout surfaces are a heck of a lot more trouble than they're worth (and I mean for me personally, your mileage may vary).

First, print a plan in 1/6 scale (thus 2" on the plan = 1 real life foot). Overlay it with a scale 6" grid. There is nothing magic about this scale, it's just a good compromise between being too big to work with and to small to see.

Cover the layout area with 2" insulating foam. This allows you to work BELOW the level of the track when you do scenery. Using a fine point felt tip (a hard tip will mar the foam) and a long straight edge (I have a circular saw cutting guide that is 8' long and dead straight) duplicate the 6" grid on the layout surface. Accuracy counts, but not neatness. Any stray marks will be covered by scenery.

Locate the beginning and end of all grades using the grid. Create the subgrade using the material of your choice (I like Woodland Scenics incline starters in conjunction with 1" insulating foam). Using the pen, straight edge, and a trammel, draw in the track centerline. I find it easiest to start with a long straight segment somewhere close to the edge and lay everything proportional to that. Take the time to double and triple check your work; this step is critical to trouble free trackwork -- you don't need to be DOBA (dead on... accurate), but you need to be close. Once you paint your surface, none of this will show.

Split your roadbed down the center and lay it up against the centerline you just drew (I use adhesive latex caulk to fasten it down). Once the roadbed is down, drill any holes you need for feeder wires, switch machines, etc. I also actually install the switch machines at this time, leaving the wire protruding through the layout.

Now I can lay my track, again using the straight edge and trammel to avoid kinks and the seam between the two pieces of roadbed as a guide. The only place a high degree of accuracy is centering the turnouts over the switch machines, ensuring the wire protrudes through the hole in the throw bar. It helps to lay turnouts down first, then install the adjacent track (not ALL turnouts first, just make sure the turnout is in place before attempting to connect things up). I spread a thin layer of adhesive caulk (a 1/8" bead, smeared out with one of those fake credit cards you get in the mail), and place the track into that. The working time is long enough that you can adjust things a little if you need to. Always measure and cut flex track to the actual space on your layout, not to the drawing. This will enable you to compensate for any slight inaccuracies in laying out your track centerline. The only place you can really go wrong here is in making the radius on a curve tighter than your minimum. If you find yourself doing this, go back and rework. Track does NOT need to be in the exact center of the roadbed. If it's a little off, the ballast will hide it.

Do I achieve a perfect, micrometrically precise duplicate of my track plan? Probably not. Do I get a layout that is essentially the same as the plan, but that may be off in a couple minor spots, but has very smooth flow to the track? Yes, I do.

I realize that's rather long winded... but it works for me, and maybe approaching it from a different angle will give you the results you need.


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## Mark VerMurlen (Aug 15, 2015)

I posted this in your layout thread already, but it may help others to post it here too.

What I did was buy some carbon paper from an office supply store like Office Depot. Then put it between your template and the plywood, spread out of course. Then I used an old dull pizza cutter and rolled it along the lines I wanted to transfer. Worked great for me.

Mark


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## ripacheco (Jan 16, 2016)

CTValleyRR said:


> ...Cover the layout area with 2" insulating foam...


Ahhh... I've been agonizing over this as well. I was planning to just use plywood for the under-trackbed, cork for the trackbed and foam only to fill spaces here and there. the tables already have ply on top.

I see your point that 2" foam adds another degree of freedom to make scenery though...


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## ripacheco (Jan 16, 2016)

Mark VerMurlen said:


> I posted this in your layout thread already, but it may help others to post it here too.
> 
> What I did was buy some carbon paper from an office supply store like Office Depot. Then put it between your template and the plywood, spread out of course. Then I used an old dull pizza cutter and rolled it along the lines I wanted to transfer. Worked great for me.
> 
> Mark


That is a good idea... i think they have a colored-paper that is used by seemstresses to transfer clothing patterns to fabric... it comes in bigger sheets than the old carbon-paper...


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## bluenavigator (Aug 30, 2015)

Any process on this? Been a while since I had seen the pix with long print out.


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## redman88 (Nov 25, 2015)

Get one of these tools 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00L...14&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=perforator


Some of this chalk and put it in an old sock 
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000...11&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=chalk+line

Use the tool to follow the centerline of your rail road then tap along that centerline with the chalk bag. Pull the paper up and redo the chalk line with permanent marker.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Even though the OP hasn't been back in several months, redman's suggestion just shows how many different -- and effective -- ways there are to do this!


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## santafealltheway (Nov 27, 2012)

I think i would just plop down a bunch of thumb tacks, out lining the center line. then when you remove the paper, you can draw a line between them.


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## bluenavigator (Aug 30, 2015)

Yea, easy to do these. Only I just wonder how in the sam hills, did he print the long printout... Seem not possible to do that on SCARM. Seem that I am being limited to Size D, page by page.


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## redman88 (Nov 25, 2015)

bluenavigator said:


> Yea, easy to do these. Only I just wonder how in the sam hills, did he print the long printout... Seem not possible to do that on SCARM. Seem that I am being limited to Size D, page by page.



Big printer


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## Mark VerMurlen (Aug 15, 2015)

bluenavigator said:


> Yea, easy to do these. Only I just wonder how in the sam hills, did he print the long printout... Seem not possible to do that on SCARM. Seem that I am being limited to Size D, page by page.


I used AnyRail software, not SCARM, so what I did may or may not work for you. Here's how I did my large print out:

I first went to my local FedEx office store (formerly Kinko's) and found out what printers they had and the size they could print. Many FedEx stores have roll-fed printers. The ones in my area could print 36" wide and almost unlimited length. I went back home and exported the largest size JPEG image that I could from AnyRail of my layout. In my case, that was about 9,000 by 9,000 pixels. I then used Photoshop to "cut up" the layout into strips that were 35" wide. If you have grid lines or other reference points with known distances, you can compute the pixels/inch needed to get true 1:1 size. Because of my layout size, I needed 3 strips that varied in length from 11 ft. to about 6 ft. to cover the whole layout. I exported that strips as independent JPEG files on a USB stick. I could then take them back to FedEx and get them printed.

I had the FedEx store print these in just Black & White since it was much much cheaper than color. I also had them do a test print of the smallest section to be sure the settings were correct and I got true 1:1 size. (Bring a tape measure so you can verify the grid lines or other reference points.) I then had them print the rest of the files and away I went.

Once at home, I could then roll these out and transfer the track centerlines to my layout.

Hope that helps.

Mark


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

FWIW, AnyRail will let you print your entire plan 1:1 scale on 8-1/2x11 paper. Not that I would, but it's an option (at least it was in Version 5; haven't checked 6 yet).


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## redman88 (Nov 25, 2015)

CTValleyRR said:


> FWIW, AnyRail will let you print your entire plan 1:1 scale on 8-1/2x11 paper. Not that I would, but it's an option (at least it was in Version 5; haven't checked 6 yet).



I believe you can do the same with SCARM.


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## Overkast (Jan 16, 2015)

santafealltheway said:


> I think i would just plop down a bunch of thumb tacks, out lining the center line. then when you remove the paper, you can draw a line between them.


My recommendation would be a similar method to what santafealltheway proposed in this quote, only using a tack to make the holes and then removing the tack (not leaving it in). 

I laid my track on foam, so I just poked frequent holes through the paper down the center of my track lines, and when I removed the paper the holes in the foam below were my center lines to follow.

And if you're laying track directly on plywood, you can still use this method but since it will be hard to see small tack holes on the plywood you can use a sharpie marker through the paper holes to mark the points on the plywood below, before you remove the paper.


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## redman88 (Nov 25, 2015)

Overkast said:


> My recommendation would be a similar method to what santafealltheway proposed in this quote, only using a tack to make the holes and then removing the tack (not leaving it in).
> 
> I laid my track on foam, so I just poked frequent holes through the paper down the center of my track lines, and when I removed the paper the holes in the foam below were my center lines to follow.
> 
> And if you're laying track directly on plywood, you can still use this method but since it will be hard to see small tack holes on the plywood you can use a sharpie marker through the paper holes to mark the points on the plywood below, before you remove the paper.



Why push and pull a tack when there are tools for this type of action. Like the one I linked to earlier.


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## Overkast (Jan 16, 2015)

redman88 said:


> Why push and pull a tack when there are tools for this type of action. Like the one I linked to earlier.


My bad... I didn't fully read your previous post so I missed the redundancy of your method. But it also seems like the chalk bag is still an extra step to the process, no?

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk


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## redman88 (Nov 25, 2015)

Overkast said:


> My bad... I didn't fully read your previous post so I missed the redundancy of your method. But it also seems like the chalk bag is still an extra step to the process, no?
> 
> Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk



Depends on the substrate. It's not needed with foam but with plywood the chalk would be a must.


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## bluenavigator (Aug 30, 2015)

redman88 said:


> Big printer


Of course. 

I have HP 500PS (24" wide version). I got it for free. The only thing that is wrong with this printer was worn out carriage belt. It was all shredded and being very sticky. I guess that it was worn out by age. Replaced it with new belt. It works fine but ran other trouble - bad printheads and cartridges. So far, I spent only 40 bucks for everything as I shopped off eBay. It works so great! 



Mark VerMurlen said:


> I went back home and exported the largest size JPEG image that I could from AnyRail of my layout. In my case, that was about 9,000 by 9,000 pixels. I then used Photoshop to "cut up" the layout into strips that were 35" wide. If you have grid lines or other reference points with known distances, you can compute the pixels/inch needed to get true 1:1 size.


Will try it and see if it will work for me.


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## RonthePirate (Sep 9, 2015)

You could always go lo-tech and use a pantagraph.

Remember them? They were great for copying a drawing.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

redman88 said:


> Why push and pull a tack when there are tools for this type of action. Like the one I linked to earlier.


I have to agree: The ponce wheel (sometimes misspelled "pounce wheel" -- search both) is designed to do exactly what the tack-pushing accomplishes, but with less effort. You could probably do your whole layout in the time it takes you to do one curve with the "manual" method.

They are also used in sewing to transfer patterns; one of those might be cheaper than the heavy duty one Redman linked to, and available locally.


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## fcwilt (Sep 27, 2013)

CTValleyRR said:


> I have to agree: The ponce wheel (sometimes misspelled "pounce wheel" -- search both) is designed to do exactly what the tack-pushing accomplishes, but with less effort. You could probably do your whole layout in the time it takes you to do one curve with the "manual" method.


I tried a couple and they didn't work well for me.

It may have been that I was not using a suitable version of one but the holes left behind were too small for my old eyes to see.

So I resorted to using a T-pin. Yes it took a while but compared to the amount of time it takes to complete a layout it wasn't much.

Frederick


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