How do you screw or attach track to foam over plywood? Screws do not seem to hold and I hesitate to glue track and make it hard to retrieve one day.
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I built my current layout with extruded (pink) foam on top of plywood. I then glued O-gauge cork to the foam using yellow carpenter's glue and used Atlas track screws to secure the track into the cork and foam. This has kept the track firmly in position and the screws remain removable if necessary to replace a piece of track.
MELGAR
I used this on a 6x10 layout. I glued woodland scenic foam road bed to the blue foam and glued the track to the roadbed. Spread it with a putty knife and weigh it down. It is secure but not hard to pull the track up if you need to. I used mostly gargraves sectional track and a few short pieces of flex track. Screws and nails will not hold curved flextrack in place on blue foam.
Bob
johnshorse posted:How do you screw or attach track to foam over plywood? Screws do not seem to hold and I hesitate to glue track and make it hard to retrieve one day.
Using Gargraves flex, or sectional ?
Mix. Flex on straights and sectional on curves
John you should be ok. screws or nails, may hold it in alignment, can't imagine it actually fastened to foam.
This is covered in at least one other thread on the forum. One tried and tested method that works is to use gorilla glue to glue plastic wall anchors into the foam and then screw into the wall anchors. I have been doing this for about 9 months for all kinds of track work and it works. I am using gargraves flex track with wooden ties. I use the track screws that gargraves sells. I drill holes in the ties where I want the screws to go. Then I bend and position the track as desired. Then I poke a hole with a long thin nail into the foam. When I have the holes poked (I often lay several sections at once), i squirt gorilla glue into each hole. Then I push the wall anchor into the glue-filled hole and wipe off the excess glue. Then I lay the track down in place and start the screw into the wall anchor finger tight. Then I wait for the glue to dry--two hours to overnight. Then I screw the screws all the way in using a Black and Decker electric screwdriver being very careful not to overtighten the screws. There is no need for the screws to be tight--not loose either--just enough. If the glue has expanded out of the hole, I cut off the excess with a hobby knife. Done. I haven't done any ballasting yet but I expect that once the ballast is glued down on the track the screws can be removed because at that point, the ballast glue is going the work. But I have not tested that theory yet. The wall anchors I use are Hillman H#370337 8-10 x 7/8".
Good luck.
Don
That technique sounds great. I really would like to find a way out of cementing ballast also. I have found that wooden tie gargraves is irretrievable after gluing down with ballast in case you move or change layout.
I will be using tubular track and I wanted to have two layers of foam on the plywood. There was concern about securing the track. But now with your advice I have a method.
Thank you and keep us abreast of your progress.
@Tranquil Hollow RR posted:I will be using tubular track and I wanted to have two layers of foam on the plywood. There was concern about securing the track. But now with your advice I have a method.
Thank you and keep us abreast of your progress.
Tubular won't need as much effort. Flex will try to become straight again and needs a very secure hold down, it needs more resistance to lateral motion..Ideally if elevated it would sit on posts solidly connected to the bench, and braced enough to stay plumb. but that takes a different skillset and more effort.
Tubular can effectively be press pinned in place pretty loosely and stay put. E.g.. at one time I set long screws solid into wood. Now I just push shorter screw into those holes with my thumb and it stays put (green foam). It acts as a dowl to stop lateral motion. If you aren't going to carry it around, no real need to attach down, just stop lateral movent around curves and (less) in long straights just enough to keep them straight.
Less attachment points especially along straights is desirable , (as is some gap at joints) so the track can float some. Floating keeps an expanding and contracting layout from making a mess of your work when seasons change.
Great insights, thank you
Question. Does the gorilla glue not glue the track screw to the retainer overnight and disallow tightening down in the morning?
