Sector Plate
This has its own page as it turned out to be much more involved that I had anticipated!
I’m copying Roger Brown’s ‘Syreford Station’ sector-plate arrangement which has stood the test of time for more than 25 years! I don’t think I will need this to last that long, but I do want reliability at shows and the engineer in me likes things to be robust (if not exactly pretty!).
The sector plate itself is from 9mm plywood with timber strip edges. I needed to shape the back to allow it enough rotation without fouling the backscene at the end of the layout. The area was covered in 3mm thick cork sheet as was the corresponding track areas away from the sector plate.
I cut copper-clad board for the track alignment with an appropriate curve to clear matching sections on the main base board. The copper clad sheet was double sided so I worked out where I would need insulation gaps on the under-side, just in case I need to fix it with screws as I didn’t want any unexpected hidden shorts!
Insulation gaps cut in the underside of the copper clad circuit board to avoid any unforeseen ‘shorts’ when the track was laid. The meter was used to confirm there were no ‘shorts’.
The gaps were cut with a corner of a square file and tested to check there were no shorts.
Sector plate alignment bolts under construction. The bolt is silver steel, the operating arm is brass strip and the guides are round section brass tube inside square section brass tube. One of these is seen in preparation on the right.
Track and stock clearances are tight and I couldn’t find any suitable bolts at my local DIY store. Instead, I fabricated somewhat crude, but I hope functional, sector-plate alignment bolts using square section tube with round tube soldered inside to take the alignment bolt.
Sector plate alignment bolts finished
I also had to work out where I could fit the alignment socket to make sure if wouldn’t foul the rolling stock. I had to trim one to suit before soldering in place.
Cutting the alignment bolt base plate to suit the angle of the sector plate.
Then I could start the track by building lengths of ‘half-track’. This was done by laying sleepers on to sticky tape and soldering on one rail. This was set to the desired curve before the second rail was soldered on. There is more detail on track building on the track page.
First sector plate track and alignment bolt installed
With the first track and alignment bolt installed, I could solder in the other alignment bolt, align that track and then add the others.
All the sector plate tracks and alignment bolts in place
Finally checking that everything works together!
The sector plate wiring finished and ready for testing.
There are more construction photos in the Sector Plate Gallery page
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