Bending Gargraves flex track

Flex track easily bends, hold the track against your stomach and gently pull it around into a slight bend, if it does not easily flex, you have non flex track.

You can bend gargraves flex into any curve size you need, make a template on thin plywood or plastic and bend it around that.

What is a 30 degree radius?

Used gargraves can be difficult if it has been exposed to high humidity.   Test one piece, spray it with wd40, let it sit overnight, this is key.  Attempt to slide each tie back and forth individually,  this will take about 5 min for a 3 foot lenght.  Once the are loose bending should be easy.

Also to bend to an 027 curve tack down you tubular, about 3 sections.  Turn the gargraves track upside down and use the o27 track as a template, nest the outer rail of the gargraves inside the outer rain on the tubular track.  You will get a smooth curve that will spring out to the correct curve. 

@John H posted:

What is a 30 degree radius?

O-42 sectional track comes in 30º pieces of 20.17" (center rail) radius (Lionel & K-Line), maybe that's what he's looking for?

Using tubular as a template will work regardless the radius.  I have used both 042 and 027 curves successfully to get smooth curves.

No, my mistake. I have 2 pieces of O27, and 2 pieces of 0-34 that makes a 90 degree, 0-30 (aprox.) radius. That's the tightest turn I have on the layout.

First off, bending any flex track to O30 radius will be a LOT more difficult than for the typical diameters it's used for.  For that kind of bend you will need a form of some kind.  I know that @Tom Tee used a vacuum cleaner tank to bend some tight bends he posted recently.

I used Gargraves flex on most of my layout, but the tightest curves I bent were O72.  That was no sweat, and I used the tried and true "belly bender" for them.

@necrails posted:

Used gargraves can be difficult if it has been exposed to high humidity.   Test one piece, spray it with wd40, let it sit overnight, this is key.  Attempt to slide each tie back and forth individually,  this will take about 5 min for a 3 foot lenght.  Once the are loose bending should be easy.

Actually, I suspect you meant to say that it will be difficult if dried out, that's when it gets hard to slide the ties and bend the track!  In truth, used Gargraves will probably be harder to deal with than new track in any case.

John, i can only speak from personal experience,  i had a bunch stored in the basement,  some were fine, others needed some effort.  Were the ties dried, i guess but there was rust on the sides.   Someone on the forum here advised wd40, it worked great.  Sure new is best but old can be returned to normal behavior.  I even got two of those sections curved inside an 027 curve for a short lived trolley return loop.  But if i ever build a new layout i will be buying new for sure.

I use a form to even bend 072 diameter curves with Gargraves.  It just makes for smoother curves in general. 

The ties do move, but are really tight. So I'm going to use the WD that a few of you suggested, and se if it frees them up. I'm assuming that if it wasn't flex track, I wouldn't be able to move the ties at all.

@necrails posted:

John, i can only speak from personal experience,  i had a bunch stored in the basement,  some were fine, others needed some effort.  Were the ties dried, i guess but there was rust on the sides.

Well, rust on the sides would certainly make them VERY difficult to bend, so that's could well be what happened!  The ties have to slide in order to bend the track.  When I started with my layout, I bought some used track to tinker with and get used to bending it.  I found the dry track was a lot harder to bend (no rust) than the new stuff out of the case.  It was also easier to kink it when the ties decided not to smoothly slide.

@trainman48 posted:

I'm assuming that if it wasn't flex track, I wouldn't be able to move the ties at all.

Correct, if it's not flex track, it has a couple of little wood runners under the rails that lock the ties in place and also keep straight track straight and curved track curved.

Custom bend less than O90 difficult, IMO.

@Mike CT posted:

Custom bend less than O90 difficult, IMO.

My tightest bend was O72 on my layout, and that was no issue, why do you say O90?

I had a plywood template that was cut to an 64" diameter to do the bend, with the spring-back, it came in very close to O72.  For O81, I used an O72 template, and for O90 I used an O81 template.  Truthfully, as work progressed, much of it was a "belly bend", especially for odd shaped pieces.

I guess you didn't see the example that @Tom Tee posted of what I think was an O31 or O36 perfect bend for a turn-around loop?

@Mike CT posted:

Custom bend less than O90 difficult, IMO.

No, I had a GarGraves curve that was less than 12" radius for years due to track alignment. I finally replaced a RH switch with a LH and realigned the track so now it's about a 21" radius.

Trainman48,

I think the stomach approach is sketchy at best.

What I have found to actually work, repeatably and reliably, is to gently and gradually bend the track around a water heater tank.  By varying the track's horizontal angle to the tank, you can get nearly any curve you like.

George

I did my layout and my club layout using the abdominal technique.  It is not sketchy and has more control with the bend. You adjust the ties as you go along.

I Drexel the ends and sand with a one inch stationary belt sander. Never had a problem.

Well Don, I'm glad you had success with it.  I did not.

I know the water heater approach to work reliably and repeatably, regardless of one's girth or "abs of steel". 

George

I plan to use a good bit of Gargraves flex for my curves. I have experience with flex track in smaller scales, and don't think I'll have too much trouble with Gargraves. I have access to both the "belly" and "water tank" methods ;-) My question is regarding the last few inches if the track. Is there any issues getting that last few inches curved properly? How can you best avoid getting slightly straight(er) ends at the joints between rail sections?

It's the hardest part, and of course you'll be trimming the rails at the end.  I suspect that I probably didn't get much of mine "perfect", but it works well and looks good, so I'm happy. I just walked around and sighted down some of the curves, I think I may have done better than I expected with the ends.  That being said, it can't be that difficult if I did it.

I use the DRILL MASTER 6 in. 5.5 Amp Cut-Off Saw from Harbor Freight to square the ends, I bought it when it was on sale for $30.  The trick with this tool is to cut slow and don't force it, and you get pretty clean cuts that require minimal dressing up.

@G3750 posted:

Trainman48,

I think the stomach approach is sketchy at best.

What I have found to actually work, repeatably and reliably, is to gently and gradually bend the track around a water heater tank.  By varying the track's horizontal angle to the tank, you can get nearly any curve you like.

George

Thanks George!

I am going to run down the basement and try that right now.

=============================================================================

Oh No !!

John

Just amazing, who would a thunk.  You would hope no one gets hurt bending track.  IMO, Mike CT. 

I did the same thing that John did many years ago with excellent results.  I made templates out of plywood with the different sizes.  I would make the template smaller than the actual curve to allow for spring back and they always spring back to some degree and you want your final product not to have any stress on it. So I did maybe an 065 for an 072 curve and if the spring back didn't open all the way to 072, I helped it a little and at that point it would stay there forever. Mark your sizes on the template pieces.   JP   

I found this idea during a search of the forum a while back. Seems like a good way to bend flex track. Patterns are cut with the inside radius on the outside, and the outside radius is cut on the inside. Radius are determined on the ends of the ties.

A trammel makes quick work of patterns.

I've had limited success using most of the techniques suggested. The WD works great loosening up the ties, but you have to let it sink in for a while, and then work the ties prior to bending. And I found out after putting a few small kinks in the track that the ties need to be evenly distributed. So I had to keep rearranging them as I proceeded.

I started out using the "belly" technique, as suggested, but the bends weren't evenly forming. However, I found the water heater technique works great! So thank you all for your valuable help. Other than that, I'm sure I would have ruined the track.

@Craftech posted:

Thanks George!

I am going to run down the basement and try that right now.

=============================================================================

Oh No !!

John

Now... That was FUNNY!

Sometimes you do need a sharp 90 degree turn!

There's always one. 

George

Trainmasters TV had a number of segments regarding getting flextrack to conform and hold specific radii and different shapes and they did it on the benchwork.  I believe the segments are called "Back to the Basement"  Miles was demonstrating using a block type tool machined for fitting the rails.  He noted they were available in all scales up through "G".

Just a thought.

I'm still (not) trying to picture John's O72 belly.

This is why I had to stick to O72 and larger curves!

Hilarious comedy club material.   Love this thread.

John

I would think the flatter the belly the wider the curve.  So it really is a function of how many beers it takes to get the proper curve.  Sounds like a fun project

Does that mean large layouts require a lot of beer to construct?

Mine did, even when I was on the wrong side of the tracks 🍺.

Hello John H.,  You could have used Genesee or Utica Club.

It's not so easy to  "get to the other side of the river"  these days!

John N.  (Grew up in Syracuse and lived in Orchard Park)

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Does that mean large layouts require a lot of beer to construct?

Confucius say,

"It not beer that suggest large belly, it food on keyboard"

John

Actually, Labatt is part of North American Breweries, which also owns Genesee. My son in law is regional Vice President for NAB, so life is good!