Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Helix Construction

Its been a while since I posted to the blog and wanted to show progress that was made the summer of 2019. This should have been posted before the "Getting Prepped for Helix and Mainline Connection" post. The helix was a summer long project and I am quite satisfied with its turn out. The helix climbs 27 3/4 inches with a total circumference of 67 5/8 inches outside edge to outside edge. Track radius for the inside loop is 28 inches and the outside loop is 30.5 inches. Construction for the helix was based on the method attained from Jeff Johnston on YouTube. (Helix How To Part 1) Thanks Jeff for your video! The most important part for the helix is the first loop because all other layers on top follow right along with the first loop as building progress continues upward. I got very frustrated with this step as it took some time to perfect this first layer and getting it right. One attempt, I spent a whole days work getting things the way I thought they should be to find out it wasn't right and had to start over the next day.



Construction of the first layer.



Continuing layers to the top.











Wiring for the helix is shown in the photo below. There are 2 of these 180 degrees apart to feed the helix and minimize voltage loss.




Close up view of the feeders to the track.




Birds eye view of the completed helix. As close as I can figure, the helix grade is just over or just under 2%. Construction entailed 3.5 sheets of 1/2 inch plywood and close to three boxes of 100 piece code 100 Atlas flex track. 


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