Cutting the Masonite into Strips

NOTE: This model railroad video is not intended for anyone under 14 years of age due to the use of small parts, dangerous tools, electrical items, glues, and paints.
This is the first of several slide shows that will show how the N-scale spline helix was built. The first set of slides show how a sheet of masonite hardboard is cut into strips on a table saw. Safety is very important as the hardboard creates a lot of dust (wear a dust mask) and can get a bit tense with the fingers being close to the saw (please use both a vertical and horizontal featherboard) when you get down to the last few cuts. You can get approximately 50 strips (3/4 inch wide by 8 feet long) from a 4 ft by 8 ft sheet of masonite hardboard. Since this is N-scale, I chose 1/8 inch thick masonite since the curves are smaller in this scale and I felt that the 1/4 inch or thicker hardboard would not be as flexible.

[@TheOriginalBadger]

For some reason, this one still keeps popping up in my recommended vids. I remember watching it already. I can't believe it was 9 years ago that i watched this!! Come a long way since then :)

[@tanzj]

Thanks for watching again. It was an experiment that seems to have worked fairly well…..John