Damage and Repair

A couple of modules have suffered damage due to external collisions; it has been possible to repair effectively both times.

The first damage was to a straight, double-track, module: it was run over by an SUV, no kidding. Admittedly, the module was lying on the concrete drive; but the driver did not see the module and drove over it, stopping with a rear wheel right on top of the module deck; there was no track installed at the time. I persuaded him to drive off the module and the images show the damage. Note that, mostly, the wood broke, not glue, neither glue being part of the plywood, nor epoxy holding the module together. The keeper took a lot of the load, and bent the interface aluminium angle.

This image shows the re-gluing setup, which was totally successful.

The second damage occurrence was at the 2018 Denver Maker Faire. There was a robot fiend who had a robot inside a see-through, eighteen-inch, plastic ball; it was quite heavy. With radio-control he was able to have a lot of fun chasing the ball all over the place inside the Faire hall. However, he lost control, and the ball smashed into one of the railway legs. The leg went sideways and was useless - not damaged, however. The collision split the wood rib holding a couple of the module sockets. The fiend was mortified; he bought me an ice cream cone in compensation.

At the Faire, I put the leg into another socket in the module, which solved the railway support problem. Later, after some Titebond glue, a couple of clamps, and an overnight cure, the split rib problem was solved as well.