Trix Brix review

[SavaTheAggie]

I've posted a review of my experience with a few Trix Brix products on Flickr:

https://flic.kr/s/aHskM3uSFy

There are a few videos, plus pictures of my attempt to ballast them.

The main review write-up is here:

I can't say if I'll buy more, I'd much prefer injection molding.  But my builds are very club and display oriented, and my views are colored by that.

--Tony

[Redimus]

Has there been any noise by TrixBrix about covering 9v?
How well do you think the rails would take metal tape to convert these into 9v?

[SavaTheAggie]

I think 9v is dead and it isn't worth the effort.  There have been 3 different LEGO train systems since 9v died.  I think any manufacturer considering 9v is asking to lose money.  And without new motors, power regulators, and track power connectors, having new 9v track is an exceedingly short term solution.

Beyond that, the texture of the 3D print, I would imagine, would interfere with the tape.  The top of the rails are smooth no doubt, but the 9v motor picks up power off the inside of the rail, and there are several places where the inside of the rails are not smooth in the least, covered in grooves and artifacts of the 3D printing process.

--Tony

[Redimus]

It is dead.

It is also the only reasonable way of fitting some form of power into the smaller British locos, and even then it's not always flexible enough. Admittedly, the new system, with no IR receiver, has made things easier, but I'd still be left with a lot of stationary plastic without 9v.

----

Hmm, that's what I feared. Ahh well, thanks for the info. :)

[SavaTheAggie]

Take a look at the inside of the rail on the right side of the image, near the joint.  That might help illustrate what I'm trying to say regarding the tape.

--Tony

[Redimus]

What's the clutch power on those studs, they don't look all too reliable either.

[SavaTheAggie]

There's a video on my Flickr that illustrates the clutch.  TL;DR: the top studs aren't bad, the bottom anti-studs only work in specific orientations.

 --Tony

Edited November 20, 2018 by SavaTheAggie

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

I've bought 4 switches R104 and other stuff and I'm very satisfied of the product!

[Giottist]

Do you allow a different opinion?

As LEGO Train 12 Volts I'm using different R104 switches and a lot of curved rails and I'm as satified as well. My trains have a smooth ride even at high speeds. The only alternative in existance for long radius switches is 4DBrix and their products are 3D printed too. Injection molding of large switches is so expensive due to the large forms and the market for such stuff is too small to be economic. BrickTracks tried it to finance such an enterprise but gained not enough people willing to buy the switches.

Perhaps it is not well known enough. There is a workaround for curves: Just buy the curved rails and add original 2x8 plates as sleepers. You combine original LEGO precision with long radii from R56 to R120. It's also much less expensive, I for myself ordered just 320 plates on bricklink ...

[zephyr1934]

What are your thoughts about the switch mechanism itself? I have some of the TrixBrix R40 switches I bought for the ability to have a continuous curve or a crossover. They have an adapter piece to join two of the R40 switches for a crossover. The adapter piece has a small jog in it, unfortunately, they sent the same adapter piece for both right and left crossovers, so the right one has the correct spacing but the left one does not. It looks like they only have the one adapter piece from the examples on their store. At any rate, I have not really tested these much, but I did use them for a dog-bone single track at our last show. The "spring" action in the switch itself seems to have a large variance, some were quite stiff and might derail light trains, others were loose enough that we had some problems with trains picking the switch as they went over. I can't say for certain that our problems were due to the switches though, the turnaround loops were on uneven tables. I need to do another trial on a flat floor, perhaps over the holidays. Anyway, thanks for the review!

 

[Giottist]

The spring mechanisms of my switch samples are rather stiff. All my switches need some force to bring them into position. I explain this by the tolerances of the 3d printing process.

The small adapter piece is just a 1/4 length straight rail (4 studs long). In my eyes it can be turned by 180° because its straight and therefore symmetric. So there is no diference for right or left switches. The problems can be caused by the printing tolerances. Please talk with Jacek or Lukasz: They are very nice and will exchange the defect part.

For myself I exchanged all my R40 switches with R104 stuff. For R104 no adapters are needed, so I have no problems with them. My samples are well printed and my trains have a smooth ride.

[zephyr1934]

Indeed, I have no doubt that if I asked for a replacement part that they would be happy to do so (they even tossed in a free crossover track with my order). I have not yet made the request because I figure at some point I will place another order. As long as you are not pinning the switches to a baseplate the adapter piece works fine in either left or right, but for the left branching crossover the tracks are off by about one stud in one direction and half a stud in the other. The adapter piece is the same if you flip it around 180° (rotate "/" by 180° and you still get "/"). So either my order was miss-packed or the one direction adapter piece was an accidental oversight since that could have been easily overlooked since it seems like they mostly do not use baseplates, in all of their videos and demos they are laying the track on the floor or ground.

So far all but one of my trains can negotiate R40 curves and the lone exception can still negotiate R40 switches, so I do not have an immediate operational need for the R104 switches beyond the fact that they are far more aesthetically pleasing. Still, the one thing holding me back from ordering the R104 switches is that now my outer curves are BrickTracks R120. A double R104 and R120 diverging switch would be an incredible piece though.

 

[3797]

17 hours ago, Giottist said:

BrickTracks tried it to finance such an enterprise but gained not enough people willing to buy the switches.

No. It's because too many of you guys are inpatient and waste your money on 3D printed stuff instead of waiting a bit longer and spending a bit more on a higher quality product. You guys buying that 3D printed stuff (I'd really love to use the word "junk", instead) shows that there is demand.

This looks terrible to me:

As the old saying goes: Buy nice or buy twice. I didn't back the most recent BrickTracks Kickstarter because I wasn't prepaired to spend that kind of money at the time (was on holiday) but would have ultimately gotten the 16 switches bundle. Waiting for Scott to tell us about his new plans.

[SavaTheAggie]

4 minutes ago, 3797 said:

No. It's because too many of you guys are inpatient and waste your money on 3D printed stuff instead of waiting a bit longer and spending a bit more on a higher quality product. You guys buying that 3D printed stuff (I'd really love to use the word "junk", instead) shows that there is demand.

This looks terrible to me:

As the old saying goes: Buy nice or buy twice. I didn't back the most recent BrickTracks Kickstarter because I wasn't prepaired to spend that kind of money at the time (was on holiday) but would have ultimately gotten the 16 switches bundle. Waiting for Scott to tell us about his new plans.

Chides others for not backing the BrickTracks Kickstarter, didn't actually back the Kickstarter himself.

As Backer #1 of the BrickTracks Kickstarter (yes, the very first, and have the email to prove it), I am very willing to give Scott my money.  In the meantime, I'm dealing with what I have available to me.  I can't use a product I can't buy because it doesn't exist, and we don't know how long that will be.  Since the injection molds do not yet exist, it could be years.

--Tony

[coaster]

I have gotten a chance to play with some of the TrixBrix switches, and can't say that I was overly impressed.  The technique of assembling the slider mechanism is fairly clever, however, it introduces a problem where the slider over-travels and thus stops beyond the natural open or closed position.  Not really a problem in operations, but I suspect stresses the printed spring mechanism, and likely results in the higher tension on the point others have observed.

The surface finish was as expected.  Clutch power on the studs was hit and miss, but overall not terrible.  Bottom clutch, however, was non-existent.  The ties are oversized, which actually kinda works because you can just wedge plates in between and call it ballasted, but I don't believe this is intentional.  I've said my piece on printed tracks before, and I haven't changed my mind: works for prototyping or as a stop-gap, but not as a permanent solution.  

The track gap Tony shows is typical for doing a siding like that, but if you wanted to turn out in a circle, you'd have a bigger problem where the curves interfere by as much as that gap is, so you would really have to stress your tracks to fit the curve properly.  Their geometry is really only conducive to crossovers. 

As for the BrickTracks switches, it'll be sooner than you think.  I could say when, but that would ruin the surprise. 

[Giottist]

2 hours ago, 3797 said:

This looks terrible to me:

As the old saying goes: Buy nice or buy twice. I didn't back the most recent BrickTracks Kickstarter because I wasn't prepaired to spend that kind of money at the time (was on holiday) but would have ultimately gotten the 16 switches bundle. Waiting for Scott to tell us about his new plans.

This image is a misuse. In this case the tracks was forced with violence into a position not ment for. The same would happen with injection moulded parts. Sorry to be honest.

Try to combine rails instead of tracks with sleepers together with original 2 x 8 plates and you will be amazed.

[coaster]

6 minutes ago, Giottist said:

This image is a misuse. In this case the tracks was forced with violence into a position not ment for. The same would happen with injection moulded parts. Sorry to be honest.

Try to combine rails instead of tracks with sleepers together with original 2 x 8 plates and you will be amazed.

That's because it's a design issue.  Wouldn't matter how it's made, the switch requires special curves to fit properly.

[Giottist]

Just now, coaster said:

That's because it's a design issue.  Wouldn't matter how it's made, the switch requires special curves to fit properly.

Ok, for switches that's definetely true. Hopefully we have switch alternatives in the future.

[3797]

12 hours ago, SavaTheAggie said:

Chides others for not backing the BrickTracks Kickstarter, didn't actually back the Kickstarter himself.

Twisting my words? You clearly bought this after the most recent Kickstarter even though Scott already said that he's working on a new idea. All I said was that impatiently spending money on a sub par solution is a waste when one of us is working hard on a better solution. Promoting TrixBrix' inferior products isn't helping, either.

Also, I said I was on holiday. I ended up spending eight weeks at our beach house where cell phone reception is terrible (2G at best) and when I was back home it was more than obvious that my 500 Euros weren't going to change the outcome anyway. But yes, it would have helped if I would have known about the Kickstarter a little earlier. I had bought four 60197 trains and a few other sets just before I left. I wouldn't have spent that money at the time, if I would have known about the Kickstarter. I only mentioned the Campain and me not supporting it to express that there was more demand than it seemed.

[CSW652]

I'll just wait for the BrickTracks switches.

[Stash2Sixx]

On ‎11‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 8:57 AM, 3797 said:

No. It's because too many of you guys are inpatient and waste your money on 3D printed stuff instead of waiting a bit longer and spending a bit more on a higher quality product.

It's not impatience, if we (builders) need an item and they aren't available, we use what we can.  With no set release date from Brick Tracks (and we all understand these things take time) we (members of LUGs) have to make that decision.  I have some of these switches myself and agree with everything Sava has said.

I was the one that actually had the switch that Scott took apart and investigated.  It was a good discussion on the overall item.  I have also told him that I am more than willing to dump all of mine the instant the Brick Tracks switches are available...as have others!

I don't believe I have to say this on this forum but I will.  Please, be nice.  Someone took the time to describe, IN DETAIL, a product with it's benefits and faults.  No one needs to see some Internet Tough Guy show up and shit on their work.  It's a community of like minded individuals.  Be courteous.  If you don't like the product, that's fine, you are entitled to your opinion.  But there's no need to rip on others for spending their money on what they want.

[Hod Carrier]

19 hours ago, 3797 said:

Promoting TrixBrix' inferior products isn't helping, either

I think the word you were searching for was “reviewing”.

I don’t think I want to add too much to what has already been said, except to say that Tony has given a fair review of an available product for the benefit of folk who might be considering buying it. You may be right in that the injection molded alternative may be superior, but until it’s produced no-one can say.

Lets just relax a little and not get so hett up.