What to use for phone pole insulators?

[chuck geiger]

I have tried small craft beads and they are still to big. Any ideas of something I am over looking?

[wazzou]

I had thought that @Mark W was working on this with his armada of Photon torpedoes, that included poles and cross-arms?

[dem34]

Mark's solution was to print the Cross beams and bracing in a fluorescent clear green resin.
And many others had some fair success just getting "close enough" styrene insulator nubs painted in glossy clear jade green paint.

[chuck geiger]

[chuck geiger]

with close enough "nubs" that need trimming....

[C855B]

A sample of @MarkW 's crossarms as printed by @rodsup9000 and painted by yours truly:



There's a reason there is only one: very fragile. The 3D resin is quite brittle and I think I broke one or both arms shortly after taking this picture while cleaning track. I need to try this idea on my own again; there is an additive now which imparts a certain degree of flexibility to the cured resin and might address the issue.

[wazzou]

Chuck -
Are these lineside poles or poles for street service?
Regardless, cross-arms should measure pretty close to 3" x 4", 4" x 5" or 4" x 6" and varied in length based on the service or number of pins (insulator locations).
The brackets for support ranged from 18" each side, to roughly 36", again depending on the length of the cross-arm and the weight they would carry.
Bottom line, I think the cross-arms you have pictured are too thin and too tall and the brackets are far too long.

Better modeling through helpful information.   

[peteski]

This photo better shows the transparent quality of Mark's/Rod's insulators.


The discussion thread about those is https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=45869

[Mark5]

Thanks Pete! Those insulators look really good!

Wrong style pole arrangement for my road - so I doubt if I would ever get to take advantage of it. Again - the insulators look great!

Mark

[peteski]

Thanks Pete! Those insulators look really good!

Wrong style pole arrangement for my road - so I doubt if I would ever get to take advantage of it. Again - the insulators look great!

Mark

If you look through the thread I pointed to, the cross-arms are separate items (not printed with the pole). Maybe Mark or Rod would be open to creating a style of cross-arms appropriate for your needs.  This design doesn't look like it took a lot of time to create.

[chuck geiger]

Good point on the brackets. They are 50' to go through buildings/industrial areas, which I read on here you should do. Shorter on mainline and taller in industrial/bldg area.

[chuck geiger]

Chuck -
Are these lineside poles or poles for street service?
Regardless, cross-arms should measure pretty close to 3" x 4", 4" x 5" or 4" x 6" and varied in length based on the service or number of pins (insulator locations).
The brackets for support ranged from 18" each side, to roughly 36", again depending on the length of the cross-arm and the weight they would carry.
Bottom line, I think the cross-arms you have pictured are too thin and too tall and the brackets are far too long.

Better modeling through helpful information.   

They are lineside. Need to rework the brackets. Love the modeling help.

[Maletrain]

FWIW, the prototype pictures I am seeing for trackside poles typically have 5 insulator positions per side on each arm.  But, often there will be no wires and thus no insulators in some of those 5 positions.  But, the "look" seems "right" for 5 positions per arm. 

On roadside electrical lines, it seems like anything goes, just get the right number of circuits to the loads to be served from the last transformer or breaker.

If we had  a selection of translucent green and clear and opaque brown cross arms with 5 insulators on each side, I could cut them to the lengths I need for different applications and paint the wood parts but not the insulators, and mount them to poles of my choosing.  Unneeded insulators could be simply cut away with an Xacto blade before painting.

Frets of etched cross (V) braces would add to the scale appearance, compared to trying to cast them onto the cross arms.

[dem34]

I think in general N scale just lacks a good universal utility pole product.
For a lot of the alternatives I always just found that in the time it took me to assemble many of the 3d printed and woodcut kits I could have finished a bashed Atlas pole for half the price.

[chuck geiger]

Hey Bryan, they look so much better, smaller spacing on cross arms, shorter braces and I took an idea some guy used on a Facebook page I look at. He used the end of toothpicks for insulators and they look great. Pics coming after I get some jade green gloss paint.