wire me up!

Here’s the underside of the station approach board.  The DCC power bus has been extended to run onto the Ffridd Isaf board (the coil of wire on the table)and then to the hidden sidings via the new board (which already has it’s bus in place). 

Previously power to the Ffridd board had been passed across via a separate connection (using an old PC serial connector), but now that the run has been extended, it makes sense to minimise voltage drop concerns by extending the power bus to the new board too.

Also the plug in tortoise socket has been soldered up ready and the necessary rectifying diodes (1N4001s) added.  I have no way of knowing from the tortoise instructions which way around the switches are wired, so it’s 50:50 that the frog polarity and LED for the point indicator are correctly wired!

Pilot holes for the tortoise have also been drilled.

Clear out!

Much of today was taken up with a proper clear out of the garage and a trip to the tip with a car full of rubbish.  This finally means that all the modelling boxes are empty and scenic bits decanted onto shelves.  Hooray!
However an area in the back corner of the garage does suffer from some damp and I was annoyed to find that although I had made some precautions for this some damp had affected a few things that were stored in this area.  Luckily a spare piece of plywood took most of the hit, but the 'lid' of the small hidden board will need re-cutting (it wasn't a perfect fit anyway).  I have now laid a vinyl off cut in this corner and placed the things that have to live there on top of a pallet (that we randomly had in the garage left over from the delivery of our new bathroom) so they will be fine.
I also found time to attach the second traverser to its board.
The garage clearance works mean that the layout will soon be able to be erected.  Thus work tonight concentrated on getting the hoffs to work so that the yard board can come to the party in the garage.

I drilled new holes through the tiebars to take the 0.8mm piano wire and test installed one hoff to see what would happen. I had found some perfect mounting screws when going through the garage earlier (image above of the motor installed).  After increasing the pulse duration to 20 (2 secs), the result was excellent.  I tried to take a video to show it working see below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01YuW6JFpa8

Testing the hoffs

A quick break for lunch today and I tested a hoffmann point motor with the lenz ls150 – it works brilliantly and without the diodes suggested in the instructions (friends were correct in that these are not necessary).

I moved the accessory decoder position too as otherwise I would have had to lengthen the supply wires of the 16v AC in and DCC power in.

I have set the pulse duration to 5 or 0.5 sec which is enough to ensure the hoffmann completes its throw in the pulse duration.  The default was just 0.1 sec and wasn’t enough.

Now to connect up all the wires to the decoder (I left them labelled with little white stickers ready!).

Then I’ll pin down the track (small holes have been drilled in the sleepers ready) and ballast before the hoffs get installed.

I also need an extra switch output for 2 of the hoffs to power the point indictor LED ‘signals’. 

Wire we happy?

The yard board has made good progress – all feeds are now attached to the main red/black bus bars and a quick test showed that voltage was getting through to every piece of track.  I have also taken the opportunity to add a number of extra feeds so that continuity is not dependent on rail joiners.

The stock rails on all the points have now been electrically bonded via loops underneath the boards (i.e. they are now DCC friendly) and all the frogs have had feeds added too ready for their connection to the point motors.

Now I need to test and then wire the point motors back to the lenz ls150 accessory decoder (which has also been installed with two small screws ready).  It’s already becoming quite a maze of wires down there!

Hoff update

Massive thanks to David Waller (of Dduallt/Bron Hebog) for posting me three different diameters of piano wire.  It’s perfect for what I need but very difficult to cut indeed.  Thus, after further advice, I have purchased some heavy duty side cutters.  Hopefully these bad boys will make short work of cutting the wire.  So far the wire has made short work of the cutters!
In other news, I have saved up enough pennies to purchase the expo paint extractor unit…hopefully this will arrive next week and I can start practising with the new airbrushes… so much to do, so little time.

Reliability

I have written before about my concerns regarding loco reliability and recent sales of locos fit with that.  However I have also been thinking very carefully about points too.

There are 3 issues:

1) DCC 'friendly' issues regarding shorts between point blade and stock rail.

There are more detailed sites about this such as wiring for dcc (http://www.wiringfordcc.com/) but the principles are well explained here: http://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/electrics-dcc-wiring-a-layout.htm

Basically, an out of gauge wheelset may bridge the gap between a stock rail at -ve and a point blade at +ve.  This causes a short, which in DC operation would just result the loco momentarily stalling before recovering.  However in DCC this kind of short would reset the command station as decoders are very sensitive to shorts - the command station shuts down to protect the decoders.

I have in the past dismissed this as a minor issue as it shouldn't happen too much and I will make sure the back to backs on locos/stock are correct.  Having thought about it though the plastic centred wheels with metal treads that are used almost uniformally in my stock do sometimes come apart and I can see that this shorting thing could be more of a problem that once thought.

So, it would be far better to join the stock rail to the point blade so it is the same polarity and make a cut just before the frog.  The frog remains power routed and the problem is solved.  Insulfrog points just need the wires carrying current over the dead frog to be cut and the blades to be linked to the stock rails.  The insulfrog creates the gap and no cutting of rails is required.

In 009 peco electrofrog points are difficult due to the way that they are made.  Half way along the point blade there is a rail joiner which acts as a pivot.  This is within just a few chairs of the frog.  So if you try and put a break in the blade as suggested the piece of rail left behind wobbles terribly and comes away at the pivot.  In OO this is not such a problem as the point is considerably longer. 

People have suggested filling the gap created with araldite or some non conducting filler, but this is not really a proper solution either for long term reliability.

The real solution is to find points that don't have this pivot in them.  Most hand built points are not made that way and so are some others such as those made by tillig.

I am therefore carefully considering whether to dig up my peco points and either get some specially made for me (with electrofrogs) or move to insulfrog tillig points.

2) Solenoid versus latching point motors

The solenoid motors I have installed are not latching, so they don't hold the blade against the stock rail as if it were locked there. 

They are also very strong in their action (although I need to do some more programming on mine as they aren't strong enough at the moment), which puts stress on the points unneccessarily.  Might tortoise slow action (and latching) motors be a better bet?  The problem is that these require quite some depth of baseboard.  I have just under 70mm of depth, a tortoise needs 85mm - a problem!

I would also need a different type of accessory decoder too - the wabbit. http://www.dccsupplies.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=1307

so this is getting expensive!

Seep latching motors could be a possibility too, but they only have one aux switch, causing problems for my point indicator LED wiring. 

I think I'll stay with peco for now on cost grounds, but I may need one of these for extra ummph where I have set things up to throw two solenoids at once http://www.bromsgrovemodels.co.uk/masterswitchfaq.htm

3) Check rail clearances

I have never been happy with this element of peco points, which in many cases require filing to accept even the finest flanges.  Tillig points are much better in this regard.

If you want to see what a tillig point looks like, check: http://www.internationalmodels.net/acatalog/Main_Catalogue_Index_Narrow_Gauge_23.html

The 'massive' problem being that they are insulfrog.

So, do we prefer DCC friendly but insulfrog tillig, over DCC unfriendly but electrofrog peco? Or should I get some hand built points that are electrofrog and DCC friendly?

update

Traverser wiring.

Both traversers have had their 6 roads cleaned and tested: I found one area with damaged sleepers, so these were replaced. I then removed the last sleeper on each length of track. Copper clad sleepers have replaced them on one traverser, these were glued down, a gap created in the middle using a saw and then the rails soldered to them. Later the rail ends will be cut to exact length, for now they are ok. I ran out of copper clad though so the second traverser awaits a delivery from Dad's store.

Both traversers have however had wires soldered to each road and these returned back to a central piece underneath the board. using flying croc clips all roads were tested and worked fine.

Jobs left: copper clad installation on traverser 2; connect +/- to hidden sidings board using a tamiya/kyosho clip and trim rails to length.

Other news

Two small planters have been created out of plastic strip for the platform. Flowers are being put together for these and also a display near the steps.

A worsley kit for the porthole bug box was completed with sides/ends/seat and wheels done, roof to follow the installation of mesh for the sides. I have prepared another Pickering brake kit for soldering by cleaning it up and removing it from the fret.

The open topper bus has been stripped of its markings and red stripe by applying mek to it and wiping off with a rag. This is now ready for transfers when I get the time to have a go at the crafty paper - see post below.

Colin

Meet Tamiya and Kyosho

Well, in a minute anyway. First we visited the Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre on Sunday, where there was a model railway exhibition. The below 009 layout called Tan y Banc was the only narrow gauge interest and was a lovely little affair. The centre is standard gauge and so doesn't get a review, although the train trip was surprisingly long and pleasant.

There was also a miniature railway that we had a very enjoyable ride on.

Anyway, I am pleased to report that all wiring (bar lighting and signals) is now complete, including point motors and board joins. DCC power is now available to the whole layout, including hidden sidings. The only wiring that needs now completing is that on the hidden sidings. Given I have yet to lay the track here that is probably unsurprising to regular Rhyd Ddu blog visitors!

So who or what are Tamiya and Kyosho - take a look here - http://listings.maplin.co.uk/Free_UK_Delivery/Tamiya_Race_Pack_Connector_11455_v2.htm

Below is an example of the pair (also used as hard disc cable connectors) I have used to carry the three connections for the point motors back to the DCC accessory decoder.

These are super little connectors, easy to use (I soldered the wires to the crimp just to be sure) and are pretty cheap too - certainly much easier to use than serial connectors!

Below is the Ffridd Isaf board...

Below is the first board after Ffridd Isaf with the loop point on....

Next is the main station board...



Then the board with all the action - the yard points and DCC accessory decoder...


Then board 1 - the square board

and finally the hidden sidings showing the choc blocks installed...

I also had time to think about the track plan for the top level of Nant Gwernol and to temporarily fix down 2 extra points...

Colin

By popular request

An image of a Ruston at Steeple Grange...

Tonight the wiring was taken to the next level and all is now done apart from the lighting (station lamps and signals) and I have yet to complete the cross-board connections (including the far loop point back to the DCC points decoder).

That means all feeds are in and attached to the bus bars [stapled onto the boards], isolators reconnected (not now needed for DCC!), point motors wired up (including frog connections) and connections to the points decoder.




and this is the final wiring plan:


Colin

Weekend report

A couple of railways were visited this weekend. First up is the extraordinary Steeple Grange Light Railway...


which features some odd points!

The staff were very friendly, and it's a nice little railway which goes a fair length for a cheap fare (£1.50 return) and up some serious gradients. They have a nice running shed, a little shop and even a small branch line that they take waiting passengers on whilst they wait for the 'main line' train. No steam though, publicity is poor (except for media coverage of a dispute with e.on electricity) and parking is a side of road job. There is also an odd squeeze through a gatepost to get in which would be hard for a pregnant lady or anyone of a larger than average waist size. The rolling stock is basic (miners' manriders) and the trip is mainly through woods to the middle of nowhere. Thus it doesn't score very well, which is a shame as we had a lovely hour or so there. 23%

Today we went on the Rudyard Lake Railway. Rudyard sports a tidy little station with its own footbridge and seasonal planting.

There were 3 steam engines in steam, all very similar and built for the Exmoor Steam Railway.

The trip along the lake was lovely, with nice views and a decent length. There was a festival on at the Dam, where we had a nice cup of tea. Overall 47%, just short of Kirklees, which feels about right as the facilities (shop, cafe etc) are better at Kirklees.

Oh and I did some wiring underneath the board with all the action (4 point motors)... Note the DCC points decoder (gaugemaster) installed and the DCC bus (two household copper wires [red and black] stripped in a few places). All wires have been soldered to their 'home' be it a feed, point motor etc) and a series of chop blocks have been glued on ready. All wires have had their ends stripped, so when the chop blocks are solid, wiring can be completed quite quickly.

I expect to staple the main bus wires to the board. That is if I can repair the netto nail gun!

and also gave the KMX tamper container a second coat of primer, added a polyfilla bank near the steps from the car park, painted rocks where they had been missed from the other side, added foliage to the walls to cover gaps and tone the stones down and a few other minor jobs.

Colin