buffalo Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 Stunning work, but what are you doing about insulation gaps around the diamond? I don't think I can see any at present, so are you leaving them to the end? It must be a nightmare working out where they are needed with all those check rails. Nick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartM Posted July 6, 2012 Author Share Posted July 6, 2012 Stunning work, but what are you doing about insulation gaps around the diamond? I don't think I can see any at present, so are you leaving them to the end? It must be a nightmare working out where they are needed with all those check rails. Nick Isolation gaps and electrical testing is still to do, but there's one more turnout and a couple of lengths of track still to make first Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted July 7, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 7, 2012 The fully guarded crossing is very nice. Don Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 As I have commented before, a very nice piece of work especially considering its in such a small gauge. The benefit of making it in one piece is clearly visable by the nice flowing lines. How do you propose to make the isolation cuts? As a slitting disc may be too thick and at an angle Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartM Posted July 7, 2012 Author Share Posted July 7, 2012 As I have commented before, a very nice piece of work especially considering its in such a small gauge. The benefit of making it in one piece is clearly visable by the nice flowing lines. How do you propose to make the isolation cuts? As a slitting disc may be too thick and at an angle I use a home made Piercing Saw with blades that are 0.18mm thick, which makes quite nice fine isolation gaps. This is only my fourth attempt at making my own trackwork but in that short time I've discovered that (for me anyway) its better to build everything in one piece (one of the many benefits of working in 2mm is the space required to do this) and then add all the isolation cuts after as by that time all the rail is soldered and held in place. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 Stuart In one way you are very right, in one piece it flows. The one privso is that the cuts must be very fine and straight. Do you have to drill a hole in the baseboard to do this? In 4 mm scale the plastic fishplates by Exactoscale are execelent at keeping 2 rails in line,insulated and at the correct gap. Sadly in 2mm these are not available Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartM Posted July 7, 2012 Author Share Posted July 7, 2012 Stuart In one way you are very right, in one piece it flows. The one privso is that the cuts must be very fine and straight. Do you have to drill a hole in the baseboard to do this? In 4 mm scale the plastic fishplates by Exactoscale are execelent at keeping 2 rails in line,insulated and at the correct gap. Sadly in 2mm these are not available Yes you have to drill a 1mm hole in the baseboard but that's no problem as it will get ballasted over later on. Also plastic fishplates would be be of no use when it comes to the isolation gaps in the diamond crossing Below is the crossing from my first attempt at track building which shows the isolation cuts and holes in the baseboard As you can see the cuts are very fine (less than 0.5 of a mm) and the rails are soldered in place so aren't going anywhere in a hurry Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartM Posted August 4, 2012 Author Share Posted August 4, 2012 I've been busy working on the electrickery that will control the point motors and set the track polarity and have finally got a circuit that works. The photos show three circuits connected together and connected to a forth chip as part of a test rig while I was developing the code to control everything. Now it seems to work, I will fit these three boards to the layout working on the isolation gaps as I go and then construct the remaining eight boards and the control panel. I posted a short video to Youtube which hopefully explains the circuits in more detail http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zruTeqNnjRo&feature=youtu.be Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Hi stuart Did the track shown 2 posts above this one actually work? You seem to have a lot of variety in the flangeway gaps. Cheers Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartM Posted August 6, 2012 Author Share Posted August 6, 2012 Hi Jim, The track works with the test trucks and carriages when rolled through the track under gravity and my 2mm class 24 "pushes" through the trackwork ok, however until I can get power onto the rails I won't really know for sure. As to the flange gaps your right, this trackwork is really in two parts, the first being the double slip and the tandem turnout which were slightly gauge widened to accommodate the class 04's turned wheels which were not as finescale as a set of drop in wheels and the second part which is all the other turnouts which have much tighter gauging. Rgds, Stuart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Hi stuart I was thinking more that the checkrails on the same bit of track looked to be different sizes but then im not used to looking at 2mm track. My understanding is it like scaled down EM is that right? Have you fixed the checkrails in the middle of the pic that are too short (they are not cheking the vee at the moment) i assume you hadnt added the lower left one wheb you took the pic? Cheers Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartM Posted August 6, 2012 Author Share Posted August 6, 2012 Hi stuart I was thinking more that the checkrails on the same bit of track looked to be different sizes but then im not used to looking at 2mm track. My understanding is it like scaled down EM is that right? Have you fixed the checkrails in the middle of the pic that are too short (they are not cheking the vee at the moment) i assume you hadnt added the lower left one wheb you took the pic? Cheers Jim No idea about the scaling as I've never read up on EM gauge, but I assume that as EM and 2mm finescale are both finescale gauges there will be some similarity's, perhaps one of the more experienced track builders on here could comment. The check rails are all made from the same bullhead rail as the running rails, and they do check the opposite rails and vees, I think the camera angles must be distorting things a bit. The track looks good in the photos but even better in real life imho Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Hi stuart I was refering to the ones that are too short, the correct length is visible in the drawing. The lower ones just about ok. The upper one is too short. Hth Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartM Posted August 6, 2012 Author Share Posted August 6, 2012 Hi stuart I was refering to the ones that are too short, the correct length is visible in the drawing. The lower ones just about ok. The upper one is too short. Hth Jim Can you repost the photo with the offending gaps and rails highlighted as I not sure which rails you're referring to Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Hi Stuart The red circle shows the area I am on about - you can see from the yellow lines that wheelsets are entering the vees unchecked. The blue line is the missing checkrail I mentioned. HTH Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartM Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share Posted August 7, 2012 No photo Jim, Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted August 7, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 7, 2012 The photo of your first attempt shows the faults/omissions Jim describes whereas the first photo of your later effort with the fully gaurded crossing looks to have all the checkrails in place as needed. I guess the first effort is not finished in the photo. The end result is a fine bit of trackwork I find it difficult to decide whether its a tandem turnout with a fully outside slip or a scissors crossover a tandem on one of the turnouts, but hey what's in a name I would be proud to have made that. Your approach to electrics is a bit more high tec than mine but gives food for thought. Don Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartM Posted August 8, 2012 Author Share Posted August 8, 2012 Right now I see what you mean, The photo hadn't updated when I last looked, This is an earlier piece of track work that I used to demonstrate isolation gaps to a previous question. It was in fact my first attempt at track building and got consigned to the bits box only to be resurrected for the 2011 challenge http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/37831-a-2mm-loco-service-point/ You are quite right the check rails are not correct, in fact the whole thing was pretty poor really but was more of a learning tool than anything else, the faults were pointed out during the duration of the competition and were rectified to some extent.. I suppose I should have posted a photo of the current trackwork but at the time of posting I hadn't added the isolation gaps, I did mention that the trackwork was from a previous attempt but re-reading I can see that my wording could be ms-interpreted to mean an earlier version of this current project, so my apology's for any confusion caused. Rgds, Stuart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartM Posted August 10, 2012 Author Share Posted August 10, 2012 First point motor fitted, Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartM Posted August 26, 2012 Author Share Posted August 26, 2012 Progress is slow because I find this aspect of the hobby rather boring, and I keep finding better ways to do things. I've redesigned the turnout operating mechanism which works a lot better I've replaced the hollow square tube for solid and drilled out an oblong slot for the servo arm to fit into, the servo now sits behind the mech and interacts with the slide bar directly at the point that requires moving rather than 5cm away at the opposite end of the slide bar, this reduces the lateral forces on the slide bar and the whole thing just works better. The first photo shows both the old verson (numbered 5) next to the new version (yet to have the number 4 added) One design feature of the circuit board that my not be obvious at first glance is that both the usb socket and the microprocessor programming socket have been built pointing upwards from the base of the pcb, this is so that when the board is the correct way up, ie trackside up. both programming sockets are pointing down towards the floor making access to them simple. I've also tweaked the design of the pcb slightly, spacing the components further apart making it much easier to solder them on the underside. And I've written a universal code for the servo/relay circuit which can be slightly altered for each different servo depending on it's address, the way the turnout needs to be switched and which side of the turnout mech the servo is mounted on. The second photo shows the underside as it is at present with all the turnout operating mechs for the up/main in place, programmed and working, I just need to wire all the frogs up to the relays and then I can finally apply power to the rail and see if a loco will actually run along the track. And then I can do it all over again for the down/main Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted August 27, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 27, 2012 Very neat work Stuart. If I understand right you have a standard code for the units and just need to set the adress. Do you not have to adjust the throw or are all your tie-bars set with the same throw? Don Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartM Posted August 27, 2012 Author Share Posted August 27, 2012 Very neat work Stuart. If I understand right you have a standard code for the units and just need to set the adress. Do you not have to adjust the throw or are all your tie-bars set with the same throw? Don I guess my statement is a little misleading. The pcb circuit is standard, and the code is standard as well with two variations depending on which way the turnout switches. Apart from that, all that needs changing each time the code is loaded into a chip is the address or number of the servo it's controlling. Set up follows a standard process where by I plug the servo into the board and then also plug in the programming pcb (see video) into the usb socket, I centre the servo arm and then fit the servo to the turnout mechanism, then using the programming pcb I press the program button, the servo arm then moves the switch blades towards one side of the turnout, when the blade presses neatly against the stock rail I press the program button again and this loads that position into the chips memory, then the switch blades move in the opposite direction and the same process is followed. Once the perimeters of movement have been set the servo is then ready for operational use. From that point on, all it requires is a small data packet addressed to it with either a 0 or a 1. The control panel (when I finally get round to making it) will be able to set entire routes by sending out a string of addressed data packets, the last circuit addressed will send back a data packet to the control panel which when received will light an led on the panel indicating that the route is now set, I hope that makes sense. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted August 27, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 27, 2012 It does indeed Stuart. The code is standard but the values for the two positions (normal and reverse in railway terms) are part of the set up. I am rather tempted to go down the servo route but i am not sure if it will be as simple as the tortoise ( or similar models) with the tortoise there is only a rough set up beyond that its self adjusting and can cope with temperature changes. How do the servos fare with temperature. Presumably as long as it is close to the tie bar so any linkage is short, it is not much of an issue. Sorry about all the questions it is a quite few years since I did much with electronic circuits or machine code. ( somewhat of a dinosaur these days). For the visible part of a layout I prefer to create the feel of a lever frame but your concept of route setting would have a lot of benefits for a fiddleyard. Many thanks Don Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartM Posted October 14, 2012 Author Share Posted October 14, 2012 While working out how to wire the track, it became apparent that I would need some means of switching + & - around the diamond crossing depending on which route was set, so I made this little circuit which is nothing more than a chip and two dpdt relays, I only needed one relay but I though I might as well add another as I'm sure I will need a similar unit to do some power switching in the double slip. The great thing about this little circuit is all the expensive parts (Chip & relays) can be unplugged if the need for replacement or use elsewhere presents its self Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartM Posted October 14, 2012 Author Share Posted October 14, 2012 I have finally got round to wiring half the track and made this rather poor quality video to demonstrate http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeyzNyOGqbA or if you don't want to sit through 4mins of me droning on here is a shorter video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbc_79wm3c4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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