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BSW01

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Blog Entries posted by BSW01

  1. BSW01
    I've had the Hornby R8211 rolling road for some years now and it's given great service.
     
    Whilst tightening up the rollers I managed to strip the thread on one of the screws, and damage the thread on another, so I purchased R8212 replacement set. However, not wanting to throw away the damaged parts, I wondered how they could be of further use.
     
    Whilst the R8211 is a good piece of kit, it's biggest drawback is its inability to let you run diesel locomotives with bogies on it. This got me thinking, so I took a few measurements and played around with a few ideas and came up with this - a block with a set of rollers that is not connected to the rolling road, but can be used in conjunction with it, thus enabling diesel bogie locomotives to be run safely.
     
    Whilst I used MDF (an off cut from another project) for the block I made, any non conductive material could be used, the only criteria being the dimensions, which are , 45mm x 18mm x 18mm, with 3mm hole 11mm from the base on the centre line. Into which is glued a short length of 3mm brass screwed rod, which protrudes 10mm. This allows the rolling road roller bracket to slide over the screwed rod and be held in place by a 3mm nut. I've used nylon nuts to retain the rollers but brass or steel could be used. Also, to enable a steam loco with 5 driving axles I cut off the threaded part of knurled screw of R8212 and drilled a hole in its place, which I then tapped 3mm. Into this I glued a screw, cut to a length of 9mm, the same as the original so that it can be used with the original captive nut, which was also re-tapped 3mm. The 9mm length of the new screw is critical, because if it's too long it will short out against the body of the rolling road, and if it's too short it will not tighten up properly.
     
    I hope the photos make it all clear.
     






     

    The set-up I've shown will work with most medium sized classes, that are too large for the rolling road on its own, but I do need to make a second, so that I fit a Deltic on it!
     
    Edited, to correct my mistake. I used 3mm brass screwed rod and nuts not 4mm.
  2. BSW01
    I've now made a second roller support cradle for my rolling road extension. It was made using the same materials and measurements as previously posted. However, during its construction I noticed a mistake in my original post, which I have since corrected, but I will also duplicate it here too!
     
    :- I used 3mm brass screwed rod and nuts, and not 4mm as previously stated, doh!
     
    I've also made a couple of guide rods to ensure that the 2 support cradles remain parallel to each other, thus giving better quality running, meaning I can run larger diesel engines quite safely now. Then I decided to make up some wire links so that I can connect them electrically to the Hornby rolling road, thereby running the loco via the pick-ups on both bogies via the extension cradles, attached to the tightening screws of the original rolling road and then to my own extension cradles.
     
    I've also removed the original Hornby pony truck/bogie support block, which was mainly for steam engines, and I never really liked it anyway, but in future I can rest the wheels of my steam engine's pony truck/bogies on the rollers instead.
     
    Hope the pictures help.
     

     

     

     

     

     
    The next step is to make a 3rd cradle to support the centre bogie and then perhaps paint them.
  3. BSW01
    I'd never fitted a sound decoder before, but a purchase from Ebay found me the owner of a 21 pin ESU Lok sound decoder and speaker, complete with a WD 2-8-0 sound file on it. Therefore, the choice of model for my first attempt at fitting a sound decoder was already made for me, it had to be my Bachmann W/D 2-8-0. However, as it was a non DCC ready loco, it involved a little more than just plugging it in. So I bought a 21 pin socket and blanking plate for it too.
     
    I always like to make as few drastic modifications to a model as possible. So after close inspection of the loco itself and studying it's service sheet, it became clear that the best place for the socket, decoder and speaker would be in the tender as there is so much more room in there than in the loco itself. To make the electrical connection between the loco and tender a little easier, I decided to fit a standard Hornby 4 pin plug in the loco and socket in the tender.
     
    The first task was to dismantle the locomotive, however, before this was done, I tested and made notes of the wiring polarity, so it could be maintained after all the subsequent modifications. The small PCB fitted above the motor with capacitors and inductors was removed and discarded. I also removed and discarded all the wires from the pick-ups to the motor. The Hornby plug came with 4 long black wires, so I drilled 2 small holes in the plastic chassis keeper plate, close together, just in front of the brake cylinder which is located below the cab footplate. They were drilled so that they broke through just above the horizontal part of the keeper plate, they were then joined together to form an oval just large enough for the four wires to pass through.
     
    2 views of the hole drilled into the keeper plate. (Sorry about the quality of the photos).

     

     
    This enables 2 of the wires to pass directly to the pick-ups, and the other 2 to the motor using the original route for motor wires, and thus negating any modifications to the metal chassis, and are almost invisible when viewed from the normal viewing distance. I then soldered the 2 centre wires to the pick-ups and the 2 outer wires to the motor terminals, ensuring that I had the same polarity as that tested at the start. Once happy, the loco chassis was re-assembled and tested to ensure that it worked on DC before I went any further.
     
    So that I could test the loco, without having to connect it to the tender, I made 2 small U shaped links, think mini staples, (see photo) just big enough to short 2 pins together, an outer pin to it's adjacent inner pin of the 4 pin plug, these links were fitted and the loco was placed on my rolling road, and powered up.
     
    Close up of the home made shorting links

     
    Links fitted into plug, note how they both face in different directions, to prevent short circuits.

     
    Success, it worked correctly first time. So with all the modifying work on the locomotive complete and working successfully, I made the final modification to the loco, which was to shorten the drawbar. My thoughts then turned towards modifying the tender, but that'll be the subject of my next blog.
  4. BSW01
    Now that the loco is finished, work can now start on the tender. There are a lot more photos in this section as more work was carried out here than in the loco.
     
    The tender top was removed, followed by the wheels and weights. Each weight was then cut into smaller pieces and these were fitted to the front, rear and both sides of the tender top, keeping everything away from the decoder, to prevent short circuits and to retain the tenders original weight. The weights are insulated with a tape that is similar to Kapton tape.
     
    Weights attached inside the tender top.

     
    Next I removed the rear fixing spigot from the tender top, as close to the top as I could get, the top is now held on by only the front screw, but this doesn't seem to be a problem. The 21 pin decoder socket was then attached to the rear of the tender base with a small screw, the speaker will be located at the front, below the coal storage area, as there was plenty of room for it there. The decoder socket is a little too long for the area that I wished to fit it, but I got round this by lifting one end up, using the removed spigot as a spacer, so that the socket is at a slight angle when viewed from the side.
     
    Side on view of decoder installation

     
    I then drilled 4 small holes to enable a larger hole to be made for the 4 pin tender socket, also fitted by a small screw. I then wired the 4 pin socket to the 21 pin decoder socket, using short lengths of red, black, orange and grey cable ensuring that the correct polarity.
     
    View showing the 4 pin socket fitted.

     
    A small section from the front of the tender top had to be removed just below the footplate to make room for the 4 pin socket's PCB. I also had to file a small a flat section on the remaining front fixing spigot. It was now time to test the work I'd so far completed. I re-fitted the tender wheels, inserted a 21 pin blanking plug and connected the loco to the tender, via the 4 pin plug and socket . It was again placed on my rolling road, DC power was then applied to ensure that it worked as it should, before doing any further work, and once again everything was working as it should. The loco and tender were again separated so that the next stage could begin.
     
    Close up of cutout for 4 pin socket as seen from the inside.

     
    As seen from the front of the tender.

     
    As seen from the front when tender completely assembled

     
    The wheels and blanking plug were once again removed. I then placed the speaker casing below the coal storage and marked the area that it would occupy. I then drilled a series of small holes within that area of the tender base (I lost count how many), to enable the sound to escape. I also drilled 2 fixing holes for the speaker casing. The decoder and speaker were then fitted and the small unused slots in the speaker casing were covered with tape and black-tac to ensure that no sound could escape into the tender. Once again it was time to test the loco, but this time using DCC, yippee, it worked.
    Everything was then re-assembled and the tender was attached to the loco, I then gave it a short run on my test track.
     
    Sound holes below speaker mounting.

     
    The whole thing connected up read to roll.

     
    The next phase will to make up some pick-ups for the tender wheels.
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