[Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00]

Hi everybody

I just found this topic last week - really enjoyed reading through it all. Very nice

It atracted me because I grew up in Newquay 50's and 60s (Now living in Auckland)

Grammar School was next to the station - actually only part of it. but many kids came to school on the train from Perranporth way.

The gas works was also next door to school and the railway.

I had a small Hornby outfit like lots of boys, but then became  one of the early surfers in the 60's so the train was put away.

I got them all out a few years ago for the grand children, but they were a bit rough, so I built them a little circuit with some cheap rolling stock. In the meantime I started a layout in the garage with Newquay as the Terminus and a couple of loops for the main line after the Par Junction. Still progressing, I think I will name Newquay station "Towan Blystra" which is the original name before they built the "New Quay'

Anyway just to say keep up the good work. I am learning a lot although a bit confused over signal lever frames - I going to run my signals and points from a Raspberry Pi via the DCC controller.

Looking forward to the next posts

Colin

[DCC Controlled (PECO) Turntable Project using a Arduino Uno]

 https://hackaday.io/project/11224-mechaduino thought this may be of interest?, it allows very accurate posistioning along with constant posistion checking effectively turning out stepper motors into 360 degree servos reading the various wlak throughs it uses a magnet on the end of the stepper shaft and a magnetic rotarty encoder on the board, the calibration routine producting 16,384 entries for posisioning!

 

I bought the sensor AS5048B which makes up this device. $25 on a board which fits on the end of a stepper. It hooks up via the i2c interface and seemed pretty good - repeatable to better than 0.05 degrees. I have it running on a Raspberry Pi. Next move is to hook it up to the arduino which runs the stepper. Then can do a closed loop control system. this should avoid all issues with indexing etc. I obtained the board from ams.com - AS5048B evaluation kit. Note the data sheet has the lsb and msb of the angle register transposed.

[DCC Controlled (PECO) Turntable Project using a Arduino Uno]

DCC monitor quirks

I have my turntable running with a Nano and A4988 using the 6N137 circuit for DCC interface.

I have another system running DCCMonitor to check what is happening on the DCC. I have tried the monitor with Hornby Select, Lenz 100 and a Sprog. 

On the select I need a loco on the tracks before I can read any signals - similar results with the other two systems and the odd drop out on Lenz. I have checked circuitry and used duplicate electronics, but no clues.

 

I suspect the DCC needs a 'load' to operate, but I have been searching literature and can't find an answer to this.

Also the setup on a Lenz system works for a while and then stops responding - maybe too much power draw as it has a few locos running. 

 

Any pointers greatly appreciated - thanks in advance 

[DCC Controlled (PECO) Turntable Project using a Arduino Uno]

Hiya,

I used ALLPCB www.allpcb.com.

These guys were GREAT. Good communication fast production and despatch; just 5 days from submission online to receipt via DHL!

 

You are brave using EAGLE I tried to get to grips with it and found it mind blowingly buggy and awful. Having said that, my experience of delving into the world of PCB production was like turning the clock back 15 years software-wise. The world of PCB design seems to be populated with buggy and troublesome products that are hard to use and don't always deliver. Considering my 20 years designing 3d software (which is far mare complicated) I don't think it was my lack of ability and I was left totallyunderwhelmed.

 

In the end I used DipTrace, I ditched the idea of circuit diagrams and adding components in favour of just using DiptTace rather like a glorified version of Illustrator. It allowed me to simply draw a board and add pads and traces whilst snapping to a grid. It allowed me to add silk screen details easily and it exported flawlessly into Gerber files with a drilling file. All-in-all much less hassle that 'designing' a board and specifying components and circuits!

 

Regards

 

 

Hello

I used ALLPCB absolutely brilliant - mine took a week but were sitting at the local couriers here over the weekend. I would recommend them as the boards were first class.

I think I will stick with Eagle as it seems better for Macs and I haven't used Windows machines for ages.

I have the circuit up and running, but I have already a list of extras I might add. The circuit design and build was so easy I will throw away the breadboards altogether!

I have sourced a stepper with a double shaft so I am thinking I will use a rotary encoder on one end as a reference and then I can have a nice feedback loop to improve accuracy.

I can get a 1024 step one for US$40 which would give me a shade less than a millimetre it the rim - might not be good enough though. After all the 3200 step stepper would be batter than .33 mm.

I do seem to have a bit of trouble getting the turntable to return to exactly the same position repeatedly 

I think I will need another Nano to look after the encoder as it will need to use a couple of interrupts to work nicely. Any one tried this ? 

 

regards

[DCC Controlled (PECO) Turntable Project using a Arduino Uno]

Hiya,

I used ALLPCB www.allpcb.com.

These guys were GREAT. Good communication fast production and despatch; just 5 days from submission online to receipt via DHL!

 

You are brave using EAGLE I tried to get to grips with it and found it mind blowingly buggy and awful. Having said that, my experience of delving into the world of PCB production was like turning the clock back 15 years software-wise. The world of PCB design seems to be populated with buggy and troublesome products that are hard to use and don't always deliver. Considering my 20 years designing 3d software (which is far mare complicated) I don't think it was my lack of ability and I was left totallyunderwhelmed.

 

In the end I used DipTrace, I ditched the idea of circuit diagrams and adding components in favour of just using DiptTace rather like a glorified version of Illustrator. It allowed me to simply draw a board and add pads and traces whilst snapping to a grid. It allowed me to add silk screen details easily and it exported flawlessly into Gerber files with a drilling file. All-in-all much less hassle that 'designing' a board and specifying components and circuits!

 

Regards

 

 

Hi

Many thanks for the info, by coincidence I found ALLPCB  on the web, before hearing back from you, and sent off a board, So will see how it goes. Eagle is quirky and a bit pedantic and it took me quite a while to get to grips. I like the way it goes from a schematic to a board, so it is easy to check. 

I will investigate DipTrace at some stage. Although having invested some time with Eagle I will persevere unless there are problems with the board

 

best regards

[DCC Controlled (PECO) Turntable Project using a Arduino Uno]

Hi

I have been following this topic - Really good info, so I now have an operating turntable - Similar to original but have used a QRD114 infrared detector for indexing - works good. I have a Peco TT and the sensor just sits underneath the deck.I do have trouble with the bearing which is binding despite attempts to align nicely. 

 

I wanted to ask Rigid Collision where he got his PCB's done? I have been playing with eagle and I wanted a drive controller similar to his but with some extras ( I2C interface for things like a display) I have the board done and I am ready to have it built. I have only used soldering iron or wire wrap before so this is all new and I would like a good company to use. I am in NZ so China is OK for me.

 

Any help appreciated

thank you

Colin

 

ps first time using RM web so hopefully this message will arrive.