Chumley End

[leopardml2341]

SORTED Mate

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That tea (or is it coffee?) looks a bit on t' weak side tho' Edited February 6, 2017 by leopardml2341

[gismorail]

SORTED Mate

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What are you like          Bet you've left cup ring marks on the expensive woodwork          and if you spill any have nothing but shorts 

[Andrew P]

What are you like          Bet you've left cup ring marks on the expensive woodwork          and if you spill any have nothing but shorts 

It wasn't me Boss.

[gismorail]

Brilliant Andy knew you'd cause 'havoc'   

 

As it happens the control panel has had a couple coats of paint ( must have know Andy was going to spill his drink)  ... over the last couple of days so not able to do a lot on it until the paint cures properly ...... In the meantime I found  that the Chinese take away had arrived today whilst I was out in the form of four D sub connectors ...... 

 

 What a beauty !!! and it will certainly save a lot of time with the soldering iron    and very easy to locate the correct wires when needed.  Not had a great deal of time tonight but had to make a start    !!!! 

 

 

 

The first thing noted was the underside of the connector has solder work sticking out on the back  

 

so I drilled four locating holes in the base board area which I had earmarked for the connector to be located and fitted bolts with two nuts so that the base would not be fitted tight against the board. 

 

 

              

 

 

I feel that these will make the wiring process across the board joints a breeze .. 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                      

 

                    

 

 

[andi4x4]

Those PCB mounted D connectors are a brilliant idea !  I wish I had had those last time I used D connectors - I had five 50-way sockets in the back of a control panel, all wired almost to capacity ! Took me weeks to solder them all up ! 

 

Do you mind me asking where you got them from ? - for future reference !

[gismorail]

Those PCB mounted D connectors are a brilliant idea !  I wish I had had those last time I used D connectors - I had five 50-way sockets in the back of a control panel, all wired almost to capacity ! Took me weeks to solder them all up ! 

 

Do you mind me asking where you got them from ? - for future reference !

Hiya Andy . I found them on eBay and they came from China. Four cost approx thirty quid with free postage which took 10 days. The same in the UK were around fifteen pounds EACH

[paulj]

Hi. I'm afraid I missed your post for info on how I made the remote.

 

I used a pattress box for an architrave switch which I had spare (50p in B&Q at the moment) - 4 miniature push to make buttons from Ebay (cost £2.11 for 5) - 5 core cable and servo connectors to plug into the board (On the megapoints videos I think Dave uses a 5 pin connector but I didn't have one so used a couple of 3 pin).

 

I didn't have a blanking plate to mount the pushbuttons so I made one from 3 layers of plasticard glued together.

 

The instructions for wiring are in the documentation for the board. Connect common to one side of all the switches and the remaining wires to other side of each switch.

 

I used white for common, red for low, yellow for program, blue for high and black for mode.

 

The order of the pins on the board correspond to the pushbutons:

 

Left to right

 

Pin1 - Low

Pin2 - Prog

Pin3 - High

Pin4 - Mode

Pin5 - Common/Ground

 

[Andrew P]

Hi Martin, Those connectors look an impressive bit of Kit mate, and as Andi said it will make wiring so easy.

 

What's the next stage?

[Signaller69]

Plus one on liking those connectors, have you a similarly cunning plan for sourcing pre wired ones to run to the control panel? If not at least its cut out a fair amount of soldering. . . ;-)

[gismorail]

Hi. I'm afraid I missed your post for info on how I made the remote.

 

I used a pattress box for an architrave switch which I had spare (50p in B&Q at the moment) - 4 miniature push to make buttons from Ebay (cost £2.11 for 5) - 5 core cable and servo connectors to plug into the board (On the megapoints videos I think Dave uses a 5 pin connector but I didn't have one so used a couple of 3 pin).

 

I didn't have a blanking plate to mount the pushbuttons so I made one from 3 layers of plasticard glued together.

 

The instructions for wiring are in the documentation for the board. Connect common to one side of all the switches and the remaining wires to other side of each switch.

 

I used white for common, red for low, yellow for program, blue for high and black for mode.

 

The order of the pins on the board correspond to the pushbutons:

 

Left to right

 

Pin1 - Low

Pin2 - Prog

Pin3 - High

Pin4 - Mode

Pin5 - Common/Ground

 

That's very kind of you to show how you have tackled the remote idea. Brilliant will pass it on to trev a friend who is doing one for himself and he has offered to do one for me. Saw David at Stafford on Saturday and he has four buttons taped together what a breeze.

[gismorail]

Hi Martin, Those connectors look an impressive bit of Kit mate, and as Andi said it will make wiring so easy.

 

What's the next stage?

 

Hi Andy just parked up in the wagon at Toddington Services been down to Southend to pick up a load of rubber horse mats..they'd be great on the floor of the man cave or potting shed he he.

 

Going to make up the main board conector and get the control panel finished this weekend. .....got to wire the kitchen too. he he

[gismorail]

Plus one on liking those connectors, have you a similarly cunning plan for sourcing pre wired ones to run to the control panel? If not at least its cut out a fair amount of soldering. . . ;-)

Funny you should say that was only thinking today whilst driving in the wagon a pre-wired male male jumper cable would be just the job as it doesn't matter what colour the wires are as it's just a jumper between the two x subs. The most important thing is where the wires to from the other connetor go ...Will have to search flea bay...

[andi4x4]

Funny you should say that was only thinking today whilst driving in the wagon a pre-wired male male jumper cable would be just the job as it doesn't matter what colour the wires are as it's just a jumper between the two x subs. The most important thing is where the wires to from the other connetor go ...Will have to search flea bay...

 

 

I don't think it matters which type of male-male cable you use (parallel or crossover) so long as you know what you have got - you can always wire the sockets accordingly. The pins on the cable plugs are usually numbered - crossover cables will be numbered 1234-1234 when held side by side and parallel will be 1234-4321 - mirror image.

 

Are you fitting sockets to the baseboards and the control panel with double ended cables between ? If so, I would be tempted to go for parallel cables and wiring the sockets identically, that way, so long as your cables are identical, you wont have to worry about which cable goes to which socket, or which way round it needs to be.

Edited February 8, 2017 by andi4x4

[Andrew P]

Hi Andy just parked up in the wagon at Toddington Services been down to Southend to pick up a load of rubber horse mats..they'd be great on the floor of the man cave or potting shed he he.

 

Going to make up the main board conector and get the control panel finished this weekend. .....got to wire the kitchen too. he he

I've got the Halfords Interlocking Floor Mats in my Old Potting Shed.

[gismorail]

I don't think it matters which type of male-male cable you use (parallel or crossover) so long as you know what you have got - you can always wire the sockets accordingly. The pins on the cable plugs are usually numbered - crossover cables will be numbered 1234-1234 when held side by side and parallel will be 1234-4321 - mirror image.

 

Are you fitting sockets to the baseboards and the control panel with double ended cables between ? If so, I would be tempted to go for parallel cables and wiring the sockets identically, that way, so long as your cables are identical, you wont have to worry about which cable goes to which socket, or which way round it needs to be.

Hope to have the normal plug in cable into the panel not sure how many wires yet . With having the servo board under the layout and the master board for the leds in the control panel wires should be to a minimum .....I hope

[gismorail]

I've got the Halfords Interlocking Floor Mats in my Old Potting Shed.

1685070_1.jpg

 

Looks like a jigsaw just in case you've got nothing better to do between trains

[Andrew P]

Any New updates mate, or still re-building your Kitchen?

[gismorail]

Good morning all........ following another day of building work in the kitchen I managed to get into the 'man cave' last night to get away from the dust if nothing else. I had managed to give the control panel a couple of coats of wood primer the day before so set about applying the top coat to give some protection from our friend Andy Peter's cups of tea   ....... there's always one  

 

                                                                                                

 

Once this final top coat has dried off I will remove the masking tape from the aluminium edging strips and I can then start to fit the signal and point switches in readiness for the wiring looms from the main baseboards. The other task that has still to be started is the track diagram which I am still thinking about how to construct .... it will come to me eventually .....I think .......I did say it's 'Build & Design',,,,,

 

 

Another job that has been completed is the wiring up of the first of the connectors on board two which carries the point and signal loom to board one and onto the Meggapoints controller panel which is located on board 1

 

 

                                                                                

 

                                            First connector wired up                                                                                                                         Each wire is 'tinned' prior to fitting 

 

It really was an easy job getting the wires sorted to connect into the connector and something that I find important when fixing multi-stranded wire into screw up connectors is to 'tin' each individual wire mainly to give the connector something to bit into but it also eliminates any stray wire threads shorting out to the next connection . The numbered connectors have been listed so that I know exactly which wire is which and this will be logged into a wiring log book for fault finding if required in the future. 

 

 

On base board one I have fitted the other end of the connector in readiness for the 'jumper cable' which is still to be made up and this is located alongside the Meggapoints servo board 

 

 

                                                                                                                               

 

The wires that are laying alongside the main panel are the points and signals located on this base board .....I have put the wooden strips around the panel to firstly give some protection to the fairly fragile electrical components but also to give me a type of wire tie for each servo wire , this is just a saw cut into the wood to the depth of the three cable servo wire which then simply sits into the slot. 

 

                                                                                                                                 

 

 

 

 

A final job that I completed last night was the fitting of a power supply multi-plug fitting on back of base board one, this will give a direct power supply distribution to DCC bus , Meggapoint supply as well as lighting for signals and buildings etc ..... 

 

That's all for now Folks 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Andrew P]

Crikey Martin, your wiring is Mega Neat, and as for that Box, well it looks to good for model Railway Layout, very nice mate, really neat job, well done.

[gismorail]

Thanks Andy your too kind.......I just hope it all works when voltage is applied ......it's ok being neat but just hope it's all going the right direction . Pleased with the control panel the paint is Dulux Weathersheald which I bought to do the wood work on the house last year but have gone for UPVC instead so it became surplus .....more recycling I am a good boy.... The colour is spring green and having applied it to the panel it's very similar to the green that was used on the new electronic signalling control panels in the sixties.....but of luck to be fair not intended

[Andrew P]

Hi Martin, It's confused of Swad here, Did I read the other day somewhere that the Control Box would do 2 Layouts? If so how?

[gismorail]

Hi Andy it's confused of Carrog here not sure where that came from might be able if I had the same number of points /signals on the other layout with an interchangable track diagrams he he

[Kelly]

Looking really good so far. Some nice concepts in there.

 

Will follow with interest.

[gismorail]

Good morning all.......following a dash into England yesterday to collect some building materials for my kitchen project.  I also ventured to the other side of the river Mersey and braved the diversions and traffic jams to visit Hattons new shop / warehouse in the fair town of Widnes. though to be honest it's not the most inspiring place on god's earth .....the main reason for my visit was to purchase some Peco point switches so that I could complete the control panel but alas what I needed had to be placed on order for postage....but it was worth the visit as I bought a crimson Bachmann auto coach for a future project.....  

 

In the evening I visited my good friend Rob who is the proud owner and creator of a rather splendid layout called 'Batley' which appeared in the Railway Modeller last year. During my visit I took the opportunity to give a couple of my recent purchases a good running session prior chipping them for use on my own layouts .

 

 

   

 

The first was the exclusive Hattons / DJM model of the 14xx number 1470 complete with the Auto coach that I had purchased that day and although the setting of a Yorkshire Mill town was certainly not a place where such a pairing would have ventured in real life it did not look too out of place.

 

 

     

 

The other locomotive that I needed running in was the Hornby Q6 which is for my Chester Northgate shed ......yes I do have it on good authority that one did appear there in the later 50's for a very short time probably for running trails on the very steep gradient of Harwarden Bank on the Wrexham to Bidston line. The Q6 was put through it's paces in charge of a 30 plus banana train......and coped with the task in fine style as this model does have quite remarkable pulling power.     

 

A rather enjoyable evening to be sure....

 

 

 

[gismorail]

Evening gentleman and others !!!! Well the nice post lady delivered a packet from HobbyKing today .....a Crimping tool and servo connectors.....a whole new ballgame for me personally so once I had done some further work on the kitchen refit .....just to keep the project to schedule you understand ....I disappeared into the 'man cave' to check out a new gadget .....well one hows to doesn't one  

 

I have to say that I've been really impressed with HobbyKing ....excellent service two day turn round from ordering ,free postage and the impressive crimping tool was just under twelve pounds which for a quality tool is good value at today's prices. 

 

 

                                                                                                                                     

 

Now as I mentioned earlier I've never done any crimping so this has been a totally new area of modelling to me personally , something the radio control guys will be well versed in but to most of us railway modellers not area that we have had to get involved with. This being the case I thought I would give an account of how the first lot of leads worked out. For those of you who have done this before I know it looks as though I'm 'teaching my mother how to suck eggs' as the saying goes, but to those who haven't I hope it helps if you decide go down the servo route. 

 

According to what I can understand crimping electrical connections is recognised as a fail safe and reliable way to making a good connection which is why it's probably very common in the automotive industry. The important thing is to make sure that both the stripped wire and the plastic casing are both crimped as one. 

 

                                                                                                                                       

 

                                                                                                                               So the first thing was to prepare the servo leads ready for the connector as above.

 

                                                                                                                                       

 

                                                                       The connector in this case a female one is placed into the crimping tool ready to have the prepared servo wire placed into the connector. ( zoom in you can just about see it in place)

 

                                                                                                                                         

 

                                                                                            Once the wire was positioned into the connector the crimping tool is depressed and hey presto the job is done ....nice a neat and professional.......

 

                                                                                                                                         

 

                                                                                                                                    All three wires crimped and ready to fit into the plastic sleeve connector.

 

                                                                                                                                           

 

The three wires are then carefully lined up into the sleeve then fully inserted to make a safe isolated fitting. I did do a full metre test to make sure that electrical continuity has been achieved before fully fitting into the plastic sleeve 

 

                                                                                                                                           

 

The final photograph shows all the point and signal servo leads connected onto the Meggopoint control board , this leaves two spare servo connections left which will hopefully power the level crossing gates at a later date. I would point out the importance of double checking each and every connection from the sleeve to the servo to make sure that firstly the right wire is going to the correct place and also for electrical continuity as it's easy to do this  now when each location is fresh in one's mind...... better then having to trace you way through the whole loom later on. 

 

Well it's been a fairly productive day and the first lot of servo leads have been located into the main board. I hope that this brief commentary has been useful to anyone who is thinking of going down the servo control route, as I say it's all a new area for most of us railway modellers but I think it's worth investigating as it would seem to be the way of the future.