Easton, Isle of Portland

[NHY 581]

18 hours ago, nickwood said:

 

Makes a lot of noise without going anywhere much.

 

14 hours ago, Mick Bonwick said:

 

It's not alone in that!

 

 

 

 

Yesterday evening I rose from the armchair and produced noise. I chuckled at the noise. The noise continued as I crossed the room (accompanied by snorts and giggles )and subsided with a final flourish ( followed by laughter ) as I left said room. 

 

I felt it was an impressive succession of noises from just one person  and worthy of note. 

 

The Memsahib did not and has let it be known that on no account will sweet potato and spinich frittata be accompanied by five bean salad.

[wainwright1]

18 hours ago, nickwood said:

 

I couldn't 'ear no Martin's either. Makes a lot of noise without going anywhere much.

 

We used to have a car vacuum cleaner in our clubroom like that, it was called 'liittle Matthew.'

It was named after one of our junior members who made a lot of noise, but did not do much !

 

All the best

Ray

[Mick Bonwick]

12 minutes ago, wainwright1 said:

 

It was named after one of our junior members who made a lot of noise, but did not do much !

 

 

I suspect that most clubs have their share of those, not necessarily juniors.

Edited June 25, 2020 by Mick Bonwick

[Mick Bonwick]

I've got a little story to tell about trying to put a DCC decoder into a Dapol B4. Some will find it interesting, some will have a good laugh and the rest of you can go and read another topic.

 

[Mick Bonwick]

When Dapol first introduced their B4 I thought, "I'll get one of those and pretend that a stone quarry used it." I left it too long before actually taking any action and all that was left for sale was the Southern black liveried no. 96 "Normandy." Once opened, it was given a quick test on the rolling road and placed in my "Soon to be weathered" box, where it remained out of sight and mind.

 

There has been recent mention of B4 elsewhere that prompted me to find mine and install a decoder to do some testing of my trackwork and electrical prowess. Then all I had to do was find the instructions that I recall seeing in the box, and set to with screwdriver and whatever else might need using.

 

I have used several makes of decoder in the past, from Bachmann-badged Lenz through Digitrax, TCS, Hornby, ESU and DCC Concepts to Zimo. Each was tried for a specific purpose (size, price, functions, capacitance) and either accepted or rejected according to suitability for the perceived requirement at the time. Most recently I have used a couple of Zimo products for installation on Easton's roster. You may recall the mention of an MX645R in a (cut down) Crompton, and I have used an MX600R in a Hornby S15.

 

The scene was set - Dapol B4, screwdrivers, instructions, decoder (newly acquired MX617N) and Rimshots and Reverb (you'll have to look that one up).

 

Instructions:  Remove 4 screws holding keeperplate and remove.

User:  Removed. Nearly. There are two brake operating rods that need to be teased out of their holes, where they have been glued in place.

Instructions: Turn NEM coupling pockets through 180 degrees and remove 2 screws.

User:  Coupling pockets turned and 2 screws removed.

Instructions:  Slide chassis carefully out of body.

User:  How? One end will lift very slightly but nothing else will budge. A very fragile model is now having increasing pressure being apllied from user's hands to achieve something that quite obviously is not going to happen. The cab roof does come off, though.

 

To cut a fairly long story a little bit short, detailed investigation of the retaining screw positions reveals that there are actually three screws, not two, holding the chassis and body together. The third one (in my version of progress) is right underneath the spring that is used to centre the coupling pocket.

 

Instructions:  Slide chassis carefully out of body.

User:  Achieved.

Instructions:  Be careful not to let the axles and bearings fall out of the chassis.

User:  It is now apparent that the chassis needs to be turned upside down in order to fit the decoder. If that is done then it's a fair certainty that the aforementioned bits will fall. Light bulb moment - refit the keeper plate!

Instructions:  Remove the decoder blanking plug.

User:  Removed, along with the cylinders, connecting rods and other motion bits. These latter are held in place by the body to chassis mounting screws, which we have removed.

Instructions:  Insert decoder. A warning exists about the overall length of the decoder, excluding the pins (It's a 6-pin decoder), and my measuring indicated that the MX617N would fit.

User:  Decoder inserted. The pins are 2mm too long and the decoder sticks out and will foul the smokebox door when all is reassembled.

 

At this point I realised things weren't going according to my simple plan, which entailed fitting a decoder and giving it all a quick test. My ever-so-slightly mechanical brain helped me to refit the cylinder and connecting rod mechanism, my even-more-slightly electronic brain appreciated that the pin marked "1" was the number one pin mentioned in the decoder illustration, thus separating it from the other 5 in appearance, and my remaining brain thought that it might help if 2mm was cut off the pins.

 

Instructions:  Re-assembly is the reverse of assembly.

User:  Slide chassis into body three times, refitting and checking the cylinders and connecting rods during the first two. Remove the keeper plate and all the excess oil that has appeared everywhere. Insert three of the two screws holding chassis to body. Reposition the NEM coupling pockets, retrieving the spring of one of them from the carpet. Refit the keeper plate to the chassis while checkng that the axle that fell out was properly synchronised with its neighbour.

 

I paused, briefly, at this point to restart the music from the beginning. There are 60 tracks on the album, each at least two minutes long.

 

Once placed on the rolling road and given a brief supply of power to check that address 3 elicited a response, JMRI was employed to create a roster entry and address 96 was given, thus clearing the way for roundy-roundy testing which, surprisingly, went very well.

 

If you have got, or are intending to get, a Dapol B4, it is a beautiful little model and runs perfectly all the way down to the slowest crawl. If you run it topless you can see all that cab area in its exquisite detail every time it passes your operating position.

 

 

[NHY 581]

Two points. 

 

Point one. I am no way encouraged to deviate from my decision to continue to use DC only and not adopt DCC. 

 

Point two.  For the avoidance of doubt can you confirm if you were top less or the B4. 

One of the mental pictures that accompany each of these options is less acceptable than the other. 

 

 

Rob..

[Stubby47]

2 minutes ago, NHY 581 said:

Two points. 

 

Point one. I am no way encouraged to deviate from my decision to continue to use DC only and not adopt DCC. 

 

Point two.  For the avoidance of doubt can you confirm if you were top less or the B4. 

One of the mental pictures that accompany each of these options is less acceptable than the other. 

 

 

Rob..

 

I concur with the honourable Member for Cardiff on both points mentioned a few moments ago.

Edited June 26, 2020 by Stubby47

[Mick Bonwick]

6 minutes ago, NHY 581 said:

Two points.

 

It'll be a small terminus, then.

 

7 minutes ago, NHY 581 said:

Point one. I am no way encouraged to deviate from my decision to continue to use DC only and not adopt DCC.

 

There's no reason to use DCC if your layouts are small and manageable. Not all decisions I have made are the right ones, although they seemed that way at the time.

 

7 minutes ago, NHY 581 said:

Point two.  For the avoidance of doubt can you confirm if you were top less or the B4. 

One of the mental pictures that accompany each of these options is less acceptable than the other.

 

I mentioned the departure of the B4's roof earlier in the thread. I thought you might have made the connection. I was wrong.

 

There's no need for your imagination to be put under any strain here, it was the locomotive that was topless, and I can sympathise with your concern.

[Mick Bonwick]

11 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

 

I concur with the honourable Member for Cardiff on both points mentioned a few moments ago.

 

Lacking in originality. Not like you at all.

[NHY 581]

7 hours ago, Mick Bonwick said:

 

1. It'll be a small terminus, then.

 

 

2. There's no reason to use DCC if your layouts are small and manageable. Not all decisions I have made are the right ones, although they seemed that way at the time.

 

 

3.I mentioned the departure of the B4's roof earlier in the thread. I thought you might have made the connection. I was wrong.

 

Point 4. There's no need for your imagination to be put under any strain here, it was the locomotive that was topless, and I can sympathise with your concern.

 

 

Point 1. Yes but not two point small. 

 

Point 2. Agreed. 

 

Point 3. Agreed. 

 

Point 4. I am therefore forever in your debt. 

[Poolelad]

On 09/06/2020 at 18:18, Mick Bonwick said:

Still working in the area of the infamous lifting flap. One of the aspects of this area is a bookcase to hold all the copies of MRJ and NG&IRMR that have accumulated over the years. The 2" x 1" and plywood that were used in the layout construction were originally ordered with a fair bit of excess for this very reason. The bookcase was constructed several years ago but has never fulfilled its original purpose, until today.

 

Much sanding of top and base was done to ensure that the top of the bookcase would support the flap in the right places, the legs of the main board were screwed to the floor and the bookcase was screwed to the baseboard frame. Nothing now moves! Except the flap, of course.

 

A different use for the MRJ, holding the floor down in the event of a gale..

[Mick Bonwick]

This page does not yet have any new photographs on it.

 

I'll have to do something about that.

 

 

There are several trains in the fiddle yard that are used daily to check out all the possible routes around the layout. They have revealed several places where attention is needed to sort out occasional derailments and a couple of areas where electrical continuity fails, both on points.

 

What this photograph has revealed is that dust is going to be a problem. These trains have only been out on the track for two weeks and you can probably see that there is a significant layer of dust on the roof of both the Black Motor and the Crompton. All the other locomotives suffer the same, and so, unsurprisingly, do the remainder of the rolling stock. I have decided that the main culprit is the length of carpet that I laid a few months ago to help relieve the mild pain from using my knees too much while electrickering.

 

Do I clear up the dust by brushing and vacuuming frequently, or do I leave it for a month at a time and then have a blitz?

[john new]

2 minutes ago, Mick Bonwick said:

This page does not yet have any new photographs on it.

 

I'll have to do something about that.

 

 

There are several trains in the fiddle yard that are used daily to check out all the possible routes around the layout. They have revealed several places where attention is needed to sort out occasional derailments and a couple of areas where electrical continuity fails, both on points.

 

What this photograph has revealed is that dust is going to be a problem. These trains have only been out on the track for two weeks and you can probably see that there is a significant layer of dust on the roof of both the Black Motor and the Crompton. All the other locomotives suffer the same, and so, unsurprisingly, do the remainder of the rolling stock. I have decided that the main culprit is the length of carpet that I laid a few months ago to help relieve the mild pain from using my knees too much while electrickering.

 

Do I clear up the dust by brushing and vacuuming frequently, or do I leave it for a month at a time and then have a blitz?

Large, light weight painters dust sheet?

[Stubby47]

30 minutes ago, john new said:

Large, light weight painters dust sheet?

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Polythene-Dust-Sheet---3-65-x-3-65m/p/154959

[Tony Teague]

Is it not prototypical dust?

The carpet may harbour it, but is unlikely to be the source - isn't it just 'in the air' and coming in the door from harvesting etc nearby?

Tony

[Stubby47]

 

[Mick Bonwick]

21 hours ago, Tony Teague said:

Is it not prototypical dust?

The carpet may harbour it, but is unlikely to be the source - isn't it just 'in the air' and coming in the door from harvesting etc nearby?

Tony

 

I'm fairly sure that it is coming from the carpet itself, Tony. It is new and still shedding pile like nobody's business and replaced an old piece of carpet originally laid to protect the plywood floor from me dropping heavy tools when building the baseboards. It is an 'offcut' and was donated by a friend who used to be in the flooring business. It was left rolled up in the shed for well over 2 years before I laid it in the workshop. Over the last month or two I have spent most of my time in the workshop moving around, crawling about and shifting boxes, so doing all the things that are likely to create dust from a new carpet.

 

The ideas offered about dust sheets are thankfully received, and I will seek out those that I know exist in the garage somewhere. The problem will then be, what do I do to remove the dust that gathers on top of the thin, flimsy dust sheets every time I remove them? I'll come up with something.

[Stubby47]

3 minutes ago, Mick Bonwick said:

The problem will then be, what do I do to remove the dust that gathers on top of the thin, flimsy dust sheets every time I remove them? I'll come up with something.

 

Pin the sheets to the front edge of the layout, then carefully drape over to the back. That way, any dust will be dropped to the floor ( & your clothes/shoes) as you unwrap.

[Mick Bonwick]

7 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

 

Pin the sheets to the front edge of the layout, then carefully drape over to the back. That way, any dust will be dropped to the floor ( & your clothes/shoes) as you unwrap.

 

Ah, yes. Back to the carpet whence it came . . . . . . . .

[Gilbert]

2 minutes ago, Mick Bonwick said:

 

Ah, yes. Back to the carpet whence it came . . . . . . . .

I seem to recall you're good with carpets...

[Tony Teague]

Sounds like you could use a scrubber!

 

https://www.dustarrest.com/collections/dustblockers-air-cleaners-1/products/maxvac-dustblocker-medi-40-with-uv-c-virus-sterilizer

 

This one is only £7,230 plus VAT but think what it would save on plastic dust sheets!

 

(I'm sure that cheaper scruubers are available!).

[Mick Bonwick]

7 minutes ago, Tony Teague said:

Sounds like you could use a scrubber!

 

https://www.dustarrest.com/collections/dustblockers-air-cleaners-1/products/maxvac-dustblocker-medi-40-with-uv-c-virus-sterilizer

 

This one is only £7,230 plus VAT but think what it would save on plastic dust sheets!

 

(I'm sure that cheaper scruubers are available!).

 

Thanks for the suggestion, Tony, but I think I'll give this one a miss. Did you see the cost of replacement filters? Ridiculous!

Edited June 30, 2020 by Mick Bonwick
Spelling. Again.

[Stubby47]

7 minutes ago, Tony Teague said:

Sounds like you could use a scrubber!

 

https://www.dustarrest.com/collections/dustblockers-air-cleaners-1/products/maxvac-dustblocker-medi-40-with-uv-c-virus-sterilizer

 

This one is only £7,230 plus VAT but think what it would save on plastic dust sheets!

 

(I'm sure that cheaper scruubers are available!).

 

 

Quote:

These powerful air cleaners are designed to run 24 / 7 to purify the
air and create a healthy living environment, but they do not displace
the need for essential sanitising and disinfecting of surfaces.

 

No good then.

Edited June 30, 2020 by Stubby47

[steve45]

Perhaps get rid of the carpet and replace with the interlocking pvc tiles

 

https://www.screwfix.com/p/coba-europe-tough-lock-pvc-interlocking-floor-tiles-black-500mm-x-500mm-4-pack/82048

 

I think you can get them cheaper

[Mick Bonwick]

I have photographic evidence that the rooftop dust is carpet based.

 

This scuffed up by just moving about on the carpet:

 

 

This accumulated on top of anything stationary:

 

 

Definitely carpet fibres. I have done a thorough analysis. Same colour and texture, but I'm not too sure about the taste . . . . . . .