Ogbourne

[richbrummitt]

Somewhat mundane but progress nonetheless. Further sleepers are laid for the sidings and part of the Southbound platform line. I have to prep another batch of sleepers before continuing. I’ve soldered droppers into place for most of the rails placed so far using 0.5mm tinned copper wire and hot glued the ends below the baseboard in the hope of adding some reasonable strain relief. I took some pictures to see how conspicuous they were. 
 

 

okay from the usual viewing side.  A little obvious from the reverse when you’re looking for them. 
 

 

Underneath I’ve labelled them F for frog, O for outer and I for inner and hopefully I can manage to join them to the correct bus wire using this tactic. 

 

Here’s an overall view showing the layout in it’s usual resting place; on a plinth atop the bin in the middle of the room. 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2020 by richbrummitt
misbehaving pictures

[richbrummitt]

 

I received a PM regarding the buffer stop after a question was raised regarding assembly of this item on an email list: 

 

7 hours ago, 2mmKiwi said:

Thanks for sharing the link to your buffer stop assembly. Makes a lot of sense now.

What were the gaps (in mm) you set out between the sleepers?

 

I thought that the answer would be useful here too for anyone who comes later.

 

1 hour ago, richbrummitt said:

NP.

 

The large spacings are a scale 4’. The rail length the buffer stop is built on is 23’, I think. 

 

I've since checked and the drawing in Pannier 16 of typical WR buffer stops shows a 23' rail. 

[richbrummitt]

My wiring didn’t go exactly to plan. I must’ve engaged the auto pilot because I managed to solder an F wire to the brown feed and I clearly planned on doing it when laying out the main feed wires underneath the layout because I stripped the insulation. All rectified now and some tape to make good the insulation. (See below right.)
 

 

The main feeder wires are solid copper from twin and earth and have been secured with hot melt glue. The odd bends avoid where the fixing screws for the Dingo Servo Mount bases will be when they are fitted. 
 

I’ve managed a little test running on the rails that exist. I will need an extension on the South bound line or something to test completely because of the short distance from the toe of the switch to the board edge. This test running showed a couple of issues. A major one is that some of my locos  appear to have suffered somewhat from being stored in a box for several years, including a house move. Further cleaning may help what I hope might just be pick up problems. Maybe there is an odd tight spot but it is difficult for me to say. 
 

I spotted a couple things that could be worked on:

 

First was that one of the closure rails on the longer switch was not well enough aligned with the switch rail. This cause anything running back through to ride up onto the heel and derail. I repositioned the upper heel chair in the photo and it seems better with a free rolling wagon. 

 

 

Second was the end of the rail for the catch within the lead was too close to the stock rail. It wasn’t actually attached to any timber near here due to lack of space for chairs or soldering iron access. I attacked it with one of the thin gap files and soldered it right on the end. The lower of the two catch rails below now looks like there is always space for a flange to pass. 
 

 

It’s maybe a little wonky right at the end now but probably won’t notice. Again it seems good with a rolling wagon test. 
 

More testing under power now required. 

[richbrummitt]

Arranging the power has caused me some head scratching. I decided that this testing ought to have the switches operating with the microswitches changing the crossing polarity. This Christmas thing (or rather the organisational nightmare that comes in advance of it) has also taken up more of my time and progress has rather slowed. 
 

I’ve replaced the stub of wire included in the Dingo servo mounts with a piece of rod that I could drill into and then solder a short piece of 0.3mm rod to slip through the micro bore tube on the stretcher bar. This rod was larger than the stub of wire such that it did not work with the M2 fixing screw arrangement on the Dingo. I filed the rod square until it mounted. The alignment of the Dingo bracket wrt. the stretcher bar seems then to become critical and much fiddling ensued. The movement is still rather scratchy with aluminium slider on aluminium bracket of the Dingo. Something in the assembly is restricting or limiting the freedom needed for smooth movement. 
 

Something else to address is the excess of movement in even the closest hole to the centre on the servo arm. As it is only a very small portion of the available movement is required and I feel it would be better to use a larger arc. I have tried some ways to place the hole for the screw closer to the centre of movement to increase the arc travelled to produce the approx 0.7mm movement required at the switch toes though none are satisfactory. Most require some additional height and necessitate spacing the servo from the bracket. I’m sure there is a simple solution and I cannot see past my over complications. 
 

Progress since the last update over a week ago is not much to look at and has made the board a little more difficult to store, support and work on. 
 

 

From above the view is not really altered, since the operating wire is inconspicuous. 
 

 

To end on a positive: Now the microswitches are wired I have finished the wiring for all the track that is laid. 

[Ian Morgan]

The Dingo supporting arms need to be really parallel for smooth operation. The lower one in the photo seems like the right hand arm is angled inwards a bit.

Edited December 24, 2020 by Ian Morgan

[richbrummitt]

The Dingo mounts are perfectly free before the rods are fastened to join the motion to the stretcher bars. 

Making a rod with fewer parts seems to have helped with one of the mounts. N/S rod drilled for 0.3mm n/s wire and soldered 


 

Filed square. 
 

 

I’ve managed to align this one pretty well. 

 

 

So one of the mounts is now operating pretty smoothly and the switch is adjusted. The other one can, I hope, be improved. 
 

To add to my last entry these are some FDM printed parts to reduce the moment on a servo horn. 
 

 

top view

 

 

bottom view. 
 

The right hand was the first idea that was designed to attach to the servo horn with screws. On the left the pins locate into the existing holes (on a 4 arm horn) suitably enlarged. The holes are for 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2mm, all of which are a big reduction from what is possible without an adaptation because it can place the holes over the head of the screw securing the horn. 
 

 

it just about fits in the existing space but a small spacing of the servo from the mount creates a little breathing room for the moving parts to move freely. 

[richbrummitt]

Less time available in this ‘lockdown’ than at any time in the past year. In addition the evenings are cold and wet so I am less inclined to get to the workshop. I had a tidy up of some items on the workbench into the unbuilt kits and bits storage units and a very little time on some other projects that have not been progressed much further. 
 

I ordered and received a few more Dingo servo mounts; sufficient for the other switches and the two signals that will appear in the scenic modelled area. I also had one of the infrequent but seemingly regular needs to actually attend work premises that gave me an opportunity to use a filament printer to create a few more of the discs and spacers for the servos to adapt the travel of the mounts. Now I have the parts to progress. 
 

Much fiddling during the last ZAG call got one of the servo mounts aligned centrally to the stretcher bar movement. (Honestly, I was not waving the board around in the front of the camera frantically until Laurie commented on it!) I have since done the other one that is already attached.

 

Not especially photogenic. 
 

 

This shows the modification to the servo horn. Holes drilled out for 4 pegs of 2mm diameter. The larger the peg on the 3DP component the stronger it is. More pegs hopefully share the load. 
 

 

This another view showing how it fits in. The spacers are not obvious. 

 

 

This one needed two sets though. The filament has changed colour. Whoever orders the filament gets to choose the colour so it changes every time the reel is exhausted (yellow ones were printed more recently than the green)

 

Now I must pluck up the courage to attach the Megapoints board and get these two set up and working.  That and some track plus wheel cleaning is preventing playing trains. Ahem, I mean testing. 

[Valentin]

Maybe not photogenic, but a very elegant solution to reduce the throw; this prevents putting stress on the joints between the blades and the tiebar due to the twicth occuring when powering up the servos. It also helps when adjusting the angle values in the Arduino sketch.

Edited January 21, 2021 by Valentin

[richbrummitt]

More progress:

 

All seems to be working as it should. I’m not sure that the mega points board will stay exactly as located but it is sensible to screw it on, at least for the time being. 
 

Nearest the camera is the hole where two more servos will go for the catches and furthest away is the temporary plug arrangement for track power. 
 

As input to the control switches are required. I have been repurposing a Scalefour Society lever frame. For the modelled area 4 levers are needed - 2 for switches and 2 for signals. The frames come in groups of 5 levers so one will be a spare. This spare is currently blue because its prior destiny was as a FPL. One of the points (in the yard) was not worked from the ‘box but it makes sense to have it here for the model. 

 

Reordering the levers from how they were previously arranged was not difficult. The numbering is no longer sequential  but I only ever really fixed the numbers in place to give an area to affix some proper representations of the lever brasses. I had to refit the switches and that took rather more effort. The spacers did not seem to fit back in so I bought some plastic PCB type spacers that turned out to be the wrong length. Fortunately too long and I assumed that it would be a simple job to shorten them a bit. Cutting them square proved to be a challenge. Eventually I found that I could reliably hold them to shorten and keep the ends square enough in an X-Acto knife handle. Somewhere I have the turned steel handles to finish off the levers. Something else to add to the list of items to hunt for. 

[richbrummitt]

Eventually I admitted defeat, remeasured the space for the microswitches, and ordered new spacers. These fitted much more easily and quickly than shortening my cut down efforts.

 

The lever frame has wires fitted and tails attached with the plugs for the mega points board. The circuit tester was out at this point for a check and checking again as I made each soldered connection. I put in what I think will be plenty of cable for the time being. 
 

This little board is starting to get a little unwieldy now with wires to the lever frame and wires with a plug to supply power for the servos and so on. It needs some temporary legs or something at least. 
 

 

 

My doubt now is that it will ever be possible to fit it into the shell of the baseboard that I planned it to go in due to the shape and the growing quantity of protrusions. As such I’m considering my options here for both how to house this bit of track, and what to do with Meeth. 
 

It’s finally ready for a track clean and test though, which is a major milestone. 
 

Oh, and I found the turnings for the lever frame in a little jam jar. Some surface rust that I’m hoping a dip in some phosphoric acid and a polish will cure. 

[bcnPete]

On 22/02/2021 at 21:21, richbrummitt said:

Eventually I admitted defeat, remeasured the space for the microswitches, and ordered new spacers. These fitted much more easily and quickly than shortening my cut down efforts.

 

The lever frame has wires fitted and tails attached with the plugs for the mega points board. The circuit tester was out at this point for a check and checking again as I made each soldered connection. I put in what I think will be plenty of cable for the time being. 
 

This little board is starting to get a little unwieldy now with wires to the lever frame and wires with a plug to supply power for the servos and so on. It needs some temporary legs or something at least. 
 

 

 

My doubt now is that it will ever be possible to fit it into the shell of the baseboard that I planned it to go in due to the shape and the growing quantity of protrusions. As such I’m considering my options here for both how to house this bit of track, and what to do with Meeth. 
 

It’s finally ready for a track clean and test though, which is a major milestone. 
 

Oh, and I found the turnings for the lever frame in a little jam jar. Some surface rust that I’m hoping a dip in some phosphoric acid and a polish will cure. 

Well done on getting to track test stage Rich.

 

It seems a large (albeit mighty impressive) bit of kit relative to the size of the baseboards...might be worth checking the competition rules as Meeth was originally planned for the DJLC...

 

Hence why I am still a wire in tube fan  

[richbrummitt]

The plan fits up to somewhere in the left most connection into the yard. 
 

 

It’s approximately at the heel of the switch. The curved outline of the plywood fits within the back scene shape of the Meeth board. Major surgery of the Meeth board would be required to combine the two. What to do about that has been on my mind for some time and any modelling time recently has been spent doing other things, as well as plotting about this. 

Ogbourne could really use more space for the environment around the railway. At the front benefit could be gained by including the road up the hill from left to right across the layout.  At the rear some kind of transition to the back scene would be possible by just a small increase in depth. An increase in the width is desirable so that there is a little more room to disguise the exit at the left. The compromise of the switch being beyond the modelled area is a compromise I’m increasingly unable to accept. There has been a built scenic module board 650mm wide and 450mm deep that I believe could house Ogbourne comfortably. No longer DJLC compliant but if I’m not content with the model then it will not make progress.  I think I’m reaching the conclusion that Ogbourne will be a separate project. 
 

The fate of Meeth has therefore played on my mind. I don’t need more projects but perhaps there is something sympathetic to what I started with and easily achieved. Read simple, quick and fulfilling. I may or may not use the existing track. The switch close to the baseboard edge is something I can’t live with for a single connection to the main line on a layout. Augmenting, moving or replacing the existing track will therefore be required. If I try to move the existing track that might dictate complete replacement! Perhaps not simple or quick. If I can reuse elements that I’ve already got or started on, such as buildings then that will speed up things.
 

I’ve had a lot of ideas and gone back to Templot and started generating a few in more detail. Here’s the first. 
 

 

It’s based on part of the arrangement at Burbage - with some heavy compression between the cattle pens and the road overbridge and a single line that was built for but never got double track - however it could be part of the goods yard of many stations. It is one of the first ideas I had about a DJLC layout before I decided to not go ahead. (That seems a long time ago now.)

 

The length causes a problem for the gradient down hill into the goods yard. 
 

Another idea is to flip it to bring the buildings to the front and maybe replace the bridge with a station building. Again length is a severe limitation. I recall something about that in the WSP GW branch line modelling series. Maybe that is my next read. I’m still set on basing this on a real location to avoid making everything up - I just need to find one that is close enough. 
 

I shall likely split this thread up and move content on Meeth at the beginning to another set of posts if the two items do continue down divergent paths. 

[Ian Smith]

Rich, sorry to hear that Ogbourne may no longer be a DJLC entry, but not overly surprised as I very quickly realised that anything that I might have been inclined to enter just wouldn’t fit the size criteria- but then I don’t think the competition was really designed for me, being more to get someone who hasn’t got a 2FS layout to enter.

However I look forward to seeing how both Ogbourne and Meeth progress.

Ian

[bcnPete]

Sorry to hear this Rich but I agree with you that if you are not happy then it’s better to cut it loose. That was the fate that met Meeth for me and Thurso too.

 

That said, Ogbourne sounds a nice project in its own right and the scene above has the makings of something small and interesting.

 

Staying tuned here  

[richbrummitt]

23 hours ago, bcnPete said:

Sorry to hear this Rich but I agree with you that if you are not happy then it’s better to cut it loose. That was the fate that met Meeth for me and Thurso too.

 

That said, Ogbourne sounds a nice project in its own right and the scene above has the makings of something small and interesting.

 

Staying tuned here  

Thurso seemed like a good plan. It’s good to have you. 
 

I might have had a Eureka moment overnight. Some reflection required now to verify. That’s no longer for this thread though. 

[richbrummitt]

So Ogbourne is to be housed in a larger board. Whilst the weather is good and my order for etch primer has still not arrived I got on with some baseboard surgery. 
 

 

This self contained scenic module was bought from Tim Horn a couple of years ago alongside a larger order* with the idea that it would house something 009 for an SR** project (it wouldn’t). 

 

The front aperture is a bit tall in my opinion and the joiners were specified on the wrong side (I think) for what I’m now going to use it for. No problem for a saw. 
 

 

There must be a benefit to being able to lift the lid of whilst working. I plan to reduce the depth a little too, which will be more tricky. I have not yet decided how much. It does allow the next stage of planning as I go along with the track base supported inside and the lid spaced above the rails
 

 

From above the additional 200mm depth is self evident. The 50mm on the left hand side perhaps not so much. 

 

 

The road will rise from the front left corner up to the entrance to the station forecourt at the right. Plenty of space for that now. Probably more space than needed at the rear. I will wait until I have finished reading Bambrick and Ellis-Cockell before deciding how much to reduce this dimension by. Around 100mm would be a good amount to be able to lose because it will be a more convenient size for moving and storing. 
 

Having more depth will allow more varied photographic possibilities without seeing the edge of the scene. Examples just taken quickly to illustrate:

 

looking South(ish)

South

 

looking North(ish)

 

*I haven’t properly decided what this project is other than a mainline roundly in space I could make available someday, hence the boards can be purchased, built and stored, to work on when possible. The current projects are learning projects for this. 

**S = Skarloey

 

Edited April 2, 2021 by richbrummitt

[bcnPete]

That looks good Rich.

 

I agree, for the width of that module the proportions seem a bit high. It seems to work for all the longer options but perhaps not the smallest one IMO.

 

Good to see this gaining traction again...

[richbrummitt]

A long time whilst nothing happens again. I’ve been busy with life outside the workshop and what modelling time there has been has been re-learning 3DP for a particular set of files. When I first bought the printer I got a litre of resin and the expiry is soon so I have been trying to use it up. 
 

A small amount of progress towards further testing has been made. Anyone can spot that the rail between the toe of the switch and the edge of the world is far too short for testing. Those people who saw a short video on either the ZAG or NMAG meeting where I shared it will have seen an 0-6-0 being held on by the hand of god. I didn’t think of this when I cut the board out but have screwed a temporary fiddle yard board onto the end, threaded some track and glued it down with careful packing to match the existing rail. 
 

 

 

I filed up the remaining parts required to finish the TOUs for the catches whilst the glue dried. 

 

A few minutes with the soldering iron will see the electrical connections made when I get the chance.

 

[richbrummitt]

Eventually the motivation returned. What took so long? Well, I wasn’t sure how to continue:
Where all the servo mounts lined up and there were two right on top of each other it was not possible to (re)fit the servos without removing the whole of one the mounts. Terrible for maintenance because I expect there will be a servo death. 
I had purchased some low profile v.2 and omni mounts from ‘Mr Dingo’ for what Meeth might become. The answer became straightforward when I got stuck back in. Replacing one of the mounts with a low profile v.2 suitably hacked about (as I had for a previous mount because those 2 catches are atop one another) and enough screws are easily accessible that it is possible to replace a servo without disturbing any surrounding mounts. 
 

 

The middle one is the low profile v.2. Mounted horizontally under the layout the screws that hold the servo are easier to access. 
 

It looks the same from the top. Testing with a recent - way out of period - purchase revealed a short circuit when the first turnout is set for the through route.
 

 

It could be the microswitch for crossing polarity. I hope it is something simple such as that. There are a couple of connections both permanent and temporary to make and once both those things are sorted more testing. I’m looking forward to playing trains again. 

 

[Ian Morgan]

On Freshwater, I have 7 point servos, 3 uncoupler servos and a signal servo. They were all cheap blues ones from eBay (before I discovered HobbyKing). The layout is now 13 years old and I have so far only had to replace one servo that just stopped responding.

 

Glad to see your mojo is coming back.

 

[richbrummitt]

I just know the one that would go would be the worst one to replace. It was always the way in a model boat - the rudder would give out and you’d be pulling the rear deck up if you didn’t make allowances for it. 
 

It might take 13yr to get this layout to a presentable state! When I last tried to use a layout with point motors on it after 5 years of storage the majority did not work.

[richbrummitt]

Some head scratching later and I don’t know what is causing the short. All was working happily before I fitted the final two servos for the catch points in the yard. I’d tested with the other two servos fitted previously. 
 

Short circuit exists at the main feed before the toe of the switch for access to the sidings when that switch is set for the through route. I’m not electrically minded. Where do I start with trying to resolve this whilst minimising the damage to what I’ve achieved?

[Ian Morgan]

Bring it along to the Basingstoke club on a Monday or Wednesday evening and I can take a look.

 

Alternatively, if you can wait that long, bring it along to our open day on April 23rd.

 

To trouble-shoot yourself, start by disconnecting as much as possible, then add connections one at a time, and check for the short. That should help pin-point the problem. Is there a copper whisker on one of the point timbers? They sometimes hide down the side of the sleeper where you cut or filed the slot.

 

 

[Izzy]

Logic would perhaps suggest that as it worked okay before fitting the latest servo units that is where the problem lies. Could it be something to do with the micro-switches and when you wired them up. One not changing polarity perhaps or back-to-front. Or as the dingo mounts are metal a short there when they were fitted into place. Nice to see the 156 earning it's keep!

 

Bob

[richbrummitt]

1 hour ago, Ian Morgan said:

To trouble-shoot yourself, start by disconnecting as much as possible, then add connections one at a time, and check for the short. That should help pin-point the problem. Is there a copper whisker on one of the point timbers? They sometimes hide down the side of the sleeper where you cut or filed the slot.

Being small there are no connectors to separate out sections of track. All the joints are soldered so it could be a wire cutter/soldering iron job. 
 

The copper whisker would have had to have grown or moved. All the copperclad work was carefully checked for correct isolation before and after installation. 
 

I may take you up on the offer of a second pair of eyes. 
 

18 minutes ago, Izzy said:

Logic would perhaps suggest that as it worked okay before fitting the latest servo units that is where the problem lies. Could it be something to do with the micro-switches and when you wired them up. One not changing polarity perhaps or back-to-front. Or as the dingo mounts are metal a short there when they were fitted into place.

Good theories. I haven’t added any wiring. I did remove the connection to the crossing (frog) on the main but it made no difference. I could be wrong but I don’t believe it is either of the microswitches. I’ll double check. 
 

I hadn’t thought to check if anything underneath has potential that shouldn’t. That is an easy thing to do without disturbing anything.