rs4 Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Hello RMwebbers Thought I'd share my latest invasion of my work desk with you...... probably go for board mounting at some point and a river flowing through....... Perhaps we have a challenge here to see who has what sitting on their desk at work.... Regards Nick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestdivide Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Nothing quite so interesting. My desk's got three boxes of slides waiting to be scanned in when I get a spare 5 minutes. They've been there since before Christmas, as I keep getting distracted by the forum every time the spare 5 mins come round. Might be nice to have an automated to-and-fro in a really small scale along the top of the computer monitor. Could USB power something tiny? About 5 volts I think, but not sure if there's enough oomph. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim the Tram Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Nothing quite so interesting. My desk's got three boxes of slides waiting to be scanned in when I get a spare 5 minutes. They've been there since before Christmas, as I keep getting distracted by the forum every time the spare 5 mins come round. Might be nice to have an automated to-and-fro in a really small scale along the top of the computer monitor. Could USB power something tiny? About 5 volts I think, but not sure if there's enough oomph. I think the USB spec is 5V @ 500mA so more than enough for something N gauge or smaller I'd have thought. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestdivide Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 I think the USB spec is 5V @ 500mA so more than enough for something N gauge or smaller I'd have thought. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus Someone's done it with Z gauge, video at youtube: but I can't find any others Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestdivide Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 So half an hour later, including looking up the USB spec ... 1. Butcher a perfectly good USB cable, stripping insulation from red and black (the data goes through green and white). There was a fair bit of shielding to remove too. 2. Temporarily connect a piece of track, and a Farish N gauge 170 car... ...It moves! A bit slowly, but not too bad. The computer didn't complain either, although I'd worry about the effects of a short-circuit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cardiff Bluebird Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 Hello RMwebbers Thought I'd share my latest invasion of my work desk with you...... probably go for board mounting at some point and a river flowing through....... Perhaps we have a challenge here to see who has what sitting on their desk at work.... Regards Nick Very nice sir, wish I had that on my desk instead of the assorted crap!!! Love the 60 and the nuclear 20's. Bluebird. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin1985 Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 Perhaps it might be safer to run your USB n gauge via a cheap USB hub? If there is a short, the PC should be protected from the worst of it? Or even better, what about a USB phone charger? (although that does slightly ignore the point!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwinewt Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Perhaps it might be safer to run your USB n gauge via a cheap USB hub? If there is a short, the PC should be protected from the worst of it? And you can give that wee bit extra boost if you get a powered USB hub - I wouldn't want to even try run it on an unpowered one... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestdivide Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Thanks for the thoughts on the USB. Looks like some protection (fuse?) would be a good idea in view of the expensive bit of kit supplying the power. I think a separate power supply would make it a bit pointless - if you're going to have a power supply, what's the point of the USB? Just realised, USB in this case stands for Ultra Short Branch: All you'd need would be a single car train, a foot of track, a centre-off switch to change direction, some fuse protection and a USB cable. The ultimate desk toy? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mucky Duck Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Back to the OP, does this count? My layout is a little more than a diorama and I would prefer it to be low enough to view whilst actually sitting at my desk but, as you can see, it has to clear the computer monitor. It was a 2010 Challenge layout and whilst further progress had been made after snapping this shot, it stood absolutely no chance of making the deadline! However, work will resume soon and progress will be reported (link above). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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