chaz Posted May 15, 2013 Author Share Posted May 15, 2013 Chaz, you have the patience of a saint. I tend to go stir crazy after about 2 hours of wiring! Then again I am about to start scribing cobbles on my layout. I have probably missed this info in the previous 29 pages but are you exibiting 'down south' any time soon? I must admit my enthusiasm for wiring has diminished markedly over the past day or two. How about Basingstoke in March - see you there? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted May 15, 2013 Author Share Posted May 15, 2013 (edited) Hell's teeth Chaz... is there anything you can't do (...really, really well to boot :-) David Thanks for such an encouraging comment David and....Yup, I'm bl**dy hopeless at lining and am about to get my N7 0-6-2T "Done Proper". It'll cost me but at least I won't wince every time I look at it. Chaz Edited May 15, 2013 by chaz 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted May 15, 2013 Author Share Posted May 15, 2013 (edited) Some time ago I approached Peter Harvey about getting some etched brass frets for LNER platform barrows. Someone on the LNER forum posted a nice drawing for me.... ...and I found several photos of similar barrows. This picture is a tiny chunk of a photo taken at The Cross. It shows barrows which I suspect are GNR in origin. They are broadly similar to the one in the drawing but have detail differences. The etches arrived today from Peter and they are quite splendid (he has given me permission to photograph the etches and post them here). I just hope my assembly and soldering skills do them justice as they are quite simply exquisite. I have nine of them to make (I wanted to have plenty on and around the platform under the canopy!) so I might well be looking to make a jig or two to aid the build. WTS. Chaz Edited May 15, 2013 by chaz 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottY80 Posted May 15, 2013 Share Posted May 15, 2013 I must admit my enthusiasm for wiring has diminished markedly over the past day or two. How about Basingstoke in March - see you there? It's only 25 mins away so defiantly, at the rate you work I imagine you will be finished by then (if a layout can ever be finished that is) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted May 15, 2013 Author Share Posted May 15, 2013 It's only 25 mins away so defiantly, at the rate you work I imagine you will be finished by then (if a layout can ever be finished that is) The plan is to finish the layout in good time for Warley in November, Dock Green's first "big show". And it must be finished and put to bed as I then want to turn my attention to an On30 American layout that I put on hold some time ago. Chaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottY80 Posted May 15, 2013 Share Posted May 15, 2013 The plan is to finish the layout in good time for Warley in November, Dock Green's first "big show". And it must be finished and put to bed as I then want to turn my attention to an On30 American layout that I put on hold some time ago. Chaz Well I will see you before Basingstoke then as I will be doing the annual pilgrimage to Warley. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted May 15, 2013 Author Share Posted May 15, 2013 Well I will see you before Basingstoke then as I will be doing the annual pilgrimage to Warley. Good man. See you there. Chaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted May 16, 2013 Author Share Posted May 16, 2013 (edited) This diagram shows the way I will wire up the relay coils to switch the indicator panel.... Some notes... as you will see I use DPDT switches - one pole switches the servos, the other changes the crossing (frog) polarity diagram only shows the connections to two points - just repeat the arrangement for more I used 5V relays as I had them - if you are using the MERG boards any coil voltage up to 12V will be OK - but of course you do need to provide an appropriate PSU if you are using 12V relays you could use the same supply for the Servo4s, the servos and the indicator panel if it's man enough to supply the required current the diodes can be omitted if there are no semi-conductors in the circuit but it may be worth including them to protect the switch contacts - there are semi-conductors on the MERG Servo4 PCBs The diagram doesn't show the wiring to the LEDs from the relay contacts or the contacts themselves. The arrangement you use for this wiring will depend on the track layout. The LEDs can share the same PSU as the relay coils provided you pay attention to the current rating. I checked the ammeter on my bench PSU and with all six relays on, which lights about ten of the 29 LEDs, the current draw is just over 0.6A (the relays draw more current than the LEDs). No problem as I bought a plug-type power supply which is 5V rated at 2 amps. Chaz Edited May 16, 2013 by chaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted May 16, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 16, 2013 The numbers were vital Don. I had a list of wire colours to match up against LED numbers but the board was upside down and not easy to "read". I put the numbers on from an annotated reversed print of the panel front. Even that didn't prevent a couple of errors creeping in... Chaz If you have the panel as a computer file would it be possible to flip the image to give you the view from the rear to aid wiring up? Don Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hartleymartin Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 (edited) Much neater than anything I have ever produced.*edit* That's the last time I try to post anything on this forum using Google Chrome on my Mobile Phone! Edited May 16, 2013 by hartleymartin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted May 16, 2013 Author Share Posted May 16, 2013 If you have the panel as a computer file would it be possible to flip the image to give you the view from the rear to aid wiring up? Don Yes Don, that's what I did. If you do that in MS Publisher the labels transfer to the correct reversed position but the text is the right way round - a click of the mouse job. Chaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted May 16, 2013 Author Share Posted May 16, 2013 Much neater than anything I have ever produced. Well, Martin, I have always been a bit of a perfectionist - but it's not always the best thing - compromises have their place. When I was a student at Manchester College of Art and Design, Graphic Design Dept, (when dynosaurs roamed the earth - errr, I meant.... there were still steam locos in the area) one of my tutors had a couple of favourite sayings..... "If you have to ask - is this OK? - then it isn't." "If in doubt, chuck it out." He was a hard task master. In fact I once saw him reduce a female student to tears by tearing up a piece of her work. Not nice. Chaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted May 21, 2013 Author Share Posted May 21, 2013 A little history.... When Dock Green was first started it was a joint project with myself and a friend sharing the work. As he had a flat with a very large "railway room" the layout was kept there and single baseboards came home with me from time to time to be worked on. When the joint aspect of the project finished and his involvement ended I had to bring the layout back to my terraced house in Eastleigh. At the time I had my doubts whether it would be feasible to finish the layout at all but my wife, Sue, was adamant that I should do so. I had a railway room downstairs but this was full of the early stages of an American narrow gauge layout so I took Dock Green upstairs where it dominated the large front bedroom effectively making it difficult to do much else in there. Over the last year all my modelling efforts have been concentrated on DG and the USA NG layout had rather "gone cold". Last week I decided that the best thing to do would be to dismantle the NG layout completely, storing it away and turning the railway room over entirely to DG. When it's finished it will be stored in the room, underneath a redesigned, simplified American narrow gauge layout. Today Dock Green was brought back downstairs and installed in its new home. This is still too small to set up the whole layout but two boards can be up and worked on while the other two are stacked against the wall. In the picture you can see boards CD and BC. They are not linked up as CD is set up to rotate (I have the wiring to the indicator panel to do next). The other two boards can be seen stacked one above the other against the wall. Second photo shows that although the room is not large there is enough room around the baseboards for me to work on them. Now, no excuse, time for some more progress! Chaz 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pick up goods Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Enjoying all your posting, keep em coming!! Looking foward to see it at Warley Clive Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted May 21, 2013 Author Share Posted May 21, 2013 (edited) Enjoying all your posting, keep em coming!! Looking foward to see it at Warley Clive Thanks Clive. I enjoy posting photos of the progress on the layout. I have said before that it motivates me to move things along. It also forms a nice record of how the project has developed. Putting it in the railway room this afternoon, with the superb daylight quality fluourescent lighting I have in there was a revelation and most encouraging. Chaz Edited May 21, 2013 by chaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted May 22, 2013 Author Share Posted May 22, 2013 Boring stuff... Peter and I spent pretty much the whole of yesterday moving Dock Green down from upstairs (see above) and then we fitted the indicator panel to the back of the retaining wall on the "canal" baseboard. I just had time to wire one of the relay signal lines to the relevant point switch. It was very satisfying to throw the switch and to see the route setting shown on the panel change. Today's job? More wiring Chaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted May 22, 2013 Author Share Posted May 22, 2013 Got the additional wiring done on baseboard CD (the one with the canal) so point switches 3, 4 & 5 now work the corresponding parts of the indicator panel. I got heartily sick of wiring so took a break from it and did some work on one of the platform barrows. (I will post on this when it's progressed a bit further). before I complete the wiring I will have to swap the two baseboards over so I can get BC on the pivot-legs and do 1, 2 & 6. A tricky job as there is rather less room than there was upstairs - I might have to use the hallway as a headshunt! Chaz 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted May 23, 2013 Author Share Posted May 23, 2013 I fastened the indicator panel to the back of retaining wall with two 4mm bolts. The relay board is inside the "box" so only a 8 wire ribbon cable is needed. Unfortunately as the indicator panel is an afterthought the T-nuts had to be put in the wall face and are clearly visible. The two T-nuts will be hidden behind some piece of equipment, or maybe a couple of bushes.... WTS. (still a little work to do at the base of the retaining wall...) Chaz 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brightspark Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 I think it's time for a quiz. (with your permission Chaz) QUIZ QUESTION What would you put on the wall to cover the T-nut? First prize is a half eaten apple with a maggot in it. Second prize is a half eaten apple with half a maggot in it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
glenng Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 A small corrugated storage building I think it's time for a quiz. (with your permission Chaz) QUIZ QUESTION What would you put on the wall to cover the T-nut? First prize is a half eaten apple with a maggot in it. Second prize is a half eaten apple with half a maggot in it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brightspark Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 For some reason I see a life saving ring hanging there. But that might be out of period and there would be two T-nuts. (I assume that there are two T-nut visible?) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted May 24, 2013 Author Share Posted May 24, 2013 (edited) For some reason I see a life saving ring hanging there. But that might be out of period and there would be two T-nuts. (I assume that there are two T-nut visible?) The canal is not that far away, but in a cut, so your life saving ring would be a tad inaccessible to any would be rescuer. And yes there are two T-nuts to hide. (A pair of stereo speakers?) This could get very silly. Chaz Edited May 24, 2013 by chaz 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted May 24, 2013 Author Share Posted May 24, 2013 All the wiring for the indicator panel is in, tested and working. The panel awaits the approval of the team of operators.... Thank goodness that's done, now I can get back to some real modelling.... now, where to start..... the list seems endless. Chaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alant Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 From a purely selfish perspective, I think you should get on with the J6 ;-) Alan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted May 25, 2013 Author Share Posted May 25, 2013 (edited) From a purely selfish perspective, I think you should get on with the J6 ;-) Alan. I would love to Alan but.... I don't need another loco for Dock Green (although it would be very nice), I have several substitutes already that I could take, including two tank locos that didn't go to Wimborne. I have wanted a J6 for a while and it would be a good loco for both my home layout and Dock Green.....however my priority must be to finish the layout. Until that's done nothing else will be attempted. Although the list of remaining tasks is substantial I am confident that it will be completed in time for Warley. Chaz Edited May 25, 2013 by chaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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