Stueyboy43 Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 Hi All Thought I would post a video and a brief description of installing sound in a Dapol N gauge class 56 loco for anyone who is interested in N gauge sound. My aim with this project was to find out how hard it is to convert an N gauge loco to sound without any specialist knowledge or skills. I had not picked up a soldering iron since school for example (15 years ago). Here are some steps I took to enable me to complete the installation of sound. Research: Firstly I built some sound decoder mock-ups from card to see what decoder would fit best in the loco, where it could go, and what mods I would need to do to the loco to fit in the components. For the decoder and speaker I decided to go for the Zimo MX648 and sugar cube speaker. The decoder: For the decoder and speaker I went to Digitrains, where Jeremy gave me excellent advice on installation and tips on protecting the decoder and speaker from any damage. The sound file is from Paul Chetter and I had the pleasure of meeting Paul who has been a massive help to me in setting up CVs on the decoder to get the results I want. A big thank you to both of them from me! The installation: To fit in the components I decided to remove the existing pcb and wiring from the loco, and hardwire the decoder in. Wiring up the pickups and motor was a relatively simple task, however re-wiring the lighting circuits (with my poor soldering skills and the very small soldering points) proved to be much more difficult and time consuming. My biggest fear was crossing the solder points and blowing the chip! For the speaker I was going to use the larger of the sugar cubes and create my own sound chamber to fit into the roof of the body, however I ended up with the smaller cube and placing it in the rear cab by simply removing the cab detail and securing the speaker in place. Total time of installation was around 6.5 hours. The Result: I am really pleased with the sound of the loco. The wiring needs a little bit of fiddling to get the body perfectly on the chassis, it currently sits half a mm too high. If anyone was thinking about trying out an installation like this I would say it is worth the time and effort to give it a try, but seek as much help and read as much info as you can to make it as easy as possible. Below is a quick video of the loco in action, apologies for the poor camera work. Hope you enjoy it. Stueyboy43 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelp Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 Excellent, thanks for posting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagger14 Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 Thanks for posting... could you take some pics with the body off please? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stueyboy43 Posted June 17, 2013 Author Share Posted June 17, 2013 Thanks michaelp, glad to know it is appreciated. To jagger, I will see what I can do tomorrow regarding pics of inside, be warned though it doesn't look pretty Stu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stueyboy43 Posted June 25, 2013 Author Share Posted June 25, 2013 Apologies for the delay. Here are a few pics of the inside of the loco. Told you it is a bit of a mess. Hope it helps others considering sound conversions Stu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagger14 Posted June 28, 2013 Share Posted June 28, 2013 Wow extremely tight fit!!how big is the speaker? thanks for the pics! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stueyboy43 Posted June 28, 2013 Author Share Posted June 28, 2013 Yes it is tight when not modifying the chassis. The speaker is about 12x8x8 mm I think Stu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Mc Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 So,as I am the owner of 2 of these beasties and having converted 6 Farish diesel loco's to dcc sound,these being a non dcc ready class 40,Deltic and class 50 as well as Farish dcc ready classes 24,37 and 47,the chassis on Farish loco's is a relatively soft metal that is fairly easy to file away to accomodate the chip and speaker. What I'm wondering is,do Dapol chassis have a chassis made of more or less the same material or is it a harder metal? The reason I ask is that I read somewhere that the chassis is made from titanium(?).If this is the case,then I suspect that in order to do the work I do to install sound into these loco's,heavier duty tools may be required.Whats you're thoughts on this? Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stueyboy43 Posted June 30, 2013 Author Share Posted June 30, 2013 Hi Pete. To be honest I am not sure, you are ahead of me in this game, as I did not consider altering the chassis. However I would think that Dapol would use a material similar to farish. I Would think titanium is too expensive and also too light to use as a chassis material. If you message Dapol Dave I am sure he could confirm Sorry I could not be more help Stu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Revolution Ben Posted June 30, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 30, 2013 Hello Pete I know Dapol have said in the past that they use tungsten for the chassis in some of the their models, as it is a very heavy metal. Perhaps this is what you meant? cheers Ben A. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Mc Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 Yep,you're right Ben,it was tungsten now I think about it.I'm asking before I dive in and strip down a Dapol hst power car to see how I can do one. I know Youchoos just takes away the bits that stick out at the ends at the guards end but I want to put the speaker in the tanks and have the decoder where the pcb os currently positioned.It may sound as though I don't need to do any chassis alterations if this is what I manage to get away with but I want to cover all my bases. Perhaps the class 56's will have to be done this way,at this moment I can't really say but having put the speaker in the tanks of my Farish class 24 and 47,with my next class 37 having its tank filled with speaker,I like them in there because and I have no way of being able to prove it on here,they just seem that little bit louder.Maybe its because the sound is allowed to reverberate better in a smaller enclosure or perhaps the sound is just bouncing up from the baseboard.It jist sounds better in my opinion. Someone may correct me on this.As it stands,the enclosure is cut down to reduce its height so it fits in the tanks then it just sits in the bottom held in place with bluetac to stop it moving around.I think perhaps a bit of experimentation is required with a Zimo box and a speaker inside to see,or hear if there is indeed a difference to the volume or percepted volume. Its a conversion I plan on doing later in the year although with a Legomanbiffo's sound fitted class 56 being displayed and run at the Derby exhibition last month,the temptation might get the better of me. Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigelcliffe Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 The important bit with the closed "cube" speakers is to maintain the volume of the resonating chamber. If it has its height reduced, then ideally it needs its area increased to compensate. In extremes one can make a very large area which is very thin with the resonating diaphragm fitted through part of the wall. You can get away with loosing a little volume, but each bit that's lost reduces the speaker's effectiveness. - Nigel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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