The Circle and the Stores (T-CATS)

[Stubby47]

Layout connecting cable now wired into the control panel, and into the D-Plug.

 

[Stubby47]

Next task will be to add the power supply connections to the panel and the remaining track connections, then testing will be possible.

[St Enodoc]

54 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

Layout connecting cable now wired into the control panel, and into the D-Plug.

 

Are the wires in the big cable stranded or single-core?

[Stubby47]

They are are single, and yes I know that's not the best. But, low voltage or short term 1.5 amp current shouldn't be a problem...

[St Enodoc]

3 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

They are are single, and yes I know that's not the best. But, low voltage or short term 1.5 amp current shouldn't be a problem...

The current will be fine, Stu, but sooner or later you will probably find that movement of the cable causes the wires to fracture.

[Stubby47]

Very possibly. 

However, the cable is made up of about 20 twisted pairs, plus what looks like a sheathed earth wire,  so it's fairly robust, and won't get a lot of abuse in use or transit/storage.

 

I tested every wire (25) connected to the D-plug and all were fine, so with the few spares I should be OK.

 

It's also a 2nd hand cable, having been pulled out of an ex Council building now converted to domestic use.

Edited October 23, 2019 by Stubby47

[Alister_G]

9 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

However, the cable is made up of about 20 twisted pairs, plus what looks like a sheathed earth wire,

 

I'm quite intrigued by that cable, the pairs don't look like normal telephone colour codes, although similar, but I've never seen one with a big thick sheathed central conductor before.

 

Al.

[john new]

I have some similar recycled network cable, rescued from the office skips when our old IT network was ripped out and a replacement Cat-5 network was put in. My guess is it is whatever the standard cable was that ICL* (or possibly Honeywell) used to network link mainframes to dumb-terminals before the IBM PC revolution really took off in the late 80s/early 90s making all the old mainframe to VDU based systems obsolete. IIRC I used some of it on my old HD layout which was a late 80s build.

 

* ICL were specialists in local-government systems and software and were, for a while in the 1980s, almost the sole go-to main contractor for Council IT installations. Honeywell were, similarly, likely to have been the hardware supplier.

 

Edited October 24, 2019 by john new
Added the extra note re why likely to be ICL.

[Alister_G]

Thanks John, that's very interesting.

 

Sorry for derailing the thread Stu.

 

Al.

[Stubby47]

Thanks John, that would fit with the age/history of the building.

 

Al, no problems, it's all helpful to understand any possible issues with what I'm using ( as St. E has already noted). 

 

SWMBO is off to see Fishermen's Friends this evening, so apart from taxi duties in to Truro ( deliver & fetch) the evening should be productive on the track laying/wiring front.

[Enterprisingwestern]

On 10/10/2019 at 17:14, Stubby47 said:

I've managed almost 40 years of working by making people think I know what I'm doing

 

 

On 10/10/2019 at 21:14, St Enodoc said:

You're not a consultant by any chance?

 

, or an electrician hopefully.

 

Mike.

[Stubby47]

Nope, worked as a programmer/analyst for the first 30 years and a software/systems tester for the last 10.

 

Though part of that time was as a contractor...

[Stubby47]

Track laying

 

[Northroader]

 Very demanding task you got there.

[Stubby47]

That's at least enough for the next 3 weekend's supply, plus there's another 3 in the box.

[Northroader]

Want any help tracklaying?

[Stubby47]

Sorry, all done now.

 

Track connectors added, just need to let the glue dry so I can turn the board over and wire them into the choc blocks.

 

Then I can fix the board in position and complete the wiring between the board and the main frame.

Edited October 24, 2019 by Stubby47

[Alister_G]

No axle stands?

 

 

Al

[Stubby47]

Not yet, but I've not started the scenery...

[Stubby47]

Wiring complete on the layout, upper board in place, connections to main baseboard frame complete and successful testing has occurred.

 

View from the FY with the Ruston doing the honours. 

 

 

[Stubby47]

Starting to think about low relief buildings for the back of the layout.

 

[Stubby47]

Had a go at adding the first servo for the points.

Using a MERG servo mount, I've bent a length of the piano wire ( that came with the mounts) and fashioned a staple from wire-in-tube wire.

The staple is fitted to the top of the dowel and the piano wire is fitted to a servo horn so it pokes through the staple. 

 

 

All that's left is to adjust the servo throw with the MERG PCB on-board pots.

 

Edited October 30, 2019 by Stubby47

[St Enodoc]

2 hours ago, Stubby47 said:

Had a go at adding the first servo for the points.

Using a MERG servo mount, I've bent a length of the piano wire ( that came with the mounts) and fashioned a staple from wire-in-tube wire.

The staple is fitted to the top of the dowel and the piano wire is fitted to a servo horn so it pokes through the staple. 

 

 

All that's left is to adjust the servo throw with the MERG PCB on-board pots.

 

That looks good Stu.

 

If you used something a little springier than the piano wire then, the servo adjustment might not be so critical.

[Stubby47]

Thanks John.

The idea behind the staple is to let the Peco point self-hold with the spring, so the servo just moves the rod enough each way to overcome the centre point and the spring does the rest.

Trials last night proved the concept, but the staple needs to be shorter ( less distance between the legs) to work more consistently. 

[Stubby47]

Having completed 10 years of service with the same company, I was presented with some vouchers for a local model shop.

 

This has been purchased today and will make frequent visits to both the Circle and the Stores.