Chuffnell Regis

[Graham T]

25 minutes ago, Andrew P said:

When I say built in, you treat them as a normal Point and the plastic V is so small and the Rail V is pre wired.

 

Bit academic at the moment anyway Andy, as Peco BH points seem to be as rare as rocking horse poo!

[Graham T]

I could go for some of @Wayne Kinney's lovely points when the time comes, of course.

[5BarVT]

Glad Harlequin’s burnishing advice has helped.  A lot easier than trying to bodge on to already laid points.

Paul.

[Graham T]

1 hour ago, 5BarVT said:

Glad Harlequin’s burnishing advice has helped.  A lot easier than trying to bodge on to already laid points.

Paul.

 

Absolutely Paul!  I've already had to re-lay some points in the station throat, and it was no fun.  Still, on the bright side I'm learning a lot of lessons for next time around!

Edited February 7, 2022 by Graham T

[Graham T]

I've got a feeling that this might become a recurring event at Chuffnell Regis...

 

I wasn't very happy with the hedge at the far end of the layout, that forms the boundary of the goods yard.  I'd made parts of it from wire wool and they never looked quite right to me.  So, this evening they got grubbed out and replaced with something that - hopefully - looks a bit better.  Mind you, I think that bright green tuft of grass might be getting ripped out as well

 

 

 

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by Graham T

[Neal Ball]

35 minutes ago, Graham T said:

I've got a feeling that this might become a recurring event at Chuffnell Regis...

 

I wasn't very happy with the hedge at the far end of the layout, that forms the boundary of the goods yard.  I'd made parts of it from wire wool and they never looked quite right to me.  So, this evening they got grubbed out and replaced with something that - hopefully - looks a bit better.  Mind you, I think that bright green tuft of grass might be getting ripped out as well

 

 

If you are on hedge laying duties Graham… fancy a (virtual) busman’s holiday for that case of (virtual) beer? 

 

Hedges look very good.

[Graham T]

1 minute ago, Neal Ball said:

If you are on hedge laying duties Graham… fancy a (virtual) busman’s holiday for that case of (virtual) beer? 

 

Hedges look very good.

 

Thanks Neal, quite fancy a trip to Spain actually!

[Neal Ball]

7 minutes ago, Graham T said:

 

Thanks Neal, quite fancy a trip to Spain actually!

I have plenty of hedges to rebuild

[Graham T]

You should give rubberised horsehair a try, if you haven't already.  Seems to work very well and pretty easy to do (using hairspray as per your suggestion, thanks for that).

[Graham T]

For a change of pace, I've been indulging in some Olympic-level bodgery at Chuffnell Regis this evening.  The Greenwood turntable is of the well type, and that won't work for me due to size constraints and the placement of some of the baseboard cross-braces.  So - I present you with the creation of...

 

... Franken-table!

 

 

 

 

He's finally lost his marbles, you may be thinking.  You may be right.  But there is some method to this madness, honest.  The outer ring of the base will be cut off, and the vertical bolts will be removed once the other rings have been glued together.  The turntable deck will be lowered so that it's at the same level as the four wheels, and the Dapol side girders will be used for cosmetics.

 

I still need to figure out how to get power from the brass rings under the pivot up to the rails on the turntable deck, and need to do some juggling around with positioning to make sure that there is enough clearance for the track behind the table, leading into the engine shed.  And the whole assembly will still be a bit deeper than I'd like it to be.  It's quite likely to still foul a cross-brace, but I think I can get away with just removing a few mil from the top of the timber, so that shouldn't weaken it too much.  (I hope...)

 

The plan is for the track to be powered, obviously, but for the table itself to be turned by hand.

 

As ever, a heads-up as to any glaring howlers that I've overlooked would be very, very much appreciated - thanks

Edited April 4, 2022 by Graham T

[Graham T]

Some glacier-paced progress has been made with the turntable today, in the odd break from work.  Mostly this has involved thinking so far, rather than actually doing (which makes a bit of a change from my usual rush in, measure once cut sixteen times technique).

 

I've been using what will be a spare piece of the turntable deck to do some testing.  I cut notches at each corner with a razor saw so that it would clear the wheels, and that seems to work.  And I think I can use the Dapol girders as shown, cut where the pencil mark is.  The plan is to use the decking with the rails attached to it in the background for the final build, but obviously I don't want to go hacking that about until I've tested the measurements.  So far it looks workable, although I might need to tinker with the depth of the well.  I want to make it as shallow as possible.  The idea is to model something like a smaller version of the turntable at Minehead.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by Graham T

[John Besley]

Greetings, can I ask a question ... What point motors are you using? 

 

I am at the point (unintended) of needing to get 3 point motors etc,  everything on Exhill is going DC not DCC , I will be modifing my points for reliability so any info would be appreciated

[Neal Ball]

Morning Graham. I’m not sure how the table is going to look after your modifications and crucially whether that will change the strength and durability of the unit. Particularly by using the Dapol girders… I suspect there will be more rigidity in the original build…..

 

Are you trying to get it to sit lower in the well?

[Graham T]

9 hours ago, John Besley said:

Greetings, can I ask a question ... What point motors are you using? 

 

I am at the point (unintended) of needing to get 3 point motors etc,  everything on Exhill is going DC not DCC , I will be modifing my points for reliability so any info would be appreciated

 

Good morning John.  I'm using Peco PL-1000 motors.  You can fit a microswitch to these which acts like an autofrog, I understand.  If you're using electrofrog points then I'd definitely recommend modifying them before laying!  I didn't, and wish I had.

 

Caveat is that I know next to nothing about electrics, so check anything I say with someone who does

 

My layout is DCC by the way.

[Graham T]

51 minutes ago, Neal Ball said:

Morning Graham. I’m not sure how the table is going to look after your modifications and crucially whether that will change the strength and durability of the unit. Particularly by using the Dapol girders… I suspect there will be more rigidity in the original build…..

 

Are you trying to get it to sit lower in the well?

 

Morning Neal.  The rigidity and structural integrity of the table has been a consideration, yes.  So far I think it will be fit for purpose, although of course it won't be as strong as the original design.

 

I'm trying to figure out a way to sit it slightly lower in the well, probably by moving the wheel locating sections up a touch.  Hard to explain without diagrams or pics but I know what I have in mind!  Some more hackery will be involved.

 

I've also just noticed that the chairs for the deck rails are handed - and of course I haven't got all of mine in the right way.  Would be nice if the instructions had noted things like that.  So the deck will be coming apart again.  Lucky I haven't committed to glue anywhere on the build yet!

 

Painting will also be an issue to think about.  Ideally I'd like to eventually give everything an initial spray of grey primer, but I don't want to get any on the rails, or on the brass rings for the power.

 

Which brings me to the last consideration (for now, anyway).  I will need to cut down the plungers referred to in the "instructions" for conducting power from the brass rings to the deck rails; still not quite sure how I'm going to make that work...
 

[Neal Ball]

8 hours ago, Graham T said:

 

Morning Neal.  The rigidity and structural integrity of the table has been a consideration, yes.  So far I think it will be fit for purpose, although of course it won't be as strong as the original design.

 

I'm trying to figure out a way to sit it slightly lower in the well, probably by moving the wheel locating sections up a touch.  Hard to explain without diagrams or pics but I know what I have in mind!  Some more hackery will be involved.

 

I've also just noticed that the chairs for the deck rails are handed - and of course I haven't got all of mine in the right way.  Would be nice if the instructions had noted things like that.  So the deck will be coming apart again.  Lucky I haven't committed to glue anywhere on the build yet!

 

Painting will also be an issue to think about.  Ideally I'd like to eventually give everything an initial spray of grey primer, but I don't want to get any on the rails, or on the brass rings for the power.

 

Which brings me to the last consideration (for now, anyway).  I will need to cut down the plungers referred to in the "instructions" for conducting power from the brass rings to the deck rails; still not quite sure how I'm going to make that work...
 

A lot of which I didn’t see as it was built for me.

 

Good luck

[Graham T]

26 minutes ago, Neal Ball said:

A lot of which I didn’t see as it was built for me.

 

Good luck

 

Ah - that's a shame - I was hoping to pick your brain about the electrical pick-ups!

[Neal Ball]

33 minutes ago, Graham T said:

 

Ah - that's a shame - I was hoping to pick your brain about the electrical pick-ups!

Sorry Graham, all I can see are the two wires that hang down underneath 

[Graham T]

Well I'm using DCC, so that makes sense 

[Graham T]

After mucho bodgery and hackery, confidence levels (hopefully not misplaced) have risen slightly about Frankentable.  I'll fix the wheel carrying assemblies onto the deck next, and then try test fitting the girders.  From there I think I'll be able to work out how deep the well needs to be...

 

 

 

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by Graham T

[Graham T]

Bodgeness abounds* ...

 

Wheel assemblies now fitted to the deck, and the turntable still turns, which is encouraging.  Next step I think will be to glue down the chairs for the circular rail, and then then stacking rings that make up the well.  I must remember to install the brick lining wall before I fix the uppermost ring, as that one has a slight overlap.

 

Then I'll turn my attention to the side girders.  Because of where the vertical uprights fall, I think I'll just remove the one square section at the right hand end, and then trim the narrower ends so that they don't overhang the edge of the turntable.  Otherwise I'd end up with a narrow section between two uprights at the centre of the table, which would look weird.

 

Some ideas are also germinating as to how I can sort out the electrical connections from the rails to the brass rings at the base of the well.  More bodgery is going to be involved, I'm sure.

 

As ever, comments are very welcome - especially of the "you've cocked that part up, it won't work like that" type, before I glue things in place! 

 

 

 

Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps are optional...

Edited April 4, 2022 by Graham T

[Graham T]

I also need to make sure that both cut ends of the circular rail are held within one chair when I fix them down - unlike in the photo above...

 

The total depth of the well looks like being 22mm, so I think I'll need to take about 4mm off the top of one of the cross braces under the baseboard top; I think that should be ok?  (The brace is about 45mm deep).

[Graham T]

I'm trying to figure out the electrical connections now - and so of course I'm confused.  The kit comes with brass rings as shown in the photo below, which I plan to wire to the pair of yellow wires on the Gaugemaster DCC40 auto-reverser.  So far so good.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by Graham T

[Neal Ball]

Connect the Gaugemaster auto reverser to your main BUS (Red and black) with the two yellows going to the table feed. The connector in the middle shows both red from the DCC40 going to Red and the other to Black on my BUS.

 

 

Note: the instructions say that you should have breaks on each of the table roads, I reckon the gap is sufficient on the table to the exit roads, but you will need to be careful of this.

[Graham T]

Unfortunately this is where the head-scratching starts.  The metal block is drilled for the spindle in the centre, and also has a pair of staggered holes for the sprung plungers to make electrical contact between the underside of the deck rails and the two brass rings connected to the auto-reverser.

 

In this photo you can see the pre-drilled holes in the Greenwood deck, which I had assumed are supposed to be for the plungers to pass through up to the rails.  But as you can see they don't align.  Then I saw that the metal block is actually supposed to run lengthwise along the bridge, so I can only guess that I am supposed to solder a wire to the bottom of each rail, feed it through the hole in the deck and then solder the other end to the top of the plunger, thus connecting the rail to the brass ring?  It seems convoluted and full of potential for failure...

 

 

 

Clearly I'm missing something, but the (frankly next to useless) instructions that come with the turntable kit make almost no mention of the block and plungers, other than that they fit together...

Edited April 4, 2022 by Graham T