RBE Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 I use fine No 10 guitar string to make my wires. They solder great and are very stiff with very little movement, certainly no droop under normal tension. Below is a pic. Sorry about the poor quality but I was holding the wire and camera and tried to use a dark background so that you can see the wire. Light flare makes it look thicker than it is but its about 0.25mm diameter. As you can see simply holding one end of the catenery I can easily hold down the pan at the other end with virtually no wire bend. Cav Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
artizen Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Have you thought of using EZ Line? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 Hadn't heard of it so looked it up, interesting stuff, maybe worth investigating for something or other, cheers for that Ian. However with catentery you dont want any stretch at all, let alone in the region of 7 times its own length. Stretch will be converted into movement when the pan runs along it which is absolutely not what you want. It needs to stay as rock steady as you can get it. Real wires hardly move under the pressure of the pan, up and down movement is a big no no. Also not sure how you'd attach the droppers and such like whilst maintaining a smooth bottom surface for pan contact. Cav Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Hi Cav, I have just left a note on Neil's site to say I will be checking out both of your weathering at Mansfield, See you there mate. Andy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWhippyO Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Hi Cav, just a quick question. The guitar strings you use for the OLE, does it come in a spool? Fantastic looking layout! Cheers James Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Hi Cav, just a quick question. The guitar strings you use for the OLE, does it come in a spool? Fantastic looking layout! Cheers James Sorry to jump in here Cav but I can say that some music shops sell Guitar strings individually, whilst some only sell sets, you can also get different gauge stings for the same one i.e the B string may be available in 4 or 5 gifferent gauges ( usually No 8 to 12 or something) as players of different types of music prefer a different string tension. I hope this helps a bit. Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 Indeed Andy cheers for that. I buy mine as individual strings for the OHLE as you need quite a few. The ones in the pic, which are approx 0.25mm diameter are No 10s. the number denotes string thickness in thou's. You cant get it on spools but ebay is a good source with bulk buys available in a single string size. guitar strings naturally want to be straight so ideal for this job. Cav Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWhippyO Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Cheers guys, I don't think the guy in the music shop had ever been asked for guitar strings for a model railway, eBay here we come! James Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 See you sat am I am looking forward to the show. All the best Andy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted March 1, 2012 Author Share Posted March 1, 2012 Me too mate. Still have a surprising amount to get done to say Im setting up tomorrow night!!! See you there chap. Cav Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 Hi Cav, Good to see and your good lady again at Mansfield totad and of course Outon Road which is growing like Topsey, lovelly trackwork and it ran just like it should, I have got some great pics so you might see a pirate copy on the cuircit soon, HA HA. The work you have put into the extension has really paid off and will make operation more effective. Your treatment to the terraced houses was particularly good and not overstrated and so blended in really well. Great stuff and I look forward to seeing you again at DEMU. All the best Andy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold griffgriff Posted March 3, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 3, 2012 Nice to see the layout and chat with you today... the new board looks fantastic. I think your trackwork might inspire a few people to take the plunge into track building - very impressive Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mason Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 Yeah it's defiantly given me the bug n given Cav a headache with all my questions ha ha really big help tho Cav thanks and thank you to Jodie for today for fetching the coffee and cakes totally superb Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 As you can see simply holding one end of the catenery I can easily hold down the pan at the other end with virtually no wire bend. Hi cav This test doesn't actually help in any way with making ole that works. What you need to allow for is the expansion of the wire along with the contraction of baseboards (which always happen together) and those everything out of alignment is any of 2 dimensions. The solution is to follow the real thing and introduce tension into the system through some sort of spring (this also helps protect the ole on the occasion that it is bent by a hand - usually in the process of retailing something). You will need to follow the prototype in the way it's strung too. Ie wires added to the masts and the droppers added in situe. As the whole system needs to be in tension you can't join wires together, you need continuous pieces. All this stuff I learned from the plank - which was why I built it Hope it helps Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted March 4, 2012 Author Share Posted March 4, 2012 Great to see you all again, was a good first day and the layout ran very well to say the show was the first time it had ran as a combined unit. Only issue Ive had was one of my ground signal leds failed which is a shame. Its not an easy fix as it contains SMD leds and its all self contained. Oh well. Really looking forward to running again today. The next show is due in leicester next month and I hope to have the OHLE done by then. Fiddle yards too would be nice but I think that realistically itll be the Derby show in May that sees the debut of those. Cheers for the heads up on the wires Jim. The wire in the picture isnt an actual one for the layout it was a soldering exercise to see how easy it was to solder guitar string. Very easy as it turns out. All my previous OHLE layouts have used long lengths soldered in situ as you said so will probably do it the same way. its just a pig to hold the droppers in position as you solder them that way and these are much finer than my previous efforts. Ill keep you all updated on progress. Cac Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandhills Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 Hi Cav, Model show next month in Leicester ? Which ones that mate ? Will come along and see the extension ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Flynn Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 Hi great to see you and layout on Sat managed to get a few shots with camera. Looking forward to its new form at Derby. Good job you have a good operator as you spent a fair bit of time chatting to us? say thanks. Hugh Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
50030 Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 Hi, saw the layout today I would of said hello but it looked like you were having Problems with operating it so thought it was best to let you get on with fault finding, hope it wasnt anything too serious and I'll look forward to seeing it again in the near future. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted March 4, 2012 Author Share Posted March 4, 2012 Firstly hi Jon the leicester show is the one day scalerail east midlands annual spring event on the 21st of April in Shepshed. Hoping to have all of the OHLE in by then. The extended fiddles Im less confident about, I suspect that the mickleover show will be their debut. Hope to see you at Shepshed if you can make it. Be interesting to see what angles you can use for photographs. Nice to chat again Hugh, the missus is a very capable driver and always lets me have my chatty time!! Which is nice. Itll be nice to be able to run the layout fully in may once the fiddles are done, glad youll have chance to cast an eye over it again so soon. 50030, sorry you didnt have chance to chat. It was a hell of a morning, in the end it was a soldered track joint that have failed, presumedly due to expansion and contraction fatigue. Took a while to trace it but ended up being a 2 min fix once we found it. You should have stopped me and had a chat though mate. I was getting a bit frustrated and a chat might have just taken my mind off it for 5. Still after it was sorted the layout ran faultlessly all day, really chuffed with the performance overall. Would just like to thank Ian and Keith for another great day at Mansfield, always a cracking show with great atmosphere. Well done!!! Cav Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWhippyO Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 Hi Cav, Have you made any progress on your OHLE? I am just starting to get mine together on Shalmtsry and would like to see any photos of yours if you have started. Thanks, James Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted March 7, 2012 Author Share Posted March 7, 2012 Hi James yes I've built a couple of portals and some masts, brought a portal to Mansfield, shame you didn't get a chance to look. Planning on really getting cracking over the next few days. I'll take some pics soon and pop em up for you to see. Having a go at some scratch built auto couplers too, which I may or may not adopt also, nothing fancy just a take on less obtrusive sprat and winkles really. Cav Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWhippyO Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Hi Cav, I would've really enjoyed going to Mansfield, however I am in Scotland so it would be quite a trek! The main problem I am having with my OHLE is the wires will not stay tight, everytime I run my 87 underneath they work themselves loose, so that's yet another thing to try and sort! Looking forward to seeing your photos! James Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted March 7, 2012 Author Share Posted March 7, 2012 Yes it would have been a little far to travel I think. Sounds like you need tensioning in your wires, as Jim SW has mentioned further back in this thread the wires can expand and contract causing them to tighten or go slack. Might be worth looking at springing or such like to take up any stretch. Also, I always fit softer springing to my pans. The one on the 86 is very light indeed. Cav Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWhippyO Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Thanks for that, think I'll give the springs from a pen a shot on my OHLE, perhaps modelling some tensioning equipment while I'm at it James Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted March 7, 2012 Author Share Posted March 7, 2012 I always find the small ones from 3 link coupling packs work well. I never use them on the couplings so have loads haha. Cav Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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