MartinWales Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Mark-you couId aIways use the Mk3 S&W which doesn't need a huge hoIe cut in the buffer beam.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mark Forrest Posted August 9, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted August 9, 2015 Mark-you couId aIways use the Mk3 S&W which doesn't need a huge hoIe cut in the buffer beam.... Yes, that would be a possibility, but think I'm too far down the AJ route to consider anything else at this stage. I did get one of the vans done, bending the wire down, then back up to the correct height once clear of the bufferbeam, will get around to the others soon (hopefully). Seems to work OK, just need to be a bit careful making the bends in the right place. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 2ManySpams Posted August 9, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 9, 2015 Martin, I've been trying to get Mark off his AJ obsession for years but he seems to like playing with bits of bent wire and resetting them all for each show. It keeps him happy though... ;-p 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium wagonbasher Posted August 9, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 9, 2015 Martin, I've been trying to get Mark off his AJ obsession for years but he seems to like playing with bits of bent wire and resetting them all for each show. It keeps him happy though... ;-p He can't help it... He's a stickler for reliability. Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mark Forrest Posted August 10, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted August 10, 2015 He can't help it... He's a stickler for reliability. Andy To some extent I think the quest for reliability is what keeps me going with them. Once I get them working I'll probably move on to something else. Think I may need to get out more. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
avonside1563 Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 To some extent I think the quest for reliability is what keeps me going with them. Once I get them working I'll probably move on to something else. Think I may need to get out more. Or find a way to escape from under those dogs that seem to want all the sofa, particularly the bit you're sitting on! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mark Forrest Posted August 22, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted August 22, 2015 Work continues in my usual chaotic disorganised manner, flitting between building fiddle yards, scenic stuff, rolling stock and electrickery. The servo mounts have evolved again to a much simplified design; nothing more fancy than a 100mm length of aluminium channel. It seems to work, although I'll be improving on the wire which transfers movement from the servo arm to the tie bar. One fitted, the other two still to do. Meanwhile I've had a re-think about the control panel. The original plan was to use the S4 Soc lever frame kit, mounted on the fiddle yard board, along with some push buttons for the magnets. This means running all the wires between the boards, for the sake of moving the controls a very short distance. In the interest of simplicity (and time saving) I've decided to mount switches on the front of the board, in a slot cut in the right hand end. This should save me a bit of faffing about with wires and means I have the lever frame to use elsewhere (future project) where its full potential can be used. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted August 22, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 22, 2015 What are the benefits of using the servos over simple point motor ( solenoid) or cobalt/tortoise types ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mark Forrest Posted August 22, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted August 22, 2015 Solenoids - bang over from side to side, rather than the slow movement of real turnouts. Tortoise/Cobalts etc - great products (some better than others); relatively expensive compared to what I paid for the servos and bulky. Tortoise in particular would have required a deeper baseboard. TBH, it is all part of the experiment. I'm using servos here to see how I get on with them and whether I'll use them in the future. I'm very fortunate that BCB's track and wires ace Geoff Cook assembled the servo control circuit board for me. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 I've gone for the Traintronics TT300 on West Shed and controlled from the hand set as they have built in decoders and work out about £22 each. they can also be used normally. All the best Mark. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mark Forrest Posted August 23, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted August 23, 2015 I've gone for the Traintronics TT300 on West Shed and controlled from the hand set as they have built in decoders and work out about £22 each. they can also be used normally. All the best Mark. Controlling the turnouts (and magnets) from the DCC throttle was something I briefly considered. I've always been concerned that a short circuit caused by an incorrectly set turnout can't be rectified without pulling the loco clear of the "frog". I suppose since I have the frog juicer on here that problem does go away, but there is still the issue of needing to switch between track and accessory mode on the throttle. I think I prefer the driver's controls and the signalman's controls to be separate; even if they are actually controlled by the same person when playing trains. I've not looked at the Traintronics product, is that £22 for a servo control board? How many servos does each board handle or is that a cost per turnout? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 2ManySpams Posted August 23, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 23, 2015 I'm with you Mark in my thinking for Pencarrow. DCC handset for the loco control, separate turnout control, preferably levers. Having played on a DCC layout that had loco and turnout control on the same handset, I quickly reached the decision it was not for me. Constantly pressing buttons to flip between loco and accessory control is absolutely no fun on a shunting layout IMO. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southwich Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Looking good Mark I've enjoyed following your layout progress keep up the good work. Also I've began to use the little droppers, on my layout Motts Lane, which you recommended a couple of pages back and would like to thank you for the recommendation, they really are useful! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Worsdell forever Posted August 23, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 23, 2015 I like driver and signalman to be separate, if only to be changing points with one hand and slowing down and reversing with the other. I used servos and ESU Switchpilot-servo units for the signals on Greyscroft, worked out at £10 per arm when Tortoise was then over £14 each. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mark Forrest Posted August 23, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted August 23, 2015 Good to see I'm not the only Luddite! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indomitable026 Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Good to see I'm not the only Luddite! You do it very well tho.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 2ManySpams Posted August 23, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 23, 2015 You do it very well tho.... Are you calling him fat? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indomitable026 Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Are you calling him fat? er? Think he's harder than me - and he's got dogs... so definitely not! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Bridge Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Work continues in my usual chaotic disorganised manner, flitting between building fiddle yards, scenic stuff, rolling stock and electrickery. The servo mounts have evolved again to a much simplified design; nothing more fancy than a 100mm length of aluminium channel. 2015-08-22_10-08-31.jpg It seems to work, although I'll be improving on the wire which transfers movement from the servo arm to the tie bar. One fitted, the other two still to do. 2015-08-22_10-08-56.jpg Meanwhile I've had a re-think about the control panel. The original plan was to use the S4 Soc lever frame kit, mounted on the fiddle yard board, along with some push buttons for the magnets. This means running all the wires between the boards, for the sake of moving the controls a very short distance. In the interest of simplicity (and time saving) I've decided to mount switches on the front of the board, in a slot cut in the right hand end. 2015-08-22_10-09-15.jpg This should save me a bit of faffing about with wires and means I have the lever frame to use elsewhere (future project) where its full potential can be used. Mark Could you please give some details on your method of servo mountings Please. TIA. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mark Forrest Posted August 23, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted August 23, 2015 Think he's harder than me - and he's got dogs... They're harmless enough; unless you try to get them to move off their sofa Could you please give some details on your method of servo mountings Please. Yes of course, happy to oblige. I started off intending to use some plastic ones from MERG kits, but found them a bit fiddly and had a few issues with them falling apart (almost certainly my choice of glue/refusal to read and follow instructions rather than any fault of the kits themselves). Next evolution was to basically replicate these plastic mounts using various aluminum channels and angles. I assembled one of these and tested it and all seemed good. Time passed by and I never quite got around to making up the three I needed for the layout; it occurred to me last week that these are unnecessarily complicated, so what we have here is the keeping it simple approach. It is just a length of aluminium channel which the servo is a snug fit inside, with a hole drilled/filed for servo output to poke through. A short length of wire between the holes in the servo arm and a hole drilled in the centre of the tie-bar transfers the movement between the servo and the switch blades - simples! At the moment I've used a soft iron wire (which I normally use for coupling droppers on the AJ couplings) which is probably a bit too flexible, I'll replace it with something a little stiffer (but with an omega loop). The third servo doesn't have room to mount at the side of the base plate, so I'm experimenting with a slightly different approach: Seems to work, although again I need to source some stiffer wire for the linkage between servo are and tie bar. BTW, the base plates themselves and the tie bar that comes with them are the Exactoscale Tortoise mounts from C&L which are excellent and great value. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Cook Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Mark something going to bite you soon, it may be the two girls in the picture above in previous post, or it may be your servo bracket design, I will explain later need to eat Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indomitable026 Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Tease Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mark Forrest Posted August 23, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted August 23, 2015 A slightly frustrating morning out in the garage working on the layout. Two of the servos refused to move when I connected the wires as a makeshift switch. At first I thought I must not have set the control board up correctly, so laptop out to the garage connected up to the board, only to find I needed new (Windows 10) drivers for the USB to serial adapter that talks to the board. The Wi-Fi doesn't reach that far so back indoors, took a bit of searching, but I did find the right driver and installed it. Back out to the garage and all the settings seemed correct, but still no movement. Swapped them around onto different sockets and still no good so was beginning to think I had two dead servos - which seemed odd as I had tested them all before. Then I thought to try them without the extension cables I had bought, and guess what - both were fine. Test meter out; to find that two of the four extension leads I bought don't have one of the wires connected end to end. So need to get a couple more cables ordered tonight. After a set back like that the temptation is to pour another glass of red and forget about the layout. Except that it is now less than a month until the layouts exhibition debut, so no time for slacking! There's a 37 on the workbench awaiting new buffers and a couple of low relief buildings for along the back that need sorting out. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mark Forrest Posted August 23, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted August 23, 2015 ...it may be your servo bracket design, I will explain later need to eat I have that sitting outside the headmaster's office feeling.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indomitable026 Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 I have that sitting outside the headmaster's office feeling.... So have I and i'm not involved Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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