RMweb Premium Physicsman Posted December 3, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 3, 2015 (edited) Update: I haven't touched a single piece of insulation board today, which tells you that the mod-roc order hasn't arrived. However, I've been doing "yoga", Kirkby Luneside-style, having spent about 6 hours under the boards - twisting, turning, and generally cursing..... I've continued wiring track/turnouts to the Bus and I've started the wire runs from the Cobalts to the 2 mimic board positions. Just tested 4 of the turnouts using the old KL mimic board and they work fine. Anyway, that's quite enough for now. Jeff Edited December 3, 2015 by Physicsman 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Physicsman Posted December 3, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 3, 2015 Ironically, at 7pm there was a knock on the front door..... .....the Royal Mail, with a box containing 20 rolls of mod-roc. Wonder what I'll be doing early tomorrow morning? Jeff 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Kazmierczak Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 No idea Jeff. Putting up your Christmas decorations? Actually some flashing fairy lights strung across those garage-door runners would look most attractive. They're working Fr Ted, now they're not, now they are, now they'e not..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeeleyBridge Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 Ironically, at 7pm there was a knock on the front door..... .....the Royal Mail, with a box containing 20 rolls of mod-roc. Wonder what I'll be doing early tomorrow morning? Jeff Full body splint to support the aching bones/muscles from the wiring 'yoga' ? Waiting here for a similar knock, bringing a new kettle (for making tea, not pulling trains) ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Physicsman Posted December 4, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 4, 2015 Update: 11+ rolls of mod-roc later and most of the Fell is now covered. The bit that isn't? Well, to be honest, after 3 hours of sticking the stuff onto the boards I'd had enough. So I'm now into "wiring yoga" again - very satisfying when it works. Will post some Fell pics later. Btw, hope your non-"kettle" kettle arrived, Dave! Jeff 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jock67B Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 Jeff, In view of your comments above, I think I'll follow AndyP's method, and make the baseboards in a way that they can be tilted up to do the wiring. I do however appreciate that this isn't possible with a bl**dy great mountain on top! Look forward to the pics later, Kind regards, Jock. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Physicsman Posted December 4, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 4, 2015 A cautionary tale!! Having wired up about a dozen Cobalts to the old mimic board, and tested the switching of the point motors, I decided to run a loco up and down the fiddle yard. Loco onto track. DCC system on - then immediately off - something shorting. All the usual checks, especially that I'd cleanly gapped the copperclad used in the lift-up. Yes, that's ok..... Going round in circles. Wires disconnected, test after test..... 2 hours later - sussed it out. One of the sets of switches in one of the Cobalts had failed - and shorted the whole layout. Reconnection to the second switch in the device - presto, no problems. You begin to doubt your sanity when this happens. Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Physicsman Posted December 4, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 4, 2015 As promised, a couple of pics of the Fell. Please remember that it'll be much more rounded once some plaster gets chucked onto it - after Christmas. Jeff 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted December 5, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 5, 2015 Looks like the station really ought to be called Kirkby Fellside. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 I'm glad you decided (long ago now) not to try and put a railway along the bottom of the fell, it looks just fine as it is. Great work! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Rowsley17D Posted December 5, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 5, 2015 I spent a long time trying to find a short on mine, until I realised that an engine in the storage yard had not been completely stopped and had slowly crept forward and shorted on a turnout that was set against it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Physicsman Posted December 5, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 5, 2015 I spent a long time trying to find a short on mine, until I realised that an engine in the storage yard had not been completely stopped and had slowly crept forward and shorted on a turnout that was set against it. Yes, it can be very frustrating. And it's not something that I've found is a common occurrence, remarkable given the amount of wiring involved. I've usually encountered shorts due to stupidity when a piece of wire has drifted across the rails, but this was different.... I suppose it reduces down to logical thinking. Which I didn't do, at first, when I disconnected the 40+ cables down to the Bus. If I'd thought about it - which I did later!!!!! - I'd have realised that the problem was unlikely to be in those locations as NOTHING there had changed since the first loco run in early November. So the "problem" had to be somewhere else. So what was different? Only the additional wiring (to 5 further Cobalts) I'd put in place this week. And, eventually, the problem was in one of the Cobalts. I'm going into the Bunker shortly to re-wire everything to the Bus. Fingers crossed.... Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Physicsman Posted December 5, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 5, 2015 Looks like the station really ought to be called Kirkby Fellside. Mike, I think you could well be right! Not a "Lune" in sight! I was "concerned" (seriously) that the Fell on KL2 might have lost a bit of impact, as it's a couple of feet shorter than the one on KL. I suppose we'll see once it's plastered, grassed and walled. Jeff 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Physicsman Posted December 5, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 5, 2015 I'm glad you decided (long ago now) not to try and put a railway along the bottom of the fell, it looks just fine as it is. Great work! Cheers John. I'm always very self-critical about builds like the Fell, as I worry they won't work out as I've visualised in my "mind's eye". So far, I'm reasonably happy. As for the railway line. It was Andy P's initial suggestion and I'd have loved to have done it. However, with the space available it would have meant too many compromises. With another 5 feet to play with I think I'd gone ahead with the idea. They say people dream of sheep. Now the outline Fell is there I'm starting to dream (nightmare) of walling!! Jeff 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Kazmierczak Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 You could always have a funicular. Anyway, looking good Jeff (despite those garage runners..... ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davefrk Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 Hi guys and gals, I know of a club layout which seemed to develop a short or infact a series of shorts after a disgruntled member left in a huff. Some were traced to wires being swapped round in chocolate blocks but the goods yard could still not be made to work until a 'clever' chap connected an almost flat car battery to the layout, the smoking wire was cut and the yard was working once more.... Don't try this at home.... The Fells are looking good Jeff. Dave Franks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 That's also a great way of getting rid of whiskers of copper on hand built track after the gapping process. Do it with care though...... Still catching up on KL2, Jeff, but from what I've seen so far it's going to be another great layout. One thing is certain. It won't fall down... On earlier versions of ET, I used 10A domestic light switches to isolate the bus on each board. Wiring in parallel is the best solution, but needs more cable. Wiring in series is more economical on cable and then you just start with the last board in the chain and switch off each board in turn until it works again. At least then you can pin the short down to a small area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
67A Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 That's also a great way of getting rid of whiskers of copper on hand built track after the gapping process. Do it with care though...... Still catching up on KL2, Jeff, but from what I've seen so far it's going to be another great layout. One thing is certain. It won't fall down... On earlier versions of ET, I used 10A domestic light switches to isolate the bus on each board. Wiring in parallel is the best solution, but needs more cable. Wiring in series is more economical on cable and then you just start with the last board in the chain and switch off each board in turn until it works again. At least then you can pin the short down to a small area. When I was about 13 my elder cousin wired all my buildings and such in series using those bacolite 2.5v screw-in bulb holders fixed down with 2 screws, everything looked great when it was switched on for a few weeks until I pushed the button on the cord fitted bacolite switch and it simply collapsed in my hand giving me the full 250v! Luckily my dad was close and just kicked me away. Once he looked at it he realised my cousin had wired the 100 bulbs in series direct to the 250v supply. Ouch!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 (edited) I think we've all been there Mike. As kids we had no real understanding of electrics. I break out in a cold sweat when I think of some of things we did. Wiring a set of headphones designed for a crystal set into the mains, was not very clever...... Just to be absolutely clear for those not blessed with an understanding of electrics. The switches are only wired to the DCC bus which is 12-15v and nowhere near mains voltage... They are rated at 10A and when wired into the bus from one board to the other, it's very easy to switch off each board in turn. At £4 for 5 they are a cheap solution to help finding a short. Edited December 5, 2015 by gordon s 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeeleyBridge Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 I recall in the 70's the trackwork of a new layout at a club being complete, the 'old blokes' connecting it up to a switch. The hall lights were turned out and the switch thrown. Sparks were seen, cracks were heard and burning was in the air. The supply was some ex-MOD transformer and it burned out what they called whiskers from the copper clad sleepers of the handbuilt track. Unfortunately from my point of view, that was the only interesting thing about that club layout. Ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Physicsman Posted December 5, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 5, 2015 Update: All of yesterday's un-wiring has now been re-wired. I've also fitted the 4mm terminals onto the lift-up section, so it's now easy to connect to the Bus and completes the track and electric circuit. All the fiddle yard Cobalts are now wired ready for connection to the mimic board (which I'll make in January) and all have been polarity-tested. So I now feel like I'm moving forward again. As for electrical misdemeanours, I had a very lucky escape on Monday, October 13th, 1980. Yes, I remember it well! As part of my research work I had a rig made of copper plating, surrounded at various points with ceramic insulators. Safety was provided by 6 earth connections.... On that day I cleaned the equipment and re-assembled it. Whoops - I missed one of the earth connections and when I touched it (as was the routine) at its operating voltage of 1300V, I was blown across the room. Luckily, I only touched it with one hand - usually it'd have been 2, and with an earth missing the consequences would have been lethal. Can I ask that any further tales of electrical woe go into the (aptly named) Asylum, please. Thanks for the entertaining stories - at this time yesterday I was ready to vaporise, not the copper whiskers, but the whole bl**dy layout! Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jock67B Posted December 6, 2015 Share Posted December 6, 2015 Jeff, Just posting to check if your dad is ok with all the terrible weather they have been having up ther? Sorry to break the rules, but I've put this in the asylum as well! Kind regards, Jock. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Physicsman Posted December 6, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 6, 2015 Jeff, Just posting to check if your dad is ok with all the terrible weather they have been having up ther? Sorry to break the rules, but I've put this in the asylum as well! Kind regards, Jock. Jock, don't be daft - you're not breaking any rules, especially when it's about the events in Cumbria. Barrow gets a lot of wind and rain, but aside from very localised flooding it never suffers like the northern half of the county. Dad's house is a few hundred feet above sea level, so he's fine. Thanks again for asking - I'll be going over to Cumbria for a week this coming Tuesday. Jeff 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Physicsman Posted December 6, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 6, 2015 Update on KL2: I've started wiring the track near the station to the Bus. The first loco has powered across the viaduct from the fiddle yard: Jubilee 45562 Alberta made the journey - and travelled over 6 feet beyond any track that was Bus-wired or cleaned. So that's a good sign. Having an evening off - will be under the station boards with my soldering iron in the morning! Jeff 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Physicsman Posted December 7, 2015 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 7, 2015 Update: I spent about 4 hours today wiring several of the station-area turnouts to the Bus. All working and polarity checked. The Jubilee has now managed to travel 90% of the way round the circuit. It'll get there at the end of next week. Off to Barrow in the morning. Just a dull pic to add to this post - dull in the sense that the fiddle yard is going to need lighting added at some stage. But the Jubilee beastie can be seen parked next to the class 8. Jeff 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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