Crosland

Thanks fro the thoughts. I do have a small chuck with a hex shaft that fits a drill driver but it will not go down to 0.3mm drills. I will investigate the others. I'll also try the sleeving method. Andrew

Problems with pin vices. I have a (cheap) Eclipse branded set from a local tool shop that are, frankly, rubbish. An Expo one with four collets, also poor and a set of 4 "English Pattern" from Eileen's that are marginally better. None of them are really very good at gripping drill bits. It seems to me the problem is the way the "chuck" is formed by cutting two perpendicular slots in the end. When you tighten the collar it only squeezes then very tips together. In a 3-jaw drill chuck the faces of the jaws remain parallel and grip along the length of the bit. So, is there such a thing as a pin chuck with something more like a miniature drill chuck? Would Eileen's TLSMC01 Mini chuck be any better? It's difficult to tell from the picture. [Edit] Should I be looking for a pin chuck rather than a pin vice? This looks like it may be better http://uk.farnell.com/eclipse/160/pin-chuck/dp/442926 Andrew

Warranty is irrelevant if there really is a known manufacturing fault. Bromsgrove not existing is a problem Andrew

If you bought them in the UK then the UK supplier is liable if you can show they are faulty (that comment from NCE looks pretty damning to me, too). Andrew

Thanks for the comments. I think I have realised one of my problems with my early attempts. The wire I used for the simpson springs was way too stiff and gave no benefit. For some reason i had it in my head to use 0.3mm phosphor bronze. Either a re-work or another association chassis kit is next on the to-do list Andrew

Any tips for straightening N-gauge coupling springs for use in Simpson springing? I tried one farish one that kept snapping, using a technique I was taught for straightening connecting wire which is to stretch it slightly. A Dapol one seemed more robust. I still ended up with a very loose spiral that I couldn't completely straighten out, but managed to complete the job at hand. Would the 41SWG phosphor bronze wire from Eileen's be a better solution? Andrew

Why? Snipe bidding only works if you bid more than anyone else has bid. Obviously no one did. Had they done so it would not have made a jot of difference if you had made a last minute snipe bid at the same level As an further example, my last 5 bids, all made at the start of the auction, were all successful. There were a few bids at the very end but none higher than I was prepared to pay (i.e. my week old max. bid) and I won all 5 for less than my max bids (50% less for two of them). Andrew

I have been building Nigel Higg's Hunt's 2-4-2T kit and found that to produce a much better chassis (in my hands) than the association Jinty replacement chassis that was my last project. A good deal of this may be down to my gaining experience on the Jinty chassis but I think the number of spacers also contributes to the overall stiffness. Some of the spacers in some of the association chassis are vertical and offer no longitudinal stiffness. I have also decided that I prefer the separate motor mount to the fold up gear box. I struggled to mount the motor and get a satisfactory mesh with the Jinty chassis, which also makes no provision for restraining the motor. With the separate fold up motor mount (designed for the association flat can and its fixing screws) it's easy to adjust the motor position with shims between the mount and the spacer to which it fits. I understand the association kits are designed to be easy to assemble but the chassis workshop was based on the Raithby 4F kit which someone commented is "not recommended for beginners". Again i found that chassis (my first 2mm) to be reasonably straightforward. I do intend to have another go at an association chassis, to see how much of the variation in my results is down to growing experience, and how much is down to the design of the kit. Andrew

The Bachmann EZ Command will do it. Many of these simple systems cannot read back anyway, they just program blind. Any system should be capable of programming any address within it's own limitations, regardless of what the decoder is currently set to. Otherwise it is not fit for purpose. Andrew

Interesting about the run around loop. It was definitely a GWR flavour layout, or so I believe. I have been thinking that adding a loop would be an excellent excuse to try building some points

There are no more dead sections. The power was routed by the frog switches to a lot more track than I thought, but all the dead sections are sorted now. Confession time. The permanent short was the classic error, that I really should have spotted, of there being no isolating gap between back-to-back points. Or, at least there was, but I didn't spot that it had been linked across. Some clever DC power routing I suspect. The short happened when I added extra feeds for DCC. The point operation is an interesting mix of wire-in-tube and OO rail held in bent nails , sometimes both: You can just see the OO rail going top to bottom on the underside of the baseboard. It connects to the wire-in-tube a few inches away, which then returns to the switch. I am now left with four gaping holes in the scenery but at least there's plenty of access to attach servos to the tie bars. All of the switches are make-before-break and cause the command station to shut down. I'm using an EZ-Command for testing. Eventually it will, of course, be a SPROG but I can't be bothered to turn the laptop on every time I want to test something I don't want to disturb the points too much but two switch rails have come adrift from their tie bars, which explains the large gaps commented on in an earlier entry. It's an object lesson in what can go wrong with soldered joins between switch rail and tiebar. The throw of the existing switches is too great, contributing to the larger than finescale gaps. I suspect the alignment was not quite correct, putting pressure on the soldered join when the switch rail was pushed against the stock rail. Thanks for all the comments! Andrew

Confession time, the Jinty body was just sitting on the chassis, no screws I do also have a similar pickup problem with the tender for a 4F that rocks. That has two screws holding the body so I'll try adjusting the tension in those. Andrew

Not quite as much progress to report as I had hoped. The missing track has been replaced by easitrac. The layout has been (re)wired for DCC, i.e., all track sections live. I had to fix a few loose sections and the point frog adjoining the Easitrac had to be fixed back down, but nothing too serious. These little blighters, however, are becoming a right pain. They are the polarity switches for the frogs, buried in the baseboard and only accessible by removing bits of scenic finish One seems OK, two are make-before-break (what???!!!!???) and cause a short as the point is changed and one doesn't break at all, causing a constant short when set for one route. I had hoped to keep these switches, to avoid too much messing with the tiebars, and connect the existing operating links to servos, but it looks like replacement with microswitches is now on the cards. So, the choice of routes is very limited at the moment, but as the title suggests here's a short, not particularly good, clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8PsSFcWkK8&feature=youtu.be The loco is a Farish Jinty on a 2mm SA chassis. The chassis has been through the wars a little and I can't seem to get reliable pickup at the moment (even with simpson springs) so I may build a new one and put it down to experience. Andrew

Banning the practice may fall foul of the law, hence no option to report it. You do not have to sell to anyone, just because they want to buy, and a buyer cannot force you to sell to them, subject to other laws on discrimination, of course. Ebay do care, and do take action. I have first hand experience of reporting items that were promptly removed, one some time ago and one quite recently. In the first case I cannot think anyone else would have complained, so it was likely due to my complaint. In the latter case it may have been coincidence, but I am sure the item was taken down because of a complaint from someone. Andrew

I would not rely long term on the blade contact. Are they soldered construction? Andrew

It's gone Andrew

The volume control on my previous car (a rotary encoder, rather than a pot) was sometimes like that Andrew

LOL! Not your fault though. More to get to the edge of a decent bit of board which can sit on the new frame. Andrew

I promise I will soon run out of ghastly title puns The new frame is taking shape. The first picture is the end that had the "carbuncle" removed. I decided the cross piece at the other end needed to be inset a bit to give the best support. I don't want to lose the building so this end will not be trimmed. Hopefully I've got the pictures down to a more reasonable size. Andrew

Don't get your hopes up too much :-)

The layout needs to be squared up a bit to be able to create a new frame. The bridge has been removed for reuse, possibly as a scenic break in more or less its original position. Here's the first cut Only two more sides to do. Andrew

Thank you for the comments and encouragement. I've settled on a name. But first, meet Arnold Arnold was a much loved family pet who is sadly no longer with us. Arnold was a rescue catand I now have a rescue layout (can you see where this is going?), so... The layout will henceforth be known as Arnoldale. Playing fast and loose with etimology, it comes from the old English and means the valley of the powerful eagles Arnoldale is somewhere in deepest Yorkshire where ex-L&Y, LNWR, Midland, LMS (and anything else that takes my fancy) locos will be seen, just as soon as I've built them Andrew

Through a bequest to the 2mm society and with help from the society (thanks to the Oxford area group for storing it) I am now the proud owner of part of the late Tony Andrew's 2mm finescale layout. I hope to find the time to blog as I restore and hopefully enhance the layout. Here is an overall shot of the layout: The baseboard construction is interesting :-) A nice surprise were the (potentially) working and illuminated semaphore signals. This is the result of a somewhat over bright 1W Cree LED torch (sorry for the poor focus): A farish Jinty with association replacement chassis arriving on scene: A somewhat posed arrangement :-) The eagle eyed will spot the lack of couplings on some and N gauge couplers still to be removed from others: I need a name for the layout. Suggestions on a postcard... All for today. Andrew

It's only a perception, maybe true in some cases but I suspect there is a lot of confirmation bias. If everybody waits to the end and puts in a snipe bid, assuming they all submit their bids in time, it's still the highest bidder that wins. You still need to bid your maximum to stand a good chance of winning the item. Andrew

Snipe bidding is only effective against people who do not understand proxy bidding, and treat Ebay as a traditional auction room where you bid a little more each time you are outbid. Ebay proxy bidding is more like leaving a commision bid with the auctioneer. Just bid your maximum from the outset and you will only lose if someone bids more. Whether they do it by sniping or not is irrelevant. Andrew