MickRalph

Thanks for this work Mike. I found the resizing issue immediately after v92 had been issued - they have clearly altered the dialogue for importing a v91 file since I was trying it and they now have the option for defining the use intended for the drawing. I don't think I ever had problems with the stability of v91, but I will now install v92 again and experiment over the next few days. Mick

Jason, I discovered this issue when Inkscape v92 was introduced, when I tried cutting a drawing previously created in v48. It is, I think, due to a change in the resolution DPI in the new version - I did get a warning that the dpi was wrong, but whichever option I selected didn't cure the problem of the drawing being resized. My original post (in the Silhouette thread, and apparently not here)indicated that I have had to revert to v91 to be able to cut drawings created in v48 or v91. Mick ps the original post referred to above is at http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/79025-a-guide-to-using-the-silhouette-cameo-cutter/page-79&do=findComment&comment=2767167. None of the reply toolbar buttons seem to be working, so I can't add the link properly, not change the font.

If you are a member, the French Railways Society (formerly The SNCF Society) has all four of the Autorails de France books in its library for loan to members, who pay only the return postage. Mick

What a coincidence - for my 70th birthday in February I was taken for Saturday lunch on the Bluebell's Pullman Diner (where I am a signalman at Kingscote); of course, I dressed in the Edwardian costume which I use for Santa Victorian/Edwardian Specials. This was followed a couple of days later, on my actual birthday, by a night in one of the Pullmans at Petworth. Sheer elegance! Mick

I have so far only built the Tx22 kit and am still building my first railcar, so I have no experience of binding the transmitter to a receiver. However, I wonder whether the "creep" is due to the Rx losing the radio signal and continuing at its' previous speed because of the "cruise control" setting? I note from the Deltang site that the Rx-61-22 has cruise control enabled as standard; presumably this won't be noticed if the Tx sends out the signal properly, but if the problem with the aerial causes a loss of signal, then the loco will continue running. It looks as if you can turn off cruise control by a paperclip change. Mick

Thanks Jon - you are a life-saver (or a mat-saver). In three and a half years of using the Portrait, I had never noticed that there is a button for feeding in material on the cutting mat!!! This must explain why I have had to resort to setting the design away from the edge in Studio in order to avoid starting the cutting on the mat. Mick

On the Menu Bar - Extensions > Visualise Path > Measure Path Mick

Following on from Mike's post, it is possible to use a diamond dresser in the penholder to do scribing, so that you can put the scriber in the machine and "cut" all the red lines (or indeed all lines) and then change to the blade and cut all the black lines, I use a diamond dresser, which I use for an initial scribing of the plasticard, before using the cutting blade. In this post I reported that I have used it for scribing nickel silver for the parts to make a loco body, though I have to confess that I still haven't cut out the parts. I got the idea from this post by MikeOxon when he built a wagon in brass The second post of Jason's Silhouette thread has links to dicussions of using the diamond dresser, as Jason indicated in this post. The first post by MikeOxon is here and he followed up here. If you search for "diamond" in Jason's thread, you will get various posts regarding using these tools. Edit: an alternative tool is produced by Amy Chomas in the USA. Mick

Personally, I enjoyed a tuna baguette with a cup of coffee - I thought the choice of food was pretty good; happy to eat before the 13:30 deadline. I, and my brother-in-law, thought that the layouts were excellent - probably the best set of layouts we had seen this year. I liked the set of pre-grouping layouts, but then I am biassed. We liked the fact that there were more layouts than traders, though we bought more than we thought we might. I heard a couple of people with young childrsen saying how much the kids had got from hands-on experiences at the show - really encouraging that the club were keen to get the young ones involved. Mick

Silhouette have just released a new version of the Portrait machine - the Portrait 2 to replace the previous version (at a higher price). Yolo in the UK are offering £10 off the £166 price of the new machine until 30th November, by entering the code "CUTTER10" at checkout. The blurb on the Yolo website includes "This brand new and updated model brings the Portrait® more in line with the Cameo® 3 in a smaller and more portable package. The Silhouette Portrait® 2 now features Bluetooth wireless connectivity, can generate deeper cuts up to 2mm and is fully compatible and shipped with the Silhouette Autoblade cutting blade. The beauty and the appeal of the Portrait® has always been its smaller frame and the same can be said of the Portrait® 2 as it hasn’t grown in size but it has with its feature count." (my emphasis) It also includes some FAQs, which I reproduce in full: "What materials can the Silhouette Portrait® cut? The Silhouette is designed to cut a variety of materials including vinyl, paper, specialty patterned papers, cardstock, vellum, iron-on heat transfer material, fabric (when using Silhouette Interfacing products) and sticker paper. It will also cut a variety of other specialty materials. The Silhouette has a cutting force of 210gf and includes a blade that can extend to approximately 1mm in depth when using the standard blade or up to 2 mm in depth when using the Deep Cut Blade to accommodate thicker material types. However, there is still a limitation depending on the material type's density and make up. Certain materials that are overly dense (such as thin metals, acrylic or acetate, for example) may not be able to be cut well or at all and can impair the blade. On dense materials such as mylar, doflex and plasticard you are limited to around 120 micron with the Silhouette machines due to the density of the material – any thicker than this and the blade will not be able to completely penetrate the media. Certain materials that have abrasive natures (such as thicker chipboard or sandpaper) may also impair the blade or dull it very quickly. On the other side of the spectrum, certain fibrous materials (such as select felt materials or handmade papers) may not be held together densely enough for successful cutting. Testing can be performed on special material types to find whether or not they can be cut successfully by using the Test Cut feature." This statement is taken from the FAQs on the Silhouette website, but the clause in italics is omitted on the Yolo website, while the sentence in bold has been added by Yolo. Interestingly, 120 microns is approximately 5 thou, so how Yolo come to this conclusion, I don't know. Mick

Ten days ago, my wife and I went, as visitors, to an exhibition near Limoges. The situation was very much the same as Peter describes, except that in this case they provided the nibbles and drinks for exhibitors away from the layouts, but we were still free to wander round the exhibition while no-one was behind the layouts. What the insurers would have to say about the possibility of theft, I don't know! I was very impressed by the quality of the layouts, but all of the stock was straight out of the box, with no attempt at weathering, even when the scenery was suitably industrial and grubby. Everyone was very friendly, and when they learned we are English, they all wanted to know what is going to happen with Brexit - but let's not go there! Mick

In this post, I reported that version 0.92 of Inkscape now uses 96 dpi, whereas version 0.91 used 90 dpi. This leads to a 100mm line ending up as 93.75mm when saved as a dxf or opened in Silhouette Studio. Accordingly, I had to stop using 0.92 and revert to using version 0.91 for the drawings to cut at the correct size without rescaling. Also, note that in that post I said that I have to edit the document properties to set the general units to mm and the "custom size" units to px (if the custom size units are set at mm then the size of the object is reduced by about 20%). Micvk

Although I have sung the praises of Micron, I also received very quick delivery of some items from RC Trains which sre not available from Micron. Also, the support section on the RC Trains website is very useful, particularly the link to the Peckforton Light Railway blog. For constructing the Tx22, I am generally following the guidance from that site (the build log is here). Another forum post that I am using is here, though the images are from Photobucket and don't appear unless you have a browser addon to display them - I created a pdf file of the thread, so I have them available on my computer here in France, where I have limited internet connection. One thing that Andy at Micron suggests, which was scary as the first action, is to remove the 3 x 7 connector from the Tx2 and simply solder the wires to the pads on the Tx2. However, this was actually easy to do and should help the mocule to fit better in the case. Mick edited to correct the spelling of Peckforton

Re scribing - I use a diamond dresser, which I use for an initial scribing of the plasticard, before using the cutting blade. In this post I reported that I have used it for scribing nickel silver for the parts to make a loco body, though I have to confess that I still haven't cut out the parts. The first post of the thread has links to dicussion of using the diamond dresser, as Jason indicated in this post. Mick

I recently purchased the Tx22 (and other bits and pieces) from Andy at Micron and received exemplary service from him - very prompt delivery and rapid responses to a couple of emailed queries. The kit arrived with unexpected extras - the overlay for the control box that Micron use on the boxes they sell complete; the wires needed to make up the kit; some servo tape to attach the Tx2 module to the top of the throttle pot; a piece of foam tape to secure the battery; and a comprehensive extra set of advice notes for building the kit. I am putting it together at the moment and have found it essential to use a very small soldering tip - I am using a 0.5mm tip rather than the slightly bigger one I use for etched kit construction. This is the first time I have done any micro-electronics work and it is going well at the moment (I hope). Mick

Several of the stations on the TC have been restored and there is a 50?mile long waymarked auto route from Tulle to Ussel passing each of the stations; also you can buy a pack with details of a long distance footpath using the route of the TC where possible. I will be over there in 10 days time to do some decorating in our house and close it up for the winter. It was Giles' thread on the lorries and crane which first attracted me to RC. I re-read the thread, but he didn't give details of how the winch and slew motors are wired. I spent a long time watching them in operation at Aylesbury earlier this year. I will send him a PM later in case he doesn't see this thread. I will report any progress in due course, when the various bits of kit arrive. Mick

Having done some more reading and had an email correspondence with Andy at Micron, I have ordered a Tx22, two Rx61s and an Rx41, together with 3 Lipo batteries, a charger and an 8v booster; also various wires, switches, LEDs and connectors. I am now turning my mind to how to replicate the operation of the internal turntable mechanism carried by the railcars. I had thought that I might use a linear servo mounted vertically to give the vertical lift to the mechanism, but Andy thinks that these servos would not have enough power to lift the weight of the railcar, and would anyway be too fast-acting. Andy suggested that a motor driving a lead screw might be the answer, so I then wondered whether I could mount a screw thread into the turntable mechanism and fix a nut into a bevel gear, with the second gear being mounted on the shaft of a micromotor. I have thus ordered a Solarbotics 30RPM 6v motor. However, it occurs to me that I will need a second ESC to drive this motor, but the Rx only have the one to drive the main motor. Would I need a separate Rx for the turntable motor, to be bound to the Tx? Could the ADD2 module be added to the existing Rx to provide a second H output, and if so how is the speed controlled for this output? I am also wondering whether the Fusion Servo Slow could be used to slow down a conventional servo to provide the vertical lift needed? It would obviously be powerful enough. I would welcome any suggestions as to best way to achieve the necessary lifting action. Mick

I guess that the mutiple cuts is because when a duplicate tile is aligned next to the original slate, then two sides are overlapping, so that there are actually two lines being each cut twice. Then each time you do another duplicate and align it, you are creating more double lines. If you are creating the tiles as four separate lines, then you can delete one of the overlapping lines before doing the next duplication. If you have created a rectangle and then duplicated this, it is a lot more complicated to delete doubled lines, as you have to convert the rectangles to paths and then break the paths into four lines before deleting doubled lines on each tile. I would just let the cutter do quadruple cuts instead of double. Mick

I have cut 10 thou plastic sheet (for coach windows) and didn't find the sticky mat leaving any residue on the plastic. Any there might have been should simply roll off with a rub of a finger. Mick

Thanks everyone for your comments. I love Daniel's contributions to the NGRM forum, but I had missed this one - I will have to have a close look. @Fallen - thanks Frank for the suggestions; I plan to buy some alternative items so that I can do some testing. I haven't tested to see what amperage the motor consumes, nor its starting voltage. I was planning to ask Micron to preconfigure the Rx and to add the wires for the servo and lights. I hadn't thought about a linear servo, which would seem to be better for my purposes, but, as an RC beginner, I am worried that it may not be powerful enough - the spec for the Micron ones says 35 or 45gm force. I will raise this with Micron and can also buy a larger servo which would do for operating points. BTW, I have been very inspired by your contributions on NGRM Online. @Robin2 - I had already bought the Mashima motors and gearboxes before I thought of going RC, but I also have some Nigel Lawton 6v motors and gears, bought for some locos for the Torrington & Marland clay line which ran into the Torrington standard gauge station, but which I haven't got round to building, so I can try this too. Mick

I am currently building stock for a projected layout based on the metre-gauge Tramways of the Correze (TC) in France. As I also model the LSWR in P4 gauge, I am making the models to 1:55 scale on P4 trackwork. This means that I have to make everything myself. Over the years, the TC ran several types of autorails (railcars), the early ones being single-ended, meaning that they had to be turned at the end of the trip. There wasn’t always a turntable available, so that the autorails had a mechanism which could be wound down to engage the track (this is not my model) and the autorail could then be turned by the driver applying his shoulder to the body, as here: Thinking about how to replicate this in model form, it occurred to me that this could be done using RC to control a servo or a small motor to raise the autorail off the track. I would then use a model figure attached to a wire to replicate the driver turning the vehicle, before the servo operates in reverse to lower the vehicle. I guess that a second servo/motor could be arranged to turn the autorail through 180 degrees, rather than use a model figure. As I will be incurring the expense of Tx and Rx modules, I will also power the railcar through the RC system. The first couple of railcars that I am making will be powered by the High Level Kits “Pacer” gearbox, with a Mashima 1020 motor. For a later model, I have just found that Hollywood Foundries do a replacement chassis for the Dapol Park Royal railbus and the chassis of this is just about right for my autorail. Also, I have drawn up plans for a pair of the 0-6-0 Piguet locos which the TC ran and I also plan to power these by RC. The TC was a true tramway, and the trains ran through the main streets of the towns and villages. It would be great to run the trains alongside some motorised road vehicles as they run up a hill and through the town square to reach the station. This has just a passing loop and one siding, with an engine shed on a second spur off the end of the loop. On the RC side, having read the various threads here and on NGRM Online (and Dead Rails in the US), I am planning to use Deltang items, purchased through Micron. I propose to buy the Tx22 transmitter, as I will have several vehicles to control, and will use the Rx61-22 receiver. For the battery, I intend to buy the Hyperion G3 CK 240MaH Lipo, together with the E-flite Celectra 0.1-0.7A 1S LiPo charger. I will also buy a Pololu 9v booster in case I need more voltage than the 1S battery can provide. Additionally, I will need a charging socket and lead and an on/off/charger switch and, I think, some additional leads and sockets. I intend to get some LEDs for the front and rear lights of the railcars. I would welcome any comments on these intended purchases. One thing I am not sure about is what would be an appropriate servo to buy; this will have to do more than those used in steering road vehicles, as it will have to lift the weight of the railcar (which will have to be well-balanced over the centre of the lifting device. The railcars will be quite light, being constructed from plasticard, but I suspect that small servos will not have the torque to lift the weight of them. I would thus welcome suggestions for a suitable servo. Mick Ralph

This issue arrived while I was in France, but tonight I have taken the opportunity of an evening shift in Kingscote signal box on the Bluebell Railway to read just over half of it. I found much of interest in every article, and glancing through the rest, it looks as if that will continue to be the case. An excellent issue. Mick

I will have another look, though I use the Designer Edition of Studio (thus opening Inkscape SVG files direct), so I don't have to do the intermediate stage of saving as a .dxf file. Mick

Ray - what version of Inkscape are you using? I found (post 1963) that the change of resolution for pixel units in the newest version (0.92) of Inkscape gives the wrong size drawing when opened in Studio, so I have had to revert to version 0.91. Mick

There is a setting in Studio to cut beyond the ends of the lines - it is the "line segment overcut" tick box in the material editing page. Make sure this is not ticked. The Studio manual entry for this option reads: Line Segment Overcut Once a material type is selected, you will find a Line Segment Overcut option that can be turned on or off by clicking on the desired option: Selecting the “Off” option will have all lines cut normally. Selecting the “On” option will have all straight corners cut with a slight overcut. This option is beneficial for providing cleaner cutting results in the following conditions: • Cutting thicker/denser material types (such as chipboard) • Cutting smaller block fonts or sharp-edged images on various material types The option will have no effect on rounded edges. It is only effective for images containing sharp edges in order to achieve the best cutting results possible under the conditions listed above. All versions of Studio allow you to create your own material types - useful for setting parameters for scoring, or for increasing the pressure of successive cuts. I have created "plasticard score", "plasticard first cut", "plasticard secong cut" and "plasticard final cut". Mick