5BarVT

30 minutes ago, sagaguy said:

If it`s the very fine wire you want to strip,heat it in the flame of a disposable lighter and and remove the insulation with your finger nails.

 

            Works for me!.

 

                             Ray.

I was ‘taught’ how to do that with the untinned bit of a soldering iron.

I have more respect for my tools now!

Although, if I’m soldering the wire (pvc) I tend to strip slightly short knowing that the heat will cause the insulation to retreat along the wire.

Paul.

1 hour ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:

Good point - solo games of ping-pong may provide lots of exercise, but the novelty soon wears off.

 

If you’ll forgive me using your experience as a case study again, I suppose there’s an argument for swapping it all over and suggesting the station part could be the removable section in similar circumstances - as long as the fiddle yard has capacity for all the rolling stock, it might be better off as the fixed section.  The station could then be stored over the fiddle yard and act as a dust cover?  Seems counterintuitive but there could be some inverted logic in the idea. Just a thought, Keith.

You’re in esteemed company there Keith.  I think it was CJF, but it could have been Peter Denny, more years ago than I care to admit, commented that they had had an under stairs layout where the FY stuck out through the door for operating sessions thus all stock had to be run onto the scenic at the end.  Their suggestion was to do it the opposite way round with FY under the stairs giving a more realistic feel.

Paul.

I use these.

https://www.esr.co.uk/shop/contents/en-uk/p33227_Perel_HTSTRIP5_Self_Adjusting_Wire_stripper___cutter_0.2-6mm².html

The tension/pressure is adjustable by the knurled steel wheel and by turning it well down I can strip Cat 5 flex cable insulation which is fairly thin.

Paul.

10 minutes ago, Graham T said:

so that I can flip them over onto a workbench and deal with them more comfortably. 

Most recommended from me.  Even if just a frame to which you attach risers for trackbed support.

Paul.

37 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

I'm sure the DfT have decided that based on the average number of people travelling through the week, 3/4-car is quite adequate, so that's alright then.  I long ago concluded that amongst politicians and senior officials in Whitehall, averages are the only mathematical concept they can understand.

Quite agree.  D(a)fT know they provided sufficient seats - the passengers just chose to travel at the wrong time or in the wrong direction.

Paul.

6 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Anyway, here it is, complete with droopy buffer that I didn't notice until too late and I can't be bothered to fix it now.

Clearly had a very rough shunt at some point.  Planks repaired but frame left as was.

Paul.

21 minutes ago, RobAllen said:

I'm as far as page 120-something now and this post has spoiled me on the question as to what's going to happen to the blank space where the turntable was originally planned to go 😁

See what happens when you cheat and read the last chapter first.

:-)

Still plenty of good reading left in between.

Paul.

On 08/01/2024 at 10:43, SHMD said:

For purely drawing, I use LibreCAD. It's free and there are lots of tutorials - plenty of help on here too.

On 23/01/2024 at 18:48, Blefuscu said:

I've used libreCAD for 2D work. I was generating .dxf files to send off for laser cutting.

Thanks to both.  I’ve had a look as the LibreCAD website and it looks like it does what I need and some things more easily that the iPad drawing program I’m using at the moment.  I’ll have to become better acquaintedd with my laptop than I have been of late!

Paul.

First posting in this particular forum as it’s an area that I have only become interested in within the past two years having gained access to a laser cutter.
A very similar request to John Besley’s topic “CAD Software” which I have read with interest.  I’ve started a separate topic so as not to cause confusion between packages that do or don’t work on iPad and or PC.

I started with Inkscape on the laptop, but I haven’t found it intuitive to use.  It is still part of my process but only for converting SVG to DXF and deleting unwanted layers before importing to Lasercut 5.3 in the club workshop.  I found Vectornator for use on the iPad and that has become my preferred way of working.  Vectornator was primarily an image manipulation tool aimed at producing screen designs.  It has become Linearity Curve with lots of extra moving image add ons that I will never use but is also becoming a paid app at £60 + tax per year.  Probably good value if you are using it as designed, but not when you’re using only 10% of the features.  There is a free version but it is limited to 3 files.

Examples of things I have designed are:

Signalbox diagram - I can keep this as one of my 3 free files.

Wiring diagrams.  Even though I can ‘cheat’ by putting pages on different layers there will be far more than can reasonably be kept in one file.

Laser cutter designs.

So what would people recommend for doing these type of laser cutter designs and wiring diagrams that 

1. Runs on an iPad 

2. Is not an annual subscription (preferably free).

3. Is intuitive to learn in the early stages

4. Has the capability of precise positioning.

5. Preferably can import what I’ve done already in SVG.

Thanks,

Paul.

When I was a teenager I knew someone who worked in the parcels depot at Nottingham London Rd.  He ended up in Toton as a shunter as reorgs etc closed down the parcels operation.  He used to moan to me about “management”.  Not sure whether he realised that I counted as “management” in his definition.

His comment was that whenever a new graduate type was put in charge, they worked to the book for a day or two (as instructed), and once it was realised that the job wasn’t getting done, were allowed to go back to their ways that worked.

Paul.

3 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Is that their boss I hear moaning?

No, ‘cos the job was done.

Until something went wrong.

Paul.

1 minute ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Whoosh, that was a close one. Thankfully just cleared my head.

Do you need to worry?  That’s two of us had near misses, we might get closer next time.

“Only two wires” comes with a penalty - DCC: DC made Complicated!

Paul.

2 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

and/or know a simpler way?

Use Traincontroller as it matches the speeds internally and controls them separately.  (You didn’t specify “cheaply “ in your question!)

Being (a bit) more serious, although the normal ‘recommendation’ is to maximise the number of speed steps available to give ‘finer’ control, 1m.p.h. accuracy seems fine, particularly at higher speeds.  Some go for exponential speed curves to give closer control at lower speeds but your premise requires a straight line speed table.
Thinking out loud, might 1 mph steps be a bit coarse at shunting speeds?  Sadly, if the answer is Yes it blows the whole concept out of the water.  An early test might be appropriate.

Returning to consists, if the actual speeds of two locos are different at particular speeds below 64mph, then adjusting the speed table of the errant loco is the solution.  Deciding which is the errant loco might be the trickier part.  Again, testing with a wide range of locos will indicate if this is a systemic problem (not the desired answer) or limited to individual ‘problem’ locos.  Testing does not need to be limited to locos that are planned to be consisted.

Paul.

19 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

A nail-biting finish to the cricket last night, with three results possible until the last ball was bowled.

Only 3 of the 4?  Presumably plenty of time available so Draw was discounted.

Paul.

Hi Philou,

Although not GWR/LNWR, the RAIB report R01/2010 for a bridge collapse near Stewarton G&SW shows construction details for a skew centre girder bridge and shows details of what went on below ballast level.

Link here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7f5fe7e5274a2e87db5784/100203_R022010_Stewarton.pdf

From fig 7 p16 it looks like there was no ‘deck’ as such when the rials were laid on baulks.  A timber deck was added when the bridge was ballasted.

It may be that there was a light timber deck sufficient to support foot traffic  before the bridge was ballasted.  King Edward bridge across the Tyne seems to have some sort of infill to,prevent stuff dropping through.

Paul.

On 22/01/2024 at 23:42, St Enodoc said:

And an Australian or two...

Was that in addition to the BYOA (Bring Your Own Aussie)?

:-)

Paul.

23 minutes ago, Philou said:

I'm not sure of how the central girder would have been constructed. I'm musing on this as to whether it would have been a box girder so to avoid flanges being cut into the bridge deck. It makes no odds really, but an inquiring mind just wants to know.

I’m not a structural engineer or a bridge designer, but my gut feeling is that if there were a central girder it would have been two separate bridge decks, one each side.

Paul.

10 hours ago, Phil Bullock said:

And this one’s for @Clive Mortimore …. 
 

The Abbotswood Estate

If you have to ask “How much?” you can’t afford it!

Paul.

10 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

M&E/CE 1, S&TE 0...

9 hours ago, coronach said:

I remember a story my dad told me concerning the design of complex pointwork at Leeds Central. The office was very careful in designing a pway that would take account of the tight clearances, undertaking several detailed surveys. The layout actually installed was made to fit, largely ignoring the drawings - a case of installers knowing what’s best!

10 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Won't be good for wheel and/or rail wear either.

Which takes me back to my short period as a SME (signal maintenance engineer) and the newly replaced switch diamonds at Greenhill Junction.  They had been installed with the “gauge” measured across the elbow joints (i.e. not perpendicular to either set of running edges).  The result was that whenever a train ran through there was a creaking groaning sound as each wheelset passed through the elbows.

The PWME did what he could but needed a complete relay to sort it properly.

They aren’t there any more, but it was probably 25-30 years before they went.

Paul.

P.S. My techs reckoned it was about 10mm narrow to gauge at the critical point and the tolerance they had available for adjustment was only 8mm . . . !

13 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

On 19/01/2024 at 15:56, 61656 said:

A 5’ radius (1500mm to a proper engineer)

1524mm to proper proper engineers...

Which makes me a proper-ish proper engineer as the dimension on the plan is 1520mm.

And any more significant figures than 3 would be a false claim to accuracy!

Paul.

Failed attempt to quote!

41 minutes ago, Graham T said:

 

Thanks Bill.  It will be nice to be able to pop into a local model shop and actually speak the language!  And I won't miss the Austrian customs regulations...

 

 

Yes indeed I hope to re-use most of the buildings and quite a lot of other stuff.  Plus I can hopefully lay some decent trackwork on the next layout!

 

And while you're waiting, don’t forget to keep up to date with what the rest of us are, or are not, doing.

Sez he who hasn’t posted on his own topic since New Years Day!

Paul.

5 hours ago, 61656 said:

I found myself in one of those dips in enthusiasm. This is usually caused by taking on too ambitious a project and ignoring all the advice of others. 

 

In this case, having the railway inoperable for so long was my biggest mistake, combined with trying to couple and uncouple Kadees on a curve. 

Fallen into the same trap of having nothing moving for too long.

5 hours ago, 61656 said:

Credit is to David Singleton and the photo is used with his permission.
 

I recognise those trees!  Wouldn’t care to say how many times I’ve viewed them over thirty years.

5 hours ago, 61656 said:

Meanwhile, back to getting trains running…a post on curvy kadees will be along soon. 

Interested to see curvy Kadees.  I’ve managed to keep most of mine on straight to do what I need (I hope).  I do have some to add on 5’ radius curves when I get further on.

Paul.

1 hour ago, scottystitch said:

I am follower number 100

9 minutes ago, Fishplate said:

So am I. . . 

Must use the same software as the UK Rail seat reservation system.

Paul.

4 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

I am off to commit a crime for my free passage.

It’s the getting back that’s a little difficult.

Paul.