aleopardstail

more progress, the baseboard is now assembled! shown in the home it will have when working on it. 9mm ply construction, 4" deep sides and 2'6" x 4' overall. simple "X" crossbrace, thanks to those on the forum who helped with the design, its very rigid and can be easily lifted with one hand - though it is bulky due to the size. I can see fitting a couple of handles on the front edge and a bit more bracing to allow it to hang on a wall. the holes are for allowing electrickry to be performed, the X is also only 3.5" deep so will be some space under it if needed. Its likely to get a few short legs (as in about an inch) which can have felt added to suit and protect the desk. naturally I had to have a go at laying the track out just to see how it fitted. the lengths of flexi obviously need cutting and some shuffling will be done, may need a few more lengths of either flexi or the double & standard straights which may be cheaper due to postage on flexi track.. on the plus side the design does actually fit, which is nice. next step is to get something to cover it to act as a sound barrier as boy gork this is one hell of a sound amplifier board, then a few tests on some sensors etc and can start to actually fix the track down and then run things.

Basic shell of the baseboard is done, "just" need to add the cross bracing (after working out exactly how to secure it at the ends. 9mm ply frame, with stripwood blocks to screw down into from the deck. glue drying overnight now, but a 4'x2'6" board taking shape. Not amazingly rigid but then as noted it lacks the bracing currently. thinking of some temp wooden posts to stick up places the screw holes won't matter once the upper surface has some sound deadening added - point being to protect the track while I'm working on it when the board is upside down. Nice to finally be making a bit of progress from a paper plan

progress update! some wood met Mr Cuttything post cutting we now have the board, framing and cross bracing, ,needs the edges cleaning up a bit then assembly

in the sleepy town of Dingleberry things begin to stir, rumours abound of a delivery of plywood, though locals claim not to yet have witnessed it, there have also been curious noises, the sounds of ancient electric motors being tortured into life, the smells of ancient lubricants warming up, the curious sight of a pair of class 86 moving under their own power without any OLE, strange piles of track are appearing... Both of the class 86 now have digital decoders installed, I think pretty much all the required track is assembled or arriving this week, I have managed to get JMRI talking to the DCC++EX base station without causing too many explosions, even got both the ancient Lima locomotives working - the two Poole era Farish diesels look on and hope they will get a turn too. with luck baseboard construction starts at the weekend, a way to go before track is fixed down as I need to get some surface mounted IR sensors assembled so they can be tested prior to starting to drill too many holes (think the 5mm IR LED detection things you can get on eBay, but using much smaller sensors and emitters that will fit between sleepers in N gauge), likewise some current transformers to assemble and test. However if the board goes ok, with luck some time next week there will be track at least resting upon it while some testing goes on

sorted, I hope, the 9mm ply for this (and some other stuff, like securing my work desk etc) arrived today and its a lot more rigid than I expected, the side bracing and a central "X" I now suspect will be fine. hope to make a start on Sunday

There will likely be many more sins on this line than just a facing point, that inner loop, and the bit of track linking it to the two crossovers at either side will be bidirectional... Yes its all set track, the idea is to have a layout thats pretty simple to build to experiment with the digital control logic side of things before planning anything larger, also to allow a home for a collection of rolling stock as its slowly built up. I'm specifically trying to avoid a situation I had last time I built a layout where I had a ton of space, a really long twin track oval and storage sidings but only ever really had one decent train to run on it. this is a mix of 1st & 2nd radius PECO set track, I'm aware that may restrict some stuff to the outer loop, and even then only with the points set for straight running, at this point I'll accept that, though my thanks for pointing it out. the two longer sidings are set as trailing, mostly so trains can back into then let the loco escape from them, the bit in the middle is a loco depot, hideously oversized for a layout like this but thats intentional. the two sidings with a platform are intended as a parcels depot, probably limited to either a pair of Mk1 full brakes or a few covered vans, otherwise its coaches and watching trains chasing their tails (trains probably two, maybe three coaches normally though there is space for four or five)

if you want the LED to slowly dim and brighten the easy way is probably to drive it with something like one the Arduino Nano clones (cheap on eBay), use the pulse width stuff ("analogWrite(pin, value)") which will set the brightness, then have the loop slowly change the brightness - you have a few different pins it can do this on. can work nicely with one of the Red Green & Blue mixed LEDs to get all sorts of nice colours

excellent, will give this a go

That is possible, there is a bit of flexibility on the exact track position, my concern was that leaving larger areas unsupported, presumably thats based on 4" deep cross bracing (with a few holes obviously), may be some scope for a few more blocks of PSE glues here and there along the joins. I've got 8'x4' of 9mm ply arriving (basically having other stuff delivered and figured why not, avoids the deck being in parts mostly which I think will help a fair bit here. only turnout that is potentially a problem is the one off the upper loop into the to sidings (which will be a parcels depot), there is space to shift that along a bit if needed anyway. given this is a bit of a learning exercise anyway this may well be the way to go - will be building the board a while ahead of sticking stuff done, the only "fixed" bit will be the loco shed as there will be two pitted roads. the "underbridge" was going to be the grey road bit, that can quite easily be shifted to sit alongside that length of bracing (or flipped to the other side) the lack of a scenic break in the loop is something I'm accepting for practicality due to where its possible the signals will end up overall, many thanks all, plenty of food for thought

this is something I was pondering, plan is servos in "U" channelling, but obviously still needs to be fixed to something - the ply is going to have something on top of it, its possible I may use further 9mm play in small rectangles glues below where the point servos need to go so there is a bit more to screw into, it may or may not be ideal, but everything at this size is a compromise anyway

"A" is probably also a darn sight easier to measure up and make, which given my tendencies with "accurate measurement" is good. I think I know what you mean with the lamination stuff, seen it before as a weight saver. I've made layouts before, a while back, but the "fixed PSE & Chipboard and don't worry about the weight" type, I want to be able to lift this when its done and move it about, probably not too often but to at least be possible. 9mm is on order already, not averse to getting some 6mm (well 5.5mm from what I see locally) and laminating, as it is the outer frame will likely get a layer of that laminated to it anyway at some point to go above the board

Yes plan is 9mm ply for the sides, there will be some PSE ~ 25mm square but only in the corners so the sides can be screwed to it as well as the glue, then the deck screwed down to it as well as glued, one of the ends will also get some PSE as a batton, to hang the thing from. only thinking to diagonals to aid with twisting, hopefully won't be a massive issue

I've got an "N" gauge layout planned, 4'x 2'6", will be a single board, idea to hang on the wall when not being used, eventually. proposing 9mm plywood for the deck and for the side frames which will initially be probably 4" deep below the board deck (I want a road underbridge at one point so part will go below the deck). three sides will eventually get a second layer, possibly 6mm, glued on to carry a basic backscene but won't be more than 6" high to keep the overall height of the model manageable. my concern is torsion forces and the board warping, adding some cross bracing is in the plan, outlined below, my question is would the diagonal bracing shown be enough? this would be a mix of screw & glue construction with every bit of wood touching wood getting glue. the Inner frames will be probably slightly shallower, maybe 3", with holes for cable access and weight recution. does this look reasonable (bracing positioned to clear servos under the points, could adapt if it would help though) A second possible design has a double "X" of bracing, not sure if this would be better or worse

fully agree, not the least bit nasty at all, even makes an ancient model like this crawl wonderfully if only all N Gauge locos were this easy to upgrade - glances at a pair of Poole era GF diesels and winces

While I have fitted a couple of decoders before it was well over a decade ago, and to Hornby OO models with more space, this is my first experiment in digital command control with N gauge. For my victim I selected a Lima Class 86, picked up on eBay cheaply, and for the decoder a ZIMO 617F as thats also cheap and lets be honest, the old Lima loco lacks lights or a lot of detail so a basic decoder is fine. I picked the Class 86 as I knew it had a fair bit of space inside and the motor is nicely isolated from the chassis hoping this wouldn't be a difficult installation. the rest is in the pictures. (un)willing victim in blissful ignorance Bodywork removed, very typical design of the period, standard Lima N gauge motor at one end, pick ups at the other - for her age she runs quite well, though doesn't like low speed crawling Tilted to show the rest of the wires, motor brushes opposite the contacts Decoder unboxed, this thing is tiny, but not quite as tiny as the wires, seriously glad I have an illuminated magnifier plug removed and wires untangled as noted no lights so the function wires have the ends capped with a bit of heat shrink Strip out of the wires, note the isolation of the motor from the pick ups is verified, good old Lima not trying to be clever with a live chassis unused wires wrapped round, I could have cut them right back but you never know, bit of tape round them to hold it until the bodywork goes back on. fiddly soldering job but not too bad bodywork back on, the decoder fits without any chassis modification needed no explosions on first power up, as you can see my "layout" is extensive and well ordered and finally in motion, will crawl along at speed step 10 quite nicely, I tried speeding up but above 50 the track came apart, circulates nicely at speed step 30 though All in all, for a first pass I'm happy with how shes turned out, just got the second one to do now, which should be identical

if you find out I'd love to know as I've got a class 25 that looks basically the same only idea to date was a pair of the digihats to isolate the top and bottom bush, each with a small bit of brass sheet for the top with a wire soldered to it, and a thin bit of plastic glued to the top so the existing clip holds it in place - plastic cut slightly larger than the brass bit (which can really be small, its just to get a wire soldered to contact the spring). I think that should isolate both motor contacts to leave them just on the decoder motor output wires then I guess the track wires to where that little capacitor is fitted

ohhh, now that makes sense, so setting a binary "1" activates one, then a binary "0" activates the other fair enough, obviously not all devices need that but for a basic controller that makes a lot of sense driving solenoids via a CDU or similar

yeah the "a" command takes address, sub address then a single bit for the state of the device. weirdly, its the 9 bit accessory address, which makes sense, then a 2 bit sub address - not the three bit the protocol has, apparently by convention it is assumed devices are in pairs (e.g. to make connecting crossovers easy) which I guess happens here, will be interesting once I hook a sniffer up to see what actually comes out. just doesn't seem to be a direct way to set the 11 bit extended decoders, though there is an indirect way of "work out the four bytes yourself and you can send them" which is probably workable if a bit awkward to experiment with, guessing JMRI manages that internally was just wondering for driving via an Arduino serial monitor when testing things out cheers anyway, has cleared up a few things on the basic one

I think they are the ones I'm thinking of

I have been reading the DCC++ documentation, I can see the "a" command to send an activate bit to an accessory decoder via address and sub address - the values indicate this is the basic accessory decoder (9 bit address + 2 bit sub address - the 3rd bit of the sub address doesn't seem to be mentioned) what I can't see is how to send the extended accessory decoder command, i.e. 11 bit addressing with 5 bit data is this here and I'm being dense or is this not currently supported?

its been a while since I used low level storage roads, they do work the only things to be aware of are: how do you keep the rails clean or clean them when needed? if required can you access to remove derailed stock (usually not too hard even if you have to get other stuff out of the way, tension lock couplers can be a pig though), if you have enough overhead to clear point motors and wires its not too bad to get a hand in make sure you test the tracks extensively at higher and lower speeds before sticking anything above them at least have a plan for how to get at the track in future should you need to (e.g. removable scenic bits above, or having the boards above actually removable in sections) and one that caught me out plan to constrain wires dangling from the layers above and another than got me make sure you can slide bits of cardboard in to protect the track when ballasting above since glue will find its way through incidentally, very nice railway room

if you do take track over a join at an angle make as sure as a sure thing the board will align the same time each time (there are dome shaped alignment thingies for this), also get hold of some PCB sleepers for maybe a few sleepers each side, get the track laid then cut it once the sleepers are never going to move again

ok, slightly updated plans. I have realised where I want to go after this layout is going to take more time and there are various bits of technology I want to actually experiment with more in operation. Also gradually realising that the two Lima Class 86 I have are not exactly finescale suitable. As such I set about revising the plan slightly, what can I do to it to get a more interesting layout in its own right - while sticking to the basic principles, which in effect are: - must be able to hang on a wall to get it out of the way when not using it (limits both weight and size) - must be able to operate independently of a computer, but eventually be able to take advantage of one - must be able to set up on my desk for operating and working on as well as elsewhere I iterated the basic design somewhat within the 4'x2' space and ended up here, the "Mk5a" design (the Mk5 lacked the small fuel tanker siding). As can be seen the basics of a layout built around a locomotive depot are still present but now a twin track loop all round instead of only partial. this was not something I was happy with though, as a pure test facility it works but not really as a layout, the storage sidings mean either 2 coach trains or a single train split between them, in effect where do the trains go to clear the track? I pondered for a bit, what if I add 6" to the depth of the layout? it will still hang on a wall, it will fit on the desk, just overhang by 6" which I can live with as its not going to fall off, its also still small enough to pick up and carry about. this adds actually a hell of a lot of space, which resulted in the 6th iteration which I suspect may be what gets built Here the two storage sidings are a sensible length to take a train each (with a locomotive if desired) or a fair few vehicles just stored to make trains from. the central depot has a slightly more sensible headshunt but it otherwise unchanged - incidentally the yellow bits are the PECO inspection pits, each "1.5 units" long to comfortably take a locomotive, the shed is a pair of the PECO manyways sheds end on end - I've worked on depots and the idea of the locos only just fitting in triggers me, so here something like a Cl47 can be centred over the pit, or a pair of smaller locomotives put in place, should just look better. the inner mainline gains a loop at the station, which itself gains two more sidings to form a parcels depot (the eventual layout features a parcels depot as an overly long Inglenook so this gives space to accumulate stock for it) ok its still all C80 set track but with curves this tight is always going to have a "trainset" feel so I can live with it as this is somewhere I can set up and populate with a decent amount of stock. I can experiment with DCC and some automation, two trains can run while a locomotive does a bit of shunting around in the depot too. I did think of changing the sidings at the bottom to give them a head shunt, however this is 16 turnouts (+/- my inability to count) which fits the servo driver I have nicely, plus I don't want every single inch with track on it. planned road access to the centre is via an over bridge in the top left, however I may consider changing this to be a road under just because its a bit different and one bridge isn't really a scenic break in the loop anyway. plan is to sit on this now for a week, and unless anything significant occurs, get the plywood sheet ordered later this week as part of a Wickes order for some bits for the office anyway. I've got most of the track to at least make the inner loop, just need a few more turnouts which are like rocking horse doo at the moment

went with the cost of a Pi4 last time I looked, seemed about £60 to get one working - the device itself is a bit, less, regardless the point there is its a very different (and even with the Pi Zero) way more powerful device - there are times though you want a microcontroller not a full computer (usually anything where you need full control). Horses for things horses run round of course. the Adafruit C library is quite basic, but it can be used by an application to do pretty much anything, the Python one appears to have more utility stuff built it - both however are for the Arduino platform - though to be honest the bulk of any changes required to run on the RP2040 platform (or a Pi proper) will be reasonably basic and limited to the I2C interface code, the PCA9685 doesn't care 3.141 hoots what it talks to, just that they talk nicely. nice to know what else is out there though, good to see different (and more robust) approaches, and very much thanks for the heads up. Just curious here to how all this works, with the intention of producing a DCC accessory servo type decoder/controller for my own layout and in the process maybe teaching this old dog (cat?) a few new tricks

ohh that does look very interesting, blue cab lights though? I mean really.... amazed how little code that took, don't speak python but the PIO bit should be the same in any language (I think there are only 16 actual instructions)