eldavo

Do you need to turn the locos in the storage area?  How about if you leave the locos trapped until their train has been hauled out by another engine then send em back up to the MPD to be turned. Would generate a bit more traffic.

Cheers

Dave

8 hours ago, lezz01 said:

It seems to all be coming together well Dave. Where did you get the turntable from mate? Is from the place I suggested or did you source it elsewhere? I'm eyeing one up for a model of Nailsworth in EM but I also like the LMR ones so I can't decide properly till I see them both.

Regards Lez. 

The turntable is a Metalsmiths/Midland Railway Centre jobby as you suggested.  They are not really in production as the guy is supposed to be retiring and also at the moment there are problems with supply of some parts.  Originally I was looking for a 50ft Cowans and Sheldon but after a couple of phone calls and an email he managed to put together a kit of parts for a 60ft C&S so I went with that.  Looks to be quite a nice kit.

Cheers

Dave

As ever I've been flitting from one thing to another.  To help finalize the shed area I've had a bit of a look at the turntable kit.  The mounting kit is already half built having been a demo unit so I can easily see how it will fit in the layout. As supplied the mounting unit is made up of several layers of MDF each 600mm square. For a 60ft turntable this seems a bit over generous so the first thing to do was take a jigsaw to it and lop off 60mm all round.

Should fit ok I think but I have to work out a way to motorized it.

I've also been continuing with the control panel.  I've sorted out the timber bits and started drilling holes and fitting switches.  I've fitted a sacrificial graphic with double sided tape and use this as a drilling template.  Points are controlled by a bunch of rotary switches and eventually I hope to use some RGB LEDs to highlight drivable routes.  The colour of the LEDs will indicate which DC cab has control.

The point switches actually didn't take too long to wire up and I'm now able to operate everything and start testing the track.  There will be quite a lot of fettling to do!  I've started running some of my collection of Midland locos and this has highlighted the fact some of them have not been run-in since I built them and others that I have acquired have been sat in boxes for years and have "issues".

Once I started running locos in earnest this highlighted another problem.  The servo control boards seemed to be seeing a lot of electrical noise on the control lines which could lead to a twitch fest with points changing intermittently all over the place. Argh!

A bit of head scratching and a review of the code running on the ATtiny processors and I realised the switch debouncing wasn't very good. A change to the code solved the problem and the points now behave themselves.  This meant I had to lift each of the baseboards, unplug each ATtiny chip, insert into a programmer and reload the code then reinstall the chip.  Lots of room for error with 5 baseboards and 16 chips to do.

One of the chips refuses to reprogram but luckily I have spare. I also managed to reinsert 2 chips the wrong way round which should be a recipe for disaster. I discovered my error when they didn't work and I gave one of the chips a good shove with my finger to make sure it was properly seated. Ouch, it was red hot!

I now have a chip shaped brand on the end of my finger.  Amazingly I powered the board down, refitted the chips correctly, powered on and they worked!  Surprised? Very.

I now have quite a lot of track fettling to do and the turntable to install. Or I could do more fiddling with wires on the control panel.

Cheers

Dave

Hi Gordon, Can't help thinking that you'll very quickly get tired of having the centre of the room totally taken up with the storage area. How will you clean the track/evict the spiders/sort out a derailment on the scenic run? Ok so I realize derailments don't happen on your track. ;-)

Cheers

Dave

Building the turntable and finalizing the engine shed layout requirs several decisions so the obvious thing to do is prevaricate!  I pushed on with a bit more wiring and have all the connections to the boards tested.  My intention is to allow the layout to be configured for DC or DCC operation so there is a bit of faffing involved.  For DC operation the control panel will have isolation switches and will determine how track feeds are supplied to various areas of the layout allowing the use of two controllers simultaneously through a form of cab control.  In DCC mode none of this will be required and needs to be bypassed plus I want to separate the feeds out into up to 4 districts with cutouts.

This is how far I have got...

On the right just visible beyond the power supply are two sub miniature 15-way D shell connectors. The male of these currently has no connections but will receive signal control information from the control panel. The female connector will again be connected to the control panel and is linked to the point control connections. These will always be connected.

On the left can be seen 2 25-way D shell connectors. The one with the black cover has connections to the 12 track feed areas and the one with the grey cover connects to the isolating sections.  In DC mode two more connectors from the control panel will plug in here.

As it is here the system is rigged for DCC operation with the black covered D shell connector combining the 12 feed areas into 4 power districts accessible from the small tag strip bottom left.  The tag strip currently bridges together all 4 districts into one for testing (and because I haven't got 4 cutout boards yet).  The grey covered connector on the left simply bridges together the isolating sections so they are always live.  As with the 15 way connections on the right, the 25 way connectors are one male and one female to avoid any accidental wrong connections.

Cheers

Dave

.

I've got past the boring bit of painting all the butchered timber of the control boxes. My clothes and the floor of the workshop will for ever bear the evidence of the use of black and red paint!

Next step is to make the connections from each of the boards to the concentrator box. The connections from five of the boards have been made to tag strips.

It's been a bit of a slog but I'm getting there. I can now jury rig power feeds to get all the track tested. All seems well so far!

It's now decision time.  I had a bit of a result and a kit of parts for a Metalsmiths 60 ft pregrouping turntable arrived on Monday so I can either finalize the track layout of the shed area and lay the track or push on with the next steps of the control panel construction. May well add some switches so I can test the pointwork. We'll see.

Onward.

Cheers

Dave

The packing case has gained a lid and some holes...

So this packing case is actually the control gear for the layout packed up for transport.  It's built in 4 parts with the lowest part providing a base and storage for cables, extension leads and the like...

The uprights hold the various boxes together for transport and raise the control panel to a convenient height for operation. Castors are yet to be added. No point in lifting and carrying if it can be rolled.

The lid is inverted and located on top of the uprights and the middle box sits on this. This box will contain a bunch of tag strips and connections to all the baseboards will be terminated here. In addition the box houses a mini ATX PC power supply which will provide 5 and 12 volts ancillary power for the layout.

Finally the top section locates onto the middle box and houses the schematic control panel for points and signals plus track power of either DC or DCC depending on my mood.

With the basic structure put together I now have to get my paint brushes out and slap some primer and top coat on before embarking on the job of installing the wiring.

What fun!

Cheers

Dave

The good thing about this lockdown lark is that you get a couple of hours a day in the workshop, if not more. Progress has been steady and I now have all the track down and wired for all 3 platform roads, the up and down running lines, the run round loop and the loco shed pointwork. The goods yard is yet to be started and I can't progress the engine shed area until I've made progress on the turntable issues.

This is what the underside of board 5 looks like.

I followed up on the link provided by Lez above and though the website suggests the turntables are out of production I sent an email.  After 2 weeks and no response I phoned up and spoke to the guy who produces the kits.  He had some kits in stock, not the 50 foot Cowans and Sheldon I was after but something that would do the job.  He said he would ring me back later the same day to confirm. Of course be didn't. How can it be so difficult to give someone several hundred pounds? I guess I'll have to ring up again.

I've spent the last couple of days butchering sheets of Wickes finest Chinese plywood (is there anything we don't get from China anymore?).  I seem to have produced a crude shipping crate with no lid...

More to do.

Cheers

Dave

3 hours ago, cornishmad said:

Works absolutely fine, hollowed out to fit a 00 gauge chassis. Re uploaded on MMF and TV

If you run that through a reasonable printer you will see all the flats on the curved surfaces!

This looks like an interesting starting point for interfacing to the NCE bits...

https://mrrwa.org/nce-cab-bus-interface/

Cheers

Dave

Still looking for a turntable but no response from suppliers. Need to be patient at this time I guess.  Luckily plenty of other stuff to do.

Decided it's time to do some testing of trackwork.  Most of the baseboards are at least partially wired so I've jury rigged the down main line so I can give some of the toys a run.  At least nothing has fallen off the track yet!  As is tradition with my layouts I have to run an 08.  Actually it's a useful way of testing as it's a short wheel base and is fitted with sound so you can identify any track peculiarities through the stutters in the sound.

Of course you have to test with some other bits.  It's a Midland layout so better crack out a big red engine.

Maybe not quite the right sort of red engine but it makes a heck of a racket.

Of course while I was searching for stuff on the internet I got sidetracked and ended up looking at DIY DCC control systems.  So obviously I didn't test the layout using the DCC system I've had for years that works perfectly.  I bought 3 circuit boards on eBay from the finest chinese suppliers and rigged up a DCC++ EX command station.  Pretty easy to do, not many wrinkles and the gen is all online along with free software.

The system is built using an Arduino microcontroller (Arduino Mega 2560) which is loaded up with the DCC++ EX command station software.  On to this is mounted a standard motor shield and a wifi shield.  The combination provides a 2amp DCC base station complete with a built-in WiThrottle server accessed through it's own WiFi network.  You control the trains by connecting one of the free apps, such as Engine Driver, running on your phone.

Better get on with building and wiring more track before I get too distracted playing trains.

Cheers

Dave

The majority of STL files are shipped as plain text so the watermark can simply be edited out with a simple text editor. Even if you store in binary form unless you are very smart and include a watermark that is printed as part of the model there is nothing to stop someone printing any number of models from the STL file and selling them.

Cheers

Dave

More firewood!

Pretty little thing. Amazing you can get such results from a (relatively) simple machine.

Cheers

Dave

I really don't like to be negative but I think you have hugely underestimated the work involved in getting from your 3D models to a usable kit of parts in any scale. I'm speaking with quite a lot of experience of 3D modelling for simulations and having written a book on 3D printing.  Looking at the work you have posted recently the models look great and I could see them working well in simulators but that is a far cry from something printable!

For these to be printable you would have to have started with that aim in mind. You need to think how they will be broken apart to print and have built in the right material thickness etc.  What you have are some beautiful 3D models but I can see no way they will ever leave the computer screen without a serious amount of rework.

I would be very happy to be proven wrong and for you to have a successful business doing this but equally I would not like you to waste time going in the wrong direction.

Cheers

Dave

That looks like an excellent result. Those stair panels are really going to be a test for the printer.  ;-)

Cheers

Dave

Good spot on the phone number. Tried ringing but the call seems to get terminated even before ringing for me. 

Cheers

Dave

Well that was a bit of a point building marathon!  The tier 4 challenge is complete albeit not before we ended up in lockdown.  Two 3-way points and a standard turnout built and stuck down. Actually I built 2 standard turnouts an A6.5, I didn't like the alignment with the rest of the track, so built a B8 and fitted that in its place.  This provides all the track for the approach to and within the loco shed area.

The B8 on the left leads to the 2 road shed, the right hand road runs to the turntable (sited where the yellow glue pot sits) with the 2 other roads being the coaling and ash road and a siding for coal wagons.  Gonna be a bit busy in this space!

As I've run out of rail, until an order for 50 metres arrives from Slater's, I'll have to do some more wiring and actuator fitting or other bits.  Unless I can source a 50 of 55 foot turntable from somewhere I'm going to have to scratch build that but that will have to wait. I need to start on a control panel etc. so I can test some of this track properly.

No shortage of things to do in lockdown then!

Cheers

Dave

I have the same problem. Ordered some flux in September, payment taken, confirmation email received and ....           nothing!   

No response to emails and I can find no sign of a phone number or any way of contacting. I guess it's time to call my credit card company.

Cheers

Dave

What else could I possibly want to do on New Year's eve but build trackwork?  The tier 4 challenge is progressing. First of the 3-way turnouts and the simple turnout are pretty much complete and it's bite the bullet time.  Am I ready to glue them down or not?  The 3-way straddles a baseboard joint so I better get it right.

Have a happy New Year all.

Dave

One advantage (!) of these pandemic restrictions is that without numerous trips and socializing over the Christmas and New Year period I have to spend more time in the workshop. Consequently I really couldn't find an excuse not to crack on and get the second double slip installed and associated point actuators in place. Not much seems to have changed from the top...

Underneath the boards though things are a little busier.  Servos and TOUs have been rigged for both double slips and track feeds and frog switching relays have been wired in.  Everything is terminated at a tag strip and then to a 25-way D shell socket.  There's more to do on this board with more track to lay and one or two points to add in the goods yard area.

Next job was to add in some plain track but I had run out of 9ft standard sleepers so it was time to fire up the CNC machine with the laser attachment.  It hasn't got enough power to cleanly cut through the 1.5mm ply but the laser cuts are deep enough that a couple of gentle strokes with a sharp knife separates them.

I've now added in the plain track that gives me both the up and down line approaches.  The baseboards are actually assembled back to front so I can get at what will be the public side to work on the run round loop and loco shed area.

The next challenge is more pointwork for the loco shed.  The timbering is down but as this comprises two 3-ways and another turnout this could probably be deemed my tier 4 challenge!

All good fun.

Cheers

Dave

The analogue ports can be used as digital ports. If I recall correctly you can simply refer to them by symbolic names i.e. digitaRead(A1) to access analogue 1. I have come across some peculiarities (sorry can't remember the details) in using them but generally they work fine.

If you run into problems using them as digital you can wire in a pullup to 5volts and then have the switch connect to 0volts and use a simple comparison to see if the analogue value is less than some magic number like 300. In fact thinking about it you probably have to use an external pullup if you use them as digital ports.

Cheers

Dave

That's a bit of a b*gg3r Big G.  At least you are missing golf while it's cold, wet and muddy!  Hang in there buddy and we'll see you on the fairways in the spring sunshine.

Cheers

Dave

There are non-blocking servo libraries, precisionServo is one (I think), that allows you to issue an instruction to a servo then go off and do something else.

Cheers

Dave

Work has progressed on the electrical plumbing and fitting of servo control boards and relay modules. Of course that means I have to set up a production line for the 17 odd control boards I need. Initially I've used a technique I've used several times before i.e. printing the board layout onto glossy paper then heat transferring the image onto the copperclad then etching. The example in the previous post was made in this way but was a pretty poor job.

So how many ways are there to create a circuit board? If you search with Google you find several...

When you get the laser toner transfer technique right the results are very good with even pretty tiny text coming out. It's a bit of a hit and miss process though and I probably only get 75% first time results. The holes also have to be hand drilled.

So how about using a cheapo Chinese 3 axis CNC machine to mill out the tracks directly and drill the holes. As I have one of these machines I had to have a go. Several folks have published helpful stuff on the net and there are some pretty impressive results on display. It's not simple!  There are quite a few settings to get right and you need to ensure the machine can "probe" the copperclad surface and adjust for tiny variations in the Z height.

You would think that looking at a bit of copperclad only 30x30mm that it's flat but it isn't. I'm trying to mill off just 0.1mm so a tiny bit of bend in the copperclad and it won't work. Luckily although the machine I have doesn't have a Z probe the control board has the necessary connections for one. A couple of bits of wire and a pair of crocodile clips and we are in business. A handy bit of software, openCNCpilot, has a built in capability that can probe the surface you are going to use then adjust the gcode used for cutting the tracks to take into account the height differences. Cool or what? So I had to give it a try.

This example was created using a 60 degree 0.1mm V cutter and is usable, just! The cutter has gone too deep especially when cutting the pilots for the holes. I think I know what setting I had wrong so I may well give it another try. I did produce 2 usable boards in this way after wrecking a lot of copperclad and breaking a few milling tools.

Thinking about the main problem of the original etching process, transferring the ink to the copper reliably, I looked for a better way. Of course somebody else had already investigated something interesting, etching the barrier layer with a laser. My CNC machine has a 6 watt laser attachment so this needed trying out.

I cleaned up a bit of copperclad and sprayed it with Matt black paint, just ordinary rattle can stuff.  I then used a modified version of the milling gcode to blast it with the laser. After washing off the burnt paint the board was etched and produced the result at the top below.

Usable but not great. The drilling marks didn't come out so drilling was a bit pot luck.  Next attempt I exported the board layout as an image then opened it in LaserGRBL and set up to raster etch with the laser. This produced a fairly good result and this etched pretty well, even some of the text came out. Spot the deliberate mistake...        ... it's a mirror image. Doh!

I redid this without the mirroring and it's a perfectly usable board. Not sure I've found a "best" way of producing these things but I now have 11 working boards so I have made some progress and learned quite a lot.

Cheers

Dave