michaelp

I Hear You Now - Jon and Vangelis

I want to make some foot crossings out of balsa wood sheet, is there a particular tool that would be suitable for scribing balsa wood to represent planking?

Thanks in advance

Michael

I used a micro switch glued under the baseboard and a piece of brass bar glued into the hole in the point tie bar and wired as normal, this wasnt for a hand operated point but for a surface mounted point motor but I didn't want any switch visible.

HTH

Michael

The Power Of Love - Huey Lewis And The News

In that case you have the chance to do it properly first time so you won't have problems into the future.

Don't skimp on wire & track droppers because what you save just isn't worth it in the long run.

Yes,  droppers to every piece of track and you wont go far wrong

Spinning Rock Boogie - Hank C Burnette

Rock With You - Michael Jackson

Thank you to all who have replied, conventional power and wiring I think!

Hi all,

Apologies if this has been covered before but can I take a feed off my dcc bus wires to power a CDU and point motors and use the Black bus wire for the common return for the point motors?

Thanks in advance

Michael

Thanks for that, I just wanted to be sure.

Hello all,

The small Blue wire on the Zimo SC68 Supercap has become detatched from the Zimo MX 645R decoder, am I correct in thinking it connects to the pad next to the Grey wire?

Thought I better ask to be sure rather than just do it and hope for the best.

Michael

Following on from my previous post I have a problem with mt Hornby Class 08, this is what prompted me to remove the wheels. The loco runs fine at slow speeds in both directions but when more speed is applied it is a bit jerky in both directions

The wheel backs show signs of needing cleaning which I will clean but I thought I would ask if there is anything else I should look at, what is the best way to clean the back of the wheels and is it likely the pick-ups will be dirty?

Thanks in advance

Michael

Thank you for your detailed reply,

You have convinced me to leave well alone!

Michael

Hi all,

Can someone tell me how to remove the wheels on my Hornby Class 08? I have removed the keeper plate only to find two copper strips across the centre axle, I want to remove the wheels as part of cleaning up that area as well as the wheel backs and to also check the pick ups.

I seem to have mislaid my instructions that came with the loco.

Any advice as always is much appreciated

Michael

These are not fitted into pockets, Phil, more's the pity, they slide upwards into a dovetailed housing, as in ejstubbs' photos which show the 'male' pare of the thing. The narrow bit gives them the flexibility they need to cope with reverse curves and such, but is a weak point and breaks easily.  I have mentioned in my reply to ej that I might be twisting them in a way they are not designed for.  They have a tendency to fall out in operation and cause dereilmnets as well, a pain if you are carrying loose coal in your mineral wagons...  If you glue them in, you lose the flexibility.  

 

I am becoming fed up with tension lock couplers!

Have you considered Sprat and Winkle couplings?  When fitted and painted they are no more obtrusive than tension lock couplings in my opinion.

I am currently replacing all my tension locks with S & W couplings, if you went for the AC3/3 autocouplers they will go round fairly tight curves and have the delay action, you also have the three link chains for magnetic uncoupling and they give a more realistic look to rolling stock.

'Vitalspark' of this parish will give you all the info you need if you decided to use them.

Michael

Hearts On Fire - John Cafferty

I checked things over again tonight, my locos were still running fine over the point in question so I disconnected the wires and checked the resistance and all readings seemed fine ie: 0.L and 0000 so I wired the switch back up and all is still well.

Michael

Heart Of Glass - Blondie

Yes I will do that tonight, sorry I should have mentioned the micro switches. 

Below is a link to the switches I am using.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/230941889638?var=530127361351&ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649

Thanks

Michael

Is resistance checking best if the apparent problem appears to be a lack of volts on the frog when the point is switched one way? Surely there'd be no resistance reading both if the microswitch is working as expected and if the self same microswitch was not making the required contact? Or have I missed something? 

I'm sorry Ray I cant offer any response to the above, I simply don't know anything on the subject.

Michael

I think I have done the switch test correct according to John Ks diagram,

Not switched Test 1, C tag to NO tag= 19.06....... Test 2, C tag to NC tag= 000.2

Switched       Test 3, C tag to NC tag= 046.9....... Test 4, C tag to NO tag= 000.1

Tests 1 and 3 values kept increasing

With the above switch test the only 0.0 result I got was from the C tag to the metal point frog.

The NC tag was found to be slightly loose.

It didn't seem to matter which point rails I placed the probes on each result was greater than 2

As you will have gathered by now I don't know much about the electrical side of railway layouts I struggle with resistance, continuity, current etc.

The even more confusing thing with all of this is that fact that Class 08 will happily go over the problem point in all directions now, I know the fault will return but all I can think of is to replace the point which is not even a month old and get better quality micro switches.

Michael

You seem to have reverted to measuring voltage again. This is not the best thing to do.

 

It will be more revealing if you measure the resistance across the switch & rails. Remove the power & any locos which may be in the section.

Test for where you want good conductivity. You should ideally get 0 ohms (or close to it as described earlier). Anything above this indicates a fault. You can start by measuring stock rail to frog, then rail to wire & frog to wire, then wire to switch on each side then across the switch. You should locate the fault much more quickly than by measuring voltage.

 

If you are searching for a short circuit, testing voltage will prevent damage to any equipment.

Thanks, yes I will have another look at the switch, associated wiring and the point itself.

The self fixing problem didn't stay fixed for long, the point in question is fine when switched for crossover but my Class 08 stops dead on the frog when the point is switched to straight ahead.

A measurement of the voltage at the micro switch (switched) for straight ahead reveals approx 3 volts AC but when unswitched for crossover the voltage is 16.32 AC, am I correct in thinking the micro switch is defective?

Many thanks again

Michael

Thanks, so do I need to investigate the voltage difference further?  everything is working fine.

Michael

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