Porth Dinllaen in 0

[N15class]

First attempt at an O gauge signal

 

Kit from Scale Signal Supply about 10 years ago - been sitting, part built, looking at me for most of that time!

 

Driven by servo motors, in the style of Jon Fitness' models of this parish, to whom thanks for inspiring me to get my finger out - if imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, I hope the imitation is good enough!

 

The servo motors are controlled by an Arduino Uno, I'm just playing with interlocking using that. It seems to me that this is a cheap and effective means of signal control, at about £3 per servo, and £20 per Arduino, which can drive at least 7 motors.

 

Learning points - don't wire the lamps in series - they are too dim, that said, it is convenient to drive them off the 6V supply for the motors, and I hadn't planned that when I fitted the lights.

 

Difficult bits - handrails!

 

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Looks very good. I have a few that I will need to make some time.

 

Which servo's and how well did the uno unit work?

Edited March 14, 2015 by N15class

[Simond]

Hi Peter,

 

Thanks for the positive comments, always welcome!!!

 

I'm not sure which servos they were, not the "standard" large ones, but not the really tiny ones either, sort of "Goldilocks"...

 

I'm on my travels at the moment. I'll be home in a day or two and will measure them and report back. I think they came from one of the robot supply e-shops, as did my stepper motors for the turntable, and the pins, sockets, stepper drivers, etc.

 

The Arduino works fine on the bench. I have not yet installed the signal on a layout, but I have heard that if there are long wires from servo to Arduino (or any other servo driver) there can be issues with jitter. If I find this to be the case, I will simply locate an Arduino close to the signals/turnouts and give it digital instruction from a distance, possibly by locating another one in the control panel, to do the interlocking, etc. - they're so cheap (at least the clones) that one could afford to do this wherever there are a few servos. They will talk to one another by serial bus too, so interconnection should be easy, though I haven't done it yet! A local Arduino might be a bit extreme for a lone distant signal, but that's unlikely to affect many indoor modellers.

 

There is an ever-growing body of hardware designs, programs and programming examples on RMWeb and the Arduino sites to help with the design & programming too.

 

I'm currently building some track for PD Loco so when I rip up the GWR I will be able to get something running again fairly quickly. The turnouts will be operated by servo, and I will report progress on here, no dates set yet, but imminent. I'm on the second turnout presently. Very tight, ash siding entry from the coal road.

 

I'm having thoughts about ways of getting reduced movement from the servo, I know I can program the limits of stroke in both directions, but I'm thinking of a lever system that really reduces the travel, still allows programmed travel but gives an over-centre effect in points blades. Seen a couple of examples, working on my own thoughts at the moment. I also want to build in a crossing polarity change over microswitch...

 

HTH

Simon

 

Edit - my smellchequer has gone completely bonkers. It's like something out of Python, coming up with completely the wrong fusebox

Edited March 14, 2015 by Simond

[Donw]

Interesting stuff Simon. I have been pointed in the direction of Megapoints (www.loolee.org) they suggest the link to the servo can be extended to up to 5m I dont know if it is the same for your Ardino. Maybe the wire needs to be a heavier duty to minimise the resistance.  I am not too up on this stuff which didn't really come in to my studies which were more related to telephone signals.

Don

[Simond]

It's all looked a bit quiet on the virtual Lleyn Peninsula, but the pixies have been busy.

 

 

(I see the iPixies are drunk again...)

 

9' loose heeled switch with curves in all directions, which gives entry to the ash road from the coal road. The sleeper staining is too pale, and will be darkened. The "dog leg" referred to in the GW switch & crossing book is actually quite noticeable. I wonder if I am brave enough to covert the tandem...

 

Either way, I now have three of the 30 or so panels/formations I will need for PD Loco, and am getting to the point where baseboard manufacture is becoming the priority.

[3 link]

Morning Simon,

 

I like the new addition to your p/way it looks great especially once all the grot and grime is added, are you using a timber dye for staining the sleepers ?

 

I use Colron " Jacobean dark oak "  but I also find I need to use at least two coats to get the colour I am after, mind you there is another method as I found out from one of the S7 guys at the Bristol show and that was the use of Indian ink instead of wood dye.

 

I hope to put up more photos later, but for now the soldering iron is hot, so I am making a start on putting in some droppers.

 

All the best,

 

Martyn.

[Simond]

Thanks Martyn.

 

I used Rustin's "Walnut", the first batch came out quite dark, but the second is paler. Seeing the photos Chris recently posted, my earlier efforts in copperclad, sprayed rattle can black with the rails & chairs (where fitted) sprayed rusty brown, was actually pretty reasonable!

 

Good luck with the wiring and don't hesitate to shout if any questions about it!

 

Best

Simon

[Simond]

Peter,

 

When I said the servos were not the "micro" ones, I was "terminologically inexact"

 

As you can see in the photo, they are 9g micro servos, approx 20 x 20 x 12. They are screwed into tapped holes in a couple of bits of square tube, soldered onto the bottom of the mounting plate.

 

HTH

Simon

 

[Simond]

So, a bit of progress on PD, the Templot plan has been corrected (my error, not "the computer"!) and reprinted, so I taped them together to see what it will look like. And to get a feel for the clearances, etc.

 

And to practice balancing things on tables...

 

Do please let me know what you think - I think it does have the juxtaposition of coal stage, turntable & engine shed - though it's all rather tight!

 

Thx

Simon

 

Edited April 5, 2015 by Simond

[Simond]

I see the iGremlins have been at it again, sorry for the upside down picture!

[Donw]

You mean it wasn't an extrememly clever balancing trick?

 

Looks ok to me. Probably needs  scenic treatment to give a reason for being cramped but that would fit in with what I know of Porth Dinallen much hillier and steeper than Pwllheli.

 

Don

[Simond]

Thanks Don,

 

Way back in post 18, I showed my "what if" scenario, which places the locoshed on reclaimed land / built-up beach between Ty Goch & Nefyn. Whether a beach facing the Irish Sea is a sensible place to put a locoshed is open to debate, but scenically, the cliff & main line rising on embankment into the cutting behind the t/t should look good.

 

Of course, that's a "one day" project. First things first, let's get the loco shed built...

 

Best

Simon

[Simond]

Further track building going on. I'm pondering clever filing jigs & such but we're still on "KISS" for now.

 

So the "filing jig", a piece of point timber, with a few guide lines ruled on, and a record vice on a bench hook.

 

 

And then the "soldering jig", which comprises the peg for my fretsaw, with a slice of Templot printout, and some holes. The clips are aluminium hair grips, modified to retain themselves in the holes, and they then hold the rails to the template, all alignment by eye.

 

 

The third tool in the armoury is a piece of MDF with some good wet-and-dry glued down to it. In absence of a bench sander, this is a brilliant tool.

 

Two pairs of blades and two crossing vees made this morning whilst MrsD (and the kids) had a lie-in.

 

 

And here are the timbers, which I stained some weeks back, and glued down to the template whilst watching Skyfall with the family last night. Followers of this nonsense will recall that watching movies whilst preparing rails leads to me making them upside down, so I'm learning from my mistakes. The timbers/sleepers are pretty much the same either way up. We can assume this is progress!

 

I gave them an extra coat of wood stain. Not over impressed with it. Would have tried the Indian ink suggestion, but the local art shop closed down at the end of March, so it'll have to wait until I go to Canterbury.

 

 

The tandem from a few posts previously seems to fit as expected. This should be smooth!

 

Best

Simon

[Simond]

The blades didn't show up too well in the photo above - maybe this is better

 

 

There's an excellent tutorial on blade filing here:-

 

http://www.westernthunder.co.uk/index.php?threads/switch-blades-forming-your-own.2758/

 

Best

Simon

[Simond]

So, stock & closure rails.

 

I think the key thing here is for these rails to lie in position with no built-in stresses.

 

 

I try to get each piece of rail to lie flat, without constraints, over its Templot line. When that's right, I do the joggle.

 

 

For which I have a simple tool, which is used like this

 

 

It tends to overdo things a bit, so I flatten the joggle a bit afterwards, and polish out any scratches from the vice, (soft jaws might be an idea...) and then re-tweak the curve if necessary to ensure it fits in place nicely. I then half cut the rail joint, which gives an accurate location relative to the sleepers, and finally, cut to length.

 

 

There are two issues in the final photo. Firstly, the crossing I made earlier needs to be a little longer, so I'll make another one, this one will go in the box for another time. Secondly, the right hand stock rail is right in plan view, but sits high at one end, suggesting the rail is slightly curved in side view. This is a PITA, as it needs to be sorted.

 

I will do so in the same way that I do all my curve forming; I draw the rail through my fingers, protected with a layer of kitchen roll, in the form of three point bending - ie my thumb pushes, and two fingers pull. By varying the push, and the distance between the fingers, I can adjust the resultant curvature. Sometimes takes lots of goes to get right.

 

 

Might do a bit more later.

Best

Simon

[Simond]

Ok, I got a bit of time this morning, so I made a new vee to replace the one I made which was too short. I photographed it as I went along to show anyone who is tempted that it really isn't that difficult...

 

So, cut a couple of bits of rail, bend the end of one of them, only a few mm, angle doesn't matter much.

 

Then take the one that's bent, and file the bent end until it's aligned with the original edge of the rail, then align your marked up bit of wood (sorry, filing jig) and file the other side of the rail parallel with the vice jaws.

 

Then, making sure you get it the right way up, file the same angle onto the other bit of rail

 

 

Then line them up on the jig, if they look ok, apply sufficient flux, and a hot iron, solder thoroughly. If in doubt, turn it over and do it from the other side.

 

.

 

Once soldered, I polish both sides, and ensure the running face edges are rounded. The piece of mdf with the wet&dry stuck on is brilliant for this. You can se that I have blacked the side of the rail, and in the following photo, you'll see that there is only a small part that is not polished. Ideally this would be invisibly small, but it won't affect the function!

 

 

Having done that, it's necessary to cut back to the right place for the blunt nose. The scalpel point is pointing to a fine scribed line, where I cut the fine point off. I then polished the end, and rounded off the point. Partially prototypical, partially to avoid cut fingers when track cleaning!

 

 

I then use some 1mm brass strip, to fix the wing rails. These are the same thickness as the C&L chairs, and will be araldited to the timbers in due course. You can see the blunt nose, with its rounded top corner

 

 

I have some shims of aluminium, which I use to space the wing rails from the vee. This bit requires about 17 hands, so there aren't photos of this bit... You can see that I use some bluetack lumps to hold things roughly in place, but I use a piece of wood to hold everything down as I solder it.

 

 

Once soldered, I then attacked it with the Shiny Sinks, and cut the extended bits of brass off. It sits very nicely on its template.

 

Next step will be to do the final assembly.

 

 

Hoping this helps someone!

 

Just for the record, it took about 40 minutes to do the vee, and the same again to add the wing rails, probably would have done the lot in about 45 minutes if I hadn't stopped to take photos & so on.

 

Best

Simon

[Simond]

Well, after a mad couple of weeks at work, and travelling, the Bank Holiday weekend came to the rescue.

 

 

 

I've now built the tandem, one 1:5, and a pair of 1:6 curved points, and a short length of entry track. And the coal stage & turntable are gathering dust.

 

I think, once I've done the bathroom, MrsD's birthday party, and probably the summer Hols, I'll have no excuse not to buy the timber, rip up the Greater Windowledge, and start on PD Loco in earnest...

 

Probably will do a few other bits & pieces in the meanwhile

 

Best

Simon

[Simond]

New toy....

 

 

Hopefully to be fitted to 5205 tomorrow, with a larger speaker - will report in due course

 

Best

Simon

[Simond]

After a bit of disappointment (no names, no pack drill) with the original sound project I sent the decoder off to Howes, who, for a reasonable sum, reprogrammed it. It arrived back this morning and was fitted to my 52xx after work this evening. It's now rather better, though sounds very like the 28xx. I have synched it with the wheels, it needs a bit of final fiddling but it's nearly spot on. The kids grumble if I'm playing trains whilst they watch TV...

[Simond]

Further fiddling, quite pleased with the loco, struggling to upload the video...

[Simond]

There have been some recent posts on the GOG website about making packing cases from coffee stirrers. I bought 1000 recently from our favourite online auction site for less than a fiver, I had some "disposable waxing spatulas" from the local hairdresser's supplies shop too, so thought I'd do a bit of "fine scale but not precision" modelling today.

 

 

 

 

Addition of some paper labels, including a couple "blown down" from Google images (there's some history there, try "packing case labels" in images!) and I'm quite pleased with them.

 

Not quite in Mikkel's league, tomorrow perhaps...

 

Best

Simon

[N15class]

Looks very good Simon, just hope it is not out of gauge.

[Simond]

Thanks Peter,

 

It must be the angle, because, despite appearances, it isn't even close!

 

 

Best

Simon

[2ManySpams]

Nice to see some loaded wagons.

[Simond]

Thanks Chris,

 

I agree - I have a few of the "stonecast" loads, a couple of anchors roped onto a pallet, and I pick up likely stuff whereever I see it - trouble is, it can get quite expensive -  on the other hand, I found some excellent firm black foam which is almost reflective, that does well for nutty slack, and fills a few more!

 

Making loads is quite relaxing - it matters not whether it's the right size to the micron, and it allows the artistic bit out to play!

 

the crates in the wagon with barrels in are balsa, and the second of today's entertainment is on the back of the steam lorry.

 

It should of course be roped as well as propped, but that makes changing the loads more difficult.  I probably won't bother.  But if I change my mind...

 

the wagon, btw, was an acquisition from the Guild E&T - it had clearly been nicely hand painted, but had presumably fallen apart and been stuck back together by someone without the skill or care required (I was tempted to say "chimpanzee" but that might be harsh).  It had 3'6" spoked wheels, cast w/m buffers and coupling hooks that would have graced a Gauge 1 wagon with ease.  But the tenner I paid was worth it, I manage to unstick the glue that held everything together, and reassembed the wooden sides onto a planked plasticard floor, and then made good the gaps between the sides and ends with embossed light card to represent the steel corner plates - a picture in one of the CC Green Cambrian Rlys books showed a  2plank dropside, converted to be fixed sides, and so...  probably should only be used for ballast as it has wooden solebars too, and it would be about 6 years out of date for my period...

 

still, whoever hand lettered it had some talent.

 

best

Simon

[Donw]

It must be a trick of the camera angles becasue the gauge looks way above the van behind (although some GW vans were quite low).

 

I would have thought fixed sides would be a pain ballasting. I thought some of the fixed sided ones were used for loads that could be craned on and off.  Civil engineers materials?

 

Don