Friday, January 28, 2011

Working the Engine

Procrastination is a great thing.  Someday I'll get around to writing about it, but that certainly isn't today. However, I did finally get around to fixing up my GP-38 (Atlas with built in Lenz decoder).




It was running really poorly - jerking and stopping every couple inches.  So I took it apart, made sure the connections looked ok from the motor to the DCC board.  It was worse than before when I put it back on the track.  Of course.  This hobby can be killer for the ego, I'm telling you.  But I never let technology win, so I took it apart and put a big ol' blob of solder on the DCC board motor connector that I thought wasn't getting a good connection.  Put it back on the tracks and it ran like a champ.  I won this one. Hurray.   I can't claim the all the credit for this victory, I have to thank the Internet for a lot of the thought power behind the simple fix.


Next on the list is getting my C-630's to speed match so I can put them into a consist.  I've spent hours trying things but they refuse to match speeds despite being identical.  


Frustration has a new name and its Model Trains.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Servo's and more Servo's

As much as I want my layout complete, its quite fun building it.  But sometimes, just sometimes I just wish the damn thing was done already !  I have most of the track work complete for the up and down tracks - by that I mean two ways up or down to the main loop.  Final end to end connectivity requires two bridges to be put into place.  Once that's done then I can start running trains and watching them go 'round and 'round without human intervention.  I can also focus on using JMRI  to get the trains running automatically, and someday, intelligently with route decision making etc.

Anyway back to the work for the last week or two.  I think I've mastered Servo installations and my personal technique to get the servo to throw the switch.  The problem is kind of related to the type of movement the servo is designed for - radial (not sure if this is the accurate word, but its a circular motion) while the throw on the switch is linear (back and forth).  Getting the radial movement to translate into the linear is the heart of the problem with servo's, or at least it is for me.  The solution is dirt simple, and there a couple ways to actually do it.  BUT  there are new servo's that are linear geared, and would be perfect for this.  Unfortunately I've already purchased my 50 odd servo's (each is a whopping $2.49), the new ones are 4.29 or so. Anyway, back to the technique.  I use a wire all bent up to reduce the radial movement into as small as possible so it mimics a linear movement.   I'll try to use Google sketchup to do up what the hell I'm talking about.
 

Suffice it to say that my technique works pretty well.  Of course there's always a joker in the crowd so my installations aren't yet flawless.  I've done 14 installations with this new technique and managed 12 of them without any muss or fuss.  2 of them need tweaking which I'll get to when I have some patience to work on it


I've also been installing the Tam Valley QuadPics that control the servo's on the front of my benchwork.  A track plan will cover them with the push buttons controlling the turnouts in that.  Fascia will go above and underneath.  Or so the master plan dictates.

I got really clever in my installation and used old computer motherboard spacers (brass thing in picture below) that screw into the benchwork, and then a screw goes into that to afix the Quad-Pic.


I've got 5 fixed in place currently, another couple are slated to be done this weekend.

I've also begun painting my Atlas bridges.  Finished two of them, working on the third.  They're a snap (haha, literally they snap together with four screws to hold the track and bottom pieces together).  I primed them up and then painted them black.  Added some rust colour and they came out ok I think.



Sunday, January 2, 2011

Another Digitrax installation

Well, tried another decoder install. Had to research the case removal again. The Kato P42 Genesis was on sale at the LHS at a price I just couldn't pass up. Unfortunately there aren't any matching LRC Via Rail cars so I had to settle for other Via Rail cars but there is precedent in the real world to support this.

The KATO P-42 "Genesis" VIA RAIL

So with the help of Reality Reduced I found out all the needed tricks to pull off this decoder installation without any issues. He used a sound decoder, but I went basic with the Digitrax DN163K0A.  It was a breeze - well, mostly. The biggest issue turned out to be getting my damn fingernail beneath the kapton tape end to get it off the decoder!! Finding the end of the tape wasn't pretty either. All things considered, though it worked out really well. Then I threw it on the track and watched her run.  Worked great !  I've got some factory installed decoders in my other Atlas locomotives, all from Lenz and I have to say, I see the reason that people wouldn't want to have factory installed decoders.  The Digitrax are awesome - they run incredibly smooth, which I think is thanks to the BEMF.  I'm working with JRMI's decoderpro to work out the kinks in my twin C630's.  I think the electrical contacts need cleaning/fixing, as they suck on the track. 
 A picture of the real 4500, retired from CPR in '93.  She's still working on the Western New York Pennsylvania Railroad

My two C-630's in their maroon colours