Hi All,
Just a brief update on my progress so far:
The main board (scenic board) has been fixed in place and the track stuck in place with white PVA glue. I had considered using epoxy for this purpose, but thank goodness I didn't!
Having left the track to set overnight, weighted down with weights and anything else to hand, imagine my horror when I removed them the following day to discover that the left hand point was arched in the middle, probably due to the fact that I'd been so busy concentrating on getting the toe end to the right level to meet with the curved section PLUS - I have to confess - trying to do far too much at once before the glue went off. You see, what I should have done was remove the track after testing and reassemble it piece by piece. However, I became far too eager for my own good (plus I didn't fancy having to reroute the wiring again!!) and raised the track in one piece just sufficiently to get the nozzle of the glue bottle underneath. When one considers that I also had to attach the fine point operating wire to the underneath of the holes drilled in the tie bar as there was literally no chance of achieving this after the track was down, well, I was just looking for trouble - and on a a couple of occasions, the wire managed to fall back out involving me having to lift the track, reattach the wire and connect it to it's neighbour, all without pulling the wires out - frustratingly, a couple of wires broke off at the bent sections just after the soldered joint!!!!
Thankfully, the glue hadn't totally set so the point in question was lifted and cleaned together with the baseboard surface. Concerned that it might have succumbed under the pressure of the weights as it had arched about the location of the breaks in the wing rails, I decided to remove it completely and take it to the desk for further examination. My concerns were well founded: the pressure had disturbed the flangeways on both sides of the crossing, although thankfully the crossing nose had remained true. A quick realignment with a soldering iron seemed to solve matters,however, further frustration awaited me when I returned it to the baseboard. The problem involved the wires which I'd soldered to the toe end of the point - all points have feeds at both ends soldered to the fishplates, which I'm aware is frowned upon, but I like the idea myself, only time will tell! Anyway, in my haste to remove it from the board, I'd snipped off the wires leaving just short lengths dangling from each fishplate, so now came the fiddly task of resoldering the severed ends (at this location especially, I'd surreptitiously hidden the wires via a tortuous route so it would have been a beggar of a job to try and reroute. Discretion being the better part of valour, I simply discarded the dangle bits of wire and proceeded to solder them to the outsides of their respective fishplates; not as tidy as before, but they'll have to do. I'm sure the ballast will help here!!! What I should have done, was attach a long offcut of wire to the ends of the feeds below the board, so that when returning it, all I needed to do was draw the feeds back thorugh using the wire to draw them through their holes. I'm sure the sparks and engineers among you will have thought this pretty obvious, but this is me folks, and learning the hard way as I go.
With the main section in place, I turned my attention to setting up the switch mechanisms I mentioned earlier in the thread. To remind you, simply Peco point motors - I'd bought several many years earlier that had never been used - operating some left over Mercontrol wire-in-tubes, via a Peco adaptor designed for above baseboard mounting. Only a couple of quid each from Hattons, they contain a spring that holds over the springless point motor - as you all know, Peco puts springs in the tie bars of its turnouts. Apart from the adaptor bases which were only a couple of quid each, all I needed was some more tubing to supplement them as the remainder of what I had were in too short lengths - I could have joined them I suppose, however, there was a risk of stray glue getting inside the joint and jamming things up. Discovering that the manufacturer GEM have replaced their copper tubes with plastic tubing, I decided to save on postage and popped along to my local RC model shop and bought a metre of the stuff for less than a pound. It's a bit too flexy befor fixing otherwise, it's fine. I remembered to put some 'lube' inside before using: furniture polish: good ol' 3-in-1, of course, in the copper stuff.
I've attached a couple of photos to show you how I set them up.
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attachment=16206]
A quick test shows that it works as it did a couple of weeks ago when I tested the system on the bench, so just the other two to set up.
Those familiar with the Peco point motor will know it gives quite a 'thwack' in its operation, and I'm a little concerned about the longevity of the soldered tie bar. However, I've noticed that spring in the wire (at each end) is quite generous so should act as a reliable damper.
Finally, with regard to that left hand turnout, I've noticed a slight joggle in the truck I use to test as it approaches the crossing from the right hand end via the wing rails which wasn't noticeable before: I'm wondering whther that mishap I mentioned has rendered more damage than I first thought. Perhaps weighting down the track was the wrong thing to do: it had been lying around long enough to cause a couple of the thin PCB sleepers to warp; perhaps they should have just been fixed down in their appropriated forms? Just thinking out loud folks! I'm not lifting it again, so perhaps I can learn to live with it. I'll check again once it's all wired up in the next few days. One thing I will address is that diverging side switch rail which I've noticed has since become 'ever so slightly' proud of its stock rail; now that definitely wasn't there before!!! I think a shim of whatever between the moving tie bar and the underneath of the adjacent stock rail should resolve this little problem. Otherwise, not bad for a first timer!!
Now onto connecting the wiring and some more testing with the loco. Then I'll turn my attention to getting the traverser working.......to those of a scenic bent, I offer my sincerest apologies. However, with the rapid progress I've made to date, shouldn't be too long before I get out the child friendly scissors 'n' glue and begin knocking up some warped box type constructions out of cereal packets which I hope will pass for buildings.
Regards for now,
Jonte
