Hello,

at first let me show you, why i did not like tubes as drive line:

Rubber ages over the time and became hard ...


... and brittle.




Silicone tubes are still not the real solution. They are crooked and for this they do not rotate true. If in addition still misused as torque lever too, the gearbox will forced to tilt forward and then afterward at every rotation and the tube is bended also alternating. Often the cause of mysterious noise and/or irregular running.
To make things worse, when on load the tube takes an S-like shape, causes by the strain to prevent the gear box from tilting over. Also a good deal of the motor's power is needed to felt the tube and at least dissipated into unwanted thermal energy.


One of the solutions is to replace the tubes by an articulated drive shaft with universal joints.
But there are provision to made to prevent the gar box from tilting over and catch up the resulting forces caused by the torque. This device is called torque lever.


In the course of time i created a number of very different torque levers. Some of the solutions i made over the time:


SP 0-6-0 with really tight fit under the boilershell. Grandt Line coupling. The front end has got a oblong hole, so the angle of the gearbox can be adjusted.
Sprung function of middle pair of drivers still present.





Drill and tap.


Brass stripe (recycled etching frame)


Bend to shape. Here too the sprung function still present.





Radical different-minded solution.





Shaft guide. Some pieces of styrene front and aft adjust the gear box within a fraction of an millimeter. This is only possible when the gearbox is straight upright.





Articulated lever with possibilties for adjustment. The articulation still enables sprung action.





Still an articulated torque lever. Recycled etching frame too.





Another torque lever. Here the articulation point is the rear fixing point of the lever. The bolt is counterd by an nut inside and the head is not press fit down.





0.8mm brass wire bend in strange shape. Artiuculation is enabled by "loose" fit of rear fixing point, in real the screw it is countered.

I hope this give you a little help for your next project.

Latest project ....
A reflector with light for my narrow-gauge locomotives.
The diameter of the reflector is 4 mm.
The LED is 0.5 x 1 mm!
The reflector I made out of aluminum from oven trays.
I took a nut of the right diameter and slowly pushed the aluminum with the rounded top of the hat from a ballpoint pen.
Then I rough cut the edges and filed it to shape with a needle file.
I then drilled a 0.8 mm hole in the center of the reflector.
I glued the LED to the backside of the reflector with epoxy.
The LED is a bit too white, so it'll get a drop of Tamiya transparent orange.
Then I'll take Microscale Crystal Clear and fill the reflector so it gets a lens.

Westside models K-27 #460 in HOn3 dismantled in preparation for painting.
These engines are like Swiss watches in their build quality.
A pure joy to work with.
I have prepared it for LED lights in both the front and rear headlights.
It will get a Soundtraxx DCC sound decoder with a sugar cube speaker.
The D&RGW #460 is a very odd engine. It was never modernized to piston valves, neither did it get a shortened smokebox.
The version I'm painting will represent how it looked in the mid -30's.
It will now get a bath in some acetone before being sandblasted.
I will then paint it in Scalecote 1 engine black that will be baked in the oven for an hour or so...

Saw this topic on another web-site---might be fun on BigBlue

Yup, today is St. Patrick's Day, I not be Irish, but me wife and both our boys be part Irish fur sure. I, like a lot of folks pretend to be, and there was a time I could celebrate with the best of them, but age has taken its toll, so we just make corned beef and cabbage like most, and maybe I'll have a NA beer with it and just pretend once again.

Oh, me Irish friend here is waiting for the train but had no other place he could sit down on...

   

WPMA-40 with CR GP10 7561 as power works Pier 32W.

Bruce

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My brass Sunset models K-27 is finished.
This has been a long road....
First I had to sort out the power pickups, and added phosphor bronze wipers.
Then I replaced the worm with a new one from NWSL.
The next was installation of a Econami decoder with stay alive and dual speakers.
The worst problem was that the drive wheels were out of gauge (and so was the tender wheels...).
I corrected that, and finally I could paint it!
I used Scalecote 1 engine black and baked it in the oven.
Then I painted the details with water based paint and a brush.
The decals are from San Juan, and it was a quick job to apply them.
The weathering is a mix of various water based paints except for the rods and valve gear which got some MIG engine oil wash (oil based).
Now I just have to add some details, such as cab curtains, water bags and such and crushed coal in the tender.

I am testing with some unmodified Atlas #6 turnouts (#0505, #506), Atlas flextrack and some Caboose ground throws the best track plan for my new layout.
I am astonished how solid the test operation is over switches without the usual wires to feed the switch blades and with dead frogs. The ground throws are no problem as everything is easy to reach.



I have from my last layout my Tortoise switch machines and the Digitrax DS64 ready for installation. I am also willing to add the tiny jumper wires to the switch blades and connect the frogs to the switch machine.

But is that really necessary? I did it on all previous layouts because it is recommended and it looks like everybody does it. Do I have simply luck with the quick and dirty approach of unmodified Atlas #6 switches? Will I face massive problems when dirt, dust and glue from ballasting creeps into the switches and isolate the switch blades? Will the dead frog be never a problem for contemporary layout (GP15,38,40 …. etc)?

Living under the layout for some days to do possible surplus and overdone wiring would be some burden I would like to prevent as I am getting older.

I would like to read about your experience.

As mentioned elsewhere, I recently finished some ballasting work on the partial second level of my layout. I used real rock (limestone screenings), fixed in place with diluted white glue, the same as for the rest of the upper level.
Once the glue had dried, I cleaned the rails and decided to run a locomotive over the newly ballasted area in order to check for any problems with ballast in switch point or guard rails. When I turned on the power (MRC ControlMaster 20) and opened the thottle on the handheld walkaround, the locomotive moved, but very slowly and only after turning up the speed control to almost full. I noticed on the separate ammeter, that to achieve that very low speed, the current was at three amps (the maximum amount capable of showing on that meter). I removed the loco and tried a different one, with the same results. I also noticed that with no locomotive on the track, when the throttle knob was advanced, the current showing on the meter increased in the same manner.

The layout is DC-controlled, and I have the ability to use any one of several different throttles, depending on the position of several toggle switches on the layout fascia. The usual throttle is a pulse width modulation type from a local supplier. It's been very reliable, and gives very good speed control and offers the ability to run an almost unlimited number of locomotives at one time (useful for heavy trains on my layout, which has many grades, some up to 2.8% ). The PWM throttle uses AC current from the ControlMaster 20. Thinking that the issue might be with the throttle, I flipped the appropriate switches and instead, plugged-in the MRC throttle which came with the CM 20...it uses DC current from the CM 20. The results were exactly the same: no engine response until the throttle knob was well-past what usually represents running speed, and a maximum draw showing on the ammeter, whether or not the locomotive was on the tracks.

The layout is intended for a single operator, so there are no blocks as would be required for multiple operators. The trackplan is point-to-point (actually multiple points) with an ability for continuous running if lift-outs at the room's entrance are in place - they're usually not, and weren't when this occurred.

In each town through which the track passes, the mainline is doubled, and those tracks are controlled by toggle switches which can kill one or both tracks, as necessary, if I want to run one train past another. The power for dead-end tracks used for industries, in most cases, can also be killed, useful for parking a locomotive while another train runs by. All of the staging tracks have on/off switches, too, as ready-to-run trains are often stored there.
The tracks between towns are, when the power is on, always live, as there are wires under the layout connecting these sections which are otherwise separated by the kill-able double tracks within the towns.

I'm guessing that since the meter is showing a current draw, even when there's no locomotive on a live track, that the problem must be somewhere on those live sections. However, the ballasting work was done on a section of kill-able double track, with no changes elsewhere. There are no tools laying on the tracks anywhere, nothing partially derailed and causing an electrical issue, and no apparent cause for what's occurring - the trains ran perfectly-well immediately before ballasting, as I ran tests to ensure that all trackwork was physically and electrically sound. I also checked the ballast with a magnet, which showed no response - nothing at all within it magnetic, and the same stuff and same application method had already been used previously on other areas, without incident.

If anybody has thoughts on this, I'm eager to hear what you have to say, as I'm stumped.

Wayne