MU hoses and ditch lights

[doctorwayne]

As I recall, fibre optic strands pick-up and emit more light if you first form a lense on the end of the fibre. The easiest way to do this is to bring the end of the strand close to (but not touching) a hot soldering iron - the longer you hold it in place, the larger the lense becomes, although it will often deform or the strand behind the lense will "wilt". If this occurs, cut off the end and try again. The pick-up end of the strand should be perpendicular to the light source - this is probably more crucial with LEDs than with bulbs, as many LEDs emit very directional light. You may be able to drill some LEDs to accept the end of the strand - don't drill too deep and make the hole a tight fit for the size of strand you're using. A little ca will hold it in place. When installing the fibre optic strands in the locomotive or car, minimise the bends as much as possible and avoid sharp bends to cut down on light loss.
For bulb lighting, the usual practice was to place the bulb in a light-proof enclosure - a short length of brass tubing worked well. Holes were drilled in the tubing to accommodate multiple strands of fibre optic, then, when everything was properly positioned, the tube was filled with clear five minute epoxy. Of course, this was before DCC and multiple lighting functions were usually all "on" or all "off", and, at best, directional.
I eventually gave up on lighting in locomotives and switched to MV lenses, which never flicker. If you want to light an MV lense using fibre optics or a bulb, simply drill a suitably-sized shallow hole in the rear face of the centre of the lense, and secure the light source with ca or clear epoxy.

I used non-illuminated fibre optic strands to create class lights for the locos shown below. The cast-in-place class light was drilled for the strand, then countersunk to accept the back surface of the heat-created lense. Before installing the lenses, the countersunk area was painted grey, which gives a decent representation of an unlit class light.












Wayne

[Green_Elite_Cab]

As I recall, fibre optic strands pick-up and emit more light if you first form a lense on the end of the fibre. The easiest way to do this is to bring the end of the strand close to (but not touching) a hot soldering iron - the longer you hold it in place, the larger the lense becomes, although it will often deform or the strand behind the lense will "wilt".

I've done this before, but the light emitted seemed to be of the same diameter as the strand, rather than expanding like a lens. At least i had the foresight to use tubes to house my LEDs. I should be able to install the fiber optics without to much bending.

How would you fuse fiber optics, or is it better to get a strand that meets your needs?

[doctorwayne]

How would you fuse fiber optics, or is it better to get a strand that meets your needs?

I dunno, never needed any really long ones. I ordered a sample packet, back in the mid-'70s I think, that included several different diameters of fibre, plus a bundle of very small diameter ones in a flexible black sheathing, some dye powder for creating coloured lenses and a book of tips and ideas, plus a spec sheet. The strands were all at least 2' long.

Wayne

[faraway]

I think fibers are great if you have some vertical room behind the hole like in case of the F units shown by Wayne. Fibers might also be a good idea to convert the CF7 head lights to LED. Two fibers on each side is better that two LEDs. That might be necessary because the Athern bulbs look very different than the new installed LED in the ditch lights.

[faraway]

It is done on both LAJ CF7. The second one was easier and no LED elected to fade away "after" it has been glued in place. MU stand is on the heating to dry the paint and will be glued in place soon.

[SP1]

Awesome!

In case your source is in Germany, could you tell me, where you purchased those LEDs?

[faraway]

... where you purchased those LEDs?

The LED is part number 156616 from Conrad (Title: LED SMD M. KABEL 240 MM WEISS).

[Paulman]

That looks great, Reinhard. Look forward to seeing your completed CF7 up and running.

[faraway]

I used Detail MU-266 MU hoses all the time in the past but I did not really like them. They look over sized and clumpsy compared with P2K and Atlas MU hoses. Today, I gave it a try and ordered bunch of Atlas spare part MU hose sets of the MP15DC. They are at a price of 50 Cent a bargain compared to Details...

A bag of Atlas MU hoses (#990245) arrived today. Low price (50 cent for a set of four) and very nice. Looking much better than Details West. My LAJ CF7 got the first two sets!