Athearn SD40-2 conversion

[Catweasel]

I spotted something on the Athearn site. Its an adapter for use with their Genesis conversion. A DCC adapter board. I'm fitting a Mashima motor, but I'm thinking that if I wired in one of these boards it would give me plug and play for fitting DCC to my beast. Is it that simple? 2 wires from the motor and the wiring from the trucks? Thanks.

[faraway]

I spotted something on the Athearn site. Its an adapter for use with their Genesis conversion. A DCC adapter board...

Sounds good and is good if you plan to use the usual Athearn 1.5V micro bulbs. The Athearn board supplies the correct voltage to drive the micro bulbs. They are not suitable for the usual LEDs. They need about 3V not supplied by the Athearn board. What are your light plans?

[Catweasel]

LED's. It looks like the best option is a Loksound Direct hardwired in.

[faraway]

I am frequently using this kind of PCB to do my hard wiring. It is easy to cut and provides some stability to the components. It is usually mounted with double side sticky tape (carpet take) on top of the motor. The PCB is intentionally so long to prevent the power cables from the trucks interfering with the flywheels.

[Catweasel]

I'd like to fit the extra pickups to the frames, but, being steel, soldering doesn't seem to work. I've tried general solder, extra flux, tinning the wire as well as the frame, but it just doesn't stick. Any advice would be welcome. Thank you.

[faraway]

Do you mean the frames of the trucks? There are two choices

a. There is often a brass rivet that is easier to solder
b. Clean the frame with a brass brush and solder with flux at the rim.

You should disassemble the truck in any case and use a powerful solder iron to get the heat to the frame to tin it. Than get solder on the wire and finally solder the wire to the frame.
But it will not be a beautiful solder job. The truck frames are made of iron but not really steel.

[Catweasel]

Thanks faraway. There is a brass rivet which I can solder to. I'm using a 25 watt Antex iron. I was wary of soldering to the rivet becuse of the sideframes clipping into them. But if I go onto the side of it I should be OK.

[Eccentric-Crank]

The steel truck frames do solder fairly well with a HOT iron and an appropriate flux.

I use an old can of Kester brand flux (NOT ACID).

A good scrub with steel-wool helps.

I've lost count of the number I've done over the years.

I've also soldered directly to the bronze axle journal bearings.

Dan M.

[Eccentric-Crank]

One further thought, are you using a "lead free" solder?

I haven't yet, but that could be the issue, reports of problems with degraded joints over time have stopped me so far.

Dan M.

[Catweasel]

I wouldn't touch lead free solder. I'm not in the habit of licking my fingers after a session with the iron, or anything else come to that. Just washing my hands.

[Catweasel]

Birthday coming up and The Domestic Authorities have ordered a TSU 1000 sound board for the Athearn. Already have a Sugarcube for it. I've also ordered a new bodyshell for the chassis. Trouble, the old SD40 shell has the pins to hold it on and the new one doesn't. Have to work something out for that. Won't know 'til shell arrives on these shores. Keep plodding on the grind stone.

[Catweasel]

I've made a couple of enclosures for speakers to fit above the rear truck in the body,one of which is approx twice the depth, in theory it will increase the bass response. I have another Blue Box shell in Conrail livery which I want to fit full lighting too.This one has 2 red dots painted on each end. I assume these are tail lights? If so, a couple of micro LED's will go in once drilled through. My big question is the headlights. This loco has the Athearn fire in the cab set up. I can knock out the standard lenses and fit LED's in their place,but what about the number boards? If I drilled a small hole through from the headlight LED would it work to allow a small amount of light from the side? Any comments or advice welcome. Thank you.

[Catt]

If you bought the ATHearn 40" wheels you will have to adjust your coupler height.Iknow the prototype uses 40" but Athearns from the factory (at least the blue box ones like yours ) use 42".It may not seem like much in HO but it will cause a height problem.

About those original wheels ,they are cintered iron meaning they are made from a iron powder compressed into shape under pressure then basically baked to harden them.There is a video on You Tube showing how to polish these wheels which gives them the same finish as the newer wheels.But it reduces the pulling power somewhat.

My usual practice with the 6 axle Athearns is to use the new nickel silver wheels to replace the outer wheel sets but leave the inner wheel sets the original wheels. This way I have 4 nickel silver axle sets for picking up power but still have some of the tracktive effort of the original wheels.

[Catweasel]

Thanks for the tip about the wheels. I'll correct it asap, like order a set tonight. As I've now aquired a couple more of these beasts, I'm going to be busy I think. One of these the previous owner gave up on it as he couldn't get it to run at all. Cleaned the com and rewired the trucks and it now runs OK. I'll stiil put a Mashima in it though.