Progress new power supply box.
Review trial pivot/post.
Review track indicator unit.
Play trains.
Review the dust sheet.
Full house this week and all three were engaged in completing the power supply box.
Geoff had purchased a XLR plug and socket and Stephen had acquired a length of 5-core flex from his friendly electrician (only 4-core required). Geoff concentrated on the supply box, fitting the laptop power supply neatly next to the transformer, using a bracket fabricated by Laurence and then wired-in the connecting cable. After discussion, it was decided to have this hard-wired and to make a box handle that could act as a cable-tidy when not in use. Although not as neat as a separate cable, you can't leave a hard-wired cable at home!
Stephen worked on the control panel, removing the two cable connectors and preparing new connectors and tails for the XLR socket. The XLR plug is quite big, so the socket was fitted in the bottom of the panel, so that the cable could hang vertically. When all was completed, multi-meter and visual checks were carried out and the new supply satisfactorily tested. Out came some stock as a final test.
Stephen had made a test post for turning the cassettes in the fiddle yard, as discussed the previous week. It comprised a small ball-race plate and a timber post. It worked well in the limited test although it seemed that the turntable element was rarely in action, and a fixed post would probably work just as well. At least we have something to use.
Stephen had also made up a battery powered switch and LED unit for the fiddleyard isolating switches, also discussed the previous week. The fiddle doesn't currently have a constant DC supply, so the batteries power the LED's. If there are spare wireways in the board plug, the batteries could be omitted.
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| Existing power supplies being adapted for the new XLR single-socket (centre) |
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| The trial cassette rotator post. The pivoting action proved to be unnecessary, but might as well be retained. |
Due to the short running session, Stephen only managed to get out two items - this mobile crane unit, comprising two Peco whitemetal flat wagons and a Mikes 4mm crane kit. The other was a scratchbuilt brake van based on the Peco coaches.
After we had packed the layout away, Stephen and Geoff tried the sheet Stephen had purchased to create a dust sheet over the layout storage rack. The white Ripstop material will be secured at one end and then held in place by sections of Velcro, along the top edge. Key points were marked to allow Stephen's wife to hem the edges and stitch the Velcro pads in place.
