Saturday 4th April 2020

Worklist:
Jib crane.
2-plank wagons.
Switch box.

No, we haven't been holding elicit meetings, it's just that a few WC projects have reached a suitable stage for an interim report.

Wednesday 1st April - The Team met up for a post-lunch chat using the ubiquitous Zoom. Stephen and Geoff had used it before and Laurence's wife Sheila uses it for yoga classes, so Laurence had excellent technical support. It was really great to talk and see each other, and give updates on how Covid-19 lock-down was affecting us all. Laurence was taking it easy, with brief forays into the garden, while Geoff was busy on his 4mm loft layout, having issues with mounting servo point actuators for difficult locations. Stephen was finishing three projects for Worton Court and gave a brief report on each.

The final parts of the jib crane were the stays and chain. Rather than rely on the thin, malleable wire for the stays, he slid 1/16" brass tube over the wires and glued the jib rigid. Photographs had indicated that the stays were thicker than the kits wire and the tubing will definitely not get bent in usage, like the wire has on the other jib crane on the layout.

The crane on its 'cardboard' paved base, all weathered using Revell powders. The crane had a threaded stud glued in the bottom that is secured with a spring underneath, to remain solid, but allow it to be rotated.

A second pair of Stephen's underframes had been printed out and, after modification (reshaping the plate frame and reducing the axlebox profile), another wagon had been made up in plywood. The 3D drawing has been modified accordingly and Geoff will print a few more, for future use.

Instead of using the wooden box found in the workshop (ex-power supply box), Stephen had found a shallower, more spacious box with a lid (ex sewing box/darts spares box!). Moving on from the previous diagram, a more detailed wiring layout was produced.

With the component positions and wiring space requirements decided, the various holes were drilled. The 5v power supply socket was mounted on a piece of aluminium angle. The small PCB for the relays and LED resistors was mounted centrally on spacers and the connector strips screwed in place. All of the basic internal wiring was completed.

The box is the cabling hub for 5 boards - Adaptor boards #1 to #4 and the Engine shed board. The loose red/black wires above will be wired-in when we next work on the layout. The cables supply feeds from boards #1 and #4 to the box and, via the two button boxes, to change the feeds to boards #2 and #3. Feeds from board #1 also go through to the Local control panel, so that the Main panel can control trains right through the Local panel to the fiddleyard. The

The button boxes have longer leads and attach to the control panel sides with Velcro, so they can be removed when all five exhibition boards are employed, which keeps the panels simpler. Unable to source any suitable plastic project boxes, Stephen made boxes from 2mm plastic sheet (from a pile of rescued advertising panels). Basically 150 x 50 x 50, with removable bottoms, they were spray primed and finished satin black.

The SPDT push button switches with LED indicators were fitted. Due to sourcing problems, only two yellow and two green were purchased, but these were assigned to Main and Local panels for easy identification. Again due to being unable to find 5v DC switches, the neon's/LED's and integral resistors were replaced with standard 3mm ultra bright white LED's without integral resistors. This is the reason for common resistors on the PCB unit. The 5 wires per switch in the original test design posed the problem of requiring 10 wires to each box - not a common cable size. However, this was reduced to 8 wires per box by combining common returns (which was not without a great deal of hair pulling). 8 wire network cabling was much easier to source, and 2 x 3m long 'flexible' Cat5E patch cables were used. The connectors were cut off and the boxes wired up. 

After a couple of 'self-induced' glitches, the system was successfully tested.

Each box has a push button for the outer and inner circuits on boards #2 and #3 i.e. 'no mans land' or the 'change-over area'. The switching is essentially the same as domestic staircase lighting with possession of the sections able to be taken (or released) from either panel. There is no 'off' position with this system and so additional switchable sections (the feeds to the switch hub) have been added to board #4 to match those on the bridge board/fiddleyard.

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Whatever else we do, we decided that we will definitely have weekly Zoom meetings on our usual Wednesday's, to generally catch up with each other and, hopefully share our latest projects.

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The wagons with basic brake gear and further weathering.

Wednesday 18th March 2020

Worklist:
Point motors.
Figure painting.
Extension wiring.

It was touch and go whether we would meet today, and we only decided to do so late on the previous day. Discussions over tea were naturally focused on the Coronavirus and the impact it was having on the three of us, our families and friends - nothing serious so far, just inconvenience. We also agreed that although no formal notice had been received from the organisers, the likelihood of the Eastleigh show going ahead was 'zero'.

In the workshop, we again went our separate ways - Laurence continued with figure painting, Geoff (once he found them) continued to assemble the point motors and Stephen finished the leads for the adaptor and extension boards.

Over lunch, we again discussed the dangers of the virus and the governments recommendations. It was impossible to justify any further meetings and it was an easy decision to make it the last meeting for the foreseeable future.

Stephen had spent many hours since the previous week trying to work out the full wiring arrangement for the switch box and associated leads. The eureka moment only occurred the previous day and now, using the the resulting diagram, he was able to discuss and plan the layout of the box and the connections to it. He assembled all necessary components and bagged them up as homework. Laurence too, collected his figures in preparation for finishing them at home. Geoff will no doubt finish the point motors, but Laurence and Stephen issued stern warnings about him progressing the layout too far on his own.

Stephen will continue to develop some 3D printable items and Geoff will continue to experiment with the printer and send resulting items by post, so more blog posts may appear, but the date of the next meeting is anyone's guess.


It's a schematic with a load of working-out sketches thrown in, but it should allow the box to be built...... hopefully.

Wednesday 11th March 2020

Worklist:
Review new wagon and crane.
Point motors.
People.
Loom cables.

After the usual cuppa and chat, Stephen produced a 2-plank wagon he'd made using his underframe units that Geoff had 3D printed the previous week. The use of these wagons in connection with stone block transportation had come to light during earlier investigations. Instead of laser-cut bodywork, 2mm plywood had been used, together with self-adhesive detailing left over from the main wagon exercise a few years earlier. Although initially just a trial, a few more are likely to be produced, although the axle box details will be refined a little.

The 2-plank wagon sides expose more of the stone blocks, which makes the load more interesting.

Stephen had also been busy with a Mikes Models jib crane which was now almost complete, including a circular stone plinth. The cast-in wires were a bit of a problem with the other jib crane in the quarry siding, as they were easily bent and difficult to straighten. However, during research, Stephen had discovered that in real life, the two ties (cast-in wires in the model) were in fact circular steel components. After experimentation, it was decided that pieces of rigid 1/16" brass tube will be slipped over the wire before final assembly, to both increase the girth and form a straight, rigid member.

The three then went in different directions for the rest of the day. Stephen's first job was to correct his wiring mistake discovered the previous week (fiddleyard section switch feeds reversed). He then moved on to progressing the electrical connections to the new boards from the future switching box - 4 off, 3-core leads with 5-pin DIN plugs. Geoff then found some small diameter spiral wrap that finished them nicely.

 

Laurence and Geoff went through a box of figures, separating suitable items, which Laurence then worked on cleaning up.

Geoff went back to the point motors, testing a selection of 'SG90' servos he had left over from various projects. Since our first batch of point motors were purchased, there now seems to be a wide range of clones on the market of varied specification and performance. The task of finding the three required for the new boards proved exasperating. Geoff eventually had to resort to using some reserved for his own 4mm railway project.

A more serious topic of discussion was the Eastleigh exhibition. Geoff confirmed he had booked the hotel accommodation, but with the number of events being cancelled due to the Corona virus, the viability of the show was surely in doubt? We can only wait and see.

Wednesday 4th March 2020

Worklist:
Set the layout up for a running session to check that everything is ok for the Eastleigh show in April.
Investigate the 'massing' of the buildings on the masons yard board.
Review Stephen's homework - pallets, stones and jib crane.

We were pleased to welcome Chris Holmes again for the session. Just like the Littlehampton show, Chris will be a guest operator at Eastleigh. We still had Chris's stock that he lent to us for the Burton show, so, after a good clean-up of the layout and track, it got a good workout. The usual point failed to work first time and needed the usual tweak to get it going. The LED track indicator on the mainline was, as expected, very visible through the bridges, from down the layout, but a piece of black card seemed to solve the problem. Maybe a touch of black paint will be needed. The best one was when the two main sections on the fiddleyard were eventually found to have been cross-wired when Stephen installed the new switching unit!!! All-in-all, it was a very satisfactory session.

In parallel, Stephen set-up the masons yard on a side bench and used some corrugated cardboard to mock-up the quarry line tunnel. Together with a few stone blocks, a part-built 7mm Mikes Models jib crane was introduced to the scene. As the jib height is fixed, its position relative to track and storage areas was very important. The swing and range of the jib was experimented with, in different locations.

He then added more cardboard to represent the buildings that had been sketched on the board. The heights were over-estimated to allow discussions on roof shapes, gutters etc.

The yard and road layout changed as we tried to squeeze things in, but when Geoff suggested reducing the floor size of the main building, moving it back towards the fiddleyard, it seemed to fall into place.

We had originally determined the main building size based on the need to hide hands exchanging wagon loads, but having subsequently built an extra siding on the fiddleyard, the front of the building could be moved back. From a book on quarries, we'd seen a detail where a small track or path emanating from a tall building went over the railway via an arch. This was also mocked-up to form a visual end to the layout, just before the fiddleyard. The buildings along the back wall were also discussed and again, the idea of different levels and possibly building on top of the tunnel were considered. The overall design is far from complete and will need to be developed fully, in due course, but it was an excellent start.


The stones had first been attempted using plaster of Paris in moulds made of crinkled tin foil, but they simply weren't realistic. A search online produced several photographs of mainly south coast quarry railways that offered a different stone finish all together. One photo in particular had a mainline yard at Corsham, between Bath and Chippenham, that was very inspiring.

The shapes and sizes of stone suggested a different, much smoother mould - clingfilm. Lengths of wood in pairs of different thicknesses were laid on the bench and clingfilm laid across them. A wet mix of one-coat plaster was made-up and poured into the spaces. Once this had started to firm-up, the wood was removed and a wet knife used to cut the stones to size. Occasionally, the plaster would lift and crack revealing a wonderful texture. The pieces were left to start drying, but the temptation to roughen up smooth clingfilm surfaces with coarse sandpaper was impossible to deny. Surfaces were also smoothed with fingers or the back of a knife.

Once drying-out was pretty much finished, white and some occasional ochre weathering powders were brushed over the blocks. The white was quickly replaced with talcum powder for economy reasons, without any issues. The scrapings and breakages also dried beautifully and will be used for debris all over the board.

The Mikes Models jib crane on the workbench.

Stephen had also cleaned-up and painted the slightly 'beefed-up' pallets that Geoff had printed the previous week. Pallets with different slat spacing were tried out and the variety worked well.

Stephen had produced a 3D file of a wagon underframe side to make some more wagons - particularly 2-plank, as inspired by the Corsham photo. These had been printed during the day and Stephen will see what can be made from them.

Wednesday 26th February 2020

Worklist:
Review latest pallet 3D prints.
Tidy up top shelf of storage rack.
Discuss wiring scheme.

Stephen had produced two variations of the pallet design with wider spaced top planks and Geoff was running one off as S & L arrived. Another, with slightly different print parameters was started before going down to the workshop.

We'd had a lot of trouble recently finding 'things' due to the build-up of bits and pieces dumped on the shelving at the end of a session. Geoff suggested a good sort-out, which we all agreed was over due. John's stock and 'vericles' (sic), not already in the exhibition boxes was examined and sorted for overhauling, re-purposing or loft storage. Redundant spare parts and materials were thrown away and we even found the new point motor units that Geoff started three weeks previously! The morning had gone, but instead of starting the low level shelving, Stephen insisted that after lunch, we do some modelling and 'saved' the sorting out for next week. However, lunch took longer that usual as the pallets were reviewed and reprinted a couple of times. There are many parameters that affect the quality of the prints including nozzle and platten temperatures, nozzle speed etc. These aren't perfect quality, but once cleaned up and painted, they will certainly enhance the clutter in the masons yard.

We also discussed packing cases for the more delicate stone products. Yes, you can get quite carried away with a 3D printer.

What was left of the afternoon was spent going over Stephen's wiring proposals. The new control panel proposal met with approval. Instead of treating each of the 11 sections individually, which required 11 three-way rotary switches, the panel would be divided into Quarry line and 'Front-of-house. Just these two overall sections would select the controller to be used, which meant all sections could have our standard illuminated push-buttons.

Stephen reported that since successfully ordering some knobs and switches on eBay after the last meeting, the Chinese suppliers were now reporting that deliver times could not be given, due to the health problems. We'll have to see how that develops. We then reviewed the plugs and sockets for the new boards and while most were straight forward, Geoff's experience came through on one connection. The existing fiddleyard 8-way plug connects into an on-board socket,  Geoff decided that, to minimise connections and soldered joints, rather than replicate this on the new arrangements, it made more sense to create a fly lead with an 8-way socket from the Engine Shed board rather than run all wires through the baseboard. This also reduced the number of connector pins required.

Wednesday 19th February 2020

Worklist:
Review 3D printed plug shells.
Test wiring on Adaptor board #1.
Continue wiring new boards.
Review the new two-way switching unit.
Discuss installation and cabling.
Source components.
Discuss Local control panel.
Review 3D printed pallets.

Yes, it was a busy day, but it progressed at a comfortable and very satisfying pace.

The 3D printer had just started to produce a shell for the 12-way plug shells as Stephen & Laurence arrived and immediately viewed a couple of 8-way shells. These were required for the new Cinch plugs as no shells were available. Although the surface was coarse, the units were very solid and should work very well.

In the workshop, the layout and the newly wired Adaptor board #1 were set up. While Stephen and Geoff made a final modification to its wiring, Laurence tested the board using John's Planet diesel. Everything worked well.

Stephen had produced a mock-up of the two-way selector switches he favoured for the change-over areas (boards #2 & #3). As agreed the previous week, the arrangement, without a centre-off facility, was only acceptable if separate section switches were added to the Local panel. The switches used were actually 220vac SPDT push-button versions similar to the main panel section switches, but with the LED and resistors replaced with standard 5v units. Two more will be required for the two boxes.

The switching unit uses DPDT relays to switch the power source and LED indicators with the main relay circuit mimicking domestic staircase two-way switching.

Stephen talked through a wiring sketch of the new main selector switch box. He then presented two multi-cable options. Originally, a 10-way cable was anticipated and so VGA monitor leads (15-way) were an option. Then, the wiring sketch exercise showed that only 8-way cables were required for the two remote switches and so standard 8-way Cat5e network cables were tested for flexibility and were provisionally accepted. For the adaptor board DIN connections, Geoff proposed single strand wire exactly like the main loom rather than buying new wire. Most are 3-core with one 5-core and the option was agreed. While reviewing the switch wiring sketch a suitable box was discussed. Geoff retrieved the basic wooden box the main Worton Court power supplies had been housed in before the first exhibition required a non-flammable enclosure. As the new box was the right size and would never attend an exhibition, it was approved for use.

Rather than a loom, the cables will all radiate from the main box. The box brass nails down the centre will be the internal soldering posts, with terminal blocks around the perimeter for the outgoing lead connections. The board with the two relays will be located in the centre. The power supply may or may not be housed inside as well.

Geoff and Laurence moved on to wire-up board #2, whilst Stephen started making up the DIN cables.

Stephen later displayed a preliminary control panel design, for comments, and to allow the overall box size to be assessed. The two extra isolation switches were confirmed and subsequently added. Geoff was able to supply the three point switches and the 11 three-way (centre off) rotary section switches required, from his 'left-overs' box. Due to its location inside the layout, the box needs to be as narrow as possible. Designs to be investigated.

Stephen displayed the 3D printed pallets that he had painted and weathered with powders. After being challenged by Laurence to see if they fitted on the forklift truck, Stephen was able to confirm that they did.

The shelf units made 'last minute' for the Burton show (but never glued down) had worked their way out of the store room and were finally snapped for the blog.

Wednesday 12th February 2020

Worklist:
Discuss wiring!
Wire-up a new baseboard.

Laurence was a bit under-the-weather again so just Geoff and Stephen this week. Geoff reported that most of the connectors he'd ordered had arrived, although the Cinch connector shells were now unavailable, leading Geoff to surmise that they were not being manufactured anew, but simply selling old stock. Geoff was expanding his 3D drawing skills with a view to 3D printing the shells himself. Watch this space!

Stephen had updated the wiring schedules and layout sketches for the existing boards and also proposed wiring references for the two new exhibition boards.

Whilst doing so, he'd come across a possible problem with the number of pins required for some boards, specifically relating to the no-mans-land switching. Geoff and Stephen went through the sketches and proposals, and although the issues were more complex than first thought, Geoff was able to bring some rationality to the problem. There were a couple of areas of excessive wiring running through the boards, but these were reduced using simplified wiring and expanding the loom for the Adaptor boards. Geoff created an alternative wiring diagram to check the connections and record the new arrangement.

As lunchtime approached, both were pleased to have resolved all bar one issue - the physical nature of the 'change-over' area (boards #2 and #3), and over lunch the matter was discussed again. Geoff had proposed a mechanical solution mounted on the storage rack, with DPDT switches and push rods operated from each end. Stephen thought that operation of the layout would be better served with an electrical/electronic solution with detachable button boxes adjacent the control panels. Stephens previous solution (push buttons, staircase lighting and relays) was then reassessed to include the 'sections off requirement'. When no immediate solution was found, the question of whether the sections needed to be switched off was considered. After assessing working train operations in conjunction with the proposed wiring, it was decided it was not essential as there were sections on the adjacent boards that would provide the isolation. After deciding these switches ought not be built-in to the control panels, the bones of a solution were discussed that comprised project boxes Velcroed to the two control panels, with switches and 'live track' indicators and long wander leads. All would have to be developed in detail, in due course.

After a late lunch they finally made it to the workshop and decided to wire-up the first new board - Adaptor #1. This involved fitting a new 8-way socket, the feeds to each section and the stock-rail/frog wiring using the DPDT slide switch that also acted as point operator. Note the four brass nails in the baseboard that act as soldering posts - something Geoff developed on a school layout project.