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Stese

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Posts posted by Stese

  1. Just an update on this...  FINALLY got my preorder sorted with hattons. (their system lost the pre-order, so it didn't notify me when it came in!) Should be with me on Tuesday this week... might take an evening after work to have a play.

  2. Well, I'm back here in the planning section, as I had to remove some of the construction... 

    I'm making some changes in the plan on how I'm going to rebuild the railway, once I get there...

    Before I can do anything, I've decided that I'm going to need a new, slightly bigger shed. I'm hoping for an 8ftx6ft, with the door on the end, as normal. Around 3 sides will be a worksurface/baseboard at around 1m high (lower than the current railway), with shelves at sensible heights above and below. The railway will be run on the back and right hand walls as you walk in, in a similar configuration to the current shed. The left hand worksurface will become a general use work bench.

    As for the railway itself, I'm going to build it in smaller sections, aiming each section to have a good amount of scenery and detail, and will be protected from the outside elements by a hard cover. This won't prevent all the damage by the conditions but should stop most. The scenic areas will be connected together by very bland railway lines, which will have little in the way of features that can be damaged by the weather, with the connection between the two being a tunnel portal or similar.

    The scenic areas will no longer be flat boards, There will be a lower frame of thick ply, which will carry a very thin layer of ply on supports to carry the track. This will make it simpler to vary the height of certain areas of the layout.

    I've attached a picture of the first scenic area in planning... 

     

    Shed.jpeg

  3. 8 hours ago, mick said:

    I'm using the plug/transformer part from a DC train controller so it's outputting 16V AC I believe. Other than that there's no interconnection between sequencer and switched signals.

    I emailed Clive at Heathcote Electronics where I purchased the sequencer and he has very kindly responded with the suggestion to use a regulated DC power supply or fit a diode and capacitor to the output of existing power supply to smooth the output similar to your earlier recommendation so I'll look into that.

    It will be good to be able to film trains approaching the signals instead of only filming from the rear of them!

    That will be the problem then! :-)

    I'd advise the same... but i think he means a rectifier rather than just a diode!

  4. 30 minutes ago, mick said:

    Thanks Steve. Yes you are correct with your assumption - to the naked eye the lights appear normal so it's obviously something to do with the phasing between the camera and the LED's. As you will have seen on the video link, the mainline signal isn't affected but that one is connected to a MAS Sequencer which automatically controls the aspects as trains pass. All 3 signals are powered through the same standard transformer with the two problematic ones controlled manually by switches. There's something on the MAS Sequencer board which corrects the problem so it's just finding out what it is.

    What's the standard transformer? 

    Other than the power, is there any interconnection between the MAS Sequencer signals, and the Switched signals?

  5. On 27/02/2021 at 22:11, mick said:

    I haven't included the clips in the uploaded video because it just didn't look right with two of the 3 signals fading in and out.

    Here's one of the clips in question....

    https://youtu.be/mcPk4ZZxWrE

    I think it's something to do with how I've got the frames per seconds setting but not sure yet.

    Hi Mick, 

    I've had a look at that video, and and first, i'm going to assume that you can't see the effect with the naked eye.

    I think you've actually already spotted the issue, in finding that the results are different with camera settings... So, it's got me wondering, how are you supplying power for those LED's?

    Would I be correct t assume you've pulled the feed from your DCC supply, and have some kind of switching system in place, or you've got a PWM (pulse width modulation) dimmer involved? 

    I believe that the issue you are seeing here, is that the frequency of the supply (either DCC or PWM dimmer) and the frequency of the camera are coming in and out of phase, causing the effect you are seeing. 

    With the assumptions above, I think you've got two options :-

    • Fit a DC Supply, and use relays to separate the DCC from the DC.
    • Put a bridge rectifier and capacitor between the anode and cathode of each led, smoothing the feed. You'd probably also want a load resistor between the LED legs as well, to stop the LED's fading out when the supply is removed. 

     

    anyway.... those are my ramblings on the problem...  may be way off with the assumptions!

    Regards, 

    Steve. 

     

    • Thanks 1
  6. well.... it occurred to me i've not updated the post. After a promising start, i had no further development over the summer due to peco not being able to fulfill orders... this has since been resolved and some points, motors etc are waiting in my hattons trunk.... however, i've had a problem with my fence and taken the two boards down so that I can deal with it...so it will be some time before I can carry on. 

    I have however decided that i'm going to replace the shed with a larger one, So that my tools etc are not separate. I'll also lower the railway so its more stable, as I won't be attaching it to the fence.

     

  7. made the most of the good weather we had, and the dry days since the weather turned to get further with the build. 

    2 new 2ft wide, 160cm long boards have been added, which will feature a small loco yard, a goods loop and a couple of sidings (when the points etc arrive from hattons!!) 

    the control panel in grey shown has the final track plan in this area. (a couple of printing errors on the sheet which i'll fix later)

    The remote / local switch will eventually switch which controller the sections are attached to... remote will be hornby's hm6000 when it is released. Local is a gaugemaster  w. 

    back in the shed, another switch will do the same thing... but for now, switching it to remote takes the controller feed from the gaugemaster w. local feeds from the gaugemaster D.

    20200608_160036.jpg

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    • Like 1
  8. The next bit of planning i've got is to sort out how the railway will exit the shed.

    Currently, i'm thinking of building an extension piece on the left side of the shed. This should hopefully give me the room for two full length sidings in the shed to serve as a fiddleyard. I've got a curved point to help with this. 

    One thing i'm keen to avoid is tight curves, so i'll be making a template right angle 3ft radius curve out of cardboard. When I start to lay track, i'll use this to check i'm not going below this radii.

    One thing i've not decided on its control of points. I'd normally just go with a CDU + srung center off toggle switches, but this would make computerised control harder later on. I could use DCC with jmri, but this means I need to buy expensive decoders. Alternativly i could develop a hybrid system with arduino and microcontrollers...  ideas on a post card...!

    I've had a note from my swedish language expert.. and thus the correct name is 'Stenbrottkulle Järnväg' 

  9. Thanks Andrew... got a little progress to share already... 

    I spent a few hours making the shed a little more suitable. 

    At the bottom of the door, i've plugged the hole, so less damp can get in. (Generally the shed is pretty dry).

    The other change is the removal of a panel, it being replaced with a 5mm thick sheet of prespex.

    Next weekend may see some baseboards going into the shed and track going down... hopefully

    20200118_165513.jpg

  10. Hi All, 

    Here are some musings for my new railway.

    I plan to call it Stenbrädet Järnväg or the Quarry Hill Railway, depending if i'm running Swedish or UK stock. 

    The line will start in a fiddle yard shed, run almost immediately into a largeish station area. Eventually this area will also feature a 'Dog Bone' return loop. Out of the station, the line will run down the garden, towards the 'Garden Shed' where it will disappear into a tunnel and run behind the shed. 

    On the other side of the shed the line will run in mostly 'open country' into it reaches the end of the garden, were there will be a small village with station, and entry into some kind of heavy industry - probably a stone pit or slate quarry.

    Here the line will turn left ad head to the other side of the garden, again mostly in sparse open country, or wooded/forested areas.i

    Scenically, the railway will be based on central and northern Sweden, but will be entirely fictional in location.

    I'm planning on 5 phases of building over the next few years. Phase 1 will see the Fiddle yard Shed and the Garden shed tunnel being installed. Phase 2 will see the line between the two connected, including the main station area. Phase 3 should hope to see the line from the tunnel to the industrial area, Phase 4 will complete the line to the other end of the garden with another small village and possibly some kind of logging operation. Phase 5 will see the two 'Dog Bone' return loops at the ends of the lines added, with the mainline between the 3 stations turned into a double main line. from here, it will only be scenic work, and possibly signalling. 

    as for control, I'm planning on having a dual DCC and DC switch over setup. on the DC side, there will be a master controller which will have access to the entire line, and all branches. A local controller will also be provided for each station area. switches will be provided to isolate sections and switch between controllers. DCC will share the DC Master controller feeds, and be isolated by a master switch to switch between DCC and DC operation. Switching to DCC will lock out the local DC controllers. 

    For baseboards, I'm still deciding on the material, but despite the advise (which is much appreciated btw!), I'm leaning towards OSB sheet still. The main reason is cost, and thus the cost of construction mistakes while I'm still perfecting building, will be far less. I also believe with the protection i'm planning, I'll get at least 5 years out of the OSB. I'm still not 100% on this however. 

    I think thats about it for now... I've added pictures that show the 'route'. Numbered 1 to 9, they start at the fiddle yard shed, and work down.  If you have any questions on my plans, feel free to ask! :)

    1.thumb.jpg.cc55114b171b7446ddf19a5ba87e4edf.jpg

    2.thumb.jpg.89987067d670c81a113a449e547a9fab.jpg

    3.thumb.jpg.f7e0ebabcc2c6080ab26cbfeefb4f862.jpg

    4.thumb.jpg.aca65f0e82dd80bf92921d7d5ed2f994.jpg

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    6.thumb.jpg.0913e7e361009a0694c6aa4ab892775d.jpg

    7.thumb.jpg.5a3183cbc546399431a01765e6adaed0.jpg

    8.thumb.jpg.53a7109f7e495469a5af6ac37478266e.jpg

    9.thumb.jpg.4a8ed51cce2769232e7ef59ed211c2ab.jpg

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