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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2021 23:25:38 GMT
Thank you, Dave!! I might note that tomorrow is my 32nd and last visit to physical therapy. That has been going on for 13 weeks, after not being allowed to do anything for 3 weeks after surgery. I was also cleared to see the chiropractor. He took a new xray of course, and showed me what he can and what he can't work on. I was amazed at the amount of hardware they put in my lower back! Between that and my replaced left knee, I'll set off even a broken metal detector.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2021 1:54:02 GMT
One day in the future I will be looking thru an issue of CTT magazine and see Bill and Paula's layout. I'll be thinking, "and I seen it being built"! What you see is incomplete. It at best is three steps forward and two back. We don’t show the backwards stuff. And that is a good day; some are worse. Like again finding water on the plastic we had put on the roundhouse roof today right after the rain stopped. The ceiling was dry. Rich and I rushed upstairs and searched for water. Finally he found some and then I spotted light thru the roof. A branch must have fallen off my neighbor’s tree. You can’t see that part of the roof from the ground and you can hardly see it inside the attic. You can’t make this kind of stuff up. But we also figured out how to program turnouts and track power into my cell phone. It is very simple, fast, and a there is lots of room for descriptions. We prefer running trains with the remote. But the I-phone/pad is much easier for controlling turnouts and track power. So ended today’s working on the railroad.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2021 14:23:24 GMT
Mark your electric deal sounds way easier than the gremlins I had to tackle this past weekend. I decided to install two outdoor lights on the rear of our house. I want both to work off either switch. Note there were no lights or switches previously - not even wire. There is now a light off the living room and one of the summer room. About 20 foot apart. When I installed the door for the summer room I ran wire thru the wall for the lights prior to securing the door in place. I ran the wire to the outside and put it in conduit. The conduit runs from one light to the other and down to the second switch. Now for the electric gremlins to hit. After installing and buttoning up the lights and switches I proceeded to work in the basement on the rest. Box installed, wire tied into new wire which runs to electric panel, breaker wired up and installed. Flip breaker and go to test ... nada?? Found loose wire in one of the lights. redid wire and test again. One switch works and the other nothing?? Recheck all connections. Both switches work but one only works when the other is on?? I had the common wired to the wrong lug on the switch - probably happened when redoing the wires. Now both switches work to turn both lights on or off. Well at least they did. Check the lights in late afternoon and back to one switch working. Check thru all wiring for the umpteenth time. Found I crossed up the second and third wire going from the light to the main power switch. Test - passed. Retest - passed! Looking forward to getting back to wiring on the layout!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2021 20:45:38 GMT
R.J. I'm glad you got it working correctly; at least as of last test. As we used to say about CAT3/CAT5 or 4-wire data circuits at the telephone company, "How can 4 wires get so confusing??" I really do dislike wiring and electronics in general.
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Post by david1 on Sept 10, 2021 22:25:01 GMT
I used my brother to wire my former house and layout. Even though he was not a electrician but he knew everything about doing it. He just did it and learned. It was amazing!! His regular job was as a executive for a large insurance company with many offices throughout the USA and Europe. If he showed up at your office it meant someone was being fired or many were being fired. He got the nickname of the Terminator. When the office got word of his visit the people were not happy.
But he was a hell of a electrician, it was just something he was born with.
I miss him more than ever,
Dave
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Post by Traindiesel! on Sept 11, 2021 0:46:07 GMT
I used my brother to wire my former house and layout. Even though he was not a electrician but he knew everything about doing it. He just did it and learned. It was amazing!! His regular job was as a executive for a large insurance company with many offices throughout the USA and Europe. If he showed up at your office it meant someone was being fired or many were being fired. He got the nickname of the Terminator. When the office got word of his visit the people were not happy. But he was a hell of a electrician, it was just something he was born with. I miss him more than ever, Dave And he was a hell of a great friend, just like his brother. I miss him too.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2021 2:52:54 GMT
Mark this is for you in using relays to turn track power on and off with DCS. You should be able to match up the photo, narrative, and key components, once you receive the relay that we will send to you tomorrow. Hope that this helps. Using the MTH wi-fi and a phone or tablet really makes it easy. Please give us a call when you are ready. Bill Photo 1. TIU Photo 2. Terminal Block 3, Relay Power AIU Photo 3. Wall Wart AIU/RELAY TERMINAL BLOCK 3 Photo 4. TERMINAL BLOCK 5 -TIU 1 Photo 5. AIU 1 to TIU1 Photo 6. AIU ACCESSORY WIRING Photo 7. TRACK POWER RELAYS Photo 8. TRACK POWER RELAYS
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2021 5:39:39 GMT
Bill, Thank you! I just downloaded the photographs to a folder along with the file you sent in the email.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2021 1:48:08 GMT
It has been a busy week but not a lot to show for it.
Wired two Ross 4-way turnouts, checked them out, and put them in. Still need to attach Tortoises but in no rush.
Rich and I installed 8 stub tracks, 4 on each side of the roundhouse. Today we coded them into the turntable and tested everything out. They still have to be wired to track power so all that we could do was back the tender and part of an engine onto the track. We will probably control the engine service area with an I-pad and we are discussing where to best place the DCS AIUs, terminal blocks, and relays, to accomplish this.
After the stub tracks were completed, we had an hour remaining so we began discussing the installation of two Roanoke Shops buildings. Each will have an inspection pit so we have to cut thru the plywood/homasote, install the pit, and then a floor in each building. The buildings will have complete interiors and we are deciding where to place a machine shop that is ready to go. Does it go in a Roanoke Shops building or one of the diesel service buildings? Paula does the interiors and can decide.
We also decided and outlined where to place a Boiler House near the Roundhouse. There is a 24” brick chimney that we anticipated placing near the boiler but the more we have discussed it the more leery we have become of doing so. We have experienced an earthquake and recently a flood. The chimney is heavy and, if it falls on the Roundhouse, kiss the Roundhouse goodbye. We will find a better (safer) place.
More photos next time.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2021 21:52:52 GMT
Don't ever let anyone tell you that I do things in the proper order. I've shared photographs of my in progress double sided panel for my controls. After looking over some photographs and data Bill Webb sent me of how he connected relays to control power to track sections from the DCS remote, I collected the additional parts. I noticed how everything stood out so well on Bill's white plywood board. So I decided to paint mine. Here is the unused board with the same blue I used on the train room walls and behind my aluminum train shelves. All I had to do was disconnect the MRC power supply I am using for the linear actuator that lifts the bridges. The other side wasn't so easy. Here is how it looked before I started. Here it is painted. What did I do with all that stuff?? There it all is. I'll wait until everything is good and dry before I start mounting things. I'm going to take the opportunity to do it a little differently as well. Se there; there was method to my madness!! Ha ha! Right!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2021 22:00:12 GMT
Well, the paint is dry. I can start mounting everything on my blue backboards. Oh, one other mistake. I picked up 2 AIUs while the new batch were being manufactured. Last evening, I received a call that the two I had ordered from the local hobby shop arrived from MTH. I had forgotten that I had ordered them long ago. So, I drove down to Zelienople to pick them up. How many accessories can I fit on an 11 x 8 layout that need controlled?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2021 23:57:41 GMT
Mark you are going to need those AIUs. The fresh paint looks great. We find that you can control all kinds of things that may be in the room… exhaust fan, lights, thunderstorm, you name it. In answer to your question, you can always fit, “Just one more.” On the home front, Rich and I have been working to install the Roanoke Shops buildings in the steam service area. Some of them feature lighted work pits, floors, and complete interiors. After the stub tracks were installed, we outlined where the buildings would be placed, cut the homasote and plywood, and installed the pits. Then we checked the buildings and readied them for placement. One required that we replace the lights, both needed some paint touched up, and various other things improved. Temporary lighting has been done where buildings were placed to satisfy the younger crowd’s, “Where are the buildings” demands. Now that we are going to be placing buildings and permanently connecting wiring, we need to locate terminal blocks, etc and decide how we are going to control the lighting. Buildings are wired for day, night, and all the time, Miler Engineering signs have to be placed, floodlights and yard lights must be controlled as well a number of specialty accessories. And everything has to be labeled before we forget what is where. All of that has to be tied into AIU controls, some of which will require separate relays. Thank goodness for the I-phone/I-pad wi-fi features. They make the control process far easier. Here is Rich hard at work on one of the work/inspection pits.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2021 1:11:30 GMT
Bill, thank you for the vote of confidence. After getting them, I had a hunch the extra AIUs could come in handy.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 26, 2021 0:42:51 GMT
Two busy days.
Yesterday and this morning we worked on the two Roanoke Shops buildings doing final painting, minor repairs, etc. They are ready to be set on floors that are yet to be fitted around the track/inspection pit.
Rich came over this afternoon. “Where do you want to start.”
We both looked at each other, already knowing the answer. When he was last here we again had to reprogram the turntable… unsuccessfully. Since then I had called Al and explained the problem to him. He always answers and is always helpful. He asked most of the questions, I answered as best I could including that it was off about one rail width when we spun it 180 degrees.
“Okay, I think that with the time that you have operated the turntable and given what it is doing, it sounds to me like the set screw on the main shaft has slightly loosened up. You move the table in one direction, program it, and, when you go back the other way, it moves slightly.” Then he explained how to fix it and told me to check all of the set screws once a year.
So Rich ducked under. He is the mechanical expert. “Do you have Allen wrenches?”
“Sure, here.” And I handed him an assortment of about 50 to choose from, some metric, some US. I felt proud to have what he needed; he on the other hand, wasn’t very pleased with the two mixed pouches that he received. He got over it.
Screw 1 - tight. And so it went for four gears and pulleys. Finally I spun the main shaft and he spotted two more screws. Aha, the first one tightened about 1/2 turn. He checked the other one, found no more, and crawled out.
We reprogrammed the first track. Moment of truth and pushed the button to spin 180 degrees. Perfect alignment! So we proceeded to program and test 15 other tracks. All are perfect.
If you don’t know Al at Millhouse River Studios, don’t pass up a chance to meet him. His products, service, and assistance, are fabulous. We would not buy these products from anyone else.
By then it was 5:00 and we called it a day. Two buildings ready to go and the turntable problem solved and programmed. Significant accomplishments.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 26, 2021 18:28:49 GMT
Bill, That is a significant accomplishment! You are not the first to say Al is always there to support his fine products!!
I had a bit of time yesterday and the day before to re-mount my TIU, terminal blocks, etc that I had removed to paint the backboard I showed on Thursday. I ran one train around the mainline and checked power to the sidings with caboose lights. Everything seems to be the way it was before painting. I'll take photographs once I have some of the new stuff mounted and wired.
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