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Post by JDaddy on Feb 10, 2020 4:02:45 GMT
Thanks guys. Next up:
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2020 13:43:30 GMT
Haven’t been on here for a few days. Busy. We painted the right rear level two homasote, attached supports for the second level, installed the turntable, got it working, and screwed down the homasote/plywood. Still need to get the wiring completed and run a wire from a transformer to the turntable for that. The turntable has automatic indexing and there is a small controller to mount that we are not ready for yet so I need to find a temporary mount for it. Charles was here Saturday and helped get it all installed. The second level is 54” off the floor. Our backdrop began at 53” and it is nice to look across and finally see almost none of the white paneling under the backdrop. Finally the mountains look almost as they should. Track, scenery, and buildings will hide the thin strip that still shows. Next we need to begin the mainline track on the second level. The RRTrax track plan has been accurate to less than an inch AND we were able to move the turntable a few more inches away from the roundhouse which makes running the tracks between the two much easier. We are impressed with the accuracy of the track plan; RRTrax does a good job and is easy to use. Al’s instructions are excellent anD the Millhouse turntable was surprisingly easy to install.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2020 15:16:05 GMT
You have an awesome build going on Bill. Nice that Charles can help out as well. Lots of room to get around under the layout. Nice to see that you didn't go with light lumber. The blue night lighting looks great. Really nice area for the turntable and roundhouse.
Looking Good,
Gary.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2020 1:29:34 GMT
You have an awesome build going on Bill. Nice that Charles can help out as well. Lots of room to get around under the layout. Nice to see that you didn't go with light lumber. The blue night lighting looks great. Really nice area for the turntable and roundhouse. Looking Good, Gary. Thanks Gary. It is keeping us busy with a lot of things going on at once. It is difficult to finish anything before something else starts up. Charles wants to do level two roundhouse and turntable. Rich is helping with station lights, micro switches to the bridge, and Touch Toggles which are still not working right. Light lumber. I have to fight Charles or we would have steel beams. He has built residential and commercial all his life. I keep telling him that the lumber weighs more than everything else combined. That said, he knows what he is doing, sees it in his mind before he starts, is fast, and only has to do it once. I mostly try to get out of the way but he delights in giving me stuff to do and watching me mess up. Got the turntable wired and programmed this afternoon. It works perfectly. Attachments:
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Post by JDaddy on Feb 11, 2020 12:24:17 GMT
here is what's going on... the count down to Open house day begins!
Sorry for the blurry cell phone photos... Did not have time to set up my 35 mm
Have to finish some bridges here... that would be a mighty long jump!
I ran out of trees so I think I will just get some ballast going here and call it a day...
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Post by ptc on Feb 11, 2020 13:59:06 GMT
JDaddy, just beautiful work. Love your photos.
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Post by ptc on Feb 11, 2020 14:00:27 GMT
Very impressive progress on your layout, Bill. For some reason, I had in my mind that the turntable was on the lower level. But, it will really look good as you have it installed. Keep up the good work.
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Post by Country Joe on Feb 11, 2020 17:25:23 GMT
John, that area on your layout is going to be a great scene. 👍
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2020 23:05:29 GMT
Rich was over yesterday and we reworked the bridge from its temporary situation. Micro switches were installed and wired and the hinge end of the bridge was strengthened. Tested it a few minutes ago and things work as expected. Bridge open, train stops five feet from the abyss. Thanks Wood for the micro switch suggestion. We can check off something else that we have learned. There are a lot more uses for these. Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2020 10:22:14 GMT
You have an awesome build going on Bill. Nice that Charles can help out as well. Lots of room to get around under the layout. Nice to see that you didn't go with light lumber. The blue night lighting looks great. Really nice area for the turntable and roundhouse. Looking Good, Gary. Thanks Gary. It is keeping us busy with a lot of things going on at once. It is difficult to finish anything before something else starts up. Charles wants to do level two roundhouse and turntable. Rich is helping with station lights, micro switches to the bridge, and Touch Toggles which are still not working right. Light lumber. I have to fight Charles or we would have steel beams. He has built residential and commercial all his life. I keep telling him that the lumber weighs more than everything else combined. That said, he knows what he is doing, sees it in his mind before he starts, is fast, and only has to do it once. I mostly try to get out of the way but he delights in giving me stuff to do and watching me mess up. Got the turntable wired and programmed this afternoon. It works perfectly. That is one SWEET N&W Class A Bill!! Gary.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2020 15:15:03 GMT
Thanks Gary. As you know, N and W had some steam that was second to none... and then there came the Jawn Henry. What an ending.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2020 16:25:11 GMT
Hey Bill, light lumber is called kindling. 2x4's and 4x4's are the way to go. I would be a little leery if Charlie showed up with a chainsaw!!
Gary.
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Post by ptc on Feb 14, 2020 19:54:32 GMT
Nice when a plan comes together, Bill.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2020 0:09:58 GMT
More progress today. Rich was back in town for a grandson’s basketball game and while on the way, he called and asked what we could do today. Well, we have a lot of choices... let’s do Touch Toggles. If you remember, Touch Toggles are being used to switch our yards, work perfectly with DCS but have real problems with Legacy. We had traced things to a ground problem and had found that if we attached a ground wire to the toggle controller and held it between wet fingers, the toggles operate perfectly when touched. Kevin Hunter who owns the company had sent us some kind of ground connector that I had hooked up and it fixed nothing so we set it aside to figure out later. Later turned out to be today. Rich and I had an idea. Get a thin sheet of metal, attach the ground wire to it, and attach it to Benchwork beside the touch toggles. See if touching the metal as you touch the toggle works; in other words, ground yourself to the touch toggle controller when it is being used. Bingo... hooked it up and it worked perfectly. We also found that when we grounded the toggle base to the metal, toggles placed 3/4 inch from each other work okay and we didn’t have to touch the metal. So we have two solutions to the problem. The eventual plan is to have a yard control diagram with the toggles as a part of it. That is down the road. It will work. This may sound confusing and like a lot of trouble. We think the advantage of the toggle and the simplicity of wiring and operating is worth it. And they are hooked up and working perfectly. One picture that follows shows the yard toggles after Rich passed his finger near them. Reds and greens and no control. The second picture is as he is touching the metal pad. Every toggle works perfectly. We have what we need and will tell Kevin what we found out. He can take it from here and refine things a bit more. If you have only MTH, the system works like a dream. If Lionel, be prepared to work with it some. Attachments:
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Post by Joe Saggese on Feb 25, 2020 1:41:06 GMT
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