Gerry's Train Room

[cteno4]

Gerry,

 

those are usually crimped connectors and have one way insertion design so they don’t don’t come apart gracefully. 

 

To save yourself the most under the layout time you might snip the wire a couple of inches from the point and then splice on a length of two conductor wire the length needed to get back to your control panel. This way you can put the point down and snake the wire thru a medium sized hole (will need to be a bit bigger than just the wire as heat shrink insulation) and back to the control panel. There then you can wire it back onto the connector end you snipped off or onto a little pc board with something like the bcd cap discharge circuit and wire that to simple dpdt toggle switches on a classic layout track plan control panel.

 

if you do a control panel, give extra wire on all connections and make it removable or at least the top removable so you can easily flip it back or over to work on and not have to work from below. Best to do as little as you have to on your back under the layout! When you are working under there wear glasses or goggles as that’s when you drop crap into your eyes. That’s been the worst place for me in my life getting stuff in my eyes as you usually your eyes are just below what you are working on and there is this thing called gravity acting on every little piece of crap!

 

with inline splices you can put both stripped ends pointing at each other and twist a few times around each other. This is not a super tight hold but then just put it on the workbench and flatten/straighten it and hit with some solder. Make sure to have your little piece of heat shrink insulation on one of the wires before connecting up, you may have to separate the wires a bit more to get room to have the heat shrink away from the bare wire joint a quarter of an inch or so (so you don’t start shrinking it while soldering) then after solder slide the heat shrink over the joint and hit with a heat gun ($12 craft store one is fine for this). Practice till you get it down then you can just plow thru a lot of them cleanly and efficiently.

 

depending on what you are wiring into at your control area you can also do your own plugs here. There are quite a few cheap, small plug options folks can point you to if you want, these can be crimped (and soldered as well if desired) and snapped into housings easily. Sometimes you can find the same plugs use by the points to avoid splicing in the snipped off plug.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[gerryo]

Thanx Jeff.  And that thing that drops would be a drop of hot solder.  I wish that manufacturers of this kind of wiring would leave the connection loose and let you push them together when you need.  But then there would be complaints from someone having to do this kind of thinking which would put the correct wire in the proper hole. 

 

Gerry

[cteno4]

yeah hot solder is a big danger along with rolling over on or laying an arm on a hot iron. but ive been bitten in the eye mostly by small bits of stuff that comes loose while you are under there. like little bits of wood from the tailings around a hole drilled thru for wires, bits of stripped insulation, etc! 

 

yes its a no perfect solution. but clipping them is not so hard to extend and then pop on your own at the control panel or splice in the ones on there. depending on the connector you can usually find them generic that you can make your own. katos are basically the tamiya connectors used in r/c cars and you can get cheaper generics but they can be a bit of a snug fit and need a little filing to fit easily.

 

jeff

 

[gerryo]

 

I  have discovered that I created a reverse loop in this layout.  I have a Rokuhan reverse loop controller but I have no idea how they are to work.  I suppose that it will all come out in the wash but it's a bit weird to me.  It might be better if I can disconnect the loop at the left end and run the track up to the top and connect it in the other way.  On checking past posts I find that I had it that way originally.  I'll try that.

Gerry

[gerryo]

It's too difficult to build a causeway on the right side of the castle.  Too many hills and gullies. 

I'm convinced that I should use the controller and learn how to use it properly.  So what you see is what you get except that the loop will be shortened to the right end section, to be a little easier to apply.

 

Gerry

[gerryo]

 

I suppose that you could say that the planning stage for the Cortina layout is complete.  I now have all the correct pieces in the correct spot and it all finally fits the pre-made plan by Noch.  Quite a few changes from the track plan provided but all should make it easier from here on.

 

The biggest change is that I had to add a 1x2 inch piece of wood across the back of the main section to accommodate the second track across the back to get rid of that misalignment of track.  But it's done.

 

I have found a tool to remove the wires from the turnout connection to the power supply connection.  It slips down into the plastic part and straightens the 2 tabs and lets the wire come out of the slot.  Neat if it works.

 

Received the Rokuhan E6 Komachi full set today and am pleased with that.

 

Gerry

[gerryo]

 

Yes, I've made a revision.  That double track through the lower left didn't seem to have a purpose, so I gave it one.  When I received the Komachi I realised that there was really no place to park it along with my 500 EVA.  It needed to be long and there possibly will be more of these.  In fact, I don't have the 500, so there you are.

 

Gerry

 

[gerryo]

I am held up for 1 piece of track and the 3 bridges/viaducts over the lage lake area.  So will concentrate on other things for now.

 

Gerry