Tomix Dr. Yellow decoder install

[Martijn Meerts]

Here are the picture of the decoder install for Tomix's Dr. Yellow. It's nothing special really, all fairly straight forward stuff =)

 

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The various bits and pieces of the Dr Yellow

 

 

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Wires soldered to the motor leads

 

 

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Motor leads tapes off and oil indicator

 

 

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Oil indicator on the other end of the motor

 

 

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Motor back in the frame

 

 

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Added a tiny bit of grease on the marked spots

 

 

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Added a tiny bit of grease on the gears as well

 

 

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The 4 wires needed to get the thing to run

 

 

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Testing the install

[CaptOblivious]

Martijn, how did you solder the pickup leads to the brass rails without melting the plastic? I presume the answer is something like "very carefully", but I just wonder if you used any aids, or a special iron, or what?

[Bernard]

Martijn - Thanks for the photo step by step decoder install. Two questions, on the 4th photo do you remove the decoder from the wires and then re-solder it?

And last, how do you like the "worm" system of the tomix model compared to the Kato drive shaft?

[Martijn Meerts]

Martijn, how did you solder the pickup leads to the brass rails without melting the plastic? I presume the answer is something like "very carefully", but I just wonder if you used any aids, or a special iron, or what?

 

The copper pickup strips heat up real quick, so the solder starts flowing before the plastic around it can get hot enough. I do use a high quality soldering station with a soldering pen with sharp tip, so I don't really get close to the plastic.

 

 

 

Martijn - Thanks for the photo step by step decoder install. Two questions, on the 4th photo do you remove the decoder from the wires and then re-solder it?

And last, how do you like the "worm" system of the tomix model compared to the Kato drive shaft?

 

I always remove all the wires from the decoder and then re-solder them afterwards. While it's a bit tricky soldering the wires to the decoder, it does get a lot easier after the first few times. The main advantage of doing it this way is that you can estimate the needed length of the wires much better, which also means less wires floating around in the train in general ;)

 

I don't think there's really that much difference between Kato's drive shaft system and Tomix's worm wheel. Kato does also have a worm wheel somewhere along the line. Kato's design seems a bit better though, or at least, it's not as noisy as Tomix's. On the other hand, if a shinkansen drives at high speed, the general noise of all the cars is louder than the motor noises =)

[Bernard]

 

 

I always remove all the wires from the decoder and then re-solder them afterwards. While it's a bit tricky soldering the wires to the decoder, it does get a lot easier after the first few times. The main advantage of doing it this way is that you can estimate the needed length of the wires much better, which also means less wires floating around in the train in general ;)

 

 

 

New question then, in order to remove the decoder wires and then reattach them, what type of soldering iron are you using and are you also using a special tip? (That is an very tiny solder join.)

[Martijn Meerts]

I have a Weller WD 2000M set (http://www.action-electronics.com/grc/wewd2000m.jpg)

 

It's designed for soldering circuit boards including SMD components. The smallest tip I have for it has a 0.2mm diameter, but I don't often use that one. That one's mainly for soldering SMD IC's. I generally use a 1.3mm flat tip for the decoder wires.

 

 

I do have a standard soldering iron as well, which I've successfully used before, but I've also fried 1 or 2 decoders that way. The biggest advantage of a soldering station is that you can control the temperature of the tip.