I'm hoping that I can move forward and attempt installation of the signal heads on the BLMA signal bridges this weekend. We'll see how that goes though.
This evening, I resumed work on cleaning and organizing the room. I was moving at a swift pace this evening and managed to accomplish a lot. I believe I'm about done organizing/purging of my stuff. I assisted my wife in getting her project stuff organized as well as gift wrap section, etc. organized. I would say the room is about 90% complete.
After everyone went to bed, I resumed my quiet activity of soldering. I managed to completed soldering all the wires to the rails (26 pairs). I now have to attached the feeder wires to the bus wires under the yard and approaches. That shouldn't take long at all.
I also repaired six turnouts where the points broke free. I would say that I have fixed about 10 or so now. Somewhat discouraging paying what I did for the turnouts, but the guy used a very thin almost non-existent bead of solder to attach. It's a quick fix with the soldering iron although I messed up one turnout that will require a more heavy duty repair of replacing the throw bar for the points.
I also had another turnout where the throwbar snapped. I'm guessing the pilot hole for the ground throw mechanism was too close to the edge and it broke. So, now I have two that will need replacement throw bars for the points. I will work on that tomorrow as it was after 11pm already and I was getting tired (and making more mistakes).
So, moving right along, progress is being made on the ROCK. I hope to complete the room this weekend as well as all wiring and vacuuming of the layout top.
After everyone went to bed, I resumed my quiet activity of soldering. I managed to completed soldering all the wires to the rails (26 pairs). I now have to attached the feeder wires to the bus wires under the yard and approaches. That shouldn't take long at all.
I also repaired six turnouts where the points broke free. I would say that I have fixed about 10 or so now. Somewhat discouraging paying what I did for the turnouts, but the guy used a very thin almost non-existent bead of solder to attach. It's a quick fix with the soldering iron although I messed up one turnout that will require a more heavy duty repair of replacing the throw bar for the points.
I also had another turnout where the throwbar snapped. I'm guessing the pilot hole for the ground throw mechanism was too close to the edge and it broke. So, now I have two that will need replacement throw bars for the points. I will work on that tomorrow as it was after 11pm already and I was getting tired (and making more mistakes).
So, moving right along, progress is being made on the ROCK. I hope to complete the room this weekend as well as all wiring and vacuuming of the layout top.
Steven,
ReplyDeleteBack in the service they taught us this to remember the resistor color codes. Somewhat politically incorrect these days but it worked, I never forgot !
0 = Black "Bad"
1 = Brown "Boys"
2 = Red "Rape"
3 = Orange "Our"
4 = Yellow "Young"
5 = Green "Girls"
6 = Blue "But"
7 = Violet "Violet"
8 = Gray "Gives"
9 = White "Willingly"
I'm sure there must have been a cleaned up version but I was never taught it.
In recent years I've also had trouble seeing the difference between Brown & Red, etc. unless under good light. A trick I learned was to identify them under good light, then place in a small plastic zip lock bag with the values written on a label. That way out on a job site where lighting might be a problem I had it covered.
I've also had to repair / re-enforce the point to throw bar connection on some of my ME / Fast Tracks turnouts that I bought. I've made a few of my own now knowing the weak spots and hopefully will have better luck with those.
Brad,
DeleteLuckily, I found a place in NY that sells the resistor in packs of twenty attached to a tape with the correct resistance. If they ever get loose though, I'm screwed. I can probably only see half those colors listed above.
It's a little discouraging paying for the custom Fast Tracks turnouts to have them failing like that, but it's an easy fix. Overall the quality of the turnouts is much better than the stock Atlas Code 55. I have a feeling though before long, I will have to repair all of the turnout points. I'm sure the gas heat in the house isn't helping the fact either.
Are you using Atlas turnouts? I have about 10 that broke at the points, about 1/4" from the end. Atlas says I must have instlled them wrong! Uh, yeah, that must be what it is.
ReplyDeleteFrank,
DeleteNo, I had a guy on eBay custom build turnouts using Atlas Code 55 Track and the Fast Track jigs.
Atlas' customer service response sounds crazy! On version 1.0 of the layout, I noticed that the quality varied a lot with Atlas turnouts. Some were built good, others were pure trash. Same thing with even the rail joiners. Sorry to hear you are having problems with the Atlas turnouts.