Euroa Goods Shed - 3D Drawing

Goods shed building time.. I drew the goods shed up in Google Sketchup from measurements and photographs. It looks great!  Although there is no drawn on bricks or corrugated iron pattern for the first attempt at 3D designing.

When looking into costs to have this little beauty printed.. it would unfortunately cost around $150 to get it 3D printed through Shapeways overseas. With the chance of it coming back wrong or broken and the fact that I have never printed something before, I just wasn't going to take the risk.  (this time)

So over the next few weeks ill tackle making it out of styrene sheet, should be fun! 

MJ

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DCC wiring change

After some trials and a few errors with the help of a fellow modeller, I decided to remove the complex DC/DCC wiring. So no more control box at this stage (maybe it might come back for points in the future). 

So today I began removing the plugs and wiring those connections to the track power leads which run almost the full length of the board making it easy to wire up track droppers. These track power leads will connect straight to the Digittrax DCC control box.

The other little toy that I now have working is a 'frog juicer' a circuit board designed to change the polarity of the 'frogs' in points. Or in my case the double slips 'frogs'. Positive and negative power is wired into the side, while the leads that connect to the 'frogs' just get wired into one of 6 slots. ( I am using a 6 pin version - frog juicer). It's that simple when the train moves over frog the circuit board determines the correct polarity in milliseconds. 

Now to create a few more droppers and then it's onto the other two modules!! 

Gone to DCC

While at the Albury train show I was given a DCC lesson by the Sydney N Scale team and I thought I have to have this! 

So I purchased a Digitrax DSC50 I understand that it has now been superseded but I was told it was perfect for what I needed to run Euroa. 

I also grabbed a DCC ready Kato SD40 which will of course be converted to a C Class once I purchase the shell/kit from Aust-N-Rail.

How will it be wired? Well I plan to keep the control panel and re wire it just slightly to take the DCC wires. But keep the switches and flexible/safety to run DC if DCC failed in the future. (All switches will need to be 'on' to allow the DCC to travel through them. 

MJ

First train to run on Euroa

After hours of wiring and testing the first train has ran on the two main modules.

Finding two sections of the track are reversed wired causing polarity issues.. Other wise it went well! 

Now to fix that issue and start with the next step! Further wiring and modules!

MJ

2013 Update

Well finally I have had time to get back into it! So I finished the basic wiring and I purchased two white folding tables to support the two main modules. Which at the moment is enough,

I joined the Murray Railway Modellers group and have been given wiring diagrams to make my own controllers.

The plan is to have the one main controller to control the whole thing. I added a switch in the control box to allow a second controller to take over the yard. 

Being a DC controlled layout.

More to come..

Wiring commenced

After soldering and slightly warming my fingers for a couple of hours each night for the last few weeks I have started to make progress.

I purchased the largest enclosure that I could get from Jaycar, as Dicksmith no longer sells components and small parts. 

No enclosure, with laminated track plan held down by screw. DPDT switches except the double slip

Plugs and leads both connecting the two modules temporarily when
on display.  

Wires going everywhere! 

Now to begin wiring the control panel and purchase a power supply. 

Mark

 

Alternative legs

After attending the Phillip Island model train show and speaking with some experienced modellers I have been advised and pointed in the direction of not using the screw in legs and instead using the folding white trestle tables that you can get from most stores. Such as BigW, and Officeworks.

I have been finding the legs very unstable and a pain to setup so I will now endeavour to find some reasonably priced folding white tables. 

A layout under construction at Phillip Island using the white tables to bring the layout up just about little kid height!

I have found some that BigW are selling my only worry is that I need them to be either 2 metres in length  or 1 metre in length so that each module is supported by some of the table surface, as I don't want anything to fall or be unbalanced.

Ill see how I go! -better start watching the catalogues.

Wiring Begins

Wiring will begin in the coming weeks with the arrival of the first batch of female RCA (or DVD to television plug-commonly known for) these will be wired to join up and link sections making less connections back to the control box.


The male ones purchased can be found here

Featured Article

Recently I wrote an article for the 'N Scale Modeller' about making paper/cardboard buildings using Microsoft Publisher or Word, although not using this technique for the buildings in Euroa, I will use the cardboard building technique to create a prototype to save money on plastic if measurements were out.

The article can be found here..
https://docs.google.com/a/nscale.org.au/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=bnNjYWxlLm9yZy5hdXxuc21hfGd4OjFhMmZlNTBjZGVmOWEwZmE

Euroa over the Xmas break will start to develop and wiring will take place, keep watch!


Mark

Circuit Panel

Well before I could lay any track, I had to work out where my separate circuits were going to be isolated, as I am using DC the whole track would be electrified, and only one loco could be sitting on the track without disaster! So insulated joiners are used to do this, and isolate sections, chosen by the end user.

The diagram has to be drawn up correctly in a program like Adobe Illustrator, ProDesktop, or Corel. Then saved for the program Euroa Secondary College uses, with there Roland CNC machine, Dr Engraver- which requires a .BMP file.

The CNC machine cut the diagram out and the holes for the switches, but it didn't show up easily for the eye to tell the difference between where it had cut and where the original plastic was left.

That meant hours of painting and masking to get a smooth well done paint job of the lines, I was pushed for time and didn't want to do it this way. So what then was done was I went to Splash Gecko http://splashgecko.com.au/ where I have done work experience and with Signage Vinyl and board I used Flexisign to cut my design into the vinyl. This was laid on the corflute board with app tape-technical words! :) to allow the vinyl to be applied. I then cut out the holes for the switches and super glued and hot glued the switches in!

So a simple circuit diagram was not that simple!

Circuit diagram drawn in adobe illustrator, saved as a .BMP file for the Dr Engraver Software that works with CNC

Vinyl cut tracks, onto corflute sign panel, switches holes cut out manually.

The panel is then bolted to the sign of one of the moduls and can come off in transport and when the modules are placed away in the case.

Cheers
Mark



Easy Adjustment!

After travelling to train shows and seeing what others are doing and how they hold or join there modules Ive just used what I think is the best and easiest!

Basically the screw in legs allow easy change of height, all though the metal nut is in the wrong side the idea still works screw it in the leg gets shorter, screw it out and the leg/height of the module gets higher!

Making it this easy means less time trying to align track and correct height differences when setting up!

Then all you do is just use a basic largish clamp between each module to keep them all togther and make them stable.

Painting the case

Painting the case enables it to be now protected and covered so it can be cleaned if required. The case will hopefully have some signage and instructions painted onto!

Paint used, is

Dulux Black PGI.A9

Taubmans_w.lib

Neutral 1 Litre

B   2Y 26N

J    0Y 12N

I    0Y 16N

W  0Y 13N

Water based enamel - never knew it existed! :)

Track Diagram

After referencing photographs and track diagrams from the below sites,
http://www.signaldiagramsandphotos.com/mywebpages/vr/North_Eastern/15'29.htm
http://www.signaldiagramsandphotos.com/mywebpages/vr/North_Eastern/9'69.htm
http://www.signaldiagramsandphotos.com/mywebpages/vr/North_Eastern/40'89.htm

http://www.victorianrailways.net/signaling/completedia/sigdialist.html

and photographs from
http://www.westonlangford.com/search/?q=euroa
http://www.flickr.com/photos/syncrostep/

and David Langley via email.

I drew up the track diagram with help from Rob from Aust N Rail in a program called Anyrail http://www.anyrail.com/index_en.html which is just fantastic because the diagram as below was printed to actual size to make sure things fitted on the modules, there are the options within the program to place in the points and objects sold by the leading companies and it also allows you to see if the radius's are to tight or not, so yep its recommended!,
We discussed removing a couple of points around the goods shed which we couldn't have due to size constraints of the modules., but in doing this we were able to still have the double slip which is great for shunting in the yard later down the track!

Below are a couple of photographs of the printed diagram and how I used it!

Mark

Euroa drawn in Anyrail

Ready to go!

Well after many, many classes, the case and modules are ready for some paint and track!

Cheers

Mark :)

Completing construction of case.

The final touches to the case have now been completed. The ply (3mm) top was a little fragile in the last couple of days of class, so I decided that it was best to add some support to make sure if weight was added on top of the case that it wouldn't break the ply, -well as easy anyway! so 5 pieces of pine cut to the correct width and 40mm height were glued and screwed into the framing to support the top.

The case with the modules in it, weighs a fair bit, and carrying it with 2 people is possible but not for a long distance, so I purchased some casters. The back of the case has fixed wheels screwed on, while the front has the swivel type so allow some movement in any direction, the reason for two of each to be fitted is so that it makes the case easily moved without wheels going in all directions! In saying that I need a locking system so that it doesnt take off on you, while unloading and loading the modules into the case!!

Standing Tall

Well after all the hard work modules are finally starting to stand on there own!!

The legs from Bunnings were a metre in length those are now 800mm tall and have the Leggz bit in the top to screw into the underneath of the module.

Module Issue

When I tried to fit the last module into the case it seems to be wider than the rest for some strange reason, so we had to remove 1mm for each side of the module. Using the combination of a belt sander, and a planer (if I remembered the correct name) I removed material from each side to allow the module to fit. 3 Shelves were required and the 4th module sits on the ply bottom part of the frame.

Shelves

Adding my steel shelves created with 2mm steel folded by and sourced from SJ Rural, Euroa.

I just pre drilled some holes each end and once marked and gaps between selves checked, leaving height for the modelling to be done onto the module the shelves were screwed into place.

Completing the Case

Sealing as such the case, was not a simple task only for the reason that adding that extra 9mm create a gap on one side of the frame, which was not expected. So when it came to lining the case we had a couple extra gaps than what I intended.

Angle Plan

Picked up angle today from a local steel place, $30 for 6 metres, not bad, all that needs to be done now is some holes drilled into it then it can be placed in the case

The steel is only 2mm thich although heavy the weight should balance out in the case, good casters will be required.

4x Handles have also been purchased to also go on the sides for lifting and easy rolling around.

Mark

Case Construction Issue!

Well working on the frame at home went well, except I literally made the width 500mm which meant that there was no room for ply sides or for it to move in and out of the case freely. 


So I added some cut thin 3mm ply pieces to one sides frame joints to increase the width a little!


Only a slight issue, remember there needs to be some clearance for them to slide in and out... now to order the angle...

Case Construction Commences

Well after being informed class time is limited, I used some of Dad left over Pine to create the case. 


There are no real joints for this one, just straight butt to butt and liquid nails, and a screw!


I pre drilled some parts to get a tight bond, so that the piece behind is brought forward to the top piece's back making the screw just pop through the pre drilled hole gripping into the back piece,


Below are construction photos at home, cut with a bench saw which I had to read up on to learn how to use. Safety Glasses and an apron is recommended! 


Mark :)

Support Problems!

There is nothing like having to remove a corner support that had been liquid nailed and screwed in because of a fault with the leggz nut, I split the side of the frame.

Caution be careful removing things that have been lequid nailed for a while eg. 3 days!

I am in the process of putting in a support, liquid nailing the split and modifying just that corner support. 

Mark - not such a good post!

Corner Supports

Working on making corner supports is not as easy as first thought!

Firstly you need to work out how big the support has to be and then where the holes have to go in the side of the module so you can drill the screws into the side of the frame and through into the support.

You need to work out the size of support, then I used 45x45mm pine and at 45 degrees each end cut them all to the same sizing for all 32 corners of the modules

 I made up a template to sit on the side of the frame to keep everything uniform and less marking out and mucking about.