what are people doing on their layout right now

[Sprintex]

Gathering images and making decals to turn a NGS St. Ives Corn Exchange into a Midland Bank circa late 1980s

Not easy when the Midland name disappeared long before people took numerous pictures of everything!


Paul

[paulprice]

Just gazing at it wondering what to do next.  

pull your finger out and get some work done, I have already glued my fingers together twice today

I'm a big believer in not rushing in and pondering instead.
Besides, there is a double "High Chapperal"    followed by last night's recorded double "Gunsmoke"  followed by a two hour feature film "Gunsmoke, the long ride"  all on the TV this afternoon.
I take being a "Western" fan very seriesley (bad pun intentional!) and I don't just mean BR Class 52s. 
Greg.

There is no hope for you

[Graham Walters]

Wired up 8 point motors today.

I was very careful to make sure that each of them had a different colour wire to  to A

The Black ( common) wire went to C

And the Grey wire went to B

After doing the last one I suddenly realised that point B on the motors should all be a different colour as  well.

[Hailstone]

There are at present 24 points on my layout, all powered, the point motors themselves are wired blue for common return and green for the power feeds, but only to a chocolate block where they connect to the main wiring loom. which is colour coded 50 wire - I have a complete circuit diagram to enable fault tracing (I cannot stress how essential this can become later on when faults will inevitably arise). The reason for me doing this is because it enables me to replace or clean point motor which become troublesome and if in the process I get the operation of the point the wrong way round, it is a matter of a few seconds to swap the wires around (and believe me I got it wrong a few times when I first installed them, even after working it out!

Regards,

Alex

[paulprice]

I managed to get a little work completed on the layout, the problem is I'm now a little scared, surely things are not meant to go this smoothly 

[Graham Walters]

There are at present 24 points on my layout, all powered, the point motors themselves are wired blue for common return and green for the power feeds, but only to a chocolate block where they connect to the main wiring loom. which is colour coded 50 wire - I have a complete circuit diagram to enable fault tracing (I cannot stress how essential this can become later on when faults will inevitably arise). The reason for me doing this is because it enables me to replace or clean point motor which become troublesome and if in the process I get the operation of the point the wrong way round, it is a matter of a few seconds to swap the wires around (and believe me I got it wrong a few times when I first installed them, even after working it out!

Regards,

Alex

I do intend to connect the motors to the CDU via  a choc block arrangement, I had thought for ease of tracing to have the power feeds to each side of the motor in different colours, but forgot to do that for the "B" side.
I'm also having a bit of trouble getting the 16/.02 in enough colours !

I've got a day off on Weds, so I'll probably manage to sort it out then, once that's done I can start fitting them.

[LAandNQFan]

I'm having to pack it all up, saw through baseboard legs and take everything not glued down off the layout.  :'(  We've sold our house, the man cave goes with it, and I'm trying to get a new shed at the new house as soon as we move in!

Meanwhile, I should be grateful to anyone who can help with the questions on Layout Construction / Aberayron to Pencader ready for an autumn re-start.  In particular, what is the best way to detect trains on the hidden fiddle yard sidings?

[D1042 Western Princess]

I managed to get a little work completed on the layout, the problem is I'm now a little scared, surely things are not meant to go this smoothly 

As with everything else in life sometimes it all works out well and other days it all works out, well 

It looks like you are going through a good spell at the moment - make the most of it.
Greg.

[Steve Brassett]

Wired up 8 point motors today.

I was very careful to make sure that each of them had a different colour wire to  to A

The Black ( common) wire went to C

And the Grey wire went to B

After doing the last one I suddenly realised that point B on the motors should all be a different colour as  well.

When I used the same colour wire on different motors, I added little bits of heatshrink to distinguish them.

[paulprice]

Im going to use SEEP motors for the first time, any advice taking into account that I am the God OF SOLDERING ...not

[Graham Walters]

Im going to use SEEP motors for the first time, any advice taking into account that I am the God OF SOLDERING ...not

My advice would be to practice first, the contact you solder to on the motor is very small, they are also close to the plastic shrouds on the coils.

Use one of those third hand things, that hold things, it will leave you with both hands free.

Get one of those flux pens, much easier than flux paste.

Finally rig up the CDU so that you can test each motor as you solder it.

[grumbeast]

Kato insulating joiners arrived so I have separated the whole layout into its sections yay. Now I can think about proper wiring and a control panel!

[Dorsetmike]

Starting wiring up the high level, - see pic below - I've done a couple of minor change since this was taken, added a bit here, realigned there but the major things are still in the same places. I've spent most of the day making a hinged panel for all the switches.

[smg id=27596]

[Newportnobby]

Looks hugely impressive, Mike
What is going on with the tracks in the top left hand corner, please?
They look somewhat squiffy.

[Dorsetmike]

They look "squiffy" cos I did a bit of editing  the image to remove a bit of curtain hanging over that corner, the squiffy bit is due to me not getting the alignment spot on, I did a copy of a bit of the bottom left,  flipped it and pasted top left but didn't take the time to get it accurate, just "somewhere near"

Today's action has been making a start on wire in tube

[smg id=27646]

Slice a channel in the cork, cut plastic tube to length, push wire into tube, bend a short bit (3 or 4 mm) of the  end at right angles, cut off the other end of the wire leaving enough to make a loop, feed it along the channel  with the bent end horizontal, when it gets to the point tie bar turn wire so end is vertical, fiddle it to go through the hole in the tie bar, check operation, glue the tube in place, I used cool melt glue, note also some wiring in another channel in the cork.

I used to use piano wire, but I went to the shop (model boats and RC planes) I usually got it from to find it closed and empty, so I tried some from a coil of galvanised gardening wire, seems to work OK, bends easier and doesn't ruin cutters, being in the tube keeps it from bowing or bending. and it's a damned sight cheaper than point motors, I only use them in remote corners.

It may not look fancy, but it'll be covered with ballast or some other scenery.