Ninian Junction - And so it is finished, see last post.

[Class 66]

Hi Class 66,

If it's invisible from the front viewing I must congratulate you. Velcro is handy stuff, the hill on my layout will be secured by a velcro loop. Interesting use of bubble wrap as well - I don't buy enough railway bits on Ebay to gather any ......... yet.

Geoff T.

Lol. If ever you get the raditators re-done in your house then watch for the packaging they come in. Massive sheets of bubble wrap as I discovered Alot better then chicken wire if I say so myself

Went on a mini shopping spree today. Ordered a new point motor. I also ordered components for my CDU which i'll build from Maplins (Gaugemaster price is a rip-off, cost me only £3 for the components and that's with spares compared to the £11.50 Gaugemaster were asking). Also got some plaster cloth, wood glue and a big PVA tub. I've ordered everything I need for my point motor wiring to be finished and to get the hill plaster clothed basically.

[trains!]

Sounds good, if you can build a CDU stephen i'll give it a go . Have you got a diagram and a list of the parts needed?

[Class 66]

Sounds good, if you can build a CDU stephen i'll give it a go . Have you got a diagram and a list of the parts needed?

Yep, very simple diagram indeed. Found here :

http://www.brian-lambert.co.uk/Electrical-2.htm#Diode%20Matrix (scroll down page just after Diode Matrix and it's the basic CDU)

[Class 66]

More work done today and yesterday. Even though I feel ill

Got my components for the CDU :- capacitors,resistors,diodes and stripboard


And following this diagram downloaded from Brian Lambert's website :-


I built this :-




Tested it and it works!!!!!!!

So thats one success story. Next I also did a bit of landscaping :-


This black bit is a road I'm building. It will all be plaster-clothed over (including the newspapered bit) and will form a landscape for me to paint the road on and get some greenery on.

Any comments appreciated.

[Dad-1]

I like a hilly road ..... but what's it made of ? I ask because I used cardboard from a cornflake box and developed a nice slightly undulating road, but obviously without enough under support everywhere. When I added wet plaster/sawdust mix it soaked into the cardboard which sort of collapsed in some places. I then had to re-lay over the top of that, it all worked out fine in the end, but created a delay and additional work. Just a timely warning !!
Well done making your own CDU - my 4 decoder/CDUs cost me over £100 !!!

Geoff T.

[Class 66]

I like a hilly road ..... but what's it made of ? I ask because I used cardboard from a cornflake box and developed a nice slightly undulating road, but obviously without enough under support everywhere. When I added wet plaster/sawdust mix it soaked into the cardboard which sort of collapsed in some places. I then had to re-lay over the top of that, it all worked out fine in the end, but created a delay and additional work. Just a timely warning !!
Well done making your own CDU - my 4 decoder/CDUs cost me over £100 !!!

Geoff T.

I made the road out of mounting card. It's well supported underneath though but thanks for the warning Geoff

100 pounds!!! My word but I suppose you are wanting to control the points in the DCC way so really you don't have an option. It was great fun to build though and very satisfying to see that it worked

Any more comments folks ?

[trains!]

Yep i have one... Now i need to save for components for a CDU. I blame you stephen...

[Class 66]

Yep i have one... Now i need to save for components for a CDU. I blame you stephen...

Not my fault....

[Class 66]

Got 2 point motors working today and got the CDU and the power supply for that mounted.

So heres the control panel:-


And heres my special way of knowing what switch controls which point:-



Hopefully you get what I mean

Because some of the point motors flipping around the SEEP pins (probably need to call it something else but I can't think of a word) when they were mounted underneath i've stuck letters on so I know the where the right wires go :


And heres the controller mounted:-

This controller just provides the voltage for the CDU.

And heres a closeup of the 1st point working :



It's a seriously good system. I turn it on and automatically I know what way points are set from the control panel.

Need to order some more wire now. The tunnel should be getting worked on next!

[Class 66]

Any comments, as much as I'm ok with talking to myself I really would like to hear of what you all think

[beerandpies]

I wouldn't know where to begin with that wiring! I have about 6 feeds to my track and two unused isolated sections and it already looks like a tin of spaghetti.

So yeah, I like it. I'd have probably gone for a miniature layout on the control board with the switches in location for the points but that may complicate the wiring further?

If it works for you, then that's the most important thing isn't it?
Far more organised than I could hope to achieve at the moment.

[Class 66]

I wouldn't know where to begin with that wiring! I have about 6 feeds to my track and two unused isolated sections and it already looks like a tin of spaghetti.

So yeah, I like it. I'd have probably gone for a miniature layout on the control board with the switches in location for the points but that may complicate the wiring further?

If it works for you, then that's the most important thing isn't it?
Far more organised than I could hope to achieve at the moment.

The way i've wired it is the same as if you had a minature layout on the control panel with LEDs. I prefer the method I used personally because it's like a proper switchboard (or far from it as it may be) and I can find out where the points are switched without looking at the layout.

Thanks for the comments beerandpies

[Class 66]

Wired up one more point motor, D. Took me 3 hours and was definatly the worst to wire so far. 6 SOLDER BURNS!! Very painful.

Now need to get some more wire..

[hobby boy]

Wired up one more point motor, D. Took me 3 hours and was definatly the worst to wire so far. 6 SOLDER BURNS!! Very painful.

It normally takes me 15 minutes to wire up a point motor and i have only been burnt once.
I only have one point motor on my layout at the moment but altogether i have 5.
Quite easy to solder up though.

Also what CDU did you make and use?

I also thought you were going to use hornby passing contact switches?

Hobby Boy

[Class 66]

Wired up one more point motor, D. Took me 3 hours and was definatly the worst to wire so far. 6 SOLDER BURNS!! Very painful.

It normally takes me 15 minutes to wire up a point motor and i have only been burnt once.
I only have one point motor on my layout at the moment but altogether i have 5.
Quite easy to solder up though.

Also what CDU did you make and use?

I also thought you were going to use hornby passing contact switches?

Hobby Boy

It may only take you 15 minutes but I've got all the LEDs to add resistors too, wire up, plug into the cdu, solder onto the 3 switch things and so forth.

CDU is avaliable on Brian Lamberts website, the Basic one.

And i chose not to use the Hornby Switches because in the end the prices added up and it was well over what I could afford.