Freelance 00 layout

MICRO LEDS contd


Following on from my last post I can tell you that each LED is wired, as you would expect, in series. I was unable to tell by looking at the LED which of the wires was the positive one so I had to do a little experimenting with low voltage DC to work that out. That done, and because I have a terrible memory, I then applied red nail varnish to the first 20 or so wires so that I wouldn't have to perform the test again. ( To assist my memory I used red nail varnish on the positive wire - the nail varnish kindly supplied by SWMBO ).

This is one LED connected to a 5volt supply.


A few things I like about these LEDS - the wire is stiff which makes for easy manipulation and handling. The LED itself is also covered in a thin plastic making it more robust than some prewired  micro LEDS that come with very fine and flimsy wire.  There is a downside in that the wiring is harder to hide but for station and house lighting that should not be a problem. In fact so far I have found the stiff wire can be used to position the light and hold it in place - say on the ceiling of a waiting room,  whilst a drop of PVA is applied and allowed to dry.

Now where is my mojo?   I know its here somewhere - I'm sure I put it down on the layout somewhere,,,,,,

[user=540]gdaysydney[/user] wrote:

Now where is my mojo?   I know its here somewhere - I'm sure I put it down on the layout somewhere,,,,,,

Dave, go out & buy another one and the first one will turn up !!!  

Too right Sol - (sorry I didn't reply to your post earlier) - isn't that always the way ?  I was looking for a trowel to repair some brickwork and looked everywhere around the workshed and the garage - in the end I decided that since I had to go to Bunnings to buy something else I would outlay the extra $8 for a trowel.  And yes - no sooner had I got it home I moved the bag of mortar to get on with the job and there was my old trowel  :oops: :oops:.

On things model railway I have found my mojo ( it was also under the bag of mortar ) and have been busy on the layout although not a lot to show for it. 
I'll take some photos over the coming week and show you what has taken so long to visibly achieve so little…

Isn't that always the way? XD
Well, at least you've got a spare now.

Congrats on making layout progress!

Thanks Brendan.

Well as promised here is an update on what I have been upto over the past few months

I had a major setback in that I had installed working yardlights which I  had purchased many moons ( years) ago and finally got around to  installing them - only to accidentally connect them to the power supply  without any resistor     - yes I can confirm that when you blow ten LEDs at the same time you can hear the noise of them overheating. 
On investigation I discovered that the LEDs where set in painted plaster  so i decided that I would replace the LED lamps rather than buy new  ones - however trying to get an LED to set in the middle of plaster that  replicates a lamp is easier said than done -  after much experimenting I  found that Plasticine rolled flat and then imprinted with a lamp shaped  button to create the appropriate mould then carefully centering the LED  leads before carefully filling the mould with plaster of Paris did the  trick - the end result was not as good as the original bit still looks  the part.
I will post a daylight picture later ..


I have also been busy building a Scalescenes signal box - I lashed out  and bought the brass signal lever kit and windows and added lights and a  signalman.  I am very pleased with the result - its amazing what you  can do with old breakfast cereal packets !



This is a close up shot looking through the left hand window
- just a tad light bleed from two micro LEDs off the $5 special mentioned in an earlier post above.


Apart from the ongoing job of ballasting I decided that the location of  NotMutley would be moved further to the east and installed a third rail  on the inner loop so I could run some southern region electric cars.

There were two components:

A relatively simple job but time consuming…
If you are interested I basically copied the idea from a modeller who posted under "Glebe Road Junction"

Hi Dave,

Wow, all of your lighting looks wonderfully atmospheric, despite the setback with blowing the LEDs.

I also admire those brass signal levers which look so much better than the plastic offerings lurking in my to-do box!

Best,

Bill

Thanks for your comments Bill and my apology for not acknowledging them earlier.

Your comment on the signal levers is very welcome as I pondered for many weeks before ordering them as the cost including postage to Australia was a lot more than the cost of the signal box - but in the end well worth it.

Best wishes

Well my regained Mojo for things trains didn't last long in 2019 and its now 13 months since I last posted.

The train room looks like a bomb hit it as it was used as a dumping ground during a tidy up when the grandchildren came to live with us ( that's another story).

Winter is arriving "down under" and the days are getting shorter. In Isolation due to "The virus that shant  be named"   ( I'm a secret Harry Potter fan) I have no excuse for retreating indoors in the late afternoon and not visiting the train room.
Now where did that pesky Mojo go?….

[user=540]gdaysydney[/user] wrote:

MICRO LEDS contd


Following on from my last post I can tell you that each LED is wired, as you would expect, in series. I was unable to tell by looking at the LED which of the wires was the positive one so I had to do a little experimenting with low voltage DC to work that out. That done, and because I have a terrible memory, I then applied red nail varnish to the first 20 or so wires so that I wouldn't have to perform the test again. ( To assist my memory I used red nail varnish on the positive wire - the nail varnish kindly supplied by SWMBO ).

This is one LED connected to a 5volt supply.


A few things I like about these LEDS - the wire is stiff which makes for easy manipulation and handling. The LED itself is also covered in a thin plastic making it more robust than some prewired  micro LEDS that come with very fine and flimsy wire.  There is a downside in that the wiring is harder to hide but for station and house lighting that should not be a problem. In fact so far I have found the stiff wire can be used to position the light and hold it in place - say on the ceiling of a waiting room,  whilst a drop of PVA is applied and allowed to dry.

Hi Dave,
I have bought the same LEDs a while ago. What did you use as resistor and how many?

No excuses then Dave……into the train room….clear a bit of track….hook up your favourite ,most reliable loco and do a bit of shunting…… manually not with TC that can come later
Stay safe.    Keep well

John

Hope you get the room tidied and the mojo back. I’m missing your updates. 

[user=540]gdaysydney[/user] wrote:

Well my regained Mojo for things trains didn't last long in 2019 and its now 13 months since I last posted.

The train room looks like a bomb hit it as it was used as a dumping ground during a tidy up when the grandchildren came to live with us ( that's another story).

Winter is arriving "down under" and the days are getting shorter. In Isolation due to "The virus that shant  be named"   ( I'm a secret Harry Potter fan) I have no excuse for retreating indoors in the late afternoon and not visiting the train room.

Now where did that pesky Mojo go?….

Another year has passed, another Winter is almost over and I am still looking for my mojo.  I honestly thought that with lock-downs I would have more time and inspiration to return to the train room but my mojo failed to appear
Now that Sydney is in its second month of another lockdown I am going to give it another go !

Mojo is often a problem Dave.  Mine sometimes disappears  - for hours on end ….

Joking aside, during summer I don't seem to manage the time to do much in the train room so, by autumn time, I'm usually itching to get going - but can't remember where I left off ….

Are you happy with your layout or do you wish you'd done something differently ?  That can sometimes be a trigger………

This mojo thing is a bit of an illusive character - appears to come and go. Like you I thought the lockdown here in Spain would give me more insentive to crack on. I have to say it did for a while but more waves and lockdowns coupled with the hot summer has seen my mojo off on it's holidays. Getting back to the UK in September to see family and friends, the first time in over 20 months, coupled with cooler temperatures when we get back, will hopefully see my mojo return too.

[user=6]Petermac[/user] wrote:

Mojo is often a problem Dave.  Mine sometimes disappears  - for hours on end ….

Joking aside, during summer I don't seem to manage the time to do much in the train room so, by autumn time, I'm usually itching to get going - but can't remember where I left off ….

Are you happy with your layout or do you wish you'd done something differently ?  That can sometimes be a trigger………

Hi Pete,
I was in the train room this afternoon - I wish I had put a dust sheet over the layout and not used the room as a dumping ground !  Its going to take a while just to be able to get the trains running again.  I have lots of boxes full of train stuff that I have thought would come in useful. One of the decisions I will have to make is whether to keep saving the stuff or throw it out. 
I think I have what they call an abundance of SABLE = Stuff Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy!!

[user=1886]DaveH_Murcia[/user] wrote:

This mojo thing is a bit of an illusive character - appears to come and go. Like you I thought the lockdown here in Spain would give me more incentive to crack on. I have to say it did for a while but more waves and lockdowns coupled with the hot summer has seen my mojo off on it's holidays. Getting back to the UK in September to see family and friends, the first time in over 20 months, coupled with cooler temperatures when we get back, will hopefully see my mojo return too.

Hi Dave,
I hope your mojo returns and more importantly hangs around for a while.
 As you can by my posts in 2019 mine didn't stay long - maybe this time while I wait for Australian vaccination rates to increase to a level where restrictions can be lifted as it looks like the Delta version is not going to be tamed in the same way as the previous strains.

Hi Dave
You will have seen my PM….it was good to hear from you. 

I do hope this return to Not Mutley is sustained. It is a lovely layout and you have put so much work into it. Apart from that, the other Dave and I need someone else to chat to about RR&Co!

Best wishes

RR & Co. True at the rate some of us seem to be moving we will have forgotten most of what we leaned. Hopefully it's like riding a bike and it all comes flooding back. Maybe a bit of "running trains therapy" would be go for us all once in a while.

[user=1886]DaveH_Murcia[/user] wrote:

RR & Co. True at the rate some of us seem to be moving we will have forgotten most of what we leaned. Hopefully it's like riding a bike and it all comes flooding back. Maybe a bit of "running trains therapy" would be go for us all once in a while.

Hi Dave,
I did as John and you suggested and climbed over the mess on the floor, cleaned the track and ran some trains around the circuit for a while.
I then switched on the computer and fired up TC to try and recall how it all worked. It didn't take me long to realise how the old computer powering TC is getting but … it made me recall one of the things that had resulted in my mojo leaving home!
The layout is poorly designed in that trains running anti clockwise have plenty of routes that they can travel on but trains traveling clockwise are fairly limited unless they travel the wrong way on the down line.

So today I found my mojo and have started taking up track and will put in a few more points to give the layout (and TC) some more flexibility.  I spent this afternoon rummaging through the many of boxes of "stuff" and found all the parts I need ( including the electronics) to set up the point and add a block or two.

As I will be making more mess the tidying up can wait a while longer !