Paul's workbench

[nzpaul]

Hi again Paul
The O4 chassis is probably one of the easiest to sort out for pickup adjustment. Remove the 3 screws retaining the bottom plate and carefully remove it and keep an eye on the sanding pipes between the 2nd and 3rd axles. the pickups are attached to the plate and you can simply adjust as required, reassemble and that's it. The pickups have a springy connection to the chassis that means there's no wires to break.

I've also included this photo showing the pointless capacitors on the motor, they serve the purpose of moving rapidly changing dc voltage (collapsing back emf from the armature) to a grounding point, problem is that DCC decoders and feedback controllers need to measure that very voltage to sort out what the motor is up to and control it properly, so if left in place they can cause some comical events when on DCC. Plain old resistor or transistor based controllers wont show the problem.

Cheers
Paul

[Paul_sterling]

Brilliant, thanks for that hugely informative post Paul. much appreciated.

The capacitors should be fine to leave in on mine, as I changed controllers late last year from HM2000/HM4000 (which are PWM), to Morley Vector 3 Crawlers, which are "conventional" controllers. The reason being was me rather than the railway, I couldn't stand the transformer buzz, and when the controllers were operated there was a high pitched "whine" from the controller (I believe something to do with the PWM switching range falling inside of the top end of my audible range). Nevertheless, the Q1 (and the Q4) used to lump along on the HM2000 in a surging motion, whereas they don't do this on the Morley.

I will keep note of the pickup plate adjustment, and check them over at the first opportunity.

Thanks once again, that post was very helpful.

Cheers. Paul.

[nzpaul]

Hi All
A couple of projects creeping towards completion.
Graeme's EB1 now has a completed pantograph and is wearing its black unlined livery, only a few parts left to fit then finish the paint job and it can head home to Graeme's layout.

The stramlined B17 has now reached the nearly done stage as well, this has been more of a painting exercise as anything else, if nothing else it has provided good practice for the B3 that I'll be starting on later this year (I hope), not to mention the half done P2.

Cheers
Paul

[Graeme Leary]

Tank full, engine quietly idling ready for the call Paul. Looks brilliant and again, very many thanks.

Graeme

[nzpaul]

Hi All
Graeme's EB1 is now complete and ready for action, I have to admit I'm quite looking forward to seeing Graeme's face when he opens the box, assuming of course that he likes it and that statement doesn't come back to haunt me.
Also finished the Streamlined B17, for something I really only bought for the wheels and motor/gearbox to use elsewhere, it's kind of grown on me. I'm not a huge fan of streamliners, I much prefer the more ordinary shaped engines, but the B17 doesn't look too bad, in its own stumpy kind of way.
Moving on to one of Paul's (sterlings) 3D printed Thomson Q1 next, looks like it should be fun.

Cheers
Paul

[Graeme Leary]

There will be no doubts about me liking it Paul. The pm and video shot you sent of it running has me 100% satisfied, now just to work out a date to pick it up! (Maybe you could post the video of it working on the forum).
Graeme

[nzpaul]

Hi All
Now that Graeme has seen it, here's a sort clip of the EB1 running up the spiral on my layout during testing and set up of the DCC decoder. Sorry it's so short but the rest of the clips were out of focus and the lighting was messing with the camera.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU4ffMnf4V8][/url]

Cheers
Paul

[nzpaul]

Hi All
Graeme picked up the EB1 on Thursday and thankfully seemed happy enough with the end product, I certainly hope it's everything he expected it to be.

Moving on, a while ago Paul (Sterling) wrote about the creation and construction of his 3D printed Thompson Q1, I took the opportunity to purchase one of the spare prints as I was very curious to have a look at what this 3D printing business was able to produce. Now having made a proper start on the model I hope you don't mind if I share some thoughts on how I'm getting on with it, a duplicate model from a slightly different perspective if you like.
My first impression was of almost disbelief at how accurately the parts fit together, I guess that means that Paul has some quite considerable skill with the CAD program.The other thing I've found most impressive is the perfect fit to the Bachmann O4 chassis, no adjustments required, it just fits. It amazes me when individuals are able to create things like this.
I've also gained a proper understanding of the printing grain (I'd call it herring bone or rib) effect which is very evident on flat surfaces and less pronounced on curvy bits.
To deal with the bumps, I started by filling and sanding but on the larger flat surfaces found I could plane the surface with a sharp chisel followed by sanding to get a good smooth finish. Some of the boiler was able to be subjected to the same treatment but filling and sanding is ongoing. I did stumble across a good idea on Youtube to turn an electric tooth brush into a mini sander, so I've acquired a cheap brush, hacked the bristles off and attached a sanding pad, this has sped the process up considerably.
Pics of progress so far and the Micheal Rodent style sander...

Cheers
Paul

[Atlantic 3279]

Now that's an idea! I have an old electric toothbrush.......

I'm glad that you have also found the use of a sharp chisel or flat-edged scraper to be a good means of de-ridging the flat surfaces, by planing, shaving or scraping action. I've long found in many situations that a decent sharp scraper used appropriately over an uneven surface produces more controllable quicker progress and better results than sanding.

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Brilliant idea, Re the toothbrush.

I use a lot of old toothbrush handles for my files after I drill a hole in the end, after decapitating them

manna

[Graeme Leary]

Belatedly acknowledging the brilliant work Paul did on the EB1 kit he put together for me (and well worth the 10 hour round trip to pick it up). Much 'shock and awe' from the other modellers I've shown it to thus far. (Only one issue - the canopy overhang on one of my stations is too low when the pantograph is up but this is only on a couple of tracks I hadn't intended to run the EB1 on anyway).

Many thanks Paul and now for the overhead wiring - a project I've kept putting off.

Graeme

[JASd17]

Good luck with the wires Graeme.

I look forward to seeing EB1, if you decide to bring it over.

John

[Graeme Leary]

Certainly plan to bring it over John (as long as I can pack the pantograph nice and firmly - Paul pointed out how fragile it was when he was working on it).

Using Geoff Goslin's 'Goods Traffic of the LNER as a guide for the overhead wiring pole replication I have just today bought some 8mm dowelling for the main pole (even though 8 mm might be too heavy but will play around with it). Also the answers to a posting I put on the forum in May 2018 - yes, it HAS taken that long to get my a. into g.

Would also be grateful for any other thoughts on replicating the overhead system from the grouping era.

Graeme

[Paul_sterling]

Hi All
Graeme picked up the EB1 on Thursday and thankfully seemed happy enough with the end product, I certainly hope it's everything he expected it to be.

Moving on, a while ago Paul (Sterling) wrote about the creation and construction of his 3D printed Thompson Q1, I took the opportunity to purchase one of the spare prints as I was very curious to have a look at what this 3D printing business was able to produce. Now having made a proper start on the model I hope you don't mind if I share some thoughts on how I'm getting on with it, a duplicate model from a slightly different perspective if you like.
My first impression was of almost disbelief at how accurately the parts fit together, I guess that means that Paul has some quite considerable skill with the CAD program.The other thing I've found most impressive is the perfect fit to the Bachmann O4 chassis, no adjustments required, it just fits. It amazes me when individuals are able to create things like this.
I've also gained a proper understanding of the printing grain (I'd call it herring bone or rib) effect which is very evident on flat surfaces and less pronounced on curvy bits.
To deal with the bumps, I started by filling and sanding but on the larger flat surfaces found I could plane the surface with a sharp chisel followed by sanding to get a good smooth finish. Some of the boiler was able to be subjected to the same treatment but filling and sanding is ongoing. I did stumble across a good idea on Youtube to turn an electric tooth brush into a mini sander, so I've acquired a cheap brush, hacked the bristles off and attached a sanding pad, this has sped the process up considerably.
Pics of progress so far and the Micheal Rodent style sander...
q1_3.jpg
Q1_2.jpg

Cheers
Paul

Very kind of you to compliment the work on the Q1 Paul, you've made a super start on it, and I'm looking forward to see how you approach it.

I've just shown your pictures of the Q1 to my wife, who is staggered that a Loco I printed is on the other side of the world.

Thanks, Paul

[nzpaul]

The least I could do Paul, hard to believe that it's printed, like a 3D document. When I said the build would be from a different perspective, I was meaning upside down....

Now this talk of the EB1 winging its way to the UK in Graeme's pocket is making me nervous, that means some of you will get to see my work first hand...... I'm worried

Moving along to something useful, a re-motor job on a Bachmann A1:
I've had this "Aberdonian" for years but after a couple of running sessions on the club layout it's been living in the box due to a lack of muscle, it used to get rather warm even with fairly short trains on our hilly train set.
Having had success with the Mabushi f-180 type motors in the P2, one A3 as well as their use in Hornby's D49 and B17 I decided to install one in this and see how it went.
The F-180 has a 1.5mm shaft so the gear was a straight swap from the old Bachmann motor which was was the old, too small motor from early production.
To attach the motor to the gearbox I've cut away the rear motor keeper and drilled the front mounts to accept fixing screws, so the whole thing remains properly serviceable. The holes were opened out to allow some adjustment and to set the mesh I put a piece of tissue paper between the worm and gear, dropped the motor down and tightened the screws. No more adjustment was required and everything ran smoothly (fluke artist).
So far it seems to be an acceptably large improvement with much more even running up and down hills.
Looks like this:

Cheers
Paul