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Showing results for tags '12v '.
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Ever thought that the price for the 'stop' rails was a little too high? I did, so I thought to modify a stock straight rail. As you can see from the picture below, I have made a good approximation in my first attempt. I used a Mk I rail, but you can see in the picture on the left there is a Mk II rail. Belatedly I found that these come with two plug contact points, so making them easier to convert:-)! Differences to note: The square plastic piece that sits in between the break in the rail. And the extra plastic directly underneath the plug socket to accommodate the hole. The rail was cut using a dremel, and the plug contact was formed by making small cuts and then folding with pliers. The hole was drilled with my dremel mounted horizontally on a piece of board in lathe like fashion. A piece of plastic was temporarily MEK'd to the top to minimize burring. The plastic pieces were measured and cut from a doner piece of track, and then welded in place with MEK mixed with a small amount of plastic shaving from the cutting. The end result is not bad. Next time I will seek out the Mk II's with plug holes, as these already have the two plug contacts formed! You could use this technique to replace your original stop rails that have gone rusty. Take care not to mix Mk I and Mk II rails as they are slightly different, the male connecting pin on a Mk II has plastic reinforcement. see pictures above. And make sure you use the plug holed variety, ogeL did make rails without connection points!
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After a break from building and the various forums, I'm back up to speed and building again. (It's good to see the standard of building/posts on here is as good as ever btw.) My latest project has been modular layout with trains on 2 levels and using both 9v and 12v track. If you're on brick.ie or Brickish you may have seen it, the image gallery is here: http://www.brickshel...ry.cgi?f=528346 And video of it in action is here: It's in 4 sections, each 5 x 3 baseplates (32x32 studs) in size with all the wiring for the 12v points and signals contained in the sections the points etc are on. This image shows the 12v switches built into the viaduct at the back of the layout, I ran a wire from each set of switches to a 12v power unit, each loop had it's own controller. In total 6 trains could run at any given moment. Andy Sorry,posted this in the wrong forum, Admin please remove, I'll repost in Train Tech.
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Hello. I recently acquired a 12v motor that squeaks when it runs. Aside from the noise, it otherwise operates normally. I've never had this issue with any other 12v motor before. Is this common? Any suggestions or tips on how I might fix it? My first instinct is to lubricate it, but I have no idea how or what kind of lubrication to use and don't want to damage the motor.
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I've built a huge Lego train layout which is fully automated by microcontrollers, Arduino. The passenger trains 7740 and 7745 ride around and after a while they stop at the station. The freight trains 7755 and 7760 intersect with the track of the 7745. A section of the track of the freight trains can be powered down: if the 7745 passes the intersection, the 7755 and the 7760 will stop. The trains use PWM signals to start and stop. For starting is actually needed: otherwise the locomotive will disconnect from the wagons and drive away by itself. Video: I've built it in my living room so unfortunately I have to tear it down again :(
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Anyone been setting up a track and found that they had two left feet? I did the other day, and managed to break my 30 year old points! Lots of swearing ensued, but not all is lost... The candidates for this topic are my very first set of points(left), and a set that I aquired from 3bay: In addition to the break, the left set have a poor pass through electrical connection. First off we need to flip the points over and locate the six plastic rivets. For half of them I just cropped the top off with a pair of wire cutters, The remaining rivets were 'teased' back into a pillar shape using the wire cutters and a pair of pliers - small electrical ones! On the first picture above, there is what looks like a 7th rivet that perhaps was made too short, larger circled item. It has been chemically welded. Once the first six are free, slip a small screw driver in between where the 7th joins, and gently prise it open. You should hear a snap! Hear are some pictures of what you get. For the feint hearted, and those of you who donot have electrical connection issues, the next part can be skipped. All of the ends of my conductor rails had become unwelded from the end braces. If you are feint hearted and do have electrical connection issues, the following two pics try and show you where the contacts are. Because my points were so old and abused, I continued to prise the central join with a screwdriver like soldering tool. The point is composite, and has been chemically welded during manufacture. Here you can see the weld breaking. How did this get here? Well now it is, I might as well explain that the melted plastic between the rails was caused by a very bored and destructive 8 year old, exploding button cells! Here it is, looks remarkably like the 4.5V version! Clever ogeL using the same parts! These are the broken welds that I mentioned earlier. You can see the welded middle point. The weld is strong enough to hold while the plastic tears I checked the continuity and resistance of the conductor rails. One bad connection racked up 15 ohms, whilst most were less than 1 or 2ohms in the picture pairs 1 and 2 are visible without these last few steps, pair 3 can just be accessed with a screwdriver, without total disassembly. My trouble was mainly with pair 2, as you can see in the pic they have a little arcing evidence. A small pair of pliers were used to press each metal tab, whilst being pushed/supported from the rail side. Now to weld the broken base plate. You will need some Methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), a chemical proof crucible/dish and stirrer/applicator, and maybe some broken donor ogeL element of the same colour. I chose to dissolve a very small amount of plastic shavings. Because the break was very clean, I did not really need to additional material. Add a few drops of MEK and mix with your shavings to your desired consitancy, here it is weak and thin. Apply sparingly but evenly to the edge of the element to be welded, wait a few seconds then press together. Sometimes applying to both edges. It's best use a flat surface to work on, one prepared with non stick properties, like a strip of kapton tape! In this example I trimmed the excess too soon, the excess smeared a little. Once it is bonded sufficiently to handle, place on a radiator or somewhere warm to set fully. Now we are ready to reassemble the points. Get your welding kit together and the parts lined up. We don't need any extra plastic material this time, just a few drops of pure MEK in the crucible. First off we're going to weld the rails in place. Apply MEK as shown and press together, leaving to dry in a warm place again. Next assemble the base plate and slider. Remember that half rivet that we snapped earlier? Put a spot of MEK on it before lowering the rails onto the base. Try not to push it fully together yet. Flip the whole unit over and if you have snipped the rivets, place a spot of MEK in each hole, as you've not pushed it fully together right? If you 'teased' the rivets straight, then press together and put a spot of MEK on each, using the end of the pliers press and work the rivet flat. For my snipped rivets, I kept the heads and welded them ontop. The red circles show the snipped rivets, blue the formed ones. Both methods work. That's it, you've just saved yourself a small fortune! I'll come back and post about the the RH points later...
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Replacing 12v Signal circuit, or leading up to another MOD.
Andromeda posted a topic in LEGO Train Tech
Hello All, I've been busy again. I've managed to copy the inside circuit from a 12v signal 2 x 3 brick, onto strip board. I've got some thin 1.5mm black ABS plastic sheet lying around, so I'm probably going to butcher a black 2 x 3 brick at some point. In the mean time here are a few pics of the circuit: And working side by side: Thanks for watching!
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