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TUTORIAL MOD 7745 to Use the PF Motor Still on 12v Track
bricks n bolts posted a topic in LEGO Train Tech
Hi all, I want to share a technique I've been using to get 12v power to the new PF motor, also useful for loco lighting. My track is grey era 12v and I wanted a way to use the new motors and not be reliant on the old ones which are getting very expensive and which I have a bad habit of breaking. My layout is on a table and crashes tend to be catastrophic, breaking the pins off many a good motor By comparison the new PF motors are very cheap and if I do break some of these it's not that bad. I know over-voltage is an issue but so far I've haven't had any problems. The trick is to modify the type 1 pickup bricks from the 1969-1975 12v motors so they are compatible with the 9v conductive plates. Note I think the type 1 is better than the later 1976-1980 type 1 & 2 due to : 1. the side of the brick the pins are - they fit the right side of a standard wheel base. 2. the thick, 100% metal pins are better for this mod 3. the pickups themselves seem to be made of better quality metal (I don't know but it's more 'brassy' looking - things were made solid in those days!). Obviously using such an ancient brick is both the beauty and the flaw to this as they are becoming rarer and on top of that you can say I either bring them up to date or brutalise them depending on your point of view. At least I can spray Teflon lubricant at them without fear that I'll break the motor whilst doing so. The example I'm going to show you is to convert the 7745. I've also changed all the 7745 standard wheels to 9v/PF wheels as they are so much better from a friction point of view, which matters when using PF motors, and also look good in my opinion. I like the classics but also like to apply upgrades as it keeps things alive, plus some things I never liked such as the 7740 pantographs, so was happy to swap those for a modern design. The rough and ridged 12v track probably doesn't help that much either regarding friction and I have a feeling the the PF motor wheels spin slightly on the curves due to the ridge on the inside tracks, it's not a big issue but I'll probably replace them with ME Model curves if/when they come out. I would probably go all the way to 9v if there was a viable pickup option that didn't rely on using old 9v motors which are soon becoming as expensive as the 12v ones. Step 1 - Convert two Type 1 pickup bricks. Note that the base of the pins exactly match the size of a stud!! We need to cut and sand down the metal until we no longer have the pins but instead two metal studs. It took me a while to get fast at this, first I use some heavy duty cutters followed by sanding - be very careful not to accidentally sand off the top of the plastic studs! Here is a before and after : The bricks are now 9v conductive plate compatible!! Step 2 - Add a 1x2 conductive plate to one of the modified pickup bricks: Step 3 - Add a 9v/PF wheel set to the pickup brick with the 1x2 conductive plate. I did try using motor wheels but the technic axle hole meant that the pickups were about half a plate too far or too close to the track. Step 4 - Add a 2x8 conductive plate (these only seem to come in white) on top of what we have so far : Step 5 - Attach a 2x4 conductive plate to the 2x8 Step 6 - Add one plain non-conductive 1x2 plate : Step 7 - Add another 9v/PF wheel set on the other side : Step 8 - Fill in / reinforce the missing gaps in the middle with standard plate / any decorations : Step 9 - Add a bogie plate and magnet assembly : Step 10 - Add a 9V wire to the other side. Note a 9v plug is two plates thick, so we don't need any more conductive plates to complete the circuit to the other pickup brick. Step 11 - Add the second pickup brick so all elements are connected and we have a complete bogie! Now we can put it with the loco : Here it is on the track : Without the roof, there is a 'plug tower' consisting of the PF motor plug, 2 9v/PF conversion wire plugs, 9v bogie pickup plug and for a 9v plug for the lights (which I converted to end in 12v plugs so I can still use the 12v light bricks). I had to lose a couple of studs worth of the decorative motors, but all in all it's hardly noticeable. I did also add one more weight brick at the end to give the PF motor a bit of extra grip, which means this 7745 now has two weight bricks. From underneath, note the distance between the pickups is exactly the same as on a grey era 12v motor. I also gave the end buffet car carriage one pickup for the lights. You can use two pickups but one is fine for lights - I don't mind the slight flicker you get when the train crosses switch points. This avoids the old problem with the 7745, whereby you have to run a wire along the whole length of the train just to light up the end car. I got an extra carriage for it, so that would be an extra pain! Bear in mind that you may want to skip this if you are pulling more than 4 carriages as the additional pickup on the end carriage will increase friction. That concludes the guide, hope you found it useful! More coming soon. I should add this train is mega-fast!! I usually avoid over-charging it on 12v by the fact that at that speed it will derail. I find that as long as I have 2 trains running it's not a problem to whack it on full, but if the other train stops for some reason I'm in trouble. Plus, as I said, if I do break the motor I can still use the pickups and just get another cheap motor from S@H, a lot easier than trawling ebay for a good deal on an original 12v motor. Although I may try opening up one motor (probably when I break my first) and swapping out the internal model with a brand new 12v one (the same one mentioned in Railbricks used on model railways) and see how that runs. -
Evening All, I had a transformer that was only outputting around +/- 7.5V from the speed controller output. I had a dig around online and found conflicting information on how to open the unit up, includung an old 2011 post here on Eurobricks. One person said to drill them out, another said to push them in, and another said not to pull them, I pulled them! They are round pegs with two plastic barbs at the end, well after pulling them the barbs were fairly non existant. I have left an entry mark down the side of each hole and the pegs have a dent were my 120 degree desoldering tool was pushed in and pulled them out, not ideal for reselling! Not sure how drilling would go as the pegs seemed easy to rotate in their holes, but If you were to drill in 2mm with a 3.7mm bit then you would be able to push them in. I tested both caps for ESR and correct value, ok, and both 1K resistors were fine. Outputs from Tx itself on full tilt gave 16.89 A.C. All of the diodes rectifying the speed output tested as conducting, but when the voltage was measured across each, one was dropping 6V. I relaced all four (located top right when you lift the cct) and they are 1N4003's. Edit: The caps are 2.2uF, 400v @ 85 deg.C. Here are a few pics to give you an idea: These were the fellows: Any questions or comments welcome.
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What happens if you mix LEGO, black Delrin and some 0-gauge railroading stuff? Well, with the right tools you can make custom power pickups (no LEGO modification necessary). Here's how: Custom power pickup (parts) by alainneke, on Flickr From top left to right bottom: steel 0-gauge wheel, custom made insulated flanged bushing (which fits the steel wheel to a standard 2mm LEGO train axle), ball contact (rubs against backside of the wheel), spring (pushes the ball contact against the wheel), custom made flanged bushing (holds both the ball contact and spring and fits in a Technic hole), Technic brick, miniature connector. The steel wheel is manufactured by NWSL, the ball contacts come from a German website specialised in 0-gauge stuff and the connector is a standard Marklin connector cutted in half. The bushings are machined from an 8mm rod of Delrin on a mini-lathe (for the curious, a picture is in my photostream) and made to be a friction-fit to the wheel and Technic brick. Custom power pickup (partial assembled) by alainneke, on Flickr Putting these parts together, you get a train axle with steel wheels (both insulated from the axle) and a spring-loaded ball contact. Custom power pickup assembly by alainneke, on Flickr Combining these two, add a wheel holder and voila: a custom power pickup. Custom power pickup bogie by alainneke, on Flickr After soldering on some wires, I've fitted the pickups to one of the bogies of my Emerald Night tender. Emerald Night tender with steel weels by alainneke, on Flickr The diameter of the 0-gauge wheels is the same as the standard LEGO train wheels, but the flange is a lot smaller. This gives a nice clickety-clack on the turnouts, but can also lead to derailments. It turns out that the manufacturer of the steel wheels also makes 'pizza cutter' style wheels, and these have already been ordered... Emerald Night tender with steel wheels by alainneke, on Flickr The wires can be connected to the LiPo battery, a DCC chip, a PF motor, lights, ... The pickups actually work better than the ones on the original 9V motor: the wheels make contact with the railhead using the tread instead of just a little part of the flange. Please comment!
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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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Updated instructions for deep-linking Flickr pictures -- thanks for this tutorial go to Big Cam, Darkdragon, Artanis I and Clone O'Patra. Edit: And now Brickdoctor brings us a tutorial for iPod touch users! Method A Step 1: Find the image you want, and when you click on it, you should see something similar to this. Step 2: Once you've clicked those 3 little dots, you will see this menu. Select "View all Sizes" Step 3: Once at the select a size page, select the size you want, and once the image has loaded, right click anywhere on the image and copy the link URL. Do remember that pictures embedded on EB should be no larger than 800x600. If you are using Chrome, it's an option right when you right click (awesome, use Chrome). If you are using IE, you will have to right click, go to properties and then manually copy the URL address. If you are using Firefox, right click the image and select "Copy image location" If you are using Safari(apple/Mac), Ctrl+Click, or Right Click, then "Copy Image address" Step 4: In your post/reply box, click on the Image button (circled below) and paste the image URL from Step 3. You're done! Method B An easier way is if you are viewing the image normally, right-click it and you will see the "800px" etc links that you see above the image on the "all sizes" page. That will take you directly the size you want where you can right-click and grab the deeplink url like normal. Method C Another method to post any Flickr photo on EB is click on the share box (see below), select the BBCode option, select the size from the drop-down menu, then copy & paste the text directly into your post. This is the result: macaroni2 by -Fugazi-, on Flickr -
I got tired of dusting and trying to keep my Lego Carousel Clean from Dust and Cat Hair and other things that could get to it. I like to display it but wanted to protect it as well as being able to see it. I could not find a Display case that was big enough or the right size so decided to just build my own. I started by buying some Lexan at my local hardware store: 3M makes a great Lexan product. I also used some caulking that is made just for Lexan: then I cut out the material using a table saw and a fine toothed blade, I kept the protective coating on the Lexan because it keeps the material from splintering and also scratching as you move it across the table saw. I taped it together on all the sides taking one piece at a time untill I had a complete box: Note before I cut out the pieces I measured my Carosel and made sure I added a little extra so there was plenty of room to display it in the box. Once it was taped together I then started caulking the joints togheter cutting the sealent opening at an angle and running the caulk so it would get in the cracks but come out in a smooth line. I let it dry for 12 hours then it was safe to remove the tape: Removing all the tape: I then let it dry for 12 more hours to make sure it was solid then I cleaned it with a miled glass cleaner (no Ammonia) and put it over my Carousel SWG
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I did some research and posted results at bricklink. Details at http://www.bricklink...e.asp?ID=685097 In case dropbox passed bandwidth limit, here is more robust link for picture. https://secure.flick...tream/lightbox/ (EDIT added, edited from original post at bricklink.) Interesting. I heard of certain acrylic liquids that can fix some parts condition like scratches and such. I also decided to buy fairly worn parts from seller to fix to fix it up see if I can get it to great condition as possible. The windows was in decent but worn condition, at "raw" one is decent condition and other 2 had been bit discolored and somewhat "sandpapered" as you can see effect on paper behind it. There is also couple heavier than fixable scratches. After I used metal polish, then removed as much polish as I can and cleaned it, condition of parts was much improved. there was lot of micro-scratches after it but usable condition. Lot of discolor went away and pretty lot of "sandpapered" look went away too. Light reflection is worse I could get it to show up. (I wish I took better picture of that as by time I thought of it, I already dropped it into next step) (added: polish is really only necessary if there is deeper scratches than just "cloudy". It does remove ingrained stains very well, however. Do clean first so you can see if it needs polish or not.) The plate was in decent but well used condition, but I cannot polish it due to number of studs and difficulty on wiping polish off afterwards. Brasso probably will do better as it's more cleanable. After I left windows and plate in floor polish solution for couple minutes and dried it in few steps (very carefully as dust or fingerprint could mar it!) on wax baking paper. When it was dry enough (around 3 minutes) I got paper and dropped parts on it from inches off to shake off droplets. After 10 minutes I flipped it to other side and let it dry for other 10 minutes. Novus is recommended by other people but I used pledge floor polish which is also acrylic liquid. As you can see, results is pretty decent. You can see quite a bit of micro-scratches and few remaining deeper scratches. However, this liquid has altered refraction so it is not really visible when held in room without light refection or held up with light shining though it to your eyes. This is small improvement after metal polish. Notes on this: 1: If I ever decided to sell those (yeah right!) or any other parts done like this, I would disclose it. 2: Floor polish step is easy to make mistakes on. If there is dirt, it will be under very thin coating so it cannot be removed without metal polishing all way down again. Very good cleaning first is highly recommended! You can only touch parts of part drying in this coating where you don't care what those parts looks like. I used sides of windows and plate. (Added: if you want to see original, see reply #17)
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TUTORIAL Posting Deeplinked Images from Brickshelf
Shadows posted a topic in Forum Information and Help
Posting Deeplinked Images from Brickshelf A Tutorial Welcome! Posting an image on Eurobricks is easy, as long as you know where it is. If you already know how to locate the proper URL (address) of your image, skip to step 6 to learn how to post it. When that image is stored on Brickshelf, it's absolutely necessary to get the exact address where the picture is stored before trying to post it. The only way to do that is through deeplinking, which also makes it possible to show images before their folder has been moderated, an added advantage. Fortunately, it's simple: just follow these easy steps. NOTE: These images were taken from Firefox. Different browsers may look different, but the steps involved are the same. 1. Go to www.brickshelf.com and log in to your account. The red circle indicates where to log in. If the file isn't yours, find the account of the user you wish to share the picture from and go there instead. The blue circle offers two ways to search for the user or image. 2. Click the folder that the image is stored in. If it is in a subfolder, click that and keep navigating until you see a thumbnail (tiny image) of the picture you want, then move to the step 3. 3. Find the picture you want to show in your post and click it. 4. You should now see the picture you want. After you click it again, it will look like Step 5. 5. Copy the URL (location) of the image from the address bar of your browser, which is shown here circled in red. The easiest way is to rightclick and select "copy". If you know how to post an image, you can skip the rest and go use the URL you just copied. Good job! 6. Return to the post you are editing and press the "Insert Image" icon. Paste the URL from earlier in the new box. In this example, you're about to post a sigfig to the "Your Sig-fig" thread. 7. Finish your post and submit it. All done! You've now added a deeplinked picture to your post. Congratulations! -
TUTORIAL How to resize pictures using MS Paint
Lord Of Pies posted a topic in Forum Information and Help
How to resize pictures using MS Paint For those who are to lazy to download fancy software! I know that we already have a thread on how to resize pictures using MS paint, but this is in English and the last one was posted some 2 years ago. Also this one has added pirate sets. Anyway on with the tutorial! Despite being pretty primitive compared to say photoshop or over fancy-dancy programmes, MSpaint is readily available on all Windows computers, so you don't have to spend a lot of money on other programmes. Also it is very simple to use so those (like me) who are technologically impaired can use it. Click on Start, all programmes, accessories and then paint Proceed to file and then open and your horrifically large image will appear. After that, click on image and then attributes. This box should open: This is how large your image is at the moment, shown in width and height. This is important as later on you will have to decide how small you want your image to be. Now you know how huge your image is click press OK and again press image, stretch/skew This box will open: Enter in "20" and "20" (Or whatever percentage you want) and the image will shrink to 20 percent of it's original size. (Mine was originally 2560 by 1923 but I shrunk it down to 20% of its original size to 512 by 384) Click OK once you have entered in the percentages. The image will now look like this: (Yes it isn't one of my best photos, but I didn't have any that weren't resized already ) And their you have it! The image has been resized and is ready to be uploaded to an image hosting site and posted on to Eurobricks for all to admire! If any of you have a question just ask and I will attempt to answer it. Also please point out any horrible mistakes I have made. -
Dear All, I don’t know whether this makes much sense or not; I know at least two people (including me) who were interested in how to get “grooves” into Ben Fleskes’ BigBenBricks (BBB) train wheels so that they can be equipped with rubber O-rings. The purpose of running the wheels with O-rings is to (strongly) enhance adhesive forces of engine-powered steam locomotives. This is supposed to be a brief “tutorial” on how to make grooves into BBB train wheels. TLC has its own new version of large flanged train wheels and they have already such a groove. The Emerald Night (#10194) and the Toy Story Train (#7597) feature these wheels. Now, if you’d ask me, BBB L-wheels are actually nicer in their appearance and color as compared to TLC’s version. And at BBB you can choose many different sizes and colors! But: BBB wheels (L or XL) don’t have grooves … so for now, we need to make them on our own. Before we begin, here is a figure to explain things more easily: For BBB L wheels and new LEGO wheels DW = 31 mm. The red LEGO O-ring (shown in black in the figure) has DO = 25 mm and WO = 1.5 mm. The entire machining process is rather straight forward. All you need is: An O-ring which goes into the machined groove. Make your O-ring choice first and then continue. A tool to carefully “grind” the groove into the BBB wheel. Some sort of machinery to continuously spin the BBB train wheel for the grinding process. Here are some details: 1) O-ring choice O-ring width: I’d suggest using an O-ring width ("WO" in Figure 1) of about 1.5 mm. This is more or less matching the red LEGO O-ring width. The Toy Story Train for example comes with red LEGO O-rings. But you can make your own choices! There are tons of different kinds of O-rings out there; just follow the guidelines below and it’ll work. I further suggest that you choose an O-ring with a smooth circular circumference (well, I guess if that is not the case it wouldn't be an O-ring after all ...). O-ring diameter: The O-ring diameter should be “slightly” smaller than the wheel diameter. Example: The large LEGO train wheel diameter at the inner running surface close to the flange (see Figure 1, “DW”) is 31 mm. This is the same for BBB L wheels. The “relaxed” red LEGO O-ring diameter ("DO" in Figure 1) is roughly 25 mm. Summary: A 1.5 mm thick, 25 mm diameter O-ring works perfectly well for large LEGO Train wheels and BBB L wheels. 2) Grinding tool = hand file To actually make the groove you need a hand file. The shape should be rectangular with fine teeth on the short side. Here as an example of a relatively cheap file set (< 10 Euro) I purchased for this purpose: The width of the file should not be larger than the diameter of the O-ring you are going to use. I’d suggest that you use a slightly smaller width than the width of the relaxed O-ring, since it will loose thickness when stretched onto the wheel. For the red LEGO O-ring, a 1.2 mm file works perfectly well - that was by coincidence the width of my cheap file. 3) Machining the wheel There are many ways to more or less constantly spin the wheel; you could use a drill press or an M or XL PF motor bed to spin the wheel: All that is required is a smoothly spinning wheel. Now we need to make the groove. Switch on the power and … … slightly press the file against the wheel flange. You don’t want to grind the flange - just feel its resistance. Once you are there, press the file towars the wheel center, but not to the extent that the wheel stops spinning. Making the groove may take some time but you will see the file eventually going into the material. Be patient(!!!) - don’t melt the plastic due to excessive heating caused by going too fast into the material. From time to time stop and try to get the O-ring into the groove; don’t wrap it all the way around though, it will be rather tough to get the O-ring off again without damage to both, wheel or O-ring: Once the O-ring is “almost entirely” disappearing in the groove you are done. That is a trial and error procedure. With the 1.5 mm thick red LEGO O rings, my groove is about 1.2 mm “deep”. And finally, you should remove any ridges by tilting the file about 45 degrees (the angle doesn’t really matter) and let it “run” carefully over the groove. This should be the ideal result: I guess this is about it. Once you have the O-rings on the wheels, your engine will have strongly increased pulling power – provided the motors are capable of delivering enough torque of course. Maybe this is worth another thread, maybe not: On my BR23, I needed only two O-rings to get full tractive power although there are six driving wheels. In fact putting O-rings on all six wheels made things worse when negotiating curves; I guess this has to do with increased friction forces. On curves, the inner wheels have to travel far less than the outer wheels, but they are mounted onto rigid axles … but I have also heard that four O-rings worked better than two. Oh well, just try it out. There is absolutely no problem at all running BBB wheels with a groove but without an O-ring – so absolutely no harm is done here. After all, TLC’s large train wheels have this groove as well ... Good luck and Play Well, Thorsten
