Remote uncoupling

22/11/2023

Time to revisit the uncoupling issue! I found a lot of my locos bellied on the Hornby/Peco sprung ramps. I bought a Job lot of micro servos a couple of years ago to drive semaphore signals which proved too fragile for motorise operation.
A start on modifying the ramp by reinforcing the underside with 2mm styrene sheet an drilling a 3mm hole to take a section of Albion Alloys 2.4mm square tube SSB2M this is made to slide into Albion Alloys 3.2mm square tube SSB3M.










25/11/2023
Testing the concept on a dummy base board a 4mm hole is drilled though the baseboard between the sleepers to take the 3.2mm square tube to act as the guide for the ramp lift rod it will be soldered to the 12mm wide brass plate to anchor it to the underside of the baseboard. Attached to the ramp is a length of 2.4mm square tube to make the ramp lift rod which will move up driven by the servo motor.

















A manual test proved the setup works as I predicted. In fact it does not matter where on the ramp the couplings are they uncouple due to the ramp moving parallel to the track base Currently I am waiting for a DCC accessory controller board to arrive from Heathcote Electronics.









27/11/2023
The DCC accessory controller board arrived from Heathcote Electronics this morning testing will have to wait. As I am working on the servo eccentric cam I found that 8 gauge white screw caps would make a suitable basis for the cam I block of plywood is cut to make the standoff to mount the servo.








I have a MegaPoints Servo Controller from the aborted semaphore signals project which I hope to interface with the Heathcote Electronics DCC accessory controller board to drive the uncoupling ramps located in the station termini 3 in each end of the layout. This afternoon testing the concept on the dummy base board using the MegaPoints Servo Controller worked lifting the ramp up by 2-3 mm see the video

28/11/2023
The finishing tape is almost in sight! I spent an hour or so in the loft wiring up the dummy base board to the MegaPoints Servo Controller [only the one servo]; programmed the Heathcote Electronics DCC accessory to address 100 and interfaced the two boards using the opto isolator output yes it worked now I have some fine fettling to do on the servo eccentric cam and lift rod before I make 6 identical units.


29/11/2023 07:45

Continuing refining the design I knew I had some clear plastic rod stashed away in the workshop, eventually I found the elusive ½ inch round Perspex bar; I will use this to replace the 8 gauge white screw caps I’ll part off several 5mm disks for the cams later today.


6 block of plywood cut to make the standoff to mount the servo.

Guess who bought a tractor from Great Eastern Models?

 

18/11/2023

I succumbed to purchasing another locomotive this time a Class 37/0 D6704 from Accurascale sound fitted from the factory like all Accurascale locos I have I can’t fault it. I have only run it in on the rolling road and taken it one length of the layout 24 feet!

https://www.greateasternmodels.co.uk/

 

Police declare a serious incident on the Pix Valley heritage railway.

 

15/11/2023 Police declare a serious incident outside Arlesworth model railway society on the Pix Valley heritage railway. A club member noticed something strange lying inside the burnt out railway van. Fearing the worse Mr Alfred Notstanding called the police and ambulance. When the police arrived they discovered a body inside. The ambulance crew on arrival provisionally declared a man had deceased inside the old railway van. It is believed the deceased man was a rough sleeper, foul play is not suspected

Card Cutting Jig

11/11/2023

Cutting parallel strips from Styrene Sheet keeping them uniform size is not the easiest task to perform. I need to cut many strips of 1mm Styrene Sheet 17mm wide for the carcass of some platforms I am building. 

Starting with some 12mm MDF I glued a well used cutting mat face down using spray contact adhesive to make the cutting table. 2 strips of mild steel 3 x15mm and 3 x 25mm are cut to 420mm the width of the cutting table. The narrower strip will be the datum stop and the wider strip the cutting fence. The datum stop is screwed to the cutting table while the cutting fence has the indexing holes reamed to 5/16” and 3/8” brass tube press into the cutting table again reamed to 5/16” to accept the mild steel locating pins. NB.I used imperial stock bar as that is what was to hand in my workshop!

12/11/2023 Temporary fixing screws holes drilled screws fitted to set the cutting fence to 17mm the pilot dowel is fitted into the left to drill pilot holes of 4mm diameter to enable the 3/8” brass tubes to be pressed into the cutting table.

Pilot holes of 3.5mm diameter opened up to 9.5 mm 

Brass bushing pressed into the cutting table 5/16” dowels fettled into place. Oh the “Align Here” label covers two holes that are not required! Okay hand up I made a miscalculation. 

I finished off today with keeper plates and rubber feet to the underside of the cutting table. 

13/11/2023 Again temporary fixing screws holes drilled screws fitted to set the cutting fence to 50mm the pilot dowel is fitted into the left to drill pilot holes of 3.5mm diameter to enable the 3/8” brass bushing to be pressed into the cutting table.

Pilot holes of 3.5mm diameter opened up to 9.5 mm Brass bushing pressed into the cutting table 5/16” dowels.

A loose datum stop marked 30 will be used to cut strips 30mm by placing it against  the fixed datum stop I have ordered a 25mm bar so strips 25mm can be cut.