Rewiring #10

This evening, I finally found time to test out the super-thin motor leads for #10. It looks like they should work. First I installed the motor, and verified that there were no shorts between the frames and either lead. The most likely failure here would have been at the gearbox flange, where the tissue paper […]

Revisiting the Light Wash

Eighteen months ago, Andrew and I ran some experiments to see if I could improve the effect of light washing up the backdrop. I was disappointed with the result, being too subtle to simulate sunrise or sunset. I was pretty much ready to replace the RGB strips with a simple white strip. This week, I […]

Cricut Installed

One of the challenges with getting computer equipment is where to put it. So many devices have curvy corners and odd shapes and a need for odd footprints. They all have wires that need to connect to something, even if it is only for power. So, it was with glee that I found that the […]

Experiments with Precision Cricutting

Because my experiments getting my Cricut to cut N scale window mullions yielded mixed results, I did some experiments this evening to see if I could improve. Because my initial panes seemed to be undersized, I started by cutting some 1″ squares in card. From Design Space, these turned out to be surprisingly accurate, and […]

Cricutting Styrene

It took a fair amount of experimentation, gradually increasing pressure and number of passes, but I finally got my Cricut Explore to cut all the way through .010″ styrene. With my regular blade, it takes 5 passes at 300 g pressure to cut through. Members of the Facebook group say that it should take fewer cuts with […]

Thin motor leads for #10

Having removed the original decoder, I am now well and truly past the point of no return for rewiring #10. I put the boiler back on temporarily to confirm that there is indeed space for my .0055″ leads to squeeze through. I made up some test leads and threaded them through, and found that they do indeed […]

Thinner insulation for #10

As I mentioned, clearance inside #10’s boiler is very tight. To route power to the far end of the boiler, I am going to try copper foil tape. The stuff I found is .0025″ thick, but uninsulated. As it’s going to stick to the sides of the motor/flywheel assembly, I need a thin layer of […]

Inkscape and Cricut

As I mentioned yesterday, I was very happy that the first attempt to get something to cut with the Cricut was successful. However, the Cricut Design Space program is pretty much useless for composing all but the simplest shapes, and so, I cast about for a free drawing program. I happened across Inkscape, which feels familiar […]

Cricut – a new tool in the workshop

Happy Christmas to one and all! I hope Santa was nice to you. Here in North Vancouver, he didn’t disappoint: I found a Cricut Explore Air under our tree! Well, actually not under the tree, per se, because it didn’t fit, but it was in the vicinity and it had my name on it. The […]

Tuning #10: the point of no return

Oh, boy, what am I doing? I’ve decided that #10 wants more weight. If Pembroke were flat as a pool table, I could probably get away with it the way it is. However, I wound up building the station tracks on a slight grade, as the prototype was. The unfortunate result is that this little […]