Wood screws not to be trusted for Pembroke turntable realignment

Just once, I wish something would go easily! I installed the turntable in its pit the other day, and the observant among you may have noticed something is not quite right with the vertical alignment. It’s more than I can easily correct with sanding, but fortunately, the reason was easy to diagnose: the wheels were […]

Let a decorator choose the fascia colour?

I spent yesterday painting the garage. At one point, I had a roller full of primer, and so, I went about the house looking for things that needed to be primed. The fascia has been waiting for just such a moment since Andrew and I installed it seven months ago. So, I quickly spread out […]

Turntable and roundhouse requires handlaid track

Over the last couple of evenings, I’ve put in the ties and timbers for the tracks around the turntable and into the roundhouse. It’s hard to imagine how you would achieve this without handlaying the track. Mercifully, for most of us, it’s all just plain track – no turnouts – and so, relatively straightforward. Handlaying […]

Timbers at turntable edge should overlap

I had been wondering how to deal with the rather tight curvature of the timbers at the edge of the turntable pit. In my head, they were ties, with a scallop cut into them. That could work for the two outer tracks, but what about the middle track? It either gets no tie at the […]

Roundhouse doors may be too close for magnets

It’s been a rainy weekend here in Vancouver – at last! The kids and I spent a lazy afternoon raking through the Lego. They’re working on some very inventive cars, and I’m plugging away at mocking up the mechanism for the roundhouse doors. I foolishly went out into yesterday’s storm to get some magnets at Lee […]

Roundhouse pits should be oversize in baseboards

What was I thinking when I routed out the inspections pits in the baseboard? I made them just slightly over 4′ wide, which is the correct width. However, I left almost no space for a veneer of any sort. The result was that I was forced into making concrete pits with .010″ thick walls. Following […]

Forward at last: Pembroke turntable pit installed

One of the nice things about keeping a blog is that you can look back and see how long ago you started thinking you were at the point you are now. This stall with the turntable drive has been exactly a month, but last night I declared victory and installed the pit and drive in the […]

Driving roundhouse doors magnetically takes more metal than expected

I arrived home this evening to find the Boy had taken a stab at working up the roundhouse door mechanism in Lego. Like all the people on my team at work, he had very high-level instructions, and as with them, he exceeded my expectations. I’m sure there are more bevel gears in his collection, and […]

Turntable wheel drive looks successful

I think Mark Dance’s idea of driving this turntable with a wheel riding out near the edge of the table is going to work! Rather than dig into the Lego for real, I made my own wheel from some O-rings and brass and 1/2″ styrene tube. The 1/2″ wheel yields about nine turns for a […]

Another Idea for Roundhouse Doors

My friend Mark Dance has been coming up with all sorts of ideas for mechanisms for Pembroke lately. This week, he sketched an alternative mechanism for opening and closing the roundhouse doors. I’ve reproduced his sketch here, along with my usual ruminations. Mark’s idea is to use Lego bevel gears on a shaft that can […]