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Grasy Rail Lines

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11K views 33 replies 13 participants last post by  Bonz85  
#1 ·
Broken ground on the construction. Benchwork in progress.
Working version of track plan can be seen here
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#3 ·
thank you Magic )

vinyl foam underlayment glued in lower staging area. should provide some sound isolation on the cheap (have a bunch leftover from flooring proj).
mocking up metal supports for the upper level. tested reach and
tried arranging the yard ladder.

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helix WIP.

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#14 ·
thanks Michael

Climb to the top level is complete.
I need to do something with layout lighting.

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Wiring and installing servo switch machines. It takes full range of motion of the motor to throw the switch, some springiness in the piano wire linkage holds the point to stock.
Limit switch powers the electro-frog.

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#16 ·
finished building walthers bascule bridge kit. Normally I absolutely enjoy building kits, not this one though, was quite an agriveating experience for some reason. not removing parts from sprues early was really good idea. some lift mechanism parts were broken, managed to rebuild the axles and retain lifting functionality. now I need to overcome the disgust ant paint the damn thing.

bridge is on a side swing gate for entry, working on magnetic latch and contactors for power.

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overall view, basically a modest 10x8

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#22 ·
Thank you Michael and Joe )

Separation between levels ended up at 9.75 inches. I still have reasonable clearance for rolling stock handling on lower level as the top surface is only 2.5 inches thick including the foam.

Lenonhawk, helix is R24. Tested to be sufficient to pull longest train I would want to store on bottom

Progress :
Mainline underlayment is glued. I'm still debating on exact location and shape of industry sidings to the north of the mainline.
 

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#25 ·
Cardboard lattice is time consuming to create, but it is strong and semi-rigid even before the outer terrain covering is affixed.
 
#27 ·
with most of the trackwork complete i'm focusing on wiring and electronics. desided to keep the digitrax decoder to drive the 4 peco coil switch motors I have in engine yard. decoder will only be used as capacitor discharge unit. rest of the turnouts use servo motors and are driven with 3 PCA9685 controllers connected to dedicated Arduino Nano as interface. Same Arduino will command the DS64 via opto-isolated circuit. created a quick sketch testing connectivity to JMRI via C/MRI - its a GO.

not so good on the detection side. as documented by other modelers ACS712 sensors are just not sensitive enough , current that typical HO engine pulls is barely above noise level of those devices (I did attempt noise filtering). not sure how I missed that fact while researching :( already took the wires out but decided to take a picture before removing the devices.
plan B is Current Transformers. Ordered, but it looks like there are significant delays getting stuff from corona-virus'ed China.

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installed and stained most fascia boards and toned down that hot pink insulation some - now things look a bit more civilized.
Installed Dell all-in-one PC on a pivot mount. will serve as decided JMRI PC, digital touchscreen control panel and makes for a very convenient workstation for everything programming. youtube music - bonus :)
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