Point Operation Part 4

 A good morning with a task achieved which I was dreading! Creating and fitting the operating rods that pass through the baseboard from a servo and through the small hole in the tie-bar of the point. I took my time with the 1st one, but it was easier than I thought it was going to be.

2 bends in the end of the piece of 0.6mm wire to attach to the servo horn

Wire hooked onto the servo horn

The hole in the point tie bar that the wire has to go through

1st servo refitted with the operating wire passing through the baseboard

The operating wire on the track side of the baseboard

Operating wire cut down to length

1st pair completed, 2nd pair were also completed

I created the 4 jumper wires which will connect the track wiring across the 2 baseboard joints.

One pair of inter-baseboard jumpers made and fitted to one baseboard

Second pair of inter-baseboard jumpers made and fitted to the other baseboard

After lunch I glued 5 pieces of track down onto the baseboard using Evostik, the rest of the track is held in place with the drop wires enough until I ballast the track.

Siding on the left-hand baseboard glued down

Siding on the right-hand baseboard glued down

3 long straight lengths of track on the central baseboard glued down

Keith

Point Operation Part 3

 This afternoon some small washers arrived in a very big bag!

New washers fitted to one of the servo mounting blocks

Washers fitted to the Smartswitch

Washers fitted to one of the Smartfrogs

Both Smartfrogs and servo mounting blocks now fitted with washers

Bad light stopped play. ☁️

Keith

Point Operation Part 2

 Second and final pair of servos temporarily fitted  to the central baseboard this morning. That is as far as I can go at the moment as I am awaiting washers and wire in the post to be able to proceed further, no rush. 😊

Keith

Point Operation Part 1

 I have assembled all 4 servos into their mounting brackets and attached the servo horns (the white plastic arms) then I temporarily fitted 2 of them onto the left-hand baseboard (I say temporarily as I am awaiting some washers in the post as the screw heads pull through the holes in the brackets, and wider screws would be too long).

2 of the servos temporarily fitted and cables secured in clips

Keith

Track Wiring Part 7

 This afternoon I fixed a dummy mains socket and back plate underneath the central baseboard so that I can plug the plug-top transformer for the Smartswitch and Smartfrogs in, when not in use.

I also wired up the 2 isolation switches on the left-hand baseboard 

The completed track wiring on the left-hand baseboard

Keith

Track Wiring Part 6

 This morning I had a rethink and decided to move the 5 boxes associated with the Smartswitch to give easier access for wiring up. The first 3 photos are the original positions.

Original position of the main Smartswitch box on the central baseboard

Original position of the 2 Smartfrogs on the central baseboard

Original position of the other 2 Smartfrogs on the right-hand baseboard

Main Smartswitch box and 2 Smartfrog boxes on the central baseboard repositioned as well as the connecting block for the power lead

2 Smartfrog boxes on the right-hand baseboard repositioned

This afternoon I completed the track wiring on the 3rd and final baseboard, all ready for soldering tomorrow.

One quarter of the baseboard marked up with identifying colours ready for wiring

3rd and final baseboard track wiring completed ready for soldering

This is all that is left of the 10 metres of wire I purchased for the job

Keith

Track Wiring Part 5

 The new wire arrived this morning, but first I had to do some more mistake recovery.

I discovered that one of the servos to operate one of the points is where one of the legs was, so I have had to move the leg.

The moved leg to allow the servo to be fitted under the point on the left-hand end baseboard

The last remaining piece of red wire fitted and soldered on the central baseboard

2 Smartfrogs fitted under the left-hand end baseboard

2 Smartfrogs fitted under the central baseboard

Main Smartswitch box fitted under central baseboard which will control the 4 points

Power lead for the Smartswitch cut and attached to a terminal block to allow distribution of power to the Smartfrogs and also plugged into the Smartswitch

Plug top transformer fitted and its cable securely fixed to the underside of the central baseboard

Keith

Track Wiring Part 4

Not a lot done today for 2 reasons, I spent quite a bit of time correcting mistakes I made yesterday in the wiring, and I have used all the red and black wire I had, I am awaiting more in the post 😞 but I did manage to fit and solder all the black wiring. 😄

Black wiring on the central baseboard completed, I just need a length of red to complete this baseboard

Closeup of the major wiring on the central baseboard

Keith

Track Wiring Part 3

 Not a lot achieved today on the central baseboard, I have used the last of the red wire and awaiting more in the post, but I did wire up 2 of the switches which isolate sections of track.

Nearly all the red wiring completed

The isolating switch for the siding wired in

The isolating switch wired in which switches power between the station track and the passing loop

Poor natural light stopped play again.

Keith

Track Wiring Part 2

 Today I completed wiring the 1st baseboard and made a start on the central baseboard

The black wires fitted today which completes the wiring of this 1st baseboard

As before I marked up the panel pins on the central baseboard to identify which colour wire goes where, with the additional 2 markings with the red/black parallel lines to denote the frogs of the 2 points.

The start of wiring the central baseboard before poor light stopped play (and a cup of tea!)

Keith

Track Wiring Part 1

 I made a start on wiring the right hand baseboard today.

16v AC wires (blue & orange) passing from this baseboard to the central baseboard

Drop wires marked red and black to identify what colour wire goes to which panel pin

Making good use of my hand weight again

I marked the isolating section in the siding with a letter I

Connecting the isolating section to the switch on the front of the baseboard

Part of the red wiring soldered to the panel pins in one quarter of the baseboard

The red wiring is completed on this baseboard

Bad light stopped play. ☹️

Keith