A Tease and a Tip

The control panel is mounted!

But this is just a tease for now - although it looks like it's done done, with LEDs lit up and all, it actually still needs to have all the switch machine power wires connected. I'll get into that when I do my post on control panel wiring. Click on the image to embiggen, It should be at least a little reminiscent of this:

Of course, I don't have an actual tower to mount the panel in, but mounting it above the Agent/Operator's desk I have is the next best thing, I think.

So I just have a little bit of wiring left to do. I've mentioned before How Much Wiring there is in this thing - and it's not even that complicated! But I had to wire up a dozen DPDT toggle switches (the first 6 were done by Pieter and Dick - thanks again guys!) and they had to be wired so that I could reverse polarity (and thereby, reverse the direction of the switch motor and move the points on the turnouts). That meant I had to come up with a good way of making that little "X" of wires that has to go between 4 of the 6 poles on a little DPDT toggle.

So here's a tip I came up with - follow along and let me know if it makes wiring these things easier for you too...

We'll actually start at the end - the above pic is where I had to end up for Every Single Toggle.

• Two wires pointed straight down off the bottom two poles go to the LED panel indicator bulbs;
• Two wires pointed down at an angle & connected to the middle two poles go to the power supply wires;
• Two wires pointed out the "top" & connected to the top two poles go to the switch machine.

The wires I'm gonna show you how to do - and which were really difficult for me to do until I figured this out - are the ones going from "southwest" (lower left pole) to "northeast" (upper right pole) and vice versa ("southeast" to "northwest"). These are the wires that allow the toggle to reverse polarity.

The key is to remove about 1" of insulation from the end of the wire, then make a loop to go around the first pole. The pic above shows what you're trying to accomplish.

Here's a better pic (above) showing how I start. I've done the red wire already and just started the white wire, having removed 1" of insulation and made my loop.

Then I slide the insulation back on and mark where to cut it.

Next, I take the insulation back off, cut it, slide it back on, and make my "hook" in the end of the wire - like this:

It actually takes about as long to describe as it does to do. But, as you can see, the result is a VERY compact wiring job that keeps everything all nice and snug and - most important - insulated.

At this point, all I had to do is add a little flux and solder. Alhough the resulting "mechanical" joints are actually pretty strong all by themselves, you'll still want to solder the connections to keep things from coming loose.

If you try this out, be sure to let me know how it works out for you. And if you have a better - or even just a different - way to do this, let me know!

Finally - one last little gimme tip:

Poor (& lazy) Man's Power Tester

It's not bad enough that I'm so cheap I actually wired up an old 12v bulb to two alligator clips for testing track and such (rather than buy an actual current tester). But I was also too lazy to remove wires I'd already screwed into the terminal strip to test them (I'd forgotten to test them beforehand). No problem - just clip your El Cheapo tester to a couple of scrap pieces of wire and stick'em into the strip.

Looks like the wires work after all! (just don't stick those wires into a wall socket...)

I've got a small work session planned for tomorrow evening wherein I'll (hopefully) finish up the control panel wiring and test all the switch machines. Here's hoping everything goes smoothly. . . As much as I've enjoyed doing the control panel and am very happy with how it's coming out, I'll be ready to dive into something new.

Speaking of which, what are your thoughts on Tortoise switch machines? I have just a few more turnouts I'd like to power and am considering trying them out . . .

Control Panel Construction

Layout progress often occurs in fits and starts - and it's seldom linear. Sometimes you'll be working on benchwork, sometimes on track, sometimes on scenery, structures or rolling stock. I've been working on my control panel lately - otherwise known as the Old Saybrook Model Board.

A Model Board is basically a control panel in an interlocking tower that will allow a tower operator to operate switches (turnouts) remotely from the tower. I first introduced the need for such a panel in this post and then shared some of the construction mistakes I've made along the way.

Now that's I've started wiring it up though, I figured it was safe to share some build/progress photos and a short description of how I went about it.

The first step is to make up the track diagram. I'd started by using Atlas Right Track software, but you could use Paint or some other graphics program of your choosing. Friend BillS offered to clean up my diagram (actually, he redid it) and sent it back to me in a PDF file in the dimensions I needed:

Here's a printout of what he sent. It was large enough (approx 12" x 31") that I needed to take it to Staples (which has the ability to do large printouts) to get it printed. Cost me $4 for each print (would have been cheaper if it had been just a little smaller, but I needed the next-larger size). The photo above shows my starting to mark where to cut it down to the precise size I needed.

I plan to mount the panel on the wall above my operator's desk, but I knew it'd be much too heavy to just hang like a picture. So the panel itself is mounted on a plywood board back, which is wide enough to reach across the studs on the wall. I'll screw it directly into the studs.

The frame of the panel is made up of 1x3 boards which are secured to the plywood back. No particular reason for 1x3s other than I had them on-hand. But if you're mounting your panel to the wall, you do need for it to be deep enough to accommodate toggles and wiring.

Attaching the plywood back to the 1x3s

Considering the size of the panel, I used 1/4" thick masonite for rigidity, but beware - as I discovered, this thickness is a bit too thick for toggles and the LED bulbs typically used in such panels. It ended up being ok, with some modifications (namely, routing out the back to accommodate the toggles), but be mindful of the balance between rigidity and ease-of-installing the components you want.

I attached the masonite panel front to the 1x3 frame using a loooong piano hinge. Best. Thing. Ever. I'd considered using some door hinges that I had on-hand, but for the $10 the piano hinge cost me, I have the peace of mind that the panel will never go askew. As you can see above, I clamped the hinge in place to hold it while I drilled the pilot holes for the screws. By the way, after much debate with myself, I decided to mount the hinge on the outside of the box - I think it works better that way, but YMMV.

I also used three cabinet magnets to hold the panel in place when closed. Since the whole thing will be mounted vertically on the wall, I couldn't rely on gravity to keep it from flying open. Just note where the toggles & LEDs will go - that you don't end up running into where the magnets are and have to move them. Ask me how I know.

I also prepainted the framing flat black, in keeping with the prototype.
(Sidebar tip: The panel is actually "Floquil Grimy Black" - but don't worry, I didn't used a bazillion 2oz bottles and a tiny brush. I made up a paint sample of the Floquil color and took it to Home Depot for them to make up a quart of flat to match. I wouldn't try airbrushing it, but keep this little tip in mind in case you have particular colors you want to match to paint larger things like fascia, valences, walls, etc.)

Now it's really coming together! I temporarily clamped the diagram to the masonite, after having punched holes along the bottom to accommodate the piano hinge screws that were poking up through the panel (and would poke through even more if I'd used 1/8" masonite). Those screws will be covered later by some molding. To avoid tearing too much much of the paper, I drilled small (1/8") pilot holes through the paper into the masonite everywhere there would be a panel light or a toggle.

Then I removed the paper and used the pilot holes as a guide for drilling the final 1/4" holes.

Next I ran glue stick over the whole face of the panel and mounted the paper diagram - carefully lining it up with the edges and smoothing it out from the center. Then it was just a matter of using one of the LED bulbs to finish punching holes in the paper to the proper diameter. Bonus: any rough paper edges would go into the hole.

Here's the final product - with molding in place. Those 3/4" corner moldings actually turned out to be the most expensive part of the project. I used my power miter saw to cut the 45 degree angles and used my table saw to rip off the side of the bottom molding. I also marked on the back of the bottom molding where the hinge screws were poking up and drilled dimples into the molding (using the tip of an 1/8" drill bit) to provide clearance for them, thus:

Don't worry - the recesses actually do line up. I just had moved the molding to one side. Just be very careful not to drill all the way through.

As you can see, that bottom molding sits nice and snug over the pointy bits from the hinge. The ripped off side of the (previously corner) molding allows the panel to open fully.

And here it is open and I'm just starting to do the wiring (you can see the LED wires poking up there at the right).

I'm really, really happy with how this all came out, despite a couple challenges along the way. While I've built plenty of benchwork - and am pretty good at it - I'm no carpenter and I've never built anything close to cabinet level stuff. This hardly qualifies as high-end cabinetry, but it's the closest I'll probably ever get.

Bottom line though is that it'll do the job. After I finish installing all the wiring (which I'll cover in a future post), I'll mount it to the wall and start connecting all the switch machine wires. Then, with all those toggles and lights operating, it'll really look - and operate - like a true interlocking tower model board!

I hope you'll take some encouragement from my experience here to try building your own panel - and if you do, be sure to let me know how it goes!

Wordless Wednesday #94 - Name That Location

Any idea where this is?

Spade Bit Router

Thanks to all of you that weighed in with tips/suggestions for how to salvage my control panel after last week's debacle. Taking some of that advice, and using tools I have on-hand, I solved the problem of a control panel board that was too thick . . .

Yup, I went ahead and used a spade bit and power drill, freehand. I figured I really had nothing to lose if things went badly - I'd already resigned myself to totally redoing the board.

But, as you can see, it turned out fine. Granted, doing this isn't for the faint-of-heart - and I took my time and vacuumed out bits regularly to keep track of my progress. My toggles are 1/2" square, so I used a 5/8" spade bit hoping that was large enough to clear. It mostly is, but it would have been even better if I'd had a slightly larger bit, which I don't.

The only downside (other than the high risk) is that the spade bit has two little "points" on each side of the blade which results in that "trough" you see right at the outer edge of the hole. You have to be really careful that those points don't come through the other side of the board. The upside is that I already had 1/4" holes drilled, and the center point of the spade bit used that for centering. So everything came out nice and straight.

Lest you think I'm getting a little cocky, I readily and heartily admit that I would not have even attempted this if this was plywood rather than masonite. Fortunately, the masonite behaves really well - provided you drill slowly and steadily.

With recesses made for all the toggles, I could start on the very long and tedious process of wiring everything up. What you see above are the toggles, and for each toggle two wires going down to the power bus, two wires going down to the LEDs and resistors, and two wires going up to the terminal strip (where the wires from the switch machines will come in and connect). Thanks to Pieter and Dick, these six toggles were already prewired for me - and it still took me a couple of evenings to even get this far. I have the remaining 7 toggles to wire up myself - which will slow things down further.

And all this just so I can have remote operation of a dozen turnouts with panel indicators. I shudder to think of what all is involved in building and wiring up a full CTC board and signalling system! At least I only have to do this once (I hope!)

Trains Better Than Cars? - Discuss . . .

It should come as no surprise that I like trains. I like trains in just about all forms: steam, diesel, electric, standard gauge, narrow gauge, etc. (I'm not so sure about monorail or mag lev though...) So it shouldn't surprise you that I like riding trains too - and would generally prefer to take a train "no matter where it's going" (to paraphrase a poet).

So why is it just so often so godawful to do so?

I'm not talking about tourist trains, of course. There, the whole point is the novelty of the journey.

I'm talking about taking a train the way it was originally intended - as actual transportation.

Case in point:

I'm planning to attend the New Haven Railroad Historical & Technical Association's Annual Reunion in Stamford, CT. I live in Old Saybrook, CT. There's a railroad track connecting these two towns and there's not just one, but three passenger train services on this route (though only two real choices @ Saybrook).

So the Big First Problem is solved: there's actually a train I can take (So Not True for most of America). So I have options (though not anywhere near as many as our grandparents did). But let's look at those options . . .

Option 1 - Amtrak

The United States' inter-city passenger service actually runs through Old Saybrook and can get me to Stamford - which is a real blessing, considering all the places in the country Amtrak doesn't even get close to. Problem is - it's WAY too expensive to use.

Travel Time: 1hr 22 mins
Cost: $56
Notes: Direct (one-seat) travel with no connection, but arrives in Stamford an hour later than needed.

Option 2 - Shoreline East/Metro-North

Since the 1990s, we in Old Saybrook have had the added advantage of a state-owned (though Amtrak operated) local train service from New London to New Haven. So I at least don't have to pay an Amtrak fare to get to New Haven, but once I get there I still need to get to Stamford. That's where the nation's busiest commuter railroad - Metro-North - comes in. M-N will get me from New Haven to Stamford, but I'll have to change trains in New Haven first.

Travel Time: 2 hours
Cost: $14 ($6.75 SLE/$7/25 M-N)
Notes: Scheduled to arrive in Stamford with 5 minutes to spare, but that's assuming the train is on time. Also, have to change trains in New Haven and the schedule allows 5 minutes for the transfer (and NH->Stamford ticket purchase). Fine if the train's on-time; not so fine if it isn't.

Option 3 - Drive my truck

I have a 2004 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck. Not exactly a fuel-efficient vehicle, but it's mine and it's paid for. On a good day, it'll get 23 or so MPG on the highway. It's all highway for the 70 miles from Saybrook to Stamford, but for ease of math I'll figure on just 20mpg.

Travel Time: 1hr 6 mins
Cost: $7.70 (70 miles at 20mpg & $2.20/gal for gas)
Notes: Make it an even $8 (heck, even $9 for oil, insurance, maintenance, etc) and driving my truck is a clear bargain compared to taking the train. And these figures are only one-way Saybrook to Stamford - double the figures for round trip and the savings is even more obvious. It costs almost double to take the train versus driving - both in terms of money and time.

Sure, it's "cooler" to take the train - especially for a train buff. And I can sleep/read/daydream on the way, which I can't do when driving (well, I can daydream I s'pose). But are those benefits really worth paying twice as much for and taking twice as much of my time?

I'd love to know what you think!

"Uh, oh..." he said (Tortoise vs. Micro-Mark switch machines)

You probably realize that I became a quick fan of Micro-Mark's "Switch Tender" switch machine after my friend Pete (who uses them extensively on his layout) loaned me one and I discovered first-hand how incredibly easy they are to install. I hadn't planned on powering any of my turnouts, but as I got more into researching and building Old Saybrook I realized that having turnouts operated remotely by the tower would be as cool as it would be prototypical so I started looking around for machines.

I'd always assumed that I would go with the ever-popular, industry-standard Tortoise machine, but the cost ($18 each) and instruction sheet were both pretty intimidating. So when the Switch Tender went in so quickly and I saw I could get them for under $14 each, I figured I had a winner. I only needed machines to move the points - I wasn't planning on signals or any other fancy stuff, so all those "extra" contacts on the Tortoise machine would just be wasted money and increased complication. Consequently, I now have an even dozen Switch Tenders installed on my layout.

Well, it turns out my analysis may have been woefully short-sighted and based on a false economy.

My rethinking started when I couldn't get the machines to work with my LED indicators. I did eventually get everything to work together, but in the meantime I got a text from my friend Randy about why the Micro-Mark machines might not work as expected:

"Uh oh ... http://tonysdcc.com/technews/mmark-switch-tender.htm"

The link is to an article comparing the Switch Tender to the Tortoise. Suffice it to say the Switch Tender comes out very poorly. Here are the highlights:

• The Switch Tender (ST) has a stall current of 65ma (4x greater than the Tortoise) and a throw draw of 26ma (8x greater than the Tortoise), so a 50 ST machine layout would need 3.25 amps of power, compared to less than 1 amp for the Tortoise.
• "The high current draw of the Switch Tender also eliminates the possiblity of wiring LEDs directly in series with the motor for panel indications..." (emphasis added, since this is what I experienced - and this likely precludes my connecting trackside signals to the motor power supply wires).
• The ST is supplied with a 150 ohm resistor to protect the motor when it's stalled. Increasing the resistor to 300 ohms results in a motor that won't even move. Apparently, Micro-Mark "selected their resistor to provide the minimum value of protection to a stalled motor, which was not designed to be stalled."
• The higher current draw makes using DCC stationary decoders impractical.
• The ST exerts 5.5-6 oz of thrust on the points of the turnout, compared to less than an ounce of torque supplied by the Tortoise. The direct coupling the ST requires between the motor and the points may result in failure of the turnout points over time.
• The ST provides no switching or other auxiliary contacts for frog powering, signaling, panel indicators, etc.

Now, to be fair, some of these shortcomings are what keeps the price down. If you don't need extra contacts, for example, why pay for them? At least that was the lion's share of my reasoning. I'm pretty confident I have a good workaround that will allow me to use panel light indicators (addressing the 2nd bullet point above), and I have only 12 ST machines - well under the 1-amp-per-16-machines that Micro-Mark recommends (and discloses, to their credit). That takes care of the 1st bullet. And I don't use - nor do I ever plan to use - stationary decoders with the machines. So bullet 4 isn't an issue for me.

But the other issues bother me - especially how stalling is handled and how much stress the machine puts on the turnout points. The stalling issue probably explains the constant, relatively loud hum I hear whenever the machine is on. I don't know what to do about the points. I'm hoping Micro-Engineering turnouts can handle the pressure.

Bottom Line: I'm still apprehensive about how difficult the Tortoise machines may be to install, but - admittedly - I've never actually tried to install one. And the ST install is a little more complicated since you need to add "stop screws" to keep the bracket from twisting over time. So if I had it all to do over again, I'd probably suck it up and use the Tortoises. We're only talking $4 difference per unit. Sure, at dozens of machines, that can make a huge difference.

But at just one dozen? It's just $48 - chump change in the grand scheme of layout costs. And that's not counting (perhaps the inevitable cost in time and money of) eventual/inevitable replacement of turnouts/broken points and burned-out switch machines. And $48 is certainly worth the peace of mind that comes with using the industry standard.

Mea culpa - caveat emptor - YMMV

At least I'll be giving the Micro Mark machines a good beta test over time - and you'll be the lucky beneficiaries of what I discover in actual, day-to-day operation.

LED Indicators for Micro Mark Switch Machines

Yes, it CAN be done!

In my last post I shared my frustration with getting LED indicators to work with Micro Mark switch machines. Unlike other switch machines, they have no additional contacts - just two power wires coming in. But I figured it had to be possible to have control panel indicator lights work with them, and I finally found an article that showed me how to do it.

Here's the diagram that's included in the article:

Interestingly, the text of the article mentions using Miniatronics LEDs & resistors (#12-050-18), but the diagram shows using a 1K resistor, while the Miniatronics includes only 470 ohm resistors. Also, the diagram shows a 9VDC power supply, while I plan to use a 12VDC power pack. Finally, while it's not labeled on the diagram, those arrows pointing "northeast" are the wires going to the switch machine.

Figuring I'd be no worse off than my previous testing, I decided to use what I had on-hand (the Miniatronics resistors/bulbs and the 12VDC power supply).

To secure everything, I decided to temporarily mount it all to a scrap of masonite. Yes, it's 1/8" masonite.

And here's the back view - I just wire-nutted everything together according to the diagram. The toggle had been wired/soldered during a previous work session.

Believe it or not, this cobbled-together monstrosity actually worked! "The proof is in the pudding" as they say - or, in this case, the proof is in the YouTube....

So it looks like I'll be able to proceed as I'd planned, using Micro Mark switch machines with LED indicators on a control board.

Oh yeah, the control board. . . . I still haven't figured out how I'm going to proceed with that (see this post for the problem). Since (I think) I've solved the more complicated wiring issue, I'm leaning toward just redoing the board with thinner (1/8" thick) masonite. But I got some great feedback/suggestions so I may try and rout out the back of the board where the toggles are. Probably the best way to do this would be to use a drill press and a forstner bit (thanks for the suggestion Mike!), but all I have is a drill and a spade bit - so I may try and wing it with those. Stay tuned!