well while i was here i thought i should post some up dates to my now shorter layout. ive removed a lot of track . i just was not happy with that at all. but i do like this section so i kept it. im still waiting on monies for new bench work , prob gunna be some sorta module system for sure. but untill then . the yard pic is a temp setup still working out the bugs..... i cant remember if i had started a thread on my layout or not dont even know how to find it if i did....
Ive found and built a very good cleaning car 4 of them so far one for each train running. I modified the car found on thingy verse to my specks(much better looking in my opinion) . i used CMX cleaning car fabric on the rollers. while the trains are in motion i spray a lil bit of CRC cleaner fluid on the rollers and that seems to be the best track cleaning for me so far. these are super easy to use and clean too. i attached the fabric to the rollers with some tacky glue , let that dry completely then when time to clean those rollers i just take them and spray them with the same CRC cleaner spray. works great. no more scrubbing , no more sanding , no more nuttin . I just run trains. so far this has been the best system for me.
How did you add weight to the roller? I can imagine a 3D printed part like the roller being very light.
i did not add any weight to the rollers they work great just like they are. But i did add a penny to the cars and some gravel with glue. they seem to be working really well. The rollers are lite but work well. i did make one that was hollow so i could add a penny, But it simply did not work as good. With them being lite weight , when i spray the CRC cleaner on them they stop rolling and kinda drag around the track once then start rolling again. This really cleans that way. i need ideas for tops for these cars so they look like some other kinda car ????
You could print them to look like a boxcar...like Aztec did. Or just print tops that look like boxcar roofs. Maybe leave the tops off and make them look like gondolas.
Sid thanks for the info. Can you post a link to the item on thingiverse? I'm going to try NO OX ID A Special since I've read so many good things about it .... .... but if I'm not happy I'm interested in trying the cleaning cars. I've also had good help with the CRC but would like to find something that last longer. There was also an interesting article in the Jul/Aug 2019 (issue 114) of N Scale Railroading Magazine on track cleaning and and the use of three cars, one with an abrasive pat, next with solvent and last car (or more than one) with track dry wipers. Needed a couple of Kato E units to pull it and was used on the Belmont Shore Line layout at the time of the article. The car type used was ... ..... gondolas since they were open. I don't want to post the article here due to copywrites but that issue can be ordered still.... https://nscalerailroadingmagazine.com/ or contact me for more info. Sumner
Since I 'treated' my track I just occasionally use one of the Aztec boxcars with a roller wrapped with handiwipes. I haven't used the heavy duty gondola track cleaners at all.
Treated how? Your a little over 200 miles south of me and we are both kind of at the edge of the high desert and the forests. Don't know about you but the last two years have been really windy from April into June with gusts into the 50's at times and a lot of dust in the air then from northern Arizona. So more dust in the house than what people are use to in wetter climates and some settles on the tracks. Added to that I've created a lot of saw dust in the shop where the test track is located building the main layout. I try and keep the test track covered but recently hadn't used it for a month or so and had to wipe the tracks down lightly before the trains ran well. Didn't have to use much cleaner, mainly just wiping the dust off. Is that how you are more or less using the cleaning cars now? Sumner
sumner i made some parts that you can add sand paper too and also cleaning wipes but they just did not work that great for me . i made lil squares for the cleaning cars just for that purpose too. BUY Ive had much better luck with the rollers and the CMX car cloth . this setup just works. OH i modded the roller and made it solid with no weights seems to work better that way. i do have 5 or 6 of these cars printed if any body wants them , just pay postage as ive reprinted them with clean car onto the new ones..........all they need is trucks and penny's here ya go for the link....https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4128804 if ya cant get the link just type in cleaning car into thingy verse and it should pop up. EDIT.... sumner i did not like the no ox crap it just made thing worse for me . messed up my track and loco wheels took for ever to get that gunk off....... mtntrainman I did think about box car covers but i think maybe something different like some sorta pressure tank type or something along that line. spray car i dunno.
I wiped the track down with WD40 6+ months ago. Now I use the cleaning car with the handiwipe covers just now and then to wipe it down from dust and a minimal amount of 'crud'. I used to wipe the track down with a dry old cotton sock. The cleaning cars are better and a lot easier on my back.
well ive got my leds installed onto one turn out. So now when i switch direction i know witch track its on. all i did was drill hole in track install led with hot glue then solder led wires to track rails. I had to isolate the track from the rest of the layout but it has its own feeder wire so as to have power. works really well too. red for siding and green for main line. ive been trying to make switches for this but i kept blowing up stuff so i gave up and went this route. much easier for me sid likes easy
Sid nice idea. I might think about copying it for my hidden staging yard. To be sure I know what is going on. You are connecting to the DCC powered track? I see a battery. It that just to test? Also are you using no resistors in the circuit (I'd think they would blow)? Is the turnout power routing so it acts as the switch to turn on the appropriate LED? Lots of questions, hope they make sense, Sumner
Sumner # 1 yes ive soldered right to the track # 2 the battery is dead i just use it for a weight to hold down the track while glue dries. #3 yes the leds i have, have resistors already on them (got them on ebay there kinda big i had them from a Christmas tree layout i was working on before i moved from calif ) i bought a bunch greens reds orange blues all kind's. there like 3 or 4 mm but they are bright. i can see them good with my bad eyes. #4 yes all my turn outs are power routing and do act like a switch to turn them on. but i have them isolated because my track has feeders every where so if i don't isolate them they stay on all the time. ive only done the one but will do the rest as i go along.. I myself like them cause now i can really see witch way and if they really are thrown. I have not figgered out how to add them to the double cross over yet and dont know if i can or not. I have an extra double crossover to play with i just need to fix it (one side hangs up and wont switch) so ill be playing with that soon. i had thought about making some signal poles and use real small leds for those that way it would be like a real rail road kinda. I just dont have small leds to play with and the boss say's i cant buy no more stuff (she is gunna be mad when my order for DS51K1 stationary decoders come in the mail ) thought i would try them on the kato turn outs I may have to slip in some real small leds from the mail gal
i do think this led setup would work on dc as well as long as the turn out is power routing (dunno no for sure about this but they :leds: do work of of 12 volt battery ) the ones i have any way.
well ive been messing around with feeder wire (removing them long kato feeders ) so i got the bright idea or very short wires from 1 section of track over to the next section of track in order to remove the wiring mess from all them kato feeders. so far i must say this is working out rather well. my locos are responding much better now and the wire mess i had is going away. im down to 9 feeder wires now and still removing more as i go along. my plan is to just have 1 feeder from Arduino to track and the rest are from track to track . im working on a power transmission line like the big power lines crossing the country that will carry live DCC power to one point maybe two or three points along the rails .
Sid one thing to keep in mind. If you run a main buss around the layout or more when you solder a drop from a section of rail to it the power is only going through the one or two solder joints. The power to the section furthest from the command station will receive power from the main buss through 2 solder joints. The one with the wire to the buss (if you solder that) and between the drop wire and the track rail. That is a very direct path for the current from the command station to the section of track. If you daisy chain the wire from section to section the power to the last section will go through all of the solder joints leading to it from the command station. Might not be a problem but if one of those solder joints isn't so good it could be. Kind of similar to the old string of Christmas lights where if one went out they all went out. Maybe you don't have many solder joints starting with the first to the last and no problems will arise. With drops to the main buss the main buss can be larger gauge wire to handle possibly multiple locos and the drop wire can be smaller as only one or two locos could be on that section of track at a time. If you have multiple locos running and you run the wire from track to track now those wires also carry all the current that is needed for how many locos are running on the section of track with the daisy chain wiring. Sumner
you got a point there , but all them feeders i had were a problem as far as power losses. as i stated i see a very good improvement in loco response now. i know at some point im gunna have to make the main feeder wire 18 gauge. also my layout is only 36 x 8 foot so its not that big and with all my locos running 6 of them i only see 0.75 amp draw on meter thingy.... my main feeder wire in 1 foot long to the main track all the rest are daisy chained kato feeders.......with are good but there is a lot of connections there .
ok i got some progress updates to report. #1 ive ditched the Digitrax DS61k1 for DR4018 from digikeijs turn out control setup. so far i like it much better. seems to work fantastic and it operates my kato double cross overs very well even my stubborn one (one of the rails wont switch all the time and i have to manually flip it) Ill keep playing with it, so far i have not shorted the track out to see if it behaves right and not lose any of my turn outs. it was kinda a pain to wire up and i still have a bunch of wires witch i was really trying to get rid of. (quess thats not gunna happen )i hate a bunch of wires just hanging around or waded up. got a few more buildings printed up too . they need more work on them. got a power grid started 3d printed, restaurant, and shoe store as well 3d printed. i have not been able to work on the layout in quite some time . but now that the grand daughter has returned home i can get back at it.----- By the way if any body wants these DS61K1's i have 2 of them ill trade for a car or two.just pm me and well talk turkey
Nice pictures. I'm hoping to learn what that first one is though. It's like modern phones and confussors.
that is for controlling kato turn outs (and others ) on my layout. ive tried digitrax DS61K1's and at first i liked them but then i shorted out the track and now i have to reprogram them.. so by by them things ... i learned about this DR4018 from digikeijs here on the forum from somebody and at first i was not gunna buy one but then i thought why not try it out. So i bite the bullet and bought one along with those lil parts and i must say im happy with it so far. ive shorted out the track (forgot to flip the switch on turn out ) and it did not lose any of my presets. i just hate all them wires , but it was fairly easy to set up and programing was a breeze.....
