A Day of Building the Layout

 Well, today dawned an overcast day with predicted rain.  Well bugger!  I can't put my drop saw outside to cut wood, now can I...  But wouldn't you know it, the weather bureau's prediction didn't come to fruition until 4:30 this arvo, well after tools down time :-)

So I started the day with a good strong coffee, then checked my supplies and found I was low on stock of 42 x 19mm DAR Pine.  So off to Bunnings to grab another 20 lengths.  By the way, my local Bunnings now hasn't got any decent 2.4m lengths of that wood size after I finished with their stock today :-)

Now the plan was to get enough wood ready to be able to make 12 frames for the middle deck. This should then make it that the middle deck around the wall would be in place - peninsulas come later.

So 12 frames needs 2 lengths of 1.2m 42 x 19mm DAR for the sides and then 4 cross members, each being ... let's see, if the deck is 600mm wide and the cross members go in between the 1.2m lengths, then they need to be 562mm in length.  So each frame needs just under 3.6 m of the 42x19mm DAR. So I need 18 of the 2.4m lengths of DAR.  I dragged them out into my outdoor workshop where I also moved the dropsaw for the morning., and proceeded to make a lot of noise and cut my timber up.

After a lot of sawdust and noise was made, I had the requisite bits of timber ready for my next batch of frames. 48 cross beams and the 24 sides.

The rest of the day was used to then do a little bit of drilling...  Each crossbeam needs 7 holes to cater for wiring.  So the drill press was setup and an 18mm spade bit inserted and away I went for a few hours making about 5 litres of sawdust and 336 holes.

The 48 crossbeams were then lugged back into the shed ready for the next stage of their evolution - screw holes - Pocket Screw holes to be precise.  So out with the drilling jig and away I went for the rest of the day, drilling 192 pocket screw holes.

So that was enough as it was 4 o'clock and time to go inside.  But of course sweep up the mess and clean up the benches for tomorrow.  And get the bits out for tomorrow - ie the screw driver and pocket screws.  Each frame will need 16 screws to assemble

I'm Really Liking this Working on the Railroad Bit

So more middle deck today.  

So I had to cut up some more lengths of double slot rail first.

Then screw them onto the wall after of course measuring very careful 5 times to make sure I get the holes at the right height above ground level.  Having lined the shed with 12mm plywood sure makes it easier for building - it becomes part of the structure.

Then add the bracket - simple slot it in type jobbie.

Then make some more frames to sit on those brackets.  I'm using 42x19mm DAR pine timber for the frame and joining with screws via the use of a Kreg Pocket Jig to make neat holes for the screws.

Then join the new frame to the previous one with a couple of screws.

There, another 3 frames in place.

Now to add some foam.  I'm using 50mm thick XPS foam for the middle deck.

The rails for the brackets stick out 20mm from the wall.

So my trusty jewelers saw with a fine blade does the cutting very nicely and quickly.

Now the foam sits nicely against the wall.

There - foam sheets in place on the latest batch of frames.

Last job of the day was to take all the rails off the wall on the forst for frames, as I had made the rails longer than needed and that would have necesitated have a backdrop sheet of MDF or something added for the bottom deck.  Neating trimming each rail to the bottom of the bracket allows a neat finish and no need for any timber sheeting :-)

Oh, by the way, each frame is also screwed to each bracket with 2 screws. Solid as I reckon :-)

Tomorrow might be some more top deck frames since I started some more today.  I'm knackered again.

I Keep Forgetting to Post in the Blog

I plonk a pic or two up in Faceplant very regularly, but forget about the blog here.  As many would know, my train shed has now been powered, insulated, lined and painted. So now it is time for the railway empire construction phase. So I better start blogging about it.  So here goes for today.

So it was time to get the drop saw out again and start cutting some 19x42 mm DAR pine timber.

I have decided on my plan of attack for the middle deck -  A frame made of 19x42 mm DAR pine timber would be screwed to the double slot brackets from the wall.  

50mm XPS foam will then be glued onto the frame.

So I made my first frame and yes, guess what I forgot?

That's right - holes in the cross members for wiring to go through.  So off to the workbench and drill press and start drilling 17 mm holes in the timber.

Now the frame is good to go.

So in position I reckon the viewing of the decks looks OK to me.

The thickness of each deck is good.  With just some 30 mm foam yet to go on the very top deck in some places, where depth of scenery is required.

Later this arvo I decided to cut up some more timber to make another 3 or 4 middle deck frames.

Yeh, then I still had some time till dinner, so part assembled 3 frames.  Gee I do love the "pocket screw" method of connecting the pieces of the frame.  I bought the proper Kregg brand of jig so I can easily drill the holes, then use the Kregg 32mm screws. Simples.

So that's it for today, many, many, many more days, weeks, months, years to go.....  :-)

Move over Numbnuts, We're taking this Industrial !

So, for a very little diorama I am working on, it's Z scale at 1:220 scale, I need a bit of forest litter for under some trees.  So I best make some, hadn't I.

So it was off to the side of the shed where Sarah up the road keeps a few native bee hives and I grabbed a few handfuls of dead leaves from whatever tree next door drops them there.  They were nice and dry and crunchy.

Out with my mortar and pestle and I ground them up into a fine powder and bits and pieces.

Then I got one of my really fine sieves I got from some kitchen section in the shops somewhere and sieved the results.  Came out quite well - bit of effort, but hey - pretty much free.  The remnants that were not needed were chucked into the garden as compost.

Old bottles and containers are always hoarded around here as they do come in handy.  Old spice jars are just the shot as they have the right sort of top to dispense the scatter.

So I poured a few sieves worth of scatter into them for use later.

Then I realised I needed a few different colours of scatter.  I needed a faster way - so now it was time to go Industrial on the job !

I went across the road to the footpath that has some Lilly Pilly and Paperbark trees growing on it.

And under my Poinciana I grabbed a few handfuls of the compost I make from the leaves, twigs etc that drop down. 

So I brought it all in to my bench and got down to it.  

Now, being that Black & Decker are not too bad a brand of power tools, I of course had a nice chopper they make. Normally seen in the kitchen, mine has never see it - it has always been in the garage and used to make scatters :-)

Each material in turn was thrown in and ground up for a minute or two.

Then they were passed through the sieve.

And then placed into some plastic jars until needed a little later.  And the cost of course was nada.

PS. Normally I would put the makings into the oven at a very very low temp and cook for 5 minutes or so to kill off any bugs and their eggs.  Wouldn't want them hatching on your layout and crawling around, let alone eating parts of it.

A Sunday Arvo Project

Setting up WiThrottle using my old Digitrax DB150 DCC system and a PR4

So, I am using “JMRI WiThrottle” software on a Raspberry Pi 3 B hardware base.  I even bought the cute official case for the Pi.

 

The OS I am using is the Raspberry Pi OS version 3.5.23

JMRI, and hence PanelPro, is version 5.4+R9005ecb4ac.

The DB150 has a 16 volt AV power supply (3 amps capable) as it’s power supply.  By the way, this is the same power supply I am using to power my NCE SB3 when it is connected up to this type of setup.

 

Output from the DB150 is connected to the tracks via my normal plug/socket method.  Hey, I bought a hundred from somewhere once – they’ll last me a looong time.

 

The 6 wire Data Cable is connected from the “A” port on the DB150 to the left hand port of the PR4.

 

The PR4 is powered by a 15 volt DC wall wart type power supply, which happens to also be what I power my SPROG II and my ESU Lokprogrammer with.  The PR4 is also sometimes connected direct to my PC so I can use JMRI to push sound files to Digitrax decoderes and program them.

And of course the Raspberry Pi is powered by a 5 volt DC wall wart type with 2 amp capacity.

          

So there is nothing much different in getting the Digitrax DB150 and PR4 going compared to the NCE SB3.  Plug it all together and once you have the JMRI software on the Pi, bring up the preference page and make sure that you set these settings under the “Connections” page:

“System Manufacturer” to “Digitrax”

“System Connection” to “LocoNet PR4”

“Serial Port” to “ttyACM0”

“Connection Prefix” to “L” – auto sets anyway.

“Connection Name” to “LocoNet” – auto sets anyway.

And that pretty much is all I needed to do.  The Raspberry Pi has been set to connect into my normal WiFi at home, so I then connect my phone into that network and can then play with Engine Driver on the phone and drive my trains on the test track.  So now I can use either my NCE SB3 or this old Digitrax DB150 to test drive large trains and consists via WiThrottle.