Someone said to me the other day "the blog's a bit quiet lately, what's happening with the cave?"
April and May were 'post free', this is the first time this has happened since I started "the Works", and pretty well 'everything else modelling' took a back seat due to some fairly serious ongoing health problems with my parents.
The cave did get a bit of a kick along today thanks to some help from my mate Lindsay, who also helped with the slab pour, with his help we were able to get both end walls sheeted in less than 2 hours. This bit of progress has inspired me to get a move on and get the thing locked up as soon as possible. Thanks Lindsay - again! Next stage with be to insulate and sheet the roof and seal things up to satisfy the bush fire requirements for my area.
3265 is finally a runner with the help of Marcus Amman and Ray Pilgrim who both played a part in it's commissioning. I have learned that Romford tender wheels are most DCC unfriendly. The hub of the wheel is actually wider than the tire and touches against the lip of the top hat bearing in the bogie side frame causing all sorts of short circuit problems. Wheel sets were replaced with SEM axles and all is well. Thanks Marcus for ID'ing the problem and Ray for your 'programming persistence'.
Not much else has been happening on the bench of late, unlike my counterparts North of Narrabri and at Splitters Swamp Creek, some very nice rolling stock work there Blair and Geoff, if you haven't seen it yet check it out from my blog list.
I'm off to Epping tomorrow to give Ron a hand on the Eureka stand, so stop by and say g'day if you're around.
Cheers
Gary, I was beginning to worry as there was not an update. It is good to hear that you are well, and hope everything resolves itself with your parents. All the best for a speedy completion of your Man Cave. We have been trying to get a mate up here in Brisbane (Silkwood Depot) for the last 2 years to complete his cave - he is almost there, final plastering and then painting to be completed - probably another year for him.
ReplyDeleteCraig
Gary, I hope things have settled down ok with your family's health, it's never easy seeing loved ones get older, with all the things that can bring.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your positive comments, along way to go, but the trip is why we all do this, isn't it?
Now a question the tender wheels, does this apply to all of these type of axles? As I've a couple of DJH kits in the 'must be built' box, and it would be good to know, or did you test them to see if they were electrically isolated? Geoff.
Thank you gents for your comments but "settled" is as good as it is going to get unfortunately, rough times ahead I'm afraid.
ReplyDeleteRe the tender wheels Geoff, as far as I'm aware all DJH kits are supplied with Romford wheels of the same pattern ie hubs wider than the tyres. If you are going to fit DCC and/or sound and pick ups I would recommend either replacing them or insulating the inside of the bogie side frames so the hubs can't come into contact with the top hat bearing rims. I would also keep the solder flux away from them as well. I use Carrs green flux and it seemed to trigger corrosion that I couldn't stop. This happened when I was soldering the extra pick ups in place on the bogie bolsters. The wheels are electrically 'sound' as supplied but, for the reasons I have mentioned, are not DCC 'friendly'. Having said that, the problem could also have been caused by the corrosion affecting insulation material, or even bridging it, on the wheels. I will have to wait and see for the next one to see if I have the same problem.