Chuff cams

Yes, please!

I was looking for that as

I was looking for that as well, I have a tsunami with cam and wiper to install in a 2-6-6-6 Rivarossi. I really like your articles but find I need to read them a few times. I suspect more of what you are teaching will soak in the more time I spend here. Thanks for conducting a class on how to dcc because every time you write the rest of us learn something.

Motors and connecors.

  Bruce.

 Great article that is long overdue.

 How about an article on super tuning those old open frame motors? If they have good bearings and brushes I replace the old iron magnet with the Neodymium magnets from K&J magnets. Most if done right will have more torque and run slower with much less stall current as an equal sized can motor. If you really want a super motor tune a Bowser DC71 with skewed armature.

  For connectors I have used the six wire JST connectors from TCC sold by Traintech llc. They have worked nicely and no chance for miss plugging or working loose. 

            Pete

Thanks, guys.

Okay, I'll put a cam column into the hopper.

Pete - I hesitate to support the older motors, as most of them have too low winding resistance - draw too much current for the average user to deal with. As an experienced user, you may make some adjustments.

The TCS connectors are good, just expensive. For the price of two of the TCS connectors, you can have a pair of 50-pin headers. Also, the TCS connectors, and the rest of the ilk, do not mount in the tender shell as well as the headers do for me. Your mileage may vary.

Chuff Cams

yes, please do an article on your suggestions on how to do cams.

Pete

Vanderbilt Tenders

Bruce,

I very much enjoyed this article and will be using it on some projects in the future.  I also have a question for you. My favorite, GTW, used Vanderbilt tenders and getting speakers into them, seems very difficult to me. I would love to read your comments on installing a speaker in a Vanderbilt.

Thanks,

Steve

How many cams?

For Rob's 2-6-6-6, aren't two cams necessary? One for each pair of cylinders.

DCC Impulses is an Absolute need for us readers

This is always one of my most red articles in MRH E-Zine. DCC is new to me as I've only been using it for only a few years. Each month I now look forward to the DCC impulses. I want to thank Bruce Petrarca for all the knowledge on DCC he is giving us and answering many questions before I even know how to ask them.

Running Model Railroads on the regular DC cab control is something I did for more than 40 years. Now I have gone to using DCC and have converted and I'm in the process of turning older DC engines over to DCC. Every article Bruce has submitted to MRH has helped me in one way or another and is making my change over from DC to DCC a lot easier and with his expertise and ability to explain how to do in plain English so even a dummy like me can understand is greatly appreciated.

I find that 5 Stars is just about half of what Bruce should get for his fine articles. Thanks a Million for making DCC work for me.

Dan

Yes, Steve - how in the heck

Yes, Steve - how in the heck to you (best) get into a Vandy tender???  I have a Missabe Mike that is mocking me in silence.

Cam sychronization? Yes!

I installed a cam on my Espee A-6 after I was not 100% satisfied with the electronic chuff synchronization of some decoders. My opinion ist that only a cam gives satisfying successes.

Here a link to my description (sorry, in German) how I built the cam and installed it, and a link to gallery.

I will write a description here if there will be a greater interest.

And, Bruce, thank you very much about your articles. They were a great help, especially for installing the speaker in right position - in boiler with  backside to closed smokebox!

Vandy Tender Speaker Install pictures............

This is O scale but the same method would work in any scale.

Use the tank end cap to get the right curve.  Drill the speaker hole and sand it out until you get a snap fit-tight enough to hold the speaker by itself-no glue.  The HB speakers I use are high and do not allow you any "finger room" to goof around with silicone, glue or putty.  You need to be able to slide the speaker in and get a screwdriver blade between the magnet and top of tender and snap it in.  You will need to make your mount so it sits slightly below center on the Vandy tube or you will have a hard time sliding it in.  See the rest of the pics to get the general idea. I used a bit of 5 min epoxy to glue the mount centered over the holes in the bottom of the tender. Make sure your speaker wire is long enough that you can solder it to the speaker out side the tender.

It's a bit of work, but not hard if you take your time.  Write if you need more info.

Thanks,

Peter

See, you guys don't need me!

The MRH family comes through.

Bernhard would love to see you build an article out of your photos and description, in English.

Peter, good technique and photos. I find the worst part is getting the Vndy tenders apart. Do you have any suggestions on that - especially brass? No, I didn't misspell that. That is my word for them - has to be a 4-letter word! Although, when I'm working on one my 4-letter words usually start with a F or a S.

Thank you all who had kind words for my efforts. They are really appreciated just at this moment in my life.

@Bruce and others..............

Every Vndy (hah!) in O scale I've seen and done all have the end cap come off so I assume they do also in HO scale.  If not, my other thoughts on this would be to cut a square opening in the top of the oil tank section and mount the square speaker facing up and covering the opening with a wooden platform/deck to cover it.  You would have to slide the speaker in on the diagonal and then turn it to face up.  If I were doing it, I would somehow thread the mounting holes in the speaker and run a screw in from the top to secure it.  You'd need to monkey around with the tender overhead until you got 1 screw started then you could move it to align the rest of them.  Not easy, but doable.  The wooden planked top would cover it.  If you think about it, this oil tank area is quite a bit larger than the cylindrical tank would hold a pretty big speaker compared to the tank especially in HO.

Peter

Tender Connectors and Cams

DCC Impulses is always a great column and one of the first things I read in the magazine.  

I have a comment on tender connectors.  It's not clear in the article whether you are using the "wireless" drawbar connection, or have bypassed it.  My own experience going back to pre-DCC command control is that this is a terrible weak spot in the electrical system, subject to dirt and other causes of intermittent connection and even the cause of short circuits (if the little wire gets bent and contacts the tender body for any reason).  I always include both sides of the track power in the connector between engine and tender and remove the little stiff wire from the drawbar.  

I have used a number of connectors over the years.  Recently, the Soundtraxx DBX9000 9-pin connector has become my favorite for most installations.  One of the nice things is that it can be mounted with a screw so the connector can rotate slightly with curves, reducing derailment stress which can be helpful with smaller engines.  TCS also makes some very nice pre-wired connectors.  

I recently used the Blackstone wired drawbar to totally replace the metal drawbar on a small HO locomotive, and it has worked quite well.  I suspect it might not be strong enough to handle a heavy HO train but on a little switcher there is no concern about separation.  However, I found the little enamel-insulated wires to be too fragile and hard to work with, and replaced them with rubber-insulated stranded flexible wire from Digitrax.  On the tender side, I wired the 9-pin plug for the decoder directly to the drawbar to eliminate splicing wires in the small tender.  

I've used sound cams since I first started installing sound in brass steam engines.  Of all that I've used, the EDM magnetic cams are my favorite http://www.ngtrains.com/Pages/Synch_Cam/soundsynch.html  .  I have found that cams requiring a metal "finger" riding on the cam's surface to make electrical contact tend to exert pressure on the cam and (for the Soundtraxx vinyl cams) on the side of the wheel.  They are subject to dirt, "relaxation" of the cam wire over time and other problems.  I've been a strong advocate of cams until my install of the TCS WOW decoder in a small switcher and decided to try it without a cam; synchronization is so good I'll try more cam-less installs in the future.  

Rick

How many cams?

This seems to me to depend on at least three things: whether the locomotive is simple or compound; if simple, whether the front and rear engines are truly independent[0]; and whether they're coupled but out of phase with each other. In the first case, the only engine of a compound that exhausts is the low pressure engine. In the third case, for those willing to make their own cams, a single cam with the locked in phase difference between two sets of four chuff signal generators (bumps, wiper contacts,...) should work, given enough room.

[0] single motor, all engines geared together, rather than separate motors for each engine.

Half Wave LED wiring

Bruce,

I like your tip about half wave, because that's one less wire between loco and tender for the headlight

Can I mess up either decoder or LEDs this way: anode of loco headlight connected to loco frame and cathode to white wire of decoder; and anode of tender's rear light connected to tender frame and cathode to the yellow wire? In the tender it's just as easy to connect the LED cathode to the decoder's blue wire, but I wonder about difference in light intensity of one full wave and one half wave on the same loco.

Also, for class lights on the loco, again using half wave, what is the difference between LEDs in series or in parallel?

Thank you for a very useful article.

DrJolS

DrJolS

Not a problem!

Rivarossi Electrical "Plunger" Contacts

I have 2 faulty contacts in my 1995 Big Boy... Does anyone know where I can find replacements... Also if anyone has installed any work-arounds, the process and wiper part supplier would be very much appreciated..

Lou