Tools, tips and tricks

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Transfer Terminal Kitbash: Adventures In CNC

Sat, 2014-10-18 05:40 — SteveWatson

Sometimes a person has to go a very long distance out of his way to come back a short distance correctly. - Edward Albee, "Zoo Story"

Yes, it's been quiet around here. Summer included a lot of travel -- since the beginning of August we've been away more than we've been home -- and not a whole lot got done in the basement.

Quick and Easy N Scale Uncoupling Tool

Thu, 2014-10-16 09:02 — Dave Meek

Tools, tips and tricks

I use modified bamboo skewers to uncouple cars on my On30 layout but they're just too big for N scale couplers. I don't want to use magnets on my new N scale switching layout so here's the quick and easy uncoupling tool I made:

Anyone want to design their own little people?

Tue, 2014-10-14 20:06 — MikeM

Get some free software for designing your figure from Makehuman;
When you have your figure designed the way you want it, export it in a format Shapeways can work with (these are the formats Makehuman can export in, note .dae, .obj, .stl)
Send it off and see what you get back...

Staples Banner Sale

Sun, 2014-10-12 06:55 — doc-in-ct

Staples is having a big sale on 6ft by 2.5ft 10oz vinyl (indoor) banners; they are $10 per banner. Might be a good way to create some personalized backgrounds.

http://print.staples.com/custom-banners.aspx?PFID=016&GP=10%2f12%2f2014+10%3a41%3a55+AM&GPS=3303897044&GNF=0

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SMA 13 - Update to the 17 Pin Configurable Multi Function Decoder / Accessory Decoder Version Added

Sat, 2014-10-11 06:22 — geoffb

Because of the interest in this project (Details can be found here: http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/19446 ) more example decoder variations have been added and some start up timing problems have been fixed. The new libraries and examples can be downloaded from here (Updated November 26, 2016):

Holding things

Fri, 2014-10-10 15:44 — Pelsea

Tools, tips and tricks

I have to admit, I have too many pliers. I put myself through graduate school working as a musical instrument repairman, which is very pliers intensive work. You need big ones, little ones, flat nose, chain nose, needle nose and so on, both knurled and smooth. As my career moved on to electronics, more pliers appeared, along with cutters of various types. When I retired and began working with trains again, I ruthlessly culled my collection but I still wound up with this: