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"Calum Tsang" wrote:
> Anyone interested in attending a DCC party (where we do each others' hair, • talk
> about boys, make popcorn) on Sat afternoon email me. Derek and I are • going to
> buy a pile of Digitrax DZ143's and install'em for NMRA.
Since you're having a nail... er, umm... *DCC* party, I thought
I'd pass along a few useful tips:
Before cutting the tabs that hold the bottom motor plate on,
place some tape on the bottom plate so that you don't
inadvertantly scratch the surface. With my first attempt at
removing the tabs, I had a little trouble and let's just say the
results were somewhat less than professional. :-)
Make sure the hobby knife blade you use is the curved
variety and that it is brand new. Makes the job much easier.
Place the blade over the tab (flush with the bottom plate) and
using moderate pressure rock the blade back and forth until
the tab is cut:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/markril/Trains/DCC/motor_tabs.jpg
You can remove all 12 tabs in one or two minutes this way:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/markril/Trains/DCC/motor_tabs2.jpg
When soldering the headlight leads to the underside of the
Lego headlight connector, you might consider temporarily
attaching an electric plate on the other side to act as a
heatsink. This isn't really necessary, but I've always done
it as a precaution in case I linger too long with the soldering
iron. It might prevent the studs from disfiguring if too much
heat is present.
Also, when soldering to the headlight connector, make sure
you always keep it in your thoughts to hold the soldering iron
as vertical as possible to avoid melting the side walls of the
train motor case.
On Tom Cook's site, it mentions using cardboard to insulate
the tabs connecting the wheel pickup rails from the headlight
connector. I'm pretty sure I'm not going back to DC, so
I just clip the tabs instead:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/markril/Trains/DCC/decoder1.jpg
Since you guys are using the DZ143 (which has 4 functions),
just coil up any unused leads:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/markril/Trains/DCC/decoder2.jpg
When you get more time, you can always route these leads
externally:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/markril/Trains/DCC/function_leads.jpg
That's all for now... HTH,
Mark
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: DCC party
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| (...) Thank you for the advice, it's definitly appreciated. I'm off to George's Trains to night to pic up the decoders, and other supplies. I'll definitly be getting one of those curved exacto blades. I'm hoping Calum, with all of his claimed (...) (21 years ago, 11-Jul-03, to lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto, lugnet.trains)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | DCC party
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| Anyone interested in attending a DCC party (where we do each others' hair, talk about boys, make popcorn) on Sat afternoon email me. Derek and I are going to buy a pile of Digitrax DZ143's and install'em for NMRA. Calum (21 years ago, 10-Jul-03, to lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto)
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