Subject:
|
Re: DCC slowing?
|
Newsgroups:
|
lugnet.trains
|
Date:
|
Fri, 22 Aug 2003 13:33:06 GMT
|
Viewed:
|
2119 times
|
| |
|
|
John C. Moore wrote:
> I was thinking that as long as we are modifying the motors in a manner to
> perform better, I was looking at the possible places we could open the motor box
> to allow ventilation for the motor. Perhaps we could cut a hole on the bottom
> directly under the motor? My concern would be dust entering the box
After we cleaned the tracks with steel wool, disassembled them, transported them
to the road show and reassembled them, the coupler magnets still picked up a
copious amount of steel wool fibers. I certainly wouldn't want to get *that*
stuff inside the case. I suppose we could easily seal the edges of the hole with
silicone or gasket goo.
How about mounting a heat sink to the bottom of the motor, cutting a hole in the
case to accommodate and ventilate it, and sealing the case around it? Granted, it
would have to be a very shallow heat sink--no thicker that a LEGO plate.
>
> Another thing as far as DCC, if the decoder is overheating, could we mount the
> decoder outside of the motor box to keep it cool?
I thought about that, too. Even if the decoder isn't overheating, I'm sure it's
adding heat inside the case, making the motor overheat sooner that it otherwise
would. Having the decoder external provides another benefit--we can use larger
(hopefully cheaper) decoders than the N-scale ones that have been used so far. It
could also provide an easy way to easily switch a motor between DC and DCC operation.
I "retouched" one of Tom Cook's images from
http://www.lgauge.com/trains/dcc/dcc.htm to illustrate the confusion that
follows. See http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=54412 (deep links
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=496917 and
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=496910)
How about: cut the accessory connector's contacts in half, making two pairs of
contacts (illustrated by red lines). Inside the case, connect the rail pickups to
one pair (call it pair A) and the motor to the other (pair B). Now, to run this
motor as a DC (direct current) motor, just "jumper" the contacts by snapping one
end of an 9v wire or the end of a 2x4 electric plate
on top of the accessory connector. To run this as a DCC motor, connect a decoder
to two 1 x 2 electric plates as follows. Connect the decoder's rail pickup pair
to one plate (plate A) and the decoder's motor leads to another plate (plate B).
Snap plate A to the half of accessory connector connected to pair A and plate B
to the half of the accessory connector connected to pair B.
An (probably better) alternative to cutting the accessory connecter is Steve
Hassenplug's mod:
http://news.lugnet.com/org/us/indylug/?n=492.
Though in this case, I think I would have the motor lead exit the case further
forward so as not to interfere with bogey rotation.
|
|
Message has 4 Replies:
 | | Re: DCC slowing?
|
| Good info here... however... (...) Deep links end in .jpg or .gif or whatever the file type is, and give the real location of the file, they do not end in .cgi parameters. You need to click through one more time to get the deep link value. Hope that (...) (21 years ago, 22-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
| | | Re: DCC slowing?
|
| (...) Steel wool? Wow! I would think that would be a bit harsh on LEGO track and I can imagine lots of fibers getting caught on the studs of the ties as well. I found that using a small dab of Brasso on a cloth rag and running it down the rails (...) (21 years ago, 22-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
| | | Re: DCC slowing?
|
| (...) I think this has been mentined before and I wish LEGO made the train motors like this! Oh well, maybe one day. Another option for the lead to the decoder is to take a standard 9V lead with 2x2 end, slice the conductors on the bottom in half, (...) (21 years ago, 22-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
| | | Re: DCC slowing?
|
| (...) I was thinking that one could make the seal with a thin foam gasket to allow air to still move somewhat freely (...) I was thinking of this as well...just a matter of finding such an item. (...) Sounds good to me! I did some testing on my (...) (21 years ago, 25-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
|
Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: DCC slowing?
|
| (...) I was thinking that as long as we are modifying the motors in a manner to perform better, I was looking at the possible places we could open the motor box to allow ventilation for the motor. Perhaps we could cut a hole on the bottom directly (...) (21 years ago, 22-Aug-03, to lugnet.trains)
|
31 Messages in This Thread:
 
- Entire Thread on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
This Message and its Replies on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
|
|
|
|
