Cliffy,
Try taking your diffuser and spraying 2-3 LIGHT coats of flat black on the inside. This will make it so you can’t see thru it, but will let the light pass thru. You can vary the number of coats to get the result you want.
Chris
Thanks guys!
Dennis, that means a lot, I’m glad you’re enjoying this build. Thanks again for the metal sheet, I’ll sure be using it with the mountain of shingle strips I need to cut!
Chris, the diffuser (aka poly sheet drop cloth stuff) is doing the job in hiding the interior; no extra paint is needed. Thanks though.
I like the glowing blue cupolas. It gives the whole thing a surreal look.
Darn, if you aren’t making us butt modelers look bad. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
HAha David! No, I don’t agree re the BM’ing. I’ve been totally neglecting the layout this year, along with other things. So between my lack of perspective and single-project obsession, I won’t easily give up my BM membership badge! (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
I’m glad you noticed the glowing blue cupolas. One of the four is true to the prototype, representing THE Dr Who Tardis. The Doctor paid regular visits to Virginia City ca. 1869-83, and the Comstockians loved him dearly. The Tardis was parked over the boiler house, so I’m paying tribute as well as I can. Sadly, the blue plex will soon be hidden by sheathing, just as the Tardis was in the prototype after the Great Fire… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)
Here’s the updated wiring diagram.
Instead of “home-running” all the module feeds to the main barrier strip in module #2 (lower left), I found it easier to extend a single wire-pair from that module into module 1 (the big one), and terminate each module’s feeder with a banana plug. I learned this trick from Greg Elmassian (thanks Greg), while doing track wiring. These jacks are cheap, and I’ll need the easy disconnectibility.
This is a single-line diagram: all the red lines are paired wires. When it gets down to the power supply components in the lower left, I’ve broken out the negative legs and shown them in black.
All the wiring is 2-18. black/red. Overkill; I should have used 2-20 or even smaller. However, the automatic wire stripper I’m now using (I love it!!) tends to take off a couple strands; and the 2-18 was cheap anyway (speaker wire). So no worries from my end, overkill seems to be working fine and hasn’t cost me anything.
The little track thing in the upper left is part of the trestle sub-project, and it will probably become a big sub-sub-project… when I get to it. Maybe this year, maybe next, we’ll see. The diagram for that portion is totally incomplete, but we’ll get to it eventually. Not now, but eventually.
Next stop will be ore bins / chutes. This evening I’ve finalized several 3d files I need to get printing on; and the detail bits will get here from Shapeways in a couple days. So hopefully, I’ll have the needed bits by Saturday.
Best,
===>Cliffy
The ore chut parts are delayed, so this has been shingle-cutting weekend. 12 sheets (12x24") of acrylic to cut, 32 strips per, 1 hour per sheet. Here’s what 384 strips of 1’ long shingles look like:
BTW, these were cut with an improved method (vs. what I did on the test building). Dennis R. helped me out with a thin galvanized steel cutting bed (thanks again Dennis, you de man!!). I positioned this on the laser bed and used the laser to locate and square up some tape, to locate each sheet of acrylic reliably. I used 1 strip of Scotch removable double-sided tape down the middle of the acrylic sheet, and aligned it with / stuck it to the new metal bed.
The DS tape kept the acrylic from springing up during cutting (mostly). Sometimes I paused the cut to tuck in some more ds tape, if an edge was lifting too much. Anyway, it all worked great.
And I’m starting on the cleanup process, which is removing the bit of tape, and any “hanging chads” from between shingles, for each strip. Tedious, but I’m listening to some tunes and 3d printing some ore chute parts at the same time.
===>Cliffy
looking good Cliff, wow on your time, I cut a sheet in 25 minutes, with 45 watts
it will look great when all finished
Dennis
Thanks Dennis!
I should have mentioned that, after some experimentation, I got the time per sheet down to 45 minutes. I’m using a 60 watt laser at 70% power setting (so maybe ~42 watts, hard to tell). Also, my graining patterns are pretty dense. So we’re probably not too far apart.
Next up: ore bins. Last week I 3D printed the larger parts of the chutes (in the tupper), and also received all the smaller parts from Shapeways (the white cube).
The Shapeways parts are on the low-res side, because I used the cheapest material (SLS nylon). The parts I printed myself are kinda messy, in spite of toying with settings over and over. But I had to remind myself that no one’s getting closer than 3 feet, so am rolling with it.
The #0-80 hardware is to fasten the bin frames together at the corners, because they need to be removable (to service the chutes when needed, at least in theory). I’ll add more screws in the middle of the big frames when I get to installation. Here are those frames after pre-assembly. You can kinda see the counterbored holes on the main frames.
After a few hours of listening to some tunes and using knife, brush and drill bit, the SW parts were all cleaned up.
The upper left part, and middle upper 2 parts, were adhered to the main front frame. The main chute rails will be bonded to the masked areas, and almost all the remaining parts will hang from them.
These white nylon parts will be painted black (by hand) later. For the time being (and as a primer coat) they got sprayed with the front frame.
I recalled Bob’s advice about smoothing the acrylic corners (with a blow torch) too late; I’d already bonded things together, and didn’t want to risk it. So before painting I broke the sharp edges with an Xacto.
I got news a couple weeks ago that I was too late in asking for a presentation slot in the Modelers Workshop, at the V&T Historical Society convention next month in Carson City. Man, I was bummed; I sure kicked myself for waiting too long! So, no more hurry here. But, I wouldn’t have completed this project anyway; it would require a part 2 presentation next year. I’ll be ready then, and you can bet I’m going to sign up plenty early.
That’s it for this week. Thanks for viewing,
===>Cliffy
Cliff Jennings said:
… no more hurry here.
I think you are forgetting we expect to see it done soon. You have until the end of the year Cliffy!
Looking forward to seeing how your bin gates come out, and possibly begging you for a set. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Chris
Hey Chris, thanks; but to quote myself from 6/7/17:
In short, this will be a long-term thread; it might take me two years to build this thing, who knows.
Ha! I’m covered, hee hee! (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)
But, since I’ve given up all other work on the layout for the project (and this is way off the record), I’m reasonably confident I can cut that estimate in half. It should be done by 6/7/18. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
I’m glad you like the ore chute parts. I’m disappointed that their resolution isn’t good enough for functional gates, the gear teeth aren’t good enough. But I might get “working” chutes / counterweights, we’ll see. Either way, you’re welcome to the Solidworks files, if that’s any use.
Thanks Brutha,
Cliff
Dupe post. I guess I’m geezing. <<
Finished painting the frames, and wanted to give y’all an idea of the point of all this.
Here’s the sheathed, but unframed, ore bin area.
Here’s the structure with its timbering.
I don’t know why the H&N bins had their ends planked all the way down to the lower sill, but I believe they were, and have followed suit. Normal bins would be planked only in the bin region, that is, the planking should stop below the diagonal. But not here, for some reason.
This huge volume held different bin areas, each served by a chute. That way, various grades of ore could be segregated. At least, that’s my theory; I may get seriously corrected on that, we’ll see. There are 10 chutes in the model, and that will be the big next challenge.
===>Cliffy
I have about a dozen or so #0-80 nuts that were dropped while building stuff and are still MIA
" Rooster " said:
I have about a dozen or so #0-80 nuts that were dropped while building stuff and are still MIA
only a dozen or so you are not trying very hard are you!
Mick
Its amazing what I find when I sweep the floor in my shop and then pick through the dust pan. I get all kinds of small parts. Some of which I don’t even remember loosing.
That’s why a got 100-packs of the things, I’m always dropping the little bits and doing the flashlight crawl…
Oh yea, I have done that too. Thing is, I do that in customers’ offices, hoping that they don’t notice what I am doing.
I learned long ago a magnet is a very useful tool when dealing with small hardware.
A trick I learned when looking for bits on the floor. Lay your light down on the floor too, it will be easier to see it when illuminated from the side.
Magnets are fine with steel, but brass and precious metals, not so much.