Large Scale Central

It's alive!

General Discussion
#1

To borrow a phrase from Gene Wilder in “Young Frankenstein,” my now battery powered Bug Mauler is alive and running jes’ fine. The loco came to life on the Living Room Central track Wednesday August 6 at 9:43 p.m. PDT. Owner is doing OK but was ready to grab the fire extinguisher in the garage in case a hundred bucks of battery, conversion module and assorted parts went “poof.” Runs real good and will pull four cars on the flat at a decent clip. Of course, the tender shell has to be screwed down after I figure out what’s keeping it from seating (there’s a lot of ‘lectronic stuff jammed in there). And the motion induced startup whistle blows three toots (reverse) no matter what direction the loco is going. Minor problem. I’ll get into details and post photos of the installation in the “Power and Sound” section, so those of you wanting to read about eBay and cats coughing up hairballs won’t get miffed cause I was talkin’ about battery power.

BTW, thanks to Del Tapparo, TOC and a bunch of other LSCers for helping out. Oh, and TOC, I still can’t solder.

#2

Soldering is EVIL…

#3

Soldering is fun!!!
I have taught myself how to hand solder 0805 size SMD parts. The only difficulty really has been seeing what I am doing when I am doing it. I need a break after 60 minutes or so.

#4

Joe Rusz said:

To borrow a phrase from Gene Wilder in “Young Frankenstein,” my now battery powered Bug Mauler is alive and running jes’ fine. The loco came to life on the Living Room Central track Wednesday August 6 at 9:43 p.m. PDT.

Feels good, don’t it?

Flip the switch to “ON”, lights come on, sound starts making noises, and ya hit the “GO” button, it actually moves.

Pretty freakin magic…:wink:

#5

Good Job on the conversion

On a side note, you might be more careful as to which forum topic you post in, this obviously is Battery related and should be posted in that topic and not here in General Forum

The forum police WILL get you especially the DCC inclined ones :slight_smile:

#6

I am slowly learning to solder, at the expense of these plastic models. They seem to melt faster than the metal warms up. :frowning:

The Navy taught my son to solder at the micro-miniature repair level. He is teaching me the basics.

Unfortunately, he deployed to Okinawa, yesterday.

I gave him a primer course on where the good spots are on the Rock.

I wonder, after almost 40 years, if any of my information is still good.

I hope this doesn’t anger the thought police.

:wink:

Oh, yeah, to get the thread back on track, I’m glad that you didn’t release any magic smoke. I’m going to do an install in one of my Annies as soon as my battery arrives. Wish me luck.

#7

Steve, first off, good luck with your install. Honestly, I got really excited and inspired to do some work when my batt arrived and I’m sure you will too.

Second, and most important–since this is a forum about everything that doesn’t fit in another forum–

I was on The Rock in '65, TDY at Naha. Used to ride the base bus to Kadena, 'cause that’s where the big BX was. Fortunately, we stayed only a month or so before our wing returned to TX before a dozen of us redepolyed to the Dominican Republic, which was the best duty I ever had. One month of brewskis and rays, waiting for the occasional black box swap out to come in.

Anyway, like I said, despite nearly four years of ee-lek-troniks, the soldering didn’t take.

No worries. Today it’s all plug and play.

#8

I was on the Rock in 77-78. I was a Sailor, assigned to a Marine Corps Aircraft Squadron, stationed on an Air force Base (Kadena). I practically wrote my own ticket. I think that I was the only active duty guy on base who wore a beard. Drove everybody nuts.

#9

Steve Featherkile said:
Drove everybody nuts.

Some things even time doesn’t change :wink: :stuck_out_tongue:
Ralph

#10

Arrrrggghhhh! I’ve been hulled between wind and water!

#11

Tony, forget the hand soldering and by yourself an electric frypan and some solder paste. Makes SMD a breeze.

#12

Hi Tom,
I looked at the frypan idea but realised it takes longer to mask off the through the board component holes on the pcb than it does to place the parts and solder them by hand.

#13

Bart Salmons said:

Soldering is EVIL…

Yes it is… especially with the wrong tools/materials and a paperclip wiring harness inside a plastic shell.

(http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f72/Shortybear/F40%20build/LightsJune2011005.jpg)

#14

Joe Rusz said:

To borrow a phrase from Gene Wilder in “Young Frankenstein,” my now battery powered Bug Mauler is alive and running jes’ fine. The loco came to life on the Living Room Central track Wednesday August 6 at 9:43 p.m. PDT. Owner is doing OK but was ready to grab the fire extinguisher in the garage in case a hundred bucks of battery, conversion module and assorted parts went “poof.” Runs real good and will pull four cars on the flat at a decent clip. Of course, the tender shell has to be screwed down after I figure out what’s keeping it from seating (there’s a lot of ‘lectronic stuff jammed in there). And the motion induced startup whistle blows three toots (reverse) no matter what direction the loco is going. Minor problem. I’ll get into details and post photos of the installation in the “Power and Sound” section, so those of you wanting to read about eBay and cats coughing up hairballs won’t get miffed cause I was talkin’ about battery power.

BTW, thanks to Del Tapparo, TOC and a bunch of other LSCers for helping out. Oh, and TOC, I still can’t solder.

We want pics Joe!

#15

Since you asked, David, here’s a photo of my battery loco getting a trial run on the garage floor, where I strung a few sections of track and some switches together so’s I could play a little. Works like a charm, except for the occasional derailment of one of the cars caused by various gremlins (too many twisties, K-Dee coupler hitting switch rail, crappy plastic frog). But I learned a few things and once I move outdoors to set up a better, but still temporary switching layout, I’ll do know what to do. One thing I need to address is activation of the sound system, which Jon Radder has been helping me with. Oh, a minor detail: I need to screw down the tender shell, but I have another one painted Grimy Black and fitted with a cool Ozark Miniatures white metal water filler spout, which I may substitute for the Colorado & Southern tender shell shown in these photos.

Lotsa fun playing on the floor, just like when I was a kid playing with my Lionels (hope the neighbors didn’t see me). Now that one loco is running on battery I can’t wait to battery-ize (is that a word?) my other Bug Mauler.

(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/joerusz915/Garage1.jpg)

#16

Joe Rusz said:

Lotsa fun playing on the floor, just like when I was a kid playing with my Lionels (hope the neighbors didn’t see me).

Cool!

Who cares if the do see you!