I got some cheep rocker switches that did that. I had to get small barrel crimps and crimp the wires onto those darn switches.
There are several methods for soldering. Myself, I prefer to clean my iron on an old face cloth as a wet sponge will cool down the iron tip, cloth will not. Hotter tip makes for faster heat transfer to solder before lots of heat goes inside a small switch as the soldering iron heat can be removed real fast. Also I use liquid flux to precoat what I am soldering, and I pretin the wire. Have not lost a small plastic switch yet.
Funny, I do the same thing, and dial the tip temperature down to 850 or even 800, kester 44 solder only plus kester paste.
Greg
Have not lost a small plastic switch yet.
Well, I’ve been doing it for 60 years and this is the first time I lost 2 new switches that I bought a month ago. I even used 2 different soldering irons, so it wasn’t the iron that was the common factor. My tiny iron has hardly any volume to transfer heat so I was really surprised at the switches dying so rapidly.
This is the end of the story. I took the Feldbahn to Jack’s Calusa Creek RR and ran it today with no more than a few teething troubles.
I love to see those little wheels whirring around and the valve gear in action.
Here’s the gondola with a stainless 1/16th rod across the batteries so they stay in place even when we tip over (never do that, of course, but still . .)
The electronics are a jumble so I labelled them for you:
And here is the wiring diagram supplied with the sound board. It shows duplex switcher units - mine are only single channel so they only have one connection.
I guess the last job is to make a cover to hide the electronics. A tarp? Some mineral aggregate? A wood pile? Hmmm . . .
Incidentally - anyone know if my loco is supposed to have a cover over the ?sand box? at the back of the boiler.
20140 part 14 is the rounded cover. search for LGB 20140 pdf and you will see the parts diagram.
Thanks Dan.
I ran today with the completed gon load so the project is complete (except for that sandbox cover!). It is a very cute little engine, and the Radio Shack speaker puts out a surprising amount of decent sound. The little black thing in the front top of the gon is the IR detector for controlling the setup on the Mylocosound board.
As a philosophical matter, you might ask why I bother with a full r/c RX, and ESC, some servo switches, and a separate sound board. Well, here’s the answer.
If you buy old ive steamers, they may have old RC gear in them. From left to right: 27Mhz for my Merlin Maestro, full DSM2 Spektrum for the C-19 and a Code RC for my Roundhouse “Stanley”. In front is an RCS DSM2 TX that can do what any of the others can do - if they have a compatible receiver.
The Code RC is 2.4Ghz but it is proprietary and won’t work with any other system and rx are no longer available. The Spektrum is essentially retired as the RCS can do everything it can do. I will replace the RX in “Stanley” at some point and obsolete that. And today I figured out the RX in the Merlin is right in the cab so I removed it and installed a DSM2 rx so the 27Mhz Futuba is not needed.
There’s a thread on GSC about installing a microprocessor and a single cell in the boiler to replace the weight, with a 12V amplifier to drive the motor. That does take some electronic knowledge, but removes the need for a trailing car!
In that thread there was a comment about these little locos having more traction without the skates. As I didn’t want to preclude future track power, I put a stainless rod underneath to hold them up, with insulation of course, though the tracks I run on have no power - ever.
I also heard the latest version of this loco is the LGB 24141, which is double the price.
Yes, my little 4 coupled LGB locomotives are all skateless. Chloe could not pull 3 open cars up my 2.58% grade with the skates, she could barely pull herself up. Without the skates she can pull the 3 cars with power to spare. My other little engine pulls 2 2 axle boxcars, 2 2 axle gons and a heartland 2 axle caboose up the grade without the skates.
Pete, how do you insulate all those loose boards from each other when you actually run the loco?
insulate all those loose boards
Insulate? What for? (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Actually, all of them except the sound board are encapsulated in plastic as if they have been dipped. You can see the slight sheen in the ESC and the RX. The sound board is sitting on a metal rod, so there’s some double-sided foam tape underneath holding it in position and insulating it. With the top (aggregate load) on, the boards are much more carefully arranged, with the SSSS tucked in the side of the sound board.
I was looking around for something to put in the top of the sandbox, as I am missing the curved lid. I found a couple of knobs off a track light bracket which are a perfect tight fit, and have a mesh-type texture inside the lip. I like it!
And a little video which shows off the sound system and all those whirring valve rods!
Pete Thornton said:
insulate all those loose boards
Insulate? What for? (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Actually, all of them except the sound board are encapsulated in plastic as if they have been dipped. You can see the slight sheen in the ESC and the RX. The sound board is sitting on a metal rod, so there’s some double-sided foam tape underneath holding it in position and insulating it. With the top (aggregate load) on, the boards are much more carefully arranged, with the SSSS tucked in the side of the sound board.
I was looking around for something to put in the top of the sandbox, as I am missing the curved lid. I found a couple of knobs off a track light bracket which are a perfect tight fit, and have a mesh-type texture inside the lip. I like it!
And a little video which shows off the sound system and all those whirring valve rods!
Pete,
A word of caution.
I would not put the insulation properties of a conformal coating (dipped in plastic is generally poly-urethane) in good stead, it is usually at its thinness at the point of the soldered component leg.
From personal experience of many years in the aircraft electronics field, I have seem many a board failure due to vibrations rubbing through the coating and exposing the solder joints which then shorted out.
I use an insulation covering over the solder side of all my boards as a precaution, I use the plastic that is used for covers of reports available at a stationary store (also makes good window glazing).
I have also read somewhere (can’t say where) that double sided tape is not a very good insylator.
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Indeed I see:
clear heat shrink on the RX
clear heat shrink on the esc
something on one of the triggers
but
nothing on the MLS board
bare pins exposed on the receiver
nothing on the other trigger board…
Just stating what I see, but I will say that the clear heat shrink should not have issues like the ones described for conformal coatings, and you do indeed have to watch that with conformal coatings.
The amount of exposed metal still makes me a bit nervous, but as long as you don’t let the magic smoke out, all is well!
Greg
as long as you don’t let the magic smoke out, all is well!
But I need a smoke generator. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cry.gif)
Point taken. These boards are (mostly) too expensive to not give them adequate protection.
Greg has a valid point.
Any bare metal can cause a problem.
For the bare servo pins on the RX I will be supplying no charge push on dummy servo plugs, without wires, that will cover the bare pins.
For pcb’s that have bare backs I recommend mounting the component on a thin sheet of styrene. Regular double stick foam tape works well.
Just a note on insulation, on some boards, notably ESCs and decoders, you want to allow a little air flow on the output transistors. I favor a sheet of styrene as Tony states over double stick tape that conforms to the surface and is an excellent thermal insulator.
Please note this is just for components that can generate heat.
Greg
For pcb’s that have bare backs I recommend mounting the component on a thin sheet of styrene. Regular double stick foam tape works well.
The sound board has “regular” foam double stick on the back, with the cover tape on it on the outside, so I don’t think that’s going to cause problems. I got out the little shiny plastic insulator bag that one of them came in and cut it in half - the RX is inside it with plenty of air space, and the ESC is in the other half.
If you are talking about the silver-grey bag, that is static conductive and should never be used when the board is powered. Likewise pink bags are usually static conductive. This is not a dead short, but can cause issues with microprocessors.
You want an insulator.
Greg
You want an insulator.
How can you tell I was a software engineer, not a hardware guru. I should have known that. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif)
There is now a large sheet of plastic between the 2 layers of electronics, and I am pretty sure there’s nothing that could generate smoke.
Interestingly, you may recall I complained about the RS switch? This one has gone flaky on me - the action just stops, but if I flick it on/off it comes back. I ordered some more from China.
For the bare servo pins on the RX I will be supplying no charge push on dummy servo plugs
Tony, I noticed this little mini-receiver on Aliexpress, and I an thinking of trying it. (Those drone guys sure are pushing the envelope.) The wires are supplied with the RX and there are 3 conventional pins on the far side for power. Says it will work on a single 18650.
