Early Risers.

[PeterBB]

2 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

Wassail worked!

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/04/13/returning-winter-for-a-while/

Quality building and neatly stacked ... liked the music too.

[Coombe Barton]

33 minutes ago, PeterBB said:

neatly stacked

While I was doing it I had a flashback to atomic closest packing in crystallography  - more than fifty years ago. 

Edited April 13, 2020 by Coombe Barton

[Dave Hunt]

7 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Once the current  restrictions are lifted you could get all evangelical and claim to have missionary work to attend to at the Hippodrome.

You  just might eventually be 50% successful and convert me to modelling in S7.

But on the darker side there is the temptation of BR(W) in O(MF).

 

OK, here's the deal - if you go S7 I'll let you run a Pannier on my layout and........ I'll provide cake!! (This is a well-known method of baiting traps for hippos).

 

29 minutes ago, brianusa said:

Only if it says LMS on them!

 

Or even better if it said M  R on them.

 

As predicted, my involvement was requested strongly suggested for this morning's housework frenzy but the reward was a couple of hours modelling in the afternoon. Lots of plywood sacrificed for the production of footboarding, barrow crossings etc. which had to be tested for flangeway clearance by playing trains running various locomotives up and down. Not a pannier of any colour in sight though.

 

SWMBO had a call from a friend who lives in Formby who said that yesterday the police turned back a large group of TAPS* who were about to have a group BBQ on the beach - how unbelievably stupid can people be?

 

Time for a muggochoccy, bit of a read and then some eyelid inspection. Stay safe and well everyone.  

 

RAF speak for Thick As Pig Sh*t

 

Dave

 

PS  Weather report from North Hipposhire - the muddy hollow is now a dusty hollow.

 

 

[Barry O]

Goodnight all!

Baz

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Well, after lots of testing with the multimeter I eventually found what was wrong with the turntable control board. There were actually 2 faults, the first was a small link in the wrong place, which effectively isolated one of the relays. The second fault was also to do with a link, but this this time it was missing. Both faults were easily rectified and as soon I’d they were both done I had the control circuit working well. These tasks took me most of the morning and at this stage, it seemed a good time to take a break and get something to eat. 

 

After dinner I then connected up the motor supply and the motor and continued to do further tests. Again things didn’t work straight away, but it turned out to be that the control circuit didn’t like sharing its supply with the Hall effect switch. I’d built an interface into the circuit board, which I could isolate, but even that didn’t work, removing the transistor was the key. But even using a separate interface, it still didn’t work, so I used 2 individual 12v supplies and did the trick, I now had everything working as planned. So, once I’d got it working, my first task was to record the time it took to complete a single revolution in each direction, this turned out to be 1 minute each way. I’m very pleased with that result as not only is it quiet, it is also very smooth and no jerkiness at all. The next thing to test was the accuracy of stopping position, for both clockwise and anti-clockwise rotation. After several tests with the Hall effect switch in different positions, the best results I could get was a 2mm difference in the final position when it turned either clockwise or anti-clockwise. It stopped in the same position time after time, but always with the 2mm difference between to 2 different rotations. Without the cone fitted this went to 6mm, so 2mm was a big improvement, but I still think this is too much of a difference and a loco would be liable to derail when entering or leaving the turntable. So I now have to find an alternative method for stopping the turntable. I’ve already started sketching a few ideas down, some are as a simple as a grove filled into a disc that the operating button drops into, another is a spring loader plunger with a wheel attached on the end to drop into the grove, or a slight variation, instead of the plunger, a spring loaded arm with a wheel attached. So a bit more time will be spent in the workshop trying out these ideas to workout which is best. At this point, with all the testing completed, I packed everything away and removed all the components on the control board that were connected to the Hall effect switch. This was only a few resistors and an opto-coupler and a couple of links.

 

The evening was rounded off with a nice bottle of Goliath, whilst Sheila had a glass of Pepsi.

 

 

Goodnight all 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. A bit of sad news this evening, one of our MRC members passed away last month. Its unlikely to be CV19 related as he was 90 and had terminal bone cancer. RIP Dennis.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Ozexpatriate]

48 minutes ago, BSW01 said:

... I now have to find an alternative method for stopping the turntable. I’ve already started sketching a few ideas down, some are as a simple as a grove filled into a disc that the operating button drops into, another is a spring loader plunger with a wheel attached on the end to drop into the grove, or a slight variation, instead of the plunger, a spring loaded arm with a wheel attached.

I was afraid you might find yourself here. I have pondered this problem before (without experimenting) and not come up with much better. (Similar problems exist with traversers - horizontal or vertical.)

 

Instead of a plunger, how about a spring loaded knife* and groove. You'd also need a mechanism to unlatch it. Such devices will add mechanical resistance to moving he table.

 

* not a sharp knife, but a narrow metal strip on edge.

[laurenceb]

Night Awl

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I was afraid you might find yourself here. I have pondered this problem before (without experimenting) and not come up with much better. (Similar problems exist with traversers - horizontal or vertical.)

 

Instead of a plunger, how about a spring loaded knife* and groove. You'd also need a mechanism to unlatch it. Such devices will add mechanical resistance to moving he table.

 

* not a sharp knife, but a narrow metal strip on edge.

 

I made a five-way point for some storage loops that worked that way. Effectively it's a very crude servo drive. There should be a diagram somewhere. I'll post it if I can find it.

 

It should be possible to apply the same technique to a turntable.

[Erichill16]

Vision back to normal but migraine headache kicked in and can’t sleep so thought I’d make a visit here.  heartening to hear that jobs are getting done and modelling as well in these times. Can’t seem to move forward with either my jobs or modelling but I suppose what can expect it’s duties at work. At least work is taking my mind of things. 
Must try to get some sleep. Hopefully be back later.

Robert

[J. S. Bach]

Good night owl from the Piedmont.

[AndyID]

3 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I was afraid you might find yourself here. I have pondered this problem before (without experimenting) and not come up with much better. (Similar problems exist with traversers - horizontal or vertical.)

 

Instead of a plunger, how about a spring loaded knife* and groove. You'd also need a mechanism to unlatch it. Such devices will add mechanical resistance to moving he table.

 

* not a sharp knife, but a narrow metal strip on edge.

 

Could not find it. Made a new drawing.

 

 

The motor drives the pos and neg contact plates CW or ACW. When the selected wiper reaches the gap between the contact plates the motor stops. If it overshoots the motor reverses. The resolution depends on how accurate the wipers and the gap are.

 

It will require modification to apply it to a turntable.

 

[pH]

Some pictures from our walk in the local woods today.

 

A nice example of a nurse stump - a seed implants and starts to grow on the decaying remains of a previous tree. In this case, the first tree was cut down. The new roots grow down the outside of the stump. Eventually, the nurse stump rots away, and the new tree can be left with space between the roots.

 

 

Some big trees. Hard to get scale - I should probably get a person in the shot:

 

Nice sun rays:

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all

 

Yesterday there was laundry and today there will be ironing.  Such is the way of the world.  I may even dip into my exercise quota and stroll to the convenience store on Castle Road to buy my donation to charity, I mean lottery ticket.  That will get me out of the house for at most ten minutes but it will be a pleasant change from being herded around a well-known supermarket.  All those markings on the floor are beginning to make me think that I am a car.  The current situation has brought one unexpected benefit, which is that when I do drive to the supermarket I have a fair chance of parking where I began my journey. When it is all over the interlopers will be back so I must make the most of it.

 

I was really touched by what BoD posted yesterday.  To be associated with “some sense of normality” is indeed a compliment, especially when that commodity is all too absent from our daily lives.  If gentle readers enjoy what I enjoy writing then it is all worthwhile.  All being well I plan to carry on!  Some will recall that eighteen months ago I grabbed the ER headlines with a personal announcement.  I was humbled by the kindness shown to me.  At its finest ERs is a wonderful community and it’s good to be here.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[TheQ]

Mooring awl, Inner Temple Hare, 

3 hours plus 4.5 hours sleep very good for me. 

 

The Boss sent me an email after my " no " response to the company "offering " me the chance to go back to work.. 

"That’s fine, I’d much rather do without you in the short term than have to do without you long term!"

 

Sniffles and sore throat have gone away,  with the wind from over the north sea, no pollen, no hay fever. 

 

Facemask time again,  today as once the foam for the keel is carved it will need sanding . Whilst Polyisocyanurate is non toxic, it is an irritant to the lungs not a good idea at anytime, but especially now. 

 

Ah its just after 06:00 and brown eyes is giving me the stare.. 

Time to put my boots on. 

[roundhouse]

Good morning

 

Went into the shed earlier, switched on the TV and number 45 was calling a reporter a fake in his usual manner. At least the day can only get better if i can avoid hearing it again on the news.

 

Still having issues trying ot get my Digikeijs  / JMRI to see the accessory decodoer or even monitor the system yet will operate the accessory decoder and drive locos fine. Need it to see the activity so I can set up the layout panel to view th turnout control.

 

And I cant get rid of the quote box below as the clear cache option isnt showing  at present. Had this happen quite a few times of recent despite actually making the post a previous day. Normally I have not posted till it clears or use a different PC.

9 hours ago, newbryford said:

 

 

Edited April 14, 2020 by roundhouse

[Ozexpatriate]

5 minutes ago, roundhouse said:

And I cant get rid of the quote box below

Can you not select the little square 'handle' at the top left of the quote box (when you mouse over the box) and then hit "delete"?

[Ozexpatriate]

32 minutes ago, chrisf said:

it will be a pleasant change from being herded around a well-known supermarket.  All those markings on the floor are beginning to make me think that I am a car.

Apparently the transverse aisle after the checkouts at my supermarket is now a 'one way street', with one door (the one I use for both ingress and egress) designated as an entrance only and the other as the exit.

 

I was gently instructed to make a U turn and proceed in the opposite direction. I had decided to wear a jury-rigged mask (from a bandana and rubber bands) today. I found this greatly restricted my peripheral vision downwards and I did not notice the arrows on the floor. Every day there is something different to negotiate.

[TheQ]

Cold chilly overcast,  Ben the happy Collie enjoyed his patrol. 

 

One thing I noticed,  normally we get the bluebells flowering in the garden just before the daffodils go over. But just about all daffs are now shriveled  and no sign of a bluebell stalk let alone a flower so far. 

The daffodil heads won't go to waste, SWMBO collects them as they are used in natural dying of wool.

 

Its been decided that the next garden task is to trim two internal to the garden hedges of berberis purpura.  One was given a heavy chop last year and is looking straggly, the other is due it's heavy chop. 

 

The question is where to set up the next bonfire of twiggy burnables , we tend to move it around to destroy something we don't want. 

 

Time to eat my porridge... 

 

Ah the gas man has arrived,  so the tank is getting topped up.. 

 

Edited April 14, 2020 by TheQ

[Ozexpatriate]

Spurred by my earlier rant, I spent a little time in the garden today. This year's salad crop is not as nice looking as last year, but it hasn't rained in a week. Last Spring was wetter. Judging by the shape of the leaves, there are clearly a couple of different varieties and they embed in very difficult locations. The one in the middle is on a very steep slope (in the middle of ground cover), and only reachable by climbing up from the bottom. The one on the right is under a shrub hard against a valve box in the drip irrigation system.

They are all in the yard waste bin.

 

Can anyone identify these (below) for me? They too are very good colonizers and came in under the back fence though the drainage rubble. They look like bluebells, but I'm not botanist. I have magnified the middle image.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

This is a picture of my patio. It is tinted brown concrete and was stamped with texturing when laid. Everything yellow is pollen - probably mostly from Douglas Firs, though my Dogwoods may have contributed.

Every Spring I need to hose down the patio and scrub the mould off the furniture, with is kept under the patio roof. Being a very splashy task, I usually do this when it is a little warmer.

[roundhouse]

56 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Can you not select the little square 'handle' at the top left of the quote box (when you mouse over the box) and then hit "delete"?

No. Tried it on this post.

Edited April 14, 2020 by roundhouse

[Barry O]

Ey up!

The Bluebells in our garden are just starting to burst into colour. The mini daffs we have are just finishing. End of garden report.

 

The painter is due back today. He should finish everything by Friday ish.

 

BoD, mornings can be a very special time. Outside here the sun is shining, the birds are singing and it is calm.... well it was until a couple of speeding cars have just driven past.

 

On occassional forays down to Lulworth to check how my tank trials were doing early morning was a great time. You would often see Sika deer on the ranges.  The birds would be singing..ah, pleasant memories!

Now today is catch up with bits and bobs day. Things I have been putting off but really need doing. First off, mugatea and breakfast.

 

Stay healthy everyone!

Baz

Edited April 14, 2020 by Barry O