09-30-2012, 06:02 PM
Today is boiler front day 
. But before I start, I need to test my weiring,that includes continuity and polarity. On my work bench test track, if you put the direction switch to the left, forward direction will be to the left as long as everything is wired correctly. That was the first thing that I was looking for, and I discovered that one of the decapods motors were weired backwards. This was something that I was able to correct easily. I removed the PC board for the DCC hook up and hard weired all the connections in the tender flipping the polarity of the motor leads there.
I will leave the soldered joints uninsulated for now as the tender lighting will have to be weired to it latter.I then temped the LED on to the headlight leads and turned the throttle up to full power. I do that to make sure that the LEDs resistor is correct and the lamp doesn't burnout at full voltage.
And look at them drivers fly.... One more thing that you need to be careful with is that the LED acts as automatic directional lighting. If it doesn't light up in the proper direction just flip the leads.
With that all working correctly I measured the diameter of the smokebox and drew out a circle on some brass that was ever so slightly larger. This was done to help hide any slight out of round spots in the smoke box.
This was then cut out with some snips. I then drew another smaller circle centered in the box front with evenly spaced hash marks on it. This is my guide for a row of rivets located there.
The rivets were then punched in with my riveter.
. But before I start, I need to test my weiring,that includes continuity and polarity. On my work bench test track, if you put the direction switch to the left, forward direction will be to the left as long as everything is wired correctly. That was the first thing that I was looking for, and I discovered that one of the decapods motors were weired backwards. This was something that I was able to correct easily. I removed the PC board for the DCC hook up and hard weired all the connections in the tender flipping the polarity of the motor leads there.I will leave the soldered joints uninsulated for now as the tender lighting will have to be weired to it latter.I then temped the LED on to the headlight leads and turned the throttle up to full power. I do that to make sure that the LEDs resistor is correct and the lamp doesn't burnout at full voltage.
With that all working correctly I measured the diameter of the smokebox and drew out a circle on some brass that was ever so slightly larger. This was done to help hide any slight out of round spots in the smoke box.
This was then cut out with some snips. I then drew another smaller circle centered in the box front with evenly spaced hash marks on it. This is my guide for a row of rivets located there.
My other car is a locomotive, ARHS restoration crew