At ScaleFour North in early April, I showed a few of my most recent developments.
To begin with, the "Coronation" has had its "up/down" coupler replaced with a rotating version. This has several new developments;
The rotation is in the opposite direction to previous designs. This works because the pivot point is below the deep buffer beam, so the coupling swings clear of the matching coupling on a wagon.
The pivot and flaps are from my test etch of parts; they have been modified further to fit the tight space, notably at the rear of the loco where brake rods interfere with the obvious positioning.
The coils are from Plantraco as discussed in earlier posts.
The chip in this loco is a CT DCX75, the coils are wired in series to the white function output. (The slow process of decyphering the behaviour of CT chips moves on; it seems that the white output is reliable for this operation, but the yellow still erratic. If the chip has firmware above v66, then both wires work correctly, though with different values for the CV's. The JMRI files are being updated again. ).
To begin with, the "Coronation" has had its "up/down" coupler replaced with a rotating version. This has several new developments;
The rotation is in the opposite direction to previous designs. This works because the pivot point is below the deep buffer beam, so the coupling swings clear of the matching coupling on a wagon.
The pivot and flaps are from my test etch of parts; they have been modified further to fit the tight space, notably at the rear of the loco where brake rods interfere with the obvious positioning.The coils are from Plantraco as discussed in earlier posts.
The chip in this loco is a CT DCX75, the coils are wired in series to the white function output. (The slow process of decyphering the behaviour of CT chips moves on; it seems that the white output is reliable for this operation, but the yellow still erratic. If the chip has firmware above v66, then both wires work correctly, though with different values for the CV's. The JMRI files are being updated again. ).
Secondly, I built a "demonstration frame" to show the etched bits and coil, these two photos might help illustrate where I am heading with etched components:
