T55 JFJ motor

Another mystery item from the box of stuff in our clubrooms - a chunky skew-wound French motor. 

Dating, according to the writing on the box, from 1981, the configuration is a bit odd. A large permanent magnet sits over the armature. There are a couple of contacts on the back. Touch a 9v battery on these, and the motor kicks, but doesn't revolve. I wondered if it was designed for AC current, but the instructions, translated by Google Lens, don't mention this. 

This is a heavy-duty unit, but I can tell you no more than that hence the post here. Should I spirit away for a project? What would I use it for? 

The interweb isn't much help either. I found one other example - an expired auction on French eBay. 

Suggestions? 
 

 

Buggy wiring

 

Time to wire up the Sand Scorcher. A speed control is included in the box, and I bought a battery pack at the same time. Digging in the model boat stuff, I pulled out a servo, and a receiver. 

Plugging it all in wasn't hard, other than the usual guesswork trying to put the right connection into the receiver. I've learnt this is trial and error, but now don't get wound up by my inability to remember things. I do know that unlike the Planet system, you don't need to put the power in the bottom connection.  

The biggest surprise was three wires coming out of the speed control. It seems that this clever bit of kit will run both brushed and brushless motors. Who knew that such a piece of witchcraft existed? 

As it is, the orange wire just hangs around unused, but I won't cut it off in case I decide to upgrade the motor in the future. You never know, I might get good at driving this thing! 

Mystery orange blinking thing

 

OK, another challenge. I bought this for pennies at Stafford show, from the dangerous second-hand stall. It was cheap, orange, and I wanted to know more about it. Rather then dig out the box contents like most people would, I handed over some cash (OK, added it to the pile of stuff I was buying) for future investigation. 

Inside, we have an orange box, some lamps, a bit of wire, and a diagram. It appears that there are many options for flashing light combinations. I still can't work out why you'd use them though. 

Inside the box, there's some serious circuitry, but no relay as I was expecting. 

So, I'm not really much the wiser. Anyone got an idea what this is, and where I could use it?

I'm a bus starter. Twisted bus starter

 

Apparently, this is the starter button from a Leyland bus. I don't know which one, but the seller assured me that this was the case. Since I was so surprised at the price - a fiver - I didn't argue. Well, that and it was chucking it down with rain and my jacket was at the limit of its waterproofness. 

I suspect the rain helped me bag this item, most peopel were sheltering inside. That, and there wasn't a price on it on the stand and I'd expected a price of £20 or more, four times the value to me. To be honest, I only asked out of curiosity.

What do I want a bus starter for? Do I plan to restore a bus? 

No. But I fancy it for a future project. As a simple on-off push switch, I'm sure it can be incorporated into something in the future. That, and I love switches of all sorts. 

Of course, I couldn't resist poking at the insides. 

The components are simple, and robust. A heafty copper contact links the two contacts in the baseplate when you press the button. The amount of metal suggests that these can handle more current than I'm likely to throw at it. 

Tha sprung action is lovely. The sort of lovely you only find on old, chunky and over-engineered electrical items. Never mind all these fidget spinners and stuff da kidz play with, I'll sit and push this abesent mindedly while on video calls for work. Satisfying.

Building a Powerbox - Part 3. More switches and sockets

 

One feature I've always built in to my layouts is an extra direction switch below the controller socket. 

You see, I'm not that good at making sure my kit built locos all operate the same direction when you drive them, and since it's easier if the switch on the controller is matched to the direction of travel, the extra one sorts this out. 

I'd like to say I note those models running reversed and swap the motor wires when back at home, but I'm usually more interested in doing something else. Besides, I have a switch, so I might as well use it. 

From my electronic bits drawer, I found a nice chunky slide switch and wired it in. I like chunky switches, they are so much more satisfying to use. 

This one has a centre off, which has already caught me out once, but I'm sure it's a good idea. 

While the output posts are nice, I thought some chocolate block style versions would be useful as well, and I have some that are pushed to grab/release the wire. 

I know these came from a show because I'd never seen them before and knew there would be useful for something. As well as track power (red and black wires) I've connected the second 16V AC output from the transformer, just in case this is handy one day. 

Finally, the same input that goes to the controller is wired to a chocolate block poking out the side and operated through a couple of holes in the top of the box using a long flat-bladed screwdriver. This isn't an output, but an input. If I don't have access to mains electricity for the transformer, I could feed some 12V DC in here from a lead acid model boat battery. Obviously, not at the same time as the 16V AC is going in, but I made this, I know how it works, so (hopefully) I'll not cock it up. 

There we go. A useful tool made up that I'll hopefully use for many years. There's plenty of space in the box too, if I find more gizmos to add!

Building a Powerbox - Part 2. A pretty, but useless voltmeter

I love light up gizmos, and what better, and potentially more useful, than a voltage readout on the panel? 

Component Shop sell something suitable, but I went down the eBay route as I wanted one with bezel and ordering from weird people was part of the fun of this project. How you can have a business that sells components so cheaply, including minimal or no postage, and make a profit is a mystery. 

Anyway, the meter needs a feed from the track output that is the correct polarity, so it's fed through a tiny bridge rectifier. 

You're supposed to solder these to a circuit board, or some veroboard. Mine floats in mid air, although I have used some heat shrink on many of the connections to both support them, and avoid short circuits if the wires move around.

Track power goes in through the inputs that would normally take the AC power, and it ensures the outputs are always the correct polarity. 

The good news is, the panel lights up and changes value as you twiddle the controller knob. 

The bad news is that according to my old dial multimeter, it's reading 2V too low. Are those volts being lost in the rectifier? I don't know, but I'm not losing much sleep over this, the display is mostly for show anyway. 

You'll notice that I've added a couple of LEDs which hadily tell you when you've reversed the polarity to the track, in case you didn't notice you'd flipped the switch. They are petty though.

Talking of switches, I've added another one...

Building a powerbox - Part 1. Basic ideas

The Problem: I use a Gaugemaster handheld controller and transformer on all my layouts. Both have 5-pin DIN plugs on the end. Handy for the fully wired layout, but no good when I need to test a model on a new product or a rolling road. What I need is something to plug them in to with suitable outputs for the track. 

My solution, the Powerbox. 

16V AC in. Track power out. All controlled from a Gaugemaster handheld. 

The thing is, my favourite section of the old Maplin catalogue was the one full of lights and switches. 

Anyway, the basics: 

I found an old plastic box in the garage and decided to make use of it. In the side, I fitted the transformer input and on the top the controller connection. For the track output, there is a pair of post connections designed for stereo speakers, I think. 

A lot of this stuff came from odd places on eBay. I tried to stick to UK suppliers, but this was being done on the cheap with the risk that stuff bought in might be rubbish. Sadly, I haven't enjoyed an electrical components supplier locally since Maplin, and before them, Tandy, vanished from our high street. Once or two bits are from the stash of electrical items bought at shows though.

The basics are really all I needed, but then the box is quite large, so I added a few extras...

Michael Campbel faced a similar problem and developed a little box to deal with it. Needless to say, I saw this just after I had finished my version.

A win for hoarding

Every so often, I seriously consider that I need to make dramatic cuts in my stash of bits'n'pieces. And then I realise this would be a bad thing. 

I'm working on an urgent and very time-consuming magazine project at the moment. For the wiring up, I needed some DIN sockets and so included them in an order for materials. When the arrived, I'd selected the wrong pin pitch. My controller wouldn't plug in, and I was loathe to change the plug on this as it wouldn't then work with other layouts.

I have a shoebox full of electrical "stuff" and rooting around in there I found this panel thing. I don't know where it came from or what it was built to do - but it incorporated two of the vital sockets. A few minutes work removing them and I was in business.

If I'd not had that box of junk I'd have been stuffed. My rush project would have ground to a halt. So, a win for hoarding.

Does anyone else car to admit being dug out of a hole by a similar stash, or it just me that keeps stuff?

Trainline 45 point repair

The garden railway includes a couple of Trainline45 points in the station area and over the last couple of years, they have started to play up - electricity isn't flowing to all the places it is supposed to and limited use of the loop to one side.

Finally, I bit the bullet and lifted them (not difficult) and had a look underneath. On one, the exit track wasn't getting power. Looking underneath, one wire had come adrift from the connection to the frog. A cleanup and then re-solder and all is well. A chunky iron is a good idea, but my Antex 45W does the job.

On the other point, the rail between the switchblade and frog was power-free. Given a bit of a run, the LGB 0-4-0 managed to clear the gap, but it was hardly ideal.

Again, the fault was a duff soldered joint, this time in the connection that runs between this rail, the switchblade and stock rail.

All working, but I wonder why large scale points aren't self-isolating? I'm going to have to figure something out with insulated fishplates and a switch so we can have a train in each side of the loop. Not difficult, but I wonder why? Reliability? Tradition?

Lights on, no action

Having ascertained that the electrics in the ark were working, my plan for a good long sail was thwarted.

Switching on the model after charging the battery overnight, the Viper speed control showed both red and green lights and the servo had the jitters. All the channels on the receiver seemed to have swopped around too.

How could this happen? The only thing I'd done since it had worked before was charge the battery.

After a fair bit of pugging and wiggling, I gave up and pinched a battery from another boat - one on charge for a visit from my cousins (who needed to be entertained) a couple of days later.

This seemed to cure things, but then I put a meter on the batteries.  The good one gave over 6V, the duff one 4.something. At a guess, not enough for the receiver or speed control.

Diagnosis, my charger is faulty.

Digging around, I found a Thunder Tiger version and a suitable lead to connect it to the battery. A few hours later, the meter said 7V. Not sure how that works, but I'm thinking this proves it can hold a charge.

More importantly, I managed to get the boat on the water and find out how it leaks. 

Saturday Film Club: Making Transistor Radios in 1955

A few weeks ago, we looked at building televisions in Coventry and because of this, the YouTube algorithms think I might be interested in making pocket radios in America.

 They aren't wrong. This short film show the very earliest days of "tranny" radios, with miniature components that we'd consider laughably large now. At the time, they were cutting edge, and a lot easier to look after than valves.

Watching the dip soldering is fun, but just after this, a huge iron is wielded and the join fed with what appears to be a huge amount of solder. I assume this wasn't just for the camera, although I wonder about some of the clothes which look a bit Sunday smart to me.

Saturday Film Club: Making a 405 line television

A fascinating film showing how a GEC television set being made. Look at all those lovely, chunky components!

Building a radio control switch

Club membership is very useful sometimes. All these new-fangled 2.4mHz radio sets we now use support 5 or more channels rather than the 2 from the "good old days". Most of the time I only use 2, but it seems a waste. One use for the extras would be switching lights on and off.

This needs a bit of electronic and luckily, Brian from our club has put together a course to show members how to build one.

I arrived expecting a couple of hours soldering but instead, we had the works - slides, handouts and even boards full of components for us to look at and learn how to identify.

By the end of the morning, we'd learnt a lot and then it was time to fire up the soldering irons to build our switches. Brian's design is simple to follow and well laid-out on a custom circuit board.

Being a proficient solderer, I had mine together in just over an hour, but even the beginners managed it in 2. There was a testing procedure and by the end of the day, 5 of the 6 attendees held working devices. The final one was taken away and a faulty resistor diagnosed.

I can't speak highly enough of the efforts put into this course. You'd happily pay good money to attend and not feel ripped off. As it was, we just paid for the components and enjoyed ourselves. I've not bought a couple more packs as I really fancy more light-up boats.

Did I learn anything?

Yes - how to identify resistors (I sort of knew this but now am more confident) and how to use desoldering braid, something that has always defeated me in the past.

So, if you are a "lone wolf" who doesn't like joining clubs, can I suggest it's time to reconsider. There is a benefit from being in the pack.

Hornby R9060 radio control unit

With my love of Hornby operating accessories, the R9060 radio control unit has long been on my list for the collection.

Introduced in 2001 (I think), the set comprises an American style cabin into which is plugged the transformer and also provides screw outputs for track power. Inside this is the speaker for train sounds.

The handset has 4 buttons, faster, slower, stop and sound. It's a plastic box containing a 9V PP3 battery.

I picked my set up for £12 second hand - they still command reasonable money but I'm far too stingy for this, even if I do have a real use in mind.

For this sort of cash, there were a few issues. The battery connector in the handset failed almost immediately, but a replacement was easy to fit even with soldering required.

Inside the hut, the aerial screws needed to be tightened up.

Wired up to a H&M rolling road, I tried it out with a Bachmann Junior loco that we must never say looks a lot like Thomas.

The results were disappointing. The range for the 26mHz system seems to be measured in inches - about 3, possibly 6 with a fresh PP3.

The loco runs in one direction only and takes an age to wind up speed.

The sound is quite fun though. I don't think the DCC guys are going to be worried about this! Looking on-line, there are 2 versions of this set. The one I have was sold as a separate unit for finescale modellers, there is also a Thomas version that plays the TV theme tune.

I'll admit that some of the issues might be related to this being a second-hand unit and not working properly - surely the range should be better and we ought to get reverse?

Never mind, it's a bit of fun - and that's what this sort of thing is all about.

Chunky key switches

I've got a shoebox full of chunky electronics. Mainly, proper industrial multi-pin plugs and sockets as big as your hand, but I'm not averse to switchgear too.

My thinking is this lot is easier to wire up than the modern, and not so modern, computer versions with terminals within millimetres of each other. Pokeing a wide soldering iron bit in between them isn't fun to my mind.

No idea quite what these key switches will do, but I fancy building them into a control panel. I suspect they are of telecoms original, but I'm sure a reader will be able to fill me in.

Each is sprung loaded and depending on the colour of the middle plastic bit, will either latch or spring back. Some latch in one direction and spring in the other. Modifying the middle coloured nylon spike should change this characteristic as latching in both directions will be more use for point control - my first thought for future use.

While buying switches, I also picked this up for pennies.

 It's a neat push-button unit for point control, but I just like the name. How many firms used "Acme" and which episode of the Roadrunner cartoon was this in?

Old cable

I was given a cable at the weekend. The plug on the end is my favourite type of ancient and chunky connector. Gerrard, who gave it to me, has promised (threatened?) that he has several more to send my way. While I've no immediate need, they are pretty rare now as the world goes subminiature, so I'll snap them up for future projects.

The cable intrigued me though. It's very neatly made and wrapped with neatly tied string. The loops are pretty consistently 2cm apart. 

Modern wiring whizzes would use a spiral plastic wrap, but I guess that the cable pre-dates this. So, my question is, is this a standard technique that I'm not aware of? Did electronics school teach it, or did the person making the lead devise it themselves?

Standard plug

Before taking the workbench out on the road, I had to do a little upgrade to the test track that runs along the shelf in front of me.

Years ago (many, many years ago) when I fitted it out, power to the controller feed was via a 2-pin plug and socket. The idea was that a lead would run from a venerable H&M transformer sat on the floor to the side of the bench and into the Gaugemaster handheld.

The transformer probably still works although I can't find it, nor the wire.

No problem, I just needed to replace the socket with my now standard 5-pin DIN and plug in my normal, modern(ish) Gaugemaster transformer.

Leaving this to the last minute meant a scrabble around for a suitable socket and while I own many, only a 7-pin version had the correct pin spacing. I must remember to stock up again on the right ones in future. And throw away the collection of wrong versions.

Never mind, a few minutes work with a round rasp opening up the hole and the soldering was quickly sorted out. At the show, all worked well again.

I suppose I really ought to leave this rigged up at home, but a H&M Duette with connected with a couple of fly leads works nearly as well plus proves the locos running rather better than the more sophisticated controller does. That's my excuse anyway.

Scalextric "Supersound"

The companion unit to the Hornby Supersound unit I looked at a couple of years ago, if anything it's worse than the railway version. 

I don't understand why you'd want this thing any where near your slot racing set. If traffic noise is your bag, just open a window.

Playing with it under DCC equiped model diesel depots could be fun though (evil laugh).

Kato point switching

 

Warley preparation starts.  First up a few finishing touches to the N gauge layout. 

At the time I built it, Kato points were a bit of a mystery. I knew they had built-in motors, but not how these worked. In my naivete, I assumed I could wire in a couple of push buttons an all would be well. 

You can't. The switching requires some 12V DC. A sprung DPDT toggle switch would work, but I couldn't find one for sale anywhere. Instead, I was forced to buy the proper kit. 

What we have is a switch which feels a bit plasticy but does the job. On the side, attached with a sort of press-stud is a bridge rectifier. You only need one of these for a bank of direction switches. 

Everything plugs in to everything else and there's no need for soldering. Thanks to the Gaugemaster controller, the 16V AC wires attach with screw terminals. It all worked first time thank goodness. 

Trouble is, that switch is bulky. Too tall to stand in the fiddle yard without removing a bit of hill polystyrene, the plug on the back was closer to the track than I liked. 

Working on the basis that the new owner might want to operate from the front, I've neatly tied the wires up underneath and attached the switch with Velcro pads on its side. Removal and relocation will be easy to suit their requirements. 

 

To make wiring up eaiser, I've colour coded the scew terminals to on the controller back. Match the colours on the block with the wires and all will be OK. I'll try to add sticky labels to the wires too at some point. 

No flies on me

 

Spotted at the railway club last week - a clever clamp for holding small circuit boards. 

Attached to a desk, it provides provides a steady board for soldering, but the PCB can be flipped over while still in the clamp? 

Where can you purchase one of these? Apparently you look for fisherman's fly tying clamps.