Amtrak P42 N Scale Digitrax DN163KOA Decoder Installation. After the fact Still processing, give it a minute or two
Where do you put your Woodland Scenics Traffic & Street lights when working on the layout? On the wall of course with painters tape Pedestal lights will be up there soon to join them! While I work on the main base. Keeps them from getting tangled up, usually.
Thinking about ordering some of these to help with the wires nest and hooking up my switches/turnouts that have 3 wires? To clean it up and make a better connection. I used those little cap thing's you put on wires and screw them in before or on. Thinking I should make the connection more better Yeah I know bad English This little project might end up being expensive? New roadbed, possibly some new Remote Atlas Turnouts, etc... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09J4QW4T8/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A21EP0NWQIQACP&th=1 Trying not to fill up the Layout Party thread
You might look at WAGO or iDEAL wire connectors available at Home Depot, Amazon, etc. Much easier to use than terminal blocks.
How about these? Wonder if the Tiny wires from Atlas switches will work with them? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09PMYT9CB/ref=syn_sd_onsite_desktop_116?ie=UTF8&pd_rd_plhdr=t&th=1 Kind of confused how these work? https://www.homedepot.com/p/IDEAL-3...FYn1AlazURsbNk8d-oRoCBj0QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds https://www.amazon.com/Connectors-C...cphy=9013477&hvtargid=pla-1225638540896&psc=1
@in2tech Moose recommend just using terminal blocks and twisting the wires around the block screws. Using the spade connectors is an added expense that might not be necessary if you don't often remove with wires for anything ... Look for inexpensive ones. Moose has used Gardner-Bender, Molex, Radio Shack, Utilitech & A.E. Corp. brands.
The first (Glutoad brand) ones have levers that you open to insert, close to latch the wire in place. They appear to work with wire sizes from 28 AWG to 12 AWG stranded or solid conductors (really small to pretty big, as far as wires you might use in MRR.) One wire per lever. These are independent one-wire to one-wire butt-splice connectors that can be mechanically stacked together, but are still just multiple one-to-one connections. They cannot be used to connect one wire to many wires, which to me would be a big limitation. Glutoad may have other versions that do allow one-to-many connections. They appear to be re-usable. I have never heard of Glutoad brand before (for whatever that's worth). The iDEAL brand ones have no levers, you just insert the wire, and it permanently catches it. The various models with N slots are used to connect N wires all together. Once you use it, it cannot be reused. Cut it off, and start over. They are more sensitive to different wire sizes, since there is no lever to clamp down, so they offer them in various wire size ranges. These are color coded per range of wire sizes they will accept. They are more popular with electrician trades, since they are simple and fast, with no tools or fidgeting required (just poke the wires home and you're done.) They do not appear to have multi-size connectors to connect, say a large ground wire to other smaller ground wires.) The WAGO 221 series have levers like the Glutoad ones, but connect all wires together (per connector.) That selection appears to have two-, three- and five-wire versions included. They work with wire sizes from 12AWG to 24AWG. I've read good reviews about WAGO, but not as much for the other two. It is possible you may have smaller wires than 24 AWG on your model railroad, but would they also be smaller than 28 AWG? Most often, small wires like that are used in decoder installs inside small locomotives, not track/signal wires. If you use common "wire-wrap" wire, that is usually ~32AWG, which is too small for any of these brands. I doubt seriously that you use any wire bigger than 12 AWG on your layout. To me, the WAGO connectors are more versatile than the other two (with the possible exception of needing to handle wire sizes smaller than 24 AWG, but no smaller than 28 AWG.)
Apparently the wire gauge on Atlas N Scale Code 80 turnouts is 24-26 depending on how old the model is? I'm using new ones bought recently for the most part. That sound about right for those tiny wires?
I don't know; I use Unitrack. Its switch control and track power wires are reportedly 22 AWG. You could double or triple fold and twist the bare end of a smaller wire to make a bigger bundle to clamp in the connector. This is only ok for low-current applications (or you wouldn't be using the smaller wire to begin with.)
So apparently part of working on rehabbing your layout is also organizing stuff, as I can't find a lot of things I know I have. Such as adhesive clips for wiring, and lot's of other stuff. So add that to the mental list now It needed to be done anyway. This happens all the time, and I have a tiny layout too I'm gonna put this here, and in the future I will know where it is...NOT!
Mental list? That would be the list of things I already forgot! Good thing my phone remembers stuff better than I do.
Remember that messy table recently? Now it is the organization table. At some point I should find some things I am looking for, I hope. Still haven't found those adhesive wire organize things yet They are somewhere around here. heck I have no where near as much stuff as most of you. This should be really simple to locate, NOT! Going to put some items back in their cases and let them chill a bit. Of course once I do, I won't be able to find them Buying the 2 folding 2'x4' folding tables was the best thing I ever did! One is permanently up with layout and the other is for L piece and work table, hobby table, etc... and stored underneath other table 90% of the time!
Looks great. Someday when I'm gone cutting and forming foam for my mountains, I'm going to follow your lead and do a major clean up.
Dust, where does it come from, arg. So I installed a SATA drive into my pc recently, and I used a can of air to blow the dust out carefully, and I thought, wait. Instead of blowing the dust off my rolling stock with my own air, why not use the can air? Note, do not do this while rolling stock is on layout. Ask me how I know It works great, and also on some building's, once again not on layout! Also, have a firm grip on them too! Dust is the worst!
This is a never-ending, perpetual losing battle for me. Every time I do a massive organization, 2 days later it looks like nuclear fallout again lol You know those guys who have the shape of each tool traced out on the pegboard and the wrenches are perfectly spaced in each drawer? I'm pretty much never going to be one of them. I've made my peace with "manageable"
Why if we all did that the tool industry would go bankrupt as we always have to go buy another tool we can't find, and then a few weeks later we find the original one we were looking for Applies to model railroading too. And also, those are people on those TV DIY shows, and they don't do that, the crew does Very few real people's pegboards look like that!
