Model Railway Forum

I was not sure where to put this but just to give everyone the heads up here goes. As you know all the big four supermarkets are going to prioritise vulnerable people for online deliveries. Sainsbury’s has just put out on their website they are going to use the government database to identify the vu...

If you are DC then I would say you are OK, DCC controllers can deliver several Amps, Lenz for instance can deliver 5amps. So you would need to uprate. Solenoid motors can draw a current of 4-5amps but it is momentary so should not present a major issue except where you are firing several motors at o...

Sorry cannot help you out as it would require information about the ammeter namely it’s internal resistance. However this site shows you the calculations required. https://circuitglobe.com/ammeter-shunt.html Go down to related topics and under the heading shunt resistor you will see how to get full ...

I served my time as a Coppersmith in heavy engineering, my first job as a shoplad was tinning fridge tubes with a 4" square soldering irons with wooden handles, heated by gas furnace. Soldering any type of metal is second nature after 70 odd years!!!,but some people struggle, we can only advise and...

I have put on another sight that my first job when I left school was as a sheet metal worker. Back in those days all the metal we used was lead coated 20 and 22 gauge steel so every thing we made had to be soldered together. We used really heavy soldering irons. Wooden handles and solid copper tips...

P.S. My flux always smokes. Does that indicate faulty technique as well? I'm clearly doing something wrong. Hi Artur I was not implying that smoking flux indicates bad technique, all fluxes smoke or evaporate off when heat is applied. I was just making the point you have a finite time to complete s...

The only reason to split track on a board joint is to facilitate disassembly of an exhibition layout or on a fixed layout if you are having a removable section. Other than that I think you will end up creating problems where there are none. If you are worried that where your layout is housed might i...

I do not know what the difference in heat conductivity is between nickel silver and steel is but the technique should be the same maybe steel needs a slightly longer application of heat? For nickel silver rails I normally clean the rail surface with a fibre glass pencil and tin the rail surface with...

Artur you did not say what wattage your iron has, I would say a 40 - 50 Watt iron should do it. Remember whilst soldering heat is drawn out of the iron into the rail, a higher wattage iron is able to replace that heat quicker. Higher wattage does not mean higher temperature, although on a temperatur...

We got the Amazon phone call recently, it was reported in the local press that it was doing the rounds in the district. Seems the scammers use the area code then use an auto dialler to randomly phone numbers I shudder to think how many little old dears have fallen victim to these scum.

Richard