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As some of may or may not know I was recently layed off from work. I've decided to take this opportunity to start my own business manufacturing model railroad electronics. Anyhow I'd like to hear some ideas on what everyone would like to see. Is there something out there which you wish you...

Yup I just got layed off too. Worked on the layout today for the first time since I got that job back in November. It sure feels good to have a bit of sparte time I'm just a little worried about the lack of inflow of money. :-)

I used to work for hp technical support, during my training we used a bunch of old inkjet cartridges which pretty much just sat in a box in a cupboard the entire time drying out. Needless to say the usually barely worked if at all. I could get most of them to work eventually though. First...

Matthyro, I didn't do the entire river. Didn't go through hells gate. There still were some pretty good rapids though.

Matthyro, that reminds me. I took a 3 day rafting trip in the fraiser canyon. It sure was a great way to see the trains and bridges from down on the river. It sure is worth it if you don't ming getting a little wet.

part of being double-insulated means that the case is plastic. GFI's are still a good idea. They don't actually require any ground to operate. They measure the current traveling through both the live and the neutral condutor. If the currents are different because the electricity is...

The Zephyr uses a wall transformer which is double insulated. Only low voltage goes to the actual unit. There is no need for any grounding.

I'd make sure your capacitors are rated at least twice the voltage you expect them to handle. Manufaturers tend to be a little over optomistic when they state the values. As for the electrolytics, if you do stick them in backwards and they explode you get a big ball of stringy fluff stuff...

The paper + cad approach actually works really well. When I was designing my layout I'd draw on paper the general idea of what I wanted then drew it in cad to see if it worked. I then printed it and fixed problems/changed things on paper as it really is a lot quicker to draw with a pencil...

Here's two more of the high-level bridge. http://community.webshots.com/photo/41591749/45006769aQTBPl The smaller bridge is the LRT (subway) + pedestrian bridge. There's also some other pictures of bridges around Edmonton on that site. here's the bridge with the waterfall turned on...

Probably the easyest way to explain it is to put it this way: A 2% grade means for a section of track 100 units long* one end is 2 units higher while for a 9% grade a peice of track 100 units long* would have one end 9 units higher. What scale you model in doesn't make a difference. A...

You should defiantely put the transformer inside the case. mounting the transformer to the outside of the case is unsafe. We want our model railroads to be fun not deadly. Idealy the box should be metal but plastic is probably fine. If you're worried about the transformer overheating a...

The 555 has to be the most common (hobbiest) chip in the world. If your local radio shack doesn't carry it then I'll eat Shamus's layout. You could also use a 556 it's just two 555's in the same package.

I've used only one leg on my entire 8'x11' layout using 1x3,s Those 1x3's will take a lot of weight. I do screw the rest of it to the walls so that may make a difference.

There's someone on ebay selling an ICC defect chart. They don't have any of the other stuff so it's probably not them but... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2159012544&category=1445

I believe all decoders can be used on DC. I beleive it's a requiremnt of the NRMA standards. I could be wrong though and it probably doesn't mean it has to be set up that way as default.

Here's an idea for you. The other high current output on your power supply is +12V So if you use the +5V output as your GND, connect +12 to one side of the microswitch and the real gnd to the other. to the led it'll look like -5V and +7V. seeing as you're just using the 2 pin led then...

hi-f, e-mail me complete details of exactly what you want, what you have already, a track plan, etc. And I'll try and come up with something for you.

My story also relates to the X-acto but with less blood and stabbing motions. I was removing cork from some subroadbed, as the cork was well glued down I had to push pretty hard to slice it away. Anyhow I got to a rough bit which I couldn't seem to get through. After a little bit of pushing I...

nope don't put the transformers in series. the vlotages out of the transformers add together and will probably end up being too much for the motors. Don't put them in parallel either as you can only do that if the voltages are the same and they won't be. you should be able to it up using...