This weeks model railroading

So I went to the MRR club again wendesday night. We started by running a few passenger trains around the tracks. But we had a big derailment when one train was going over a bridge with a bad section of track. We had to bend the rails back inwards, check to see that they were the right distance apart, and then glue in postion. After that we ran some freights around, and I started to work on cleaning the tracks in Murphy yard with the track cleaning car. I had to pull out the cars from the sidings to be able to clean the tracks. One bad switch was causing trouble, but I managed. All of sudden without notification someone else's train came rolling though, and I had to quickly pull my engine and cleaning car off the main line and back into the yard. I threw the switch for the other train just in time.

The track cleaning car consists of a regular car - in this case, a caboose - with a holder on the bottom in between the trucks. The holder holds a sponge which can be soaked with alcohol or anything else. But I didn't soak mine in anything, it works just as well.

After I finished cleaning the tracks in Murphy yard, someone else's train derailed when a coupler in the consist got caught on a wire, and the engine pulled the train apart, derailing four other cars.

Found an abandoned house in the woods

Today I went for a walk in the woods with a few friends and we found an abandoned house!

 

The roof of the side of the house was caved in. Plants have started growing in the mess.

 

 

The gutters are just rusted through.

The official nickname of the house is "da crack haus".

Skunk Cabbage Flower

A skunk cabbage flower found in the woods behind my school, near a stream.

Woodworking - Making a sandwich-board for PLC (my school) - pt2

   We had a bit of a challenge putting in the dowel as a hinge. Of course, we didn't have the right size drill bit, so we drilled a small hole, which the dowel barely fit in. Then we tilted the drill to chop away a bit more wood from the hole, and we got it big enough for the dowel to go through!

   A few nails got tapped in to hold the dowel. Then we put a strap to keep the sign from unfolding. I then went home, and in the following days, Paul let Ryan paint the primer on the sign. Paul had Ryan paint it outside, and of course Ryan made a mess, and Paul started scrubbing the paint off the pavement....

Joined a model RR group

I joined a model RR group, at Kuser Mansion, in Trenton. I went there last wednesday in the evening; I got a form to sign, and a tour of the model RR. All the trains are in HO gauge, all the track is DCC controlled, and the layout is over 60 years old. A beautiful hand-painted sky background is the backdrop for the well detailed layout. Although it isn't realistic, there is a part with a town called Hamilton, there are two railyards, and a roundhouse too, with working turntable! So, the first 4 weeks I will go there, and then I will be 'sworn in' as a member of the club; the first junior member they have had for many years!

Woodworking - Making a sandwich-board for PLC (my school) - pt1

   This weekend was around freezing, so me and my teacher (Paul) decided to work inside. We worked in his workshop, which is in the attic/loft of his house. I didn't know what he was planning to do, but when I got to his house, I learned that we would be building a sandwich-board for our school, PLC.

   We gathered materials, which were all left-over scrap from other projects.We found a piece of 1/4 inch plywood, which was 4' x 2'. I suggested that we cut it in half, as to have two 2'^2 boards - one for each side of the sandwich-board. There were a nice piece of 2-by-4 sitting on the back of the shed outside, which we promptly cut up to make the legs. A bit of thought was put into how long the legs would be, but we decided that 3' was too small, and 4' was too high, so we cut them 3.5' (3' , 6") long.

   Just as we were about to put it together, we realised we had no hinges that were of the correct size! We pondered a bit, and I came up with the idea of using a dowel as a hinge. Paul had a dowel that was 5/8th inch in diameter, and about 3' long - it was perfect!

To be continued int Part-2!

Technology - Engineering Applications - Dissasembling a Microwave Pt2

   Continued from part 1 ... After taking all the wires out of the microwave, I then also took out the light-bulbs and their sockets. But there was still two wires going underneath. Turns out, they connected to a geared motor, which is 'supposed' to make the turntable inside the microwave turn. But there was no turntable, and no shaft to place one on; wtf!? :S Quite a silly design! xD

   All that was left were the control circuitboard, the high voltage transformer, the high voltage rectifier, and the magnetron. The circuitboard was a bit tricky to take off as it was hard to turn the screws that were holding it in, which were parallel to the circuitboard and sitting right next to the casing of the microwave. After a bit of struggling I managed to get them loose. Then I went onto taking out the high-voltage capacitor, and the high- voltage diode, which were connected to the high-voltage transformer, and the magnetron. I had another sheet-metal duct to take out, and I found another fan underneath. The fan cools the magnetron and the transformer. Next up was the magnetron, and then the transformer. Those bolts holding the transformer in were quite tight, and the transformer is quite heavy too.

   And so, I was left with the metal shell of the microwave, which we brought to our local municipal recycling center. But for now, that's it for the microwave dissasembly! 

Technology - Engineering Applications - Dissasembling a Microwave Pt1

   So a few weeks ago I got an old microwave from one of my teachers, Joel Hammon. Its an old GE profile performance, over-the-range microwave/convection oven; it was made in the year 2000 according to the serial code. It had been sitting in Joel's shed for over 5 years, and he wanted to get rid of it. I didn't check to see if it still works, but I have been waiting forever to take a microwave apart. It had quite a lot of screws, and a lot of sheet-metal. When I took some 3 dozen screws out, and I pulled the cover off, I was surprised to find a big mouse nest inside, no mice of course. The service manual was shredded to pieces! Surprisingly no wires had been chewed on though. I started by removing some of the sheet-metal ducting inside, and removing the main blower fan. I want to find a use for it too, its a 3 speed 120v motor, with two blowers on each end. Under that was the heating element, and a smaller fan (which was quite flat). I was surprised when I found the heating element, but when I looked online, I found that the microwave is also a convection oven. Putting that aside, I started pulling out the whole wiring harness. There were a handful of thermal cutouts, all over the microwave. A handful of relays controlled the fans, lights, the HV transformer, and the heating element. All the relays were mounted on the main circuit-board, and powered by the control chip, a big 64-pin IC made by Samsung. Infact, it seems all the parts were made by Samsung, the fans, the transformer, the magnetron, the control board, and even the VFD display on the control board.

Pt2 coming soon!

Update, and lazyness

   Well, I will start posting things that I have done in my blog, because my teachers say that I should. I guess I have been a bit lazy about documenting things that I have done. :P

   I know its been a long time, but I went to the Woodcutters weekend in Blairstown NJ. The weekend there is all about forestry, and also lots of woodcutting goes on too, for stocking up the woodpiles for the 12 cabins by the lake. It was on 11/21/11, me and my dad went, and we met Paul-my teacher-there too.