Re overhead power lines

[dunnyrail]

I suggested to the Ruschfuhrer that we use either N or 00 rail for overhead. We did dummy up a short bit with N scale Rail but found that it was not strong enough between supports to stay straight and in tension when a pan passed over (under) it. The 00 rail was disregarded out of hand by the Ruschfuhrer as not being fine enough. In the end he managed to source wire that was tensioned by hidden garden fence post tensioners. Wola nice straight wire.
JonD

 

[MRail]

I have thought of using N rail for dummy overhead.
Thanks for saving me lot of wasted effort!!

 

[tramcar trev]

I had a few moments today to set up a torture mechanism for my Nickel http://trevs-tramway.blogspot.com.au/ < Link To Silver trolley wire. It came loosely coiled but need straightening so I put it on the rack?.
Stretching it with the turnbuckle until its straight. Maybe I should say till it lays flat without wanting to kink or coil up?.. It?s going to be so much easier tohttp://trevs-tramway.blogspot.com.au/ < Link To install if it is straightened out... How long will this take? How would I know it?s yet another example of empirical design that seems to be de rigour on this tramway... I did measure its electrical resistance and it has 3.4 ohms over the 36 feet of its length?. I?ll install feeders at regular intervals? The big advantage is this stuff is highly tarnish resistant so cleaning it is not going to be such an issue.
Maybe not tomorrow but soon and for the rest of its life.

 

[Gavin Sowry]

I made mine. Not that I have any erected yet but it was the cost of the commercialy made ones that made up my mind. Also I wanted "Victorian Ornate" style but they could be made to "minimalist modern" for lots less effort and less cost. Look at the way I made mine using aluminium tube and bronze welding rod needs only a hacksaw, file and drill with a few drops of superglue...

AMS box..... get the SF Cable Car did we?

 

[tramcar trev]

I made mine. Not that I have any erected yet but it was the cost of the commercialy made ones that made up my mind. Also I wanted "Victorian Ornate" style but they could be made to "minimalist modern" for lots less effort and less cost. Look at the way I made mine using aluminium tube and bronze welding rod needs only a hacksaw, file and drill with a few drops of superglue...

AMS box..... get the SF Cable Car did we?

Yes, but I converted it to a "combination car". viz:

I did write up the conversion on the forum but I cant find it....​

It even has authentic Sydney tram advertising on it now and a Miniature "Gracie" the tram loving dog....​

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[dunnyrail]

Trev, what may not have been clear in my last post is that the Tensioners are in pace as a permanent feature. This was the only way that we could get nice straight wire. I think you will find that when you take it off your tensioner it will want to curve up again.

It may straighten up permanently with some heat, but I have never tried that. Anyone out there any ideas on that one?
JonD

 

[trammayo]

It might need to be drawn through dies or maybe rollers if it could be in a controlled position - ie: coil upright on feeding through? Annealing would assist the process.

 

[sparky230]

how about putting one end in a drill and spin till wire tightens, thats how the ceiling fixers do the wires for suspended ceilings,

 

[tramcar trev]

I resorted to putting the wire between 2 bits of wood and lightly clamping it then pulling that assembly along the wire.... that has done the trick.....

 

[Madman]

how about putting one end in a drill and spin till wire tightens, thats how the ceiling fixers do the wires for suspended ceilings,

When I did have a catenary system in my garden, I used Stranded Copper wire. Usually is was 12 gauge, but sometimes I would use 14 gauge when I couldn't get any 12. I would take a section of the wire and tie it to the door of my barn, Then I would run a utility knife along it while holding the wire in some temsion. This would strip off the insulation. Finally I would place the loose end of the bare copper stranded wire in a drill chuck and while keeping the wire taut I would spin the drill until I felt that the wire strands tightened enough. When I released the tension the wire stayed straight. I would say that solid wire would react in much the same way. Although the amount of spinning should be reduced.

 

[tramcar trev]

There had to be an easier way?. And of course there is; soldering the trolley wire to the ears was tedious and more a matter of good luck? The secret is to hold both parts together in alignment so that they can be soldered. I came up with a few mods to my trolley wire holder upper and made up a set of wooden ?jaws? with simple wing nut clamps. The jaws are faced with red (because I had red) 2mm polyurethane foam which even when compressed allows the trolley wire to be pulled through it and this of course straightens out any last minute kinks?. We do not like kinky wire at the LVET. I have a theory about wires or hoses or anything flexible; if they are allowed to lie side by side or in any close proximity to each other they will tangle all by themselves. My other tool in this procedure is a pair of modified ?artery forceps? as can be seen in the pictures a hole is drilled on the joint of the forceps that is big enough to allow the trolley wire to sit in it about 3mm in from the end. Then the trolley wire is ?aimed? with the holder upper to get it in the approximate position and then the forceps are slid over the wire and allowed to clamp onto one end of the ear. This holds the trolley wire neatly, yet positively directly under the ear and allows one end of the ear to be soldered. Its then loosened and slid along the ear to the soldered end so that the unsoldered end can be soldered?.
Naturally the drilling of the forceps was a total disaster and broke the drill. Fortunately there was a big enough indentation to then let me file a small notch in each jaw with a triangular needle file.

Back to location of the wire itself, I learned that I should not follow the advice of ?online trolley wire experts? who espouse that the wire has to follow the exact middle of the track, not so in this case. I found that the simpler solution of allowing the wire to follow the rhumb line between two points as is done in full size practice. I changed my wire alignment by eliminating some intermediate ears and the trolley wheel follows without incident. Note how nicely the trolley wheel tracks in the photo....

I still have some track cleaning to do though especially on the sharp curves where there is crud on the inside edges of the rail, I will get in there with a fine mounted rubber abrasive and clean it out?. Maybe I had better do that in the morning as some distinguished guests will be making an inspection tomorrow.

Also for your total amazement is a link to the first video of the LVET, it?s only a few seconds long but its just a teaser?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5Veb6iIcwA&feature=youtu.be

 

[trammayo]

I'm trying not be a Devil's Advocate here, but would not wooden jaws for holding the line and ear together be better? Surely the forceps conduct the heat? Just a thought.

 

[tramcar trev]

Yes the forceps do conduct the heat, its a 2 stage process well 3 actually as I have just discovered, each half of the ear has to be soldered seperatley then the joint has to have any irregularities removed with a fine rubber abrasive wheel in my new cordless dremmel look alike viz; http://909.com/index.php?option=com...2.tpl&category_id=13&product_id=162&Itemid=27

It is actually a dremel but rebranded and half the price.....

The smallest dag or burr on the wire causes dewirement....
And yes I did think about making up something that has thermal insulating properties but I couldnt come up with anything....
Thoughts and suggestions are always welcome...

 

[trammayo]

No suggestions Trev, its a consuming job as it is. And the process of soldering line to ears is prototypical before ears were made with jaws to be hammered round. Keep up the good work and we await more test shots

 

[tramcar trev]

Yes I had even given some thought to the idea of etching the bottom half of the ear out of 5thou shim and then folding it around the wire slipping the bead on and soldering that to the suspender.... But that would simply be moving the problem from 1 part to the other.... I'll just have to persevere with the soldering:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-8|8|8|8|8|8|8|8| I did make a major change to the ear construction though; I no longer solder the ears together as they fall apart when soldering the wire to them, by accident I discovered a better way, assemble with the glass bead insulator in place, clamp in a pair of forceps and with my micro butane torch heat up the bead, the bead softens and SHRINKS, yes shrinks around the 2 parts of the ear and holds it together superbly. This was discovered when a mate asked if I could make him some insulators for minute spark plugs and I discovered that I could shrink a short length of glass tube around the central electrode...

Some days I just wonder if I'm making a rod for my own back and is it all worth the effort..... then again when I get such a response on utoob to my few seconds of video....
Mussolini got the trains running on time, I want to go down in history as Tramcar Trev, the man who got the trams running on time.... Na It'll never happen....

Be prepared for a lengthy dissertation on trolley wheels........ I have discovered that mine are inadequate...

 

[dunnyrail]

Hi Trev,
In post 55 you mention a bit of Video on YouTube. Have tried in vain to find this even looking through your blog. I must admit I speed looked at this as I have seen pretty well most of it on here. But still no link. Searched for you in you tube too still no luck. Do you think you could post the link please, probably again I know.

Re Trolley Wheels, the smaller scale lot do not use wheels but use grooved out U shaped bits of Brass as pole collectors. Have you tried this? They can be filed and generally bashed into a shape that works for you.

JonD

 

[tramcar trev]

Did you mean this link in post 51? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5Veb6iIcwA&feature=youtu.be

 

[dunnyrail]

That could be the one, was that in the days when things were catching on the Cobbles? Would love to see more of your line on Vid. Perhaps even a trip round with a drivers view.
JonD

 

[tramcar trev]

Would love to see more of your line on Vid. Perhaps even a trip round with a drivers view.
JonD

Ok I'm working on it.....I have the camera, all I need is the overhead...

 

[tramcar trev]

It looked good till it stretched?
But it?s a lot better now?
I discovered to my disgust that the tinned copper wire I had used as span wires to hold the trolley wires up had stretched simply due to thermal stresses bought on by cold nights?..
Then ?It? hit me like an axe between the eyes, I had bought special ?wire? & ?fittings? to use as span wire. It came from ?Spotlight? eons ago when I was looking for suitable beads to use as insulators there. In reality I think this stuff is very light stainless steel fishing trace (its non magnetic and very tough to cut) with an outer nylon coating, Spotlight sell it as ?Beading Wire? and it has the very handy habit of not stretching and wants to lay flat. However it is prohibitively expensive, $1.38 for 6 metres, I?ll need at least another roll?.. Also supplied are really cute little crimps and even cuter crimping pliers. So I spent a few hours today replacing all my existing span wires with this stuff. It looks a lot more professional too with the ends terminated with a crimp.
The BIG question is why did I not use this first time around?

You can see the difference in this pic...​