Garden Railway Forum

The forward voltage of a LED is a lot higher than that of a normal diode so probably not a good idea. You would also need a current limiting resistor in the circuit so you don't fry the LED.

It looked liked he had found a setup where the peltier element and the cooling fins are at 90 to the hot side. The tubes transfer the heat to the peltier element. It's probably from a CPU cooling setup and convenient for his application as the hot side does not sit directly underneath the cold side....

It's very simple to do. Just requires a peltier element and a heatsink/fan like those used to cool CPU's in desktop PC. You heat one side of the peltier element and cool the other and it produces electricity. Efficiency is low but that's not an issue at this scale. You can even buy elements already ...

I have a couple of pairs of these lying around. They are actually very good considering the low price.
https://www.banggood.com/MG81001-E-Port ... rehouse=CN

Sorry, I misunderstood - I thought it was centre drills that were hard to obtain. Yes, NC spot drills are probably not easily obtained from model engineering suppliers. We buy them from big trade suppliers. Good thing about them is that they last a very long time, so unless you crash them, the initi...

On CNC machines we mostly use NC spot drills which may explain why the traditional centre drills are not as commonly found anymore. That said, they are easily obtainable over here and don't cost much either - about £3.50 excl. VAT. I have a registered business so can buy from all the tool merchants....

Failure? Hmmm, that would be myself. I have a knack of failing at most things I do.

A slitting saw is just a saw blade. You need a mandrel to mount it on so it can be chucked in the mill or lathe.

Mild steel is dirt cheap when you buy it in bulk. We pay less than a Pound per kg. However in small quantities the cost quickly adds up. I'm fortunate that I can scrounge all the off-cuts I want.

Best to use a schottky diode as they have less voltage drop. Any normal diode will work though provided the solar cell voltage is high enough.

As Philipy said, don't worry about using a 5V solar panel with a 1.2V cell. Unless very big, the solar cell will not provide enough current to do any harm.

If I was going the solar power route I would probably build a goods wagon or two with the roof full of solar cells and a couple or more large NiMH cells inside. That way you could connect it to any electric loco via a couple of wires. It will be a challenge to have continuous solar powered running u...

It doesn't look like there is any charging circuit in that. The solar panel just charges the NiMH cell. The LED driver shuts off the LED when the voltage drops below a certain point. Don't replace the LED with the motor - the chip has some current limiting function. You should run the motor straight...

1702 NPN transistor. Google it for spec sheets.

EDIT: No,it's a LED driver: https://www.aliexpress.com/i/32949338594.html

.... A problem of doing this commercially is when your sub-contractor goes into liquidation. So for a third time the receiver did not return my laser cutting files to me. THis time although I had the files I could no longer open them! I don't follow. Did the company doing the laser cutting also cre...

I think you'll find the 6th post down in the 'New Models & Reviews' covered this in December... And let facts get in the way of a good moan? ;) Feel free to not use the forum it if you find it behind the times particularly if you are going to be rude. My thoughts exactly. It was a very strange ...

What I meant was, I doubt there is a market for track from either material. Unless you are in Denmark and willing to weld the track yourself it would become too expensive compared to commercially available track. It works our cheap for me though as a DIY project.

Thanks guys. Whilst I now have the tool, I'm not sure I have the ability. I'd need the original loco to be able to design a body kit around it and I would also need an indication of what people are looking for, preferably pictures of the kind of detail they would like to see. There is a distinct sho...

tom_tom_go wrote: ↑Sat Feb 23, 2019 5:42 pm I think with stainless steel you would have a market for this, great work.

I doubt that. Shipping will be a killer and by the time it's been welded the price would be close to Peco track.

tom_tom_go wrote: ↑Sat Feb 23, 2019 5:39 pm Are you able to use stainless steel?

Yes, I can cut that as well. I have a TIG welder for joining the track.

I figured I would try to make some cheap set track curves on the laser. The track has tabs and there are slots in the sleepers so it is easy to line up and weld. The track section in the picture was quickly bent to shape by hand but future sections will have the rails passed through my bending rolls...