Hi group.
I started prepping the locomotive and tender today. It was good to get back in the workshop for a little bit.
Locomotive is a Sunset brass PRR H9s 2-8_0. With a short lines east tender. Thank goodness it already has a can motor.
Decoder is a micro Tsunami 2 and 1inch speaker. The keepalive unit is larger than the decoder but still should fit in the tender. I can't believe Soundtraxx didn't supply a plug on the decoder for the keep alive. It would be nice.
I drilled the headlight for the LED, drilled holes in the tender floor, and isolated the motor. I added lead to the boiler, and made a bracket to keep the gearbox from rocking. I also made a path for the wiring harness in the front of the tender.
I found my old soldering iron. Plugged it in and got nothing. Took it apart and cleaned all the connections and still nothing. So I ordered a Xitronic soldering station and some Kapton tape.
Has anyone used 3m VHB tape to hold decoders? My RC helicopters use it for securely holding electronic parts. It works great for them.
Pete.
wrench567 Has anyone used 3m VHB tape to hold decoders?
I had to look that up, never heard of it before. It's an industrial strength double sided tape. Don't know why you would need a double sided tape.
Most (including me) use Kapton tape.
Mike.
My You Tube
Reemember, this is going on a flat tender floor, not sitting on top of a diesel frame. But Still I think more ordinary double sided tape would suffice. I guess future removal would not be an issue, since it's brass, so you can use solvents to remove the tape and return the tender interior to like new if necessary.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Thanks guys.
The reason I asked was I have several rolls of it. Mainly used by the automotive industry for sticking things to cars. Strong adhesive with a foamy center. Several layers under my helicopter flight controller cuts down unwanted vibration but keeps it in place very well.
I dont know if the adhesive would attack the shrink wrap on the decoder. I haven't tried it on shrink wrap components. I guess I can try it and see.
Pete
Pete,
For decoder installs where I'm mounting it on top of a motor housing, or want it elevated, I've used 1/2" x 1/2" Scotch Permanent Mounting Squares. They hold very well and can be pulled back up with some amount of effort. (Sounds like the 3M product is very similar.) The adhesive may come up with the foam squares but it's fairly easy to scrape off with your fingernail, or with a Q-tip and some isopropyl alcohol.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Done at last. I don't get much time in the shop with the grandkids living with us.
Sounds great and runs good too. The LED I bought for the headlight was way too blue for my liking. I ended up using a 1.5 volt grain of sand size bulb and 480 ohm resistor. Not the cleanest install. But still cheaper than the plastic version.