I have a Kato SD70MAC that I'd like to add DCC and sound to, but I'm a novice at doing this (but ready to learn!). It has the light board with the 8-pin harness plus and golden-white LEDs. I'm leaning towards the Soundtraxx KT1000 sound decoder replacement board. I'm just not sure what to do with the speaker. The unit does not have the speaker grill between the fuel tank side pieces. Its a solid metal center piece with screws that hold the motor in place. The body is solid with no see-thru grills. Is my only (simplest?) option to get an oval speaker and install it pointed down over the rear truck? And if I do that do I need to install an enclosure on the speaker? Either way it looks like I have a fair amount of milling that will be required.
Also, is there anything I should watch out for in cutting the ditch-light glass piece and installing separate ditch-light LEDs? My plan is to cut the glass under the front hood, then glue a LED to each ditch-light leg.
Yes, you are going to have to make room for a speaker over the reat truck. A 16 X 35 MM speaker should fit over the rear truck after the rear weight is milled off to make room. The speaker will fit well enought I don't think that you will need and enclosure. The shell will become the enclosure.
It has been a while that I have been into one of these- Got a photo of the beast with the shell off?
The ditch lights will have to be done just like you are planing- I would use surface mount LED's as they are much smaller . I don't use glue - I use heat shrink to hold the LED's in place on the light pipes. Watch out when you shrink the tuping to the light pipe. If you use a heat gun you will ruin the light pipes. Just use the tip of your soldering iron and be very quick touching the shrink to make it shrink until tight to the piping.
Thanks, Woodone. Picture: Sure, here is a link: projects (caution, this is a 1MB pic - zoom in for great detail)
In the fore ground is the SD70. In the background is a GP35 that I'll be attempting to do the same thing with. The worry I have with a board replacement for the GP35 is I don't see boards that appear to have the lights positioned right, so that's why I'm experienting with a quick-plug decoder from Digitrax. Same concern with the SD40 and SD45 on my roster that I'd like to upgrade.
How soft are these weights? Can I cut them with a razor saw, or will I need something more along the lines of a hacksaw or bandsaw? How concerned should I be with adding the trimmed weight somewhere else on the units?
I'm also curious (learning experience) why you choose surface mount lights instead of 3mm or grain of rice LEDs for this ditch-light configuration. If I'm ordering SM LEDs, why not get the ditch-light configuration and remove the light-pipes completely? Again, just trying to draw on your experience. And thankks for the heat-shrink tip.
Yet another question: a friend on mine suggested drilling small holes up to (try not through) the fan grills on top. I'd be worried about messing up the grill detail. Maybe I could put my Dremel on a slower speed in the drill press attachment to achieve this? Has anyone tried this before with success? And assuming that the speakers are mounted below the light-pipe, will I need to compensate for light bleed?
Although this is for a Kato Dash 9, it might work for you.
http://www.mrdccu.com/install/hods/Kato-C44-9W-820043.htm
Will
The SD70 first. The weights are not that hard of a metal. But I think a small hack saw will work better than a razor saw. Also a belt sander can be use to remove the material. I use a milling machine for my installs. You need just room to mount the speaker at the rear of the weight. I use a 16 X 35 MM speaker. Take off enough material to give yourself some clearance. I also block the drive line slot a bit to keep the sound from sneeking out to the motor aera. I also add pieces of plastic to the sides and rear of the speaker to force the sound down. The speaker is held in place with tub and tile caulk. I would not worry about the weight that you remove, as it will have very little effect on pulling power.
Surface mount LED's are much smaller than a 3 MM LED, plus the surface mount LED's I use are much more white and bright than I can get in a 3 MM version.
Unless you want to mount some custome grills I would not drill into the shells.
The speakers fit better at rear.
The GP35 is about the same type install . I think that on this one you will have to make hole in the weight to let the sound out .
Woodone: If it's not too much trouble, I'd really like to see a picture of what your speaker install looks like. Either way, thanks for the great information. I feel like I'm prepared now to take this on.
Wholeman: The picture at the top of that page looks almost identical to the SD70 base that I'm working with. However, I tried clicking on the link for the detailed pictures of the speaker install and got the following error:
Probably missed a file when Bruce transferred his stuff from the main Litchfield site. You can see it good in the top picture - click on it to make it bigger. Looks like all he really did there was add a piece of styrene at the rear of the frame to close off the speaker when the shell is put on.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I will send you a PM. I don't have any photos.
for some reason right now I can't get a PM to go though - I will try latter.
No photos - that's ok. Had to ask just in case you did.
A Bass Reflex could be a great choice too. It's a little longer but it sounds a lot better than a lot of the normal ovals.
Richard