June MR - DCC & sound in Brass Diesel

[JohnT14808]

Wow....a great article....has lots of hints for those of us with little experience in getting old engines switched over to DCC.

But I have a question? On page 71 the last photo has a caption that says the headlights are held in place with 5 minute epoxy??!? What the heck do you do when the lamp needs changing??!?

From the photo, it appears that to change the lamps you would have to drill out the entire headlamp area....just to remove all the old epoxy! Or is today's epoxy so good that a really small amount will hold the lamps in place, so that when one does burn out, you can replace it?

[rrinker]

Theoretically, you'll burn out before an LED will, if it's wired correctly. But accidents DO happen. I wouldn't use something as permanent as epoxy to hold any component that could potentially fail in place. Some ordinary white glue shoudl hold well enough to keep the lamp from falling out of place during normal operation, jet be easy to break if you had to. Or, as it is fast becoming my do-all adhesive, I have some clear-drying latex caulk that I used for my track and roadbed - a little dab of that would hold the lights in place quite securely and still be removeable if you had to. For regular light bulbs, this would have the potential added benefit of a little cushioning so the bulb isn't vibrated while the loco is running - probably a immeasurable benefit, but who knows.

--Randy