mlehman Most stuff like that hangs off an L-girder or crossbeam around, so realtively small area of exposure...
Paul3 ... and found a small hold drilled into the Tortoise from the top down, matching a hole drilled into ...
Now I am going to mount these two items at the door of the layout room as constant reminders.
NP
Something like this happened at my club over 10 years ago...and to this day no one has ever 'fessed up to it.
I had installed Tortoise machines in a new freight yard lead and had tested to make sure they all work (which they did). Later (like the next week), I went to install the control panel toggles. Every switch worked but one. Hmm... Bad toggle? Nope, it works fine. Bad wires? Nope, got a good tone with the multimeter. Bad Tortoise? Tried it with a 9v battery and got nothing. Took it down, and found a small hold drilled into the Tortoise from the top down, matching a hole drilled into the trackwork for a feeder wire.
Curious, we opened the Tortoise and found that someone had drilled right down through a motor winding (spreading copper wire everywhere) and nailed the motor shaft and bearing. They apparently couldn't get through the metal too easily, so they just pulled out the drill, moved it over a couple inches and drilled another hole. One would think they'd have noticed the green plastic coming out of the hole, or perhaps wondered why they couldn't get through the benchwork, but in any case they never left a note.
Paul A. Cutler III
I managed to almost do something similar, but less expensive. I jigsawed into a terminal block while installing UTPs for my NCE DCC system. Fortuneately the cut went directly between the screw posts of the terminal block. I learned 2 things: 1.) don't put terminal blocks or any other components along the front of the layout, except the UTPs 2.) check the back or underside of benchwork before cuttng or drilling.
I've managed to avoid any expensive mistakes, but not for want of trying. Most stuff like that hangs off an L-girder or crossbeam around, so realtively small area of exposure...BTW, foam drills really wll, too, so it's no salvation for the Thumbz among us...I have a foot long 3/8" drill I use when I need a wire, etc to access thru lots of stacked foam. That baby could really do some damage...
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Another reason to just go foam!
Hi NP.
My DCC Specialties PSX2 almost suffered the same fate a few years back but the voice in my head told me to look underneath just as I was about to push the trigger on the drill. Got lucky.
All the best.
Reinhard
Joe F
In my over-zealous enthusiasm to add track feeders, I drilled a nice 1/8" hole thru a DS64. These are expensive!
Knowing we all have too little time and too little patience for finishing our pike, I really did not need to do this.
Then to hear a 6-year old tell me .. "but if you check under before doing this ..." Takes some serious patience to admit "yes, daddy should have And sometimes elders make a mistake too!"
NP.