Weekend Update 8/8/21

[nkalanaga]

I've used YYYYMMDD, with no punctuation, since PCs became common.  That was the format my employer adopted for file names, as it made sorting the files easier.  And, since we were already using the 4-digit year, Y2K wasn't a big issue with us.

[Chris333]

All the daily files on the computer at work are like this   Name080721

[GaryHinshaw]

Date (and format) changed.  I chatted with Ritchie about adopting the YYYY-MM-DD format a while back and he said he would go with it, but I guess he forgot.  Oh well. 

And now:

Model Railroading is Fun   

I made some progress on the Kato Maxi-IV 3d print upgrade, but this has turned out to be a very challenging, and at times frustrating, project.  Two items still need to be addressed before these files can be released into the wild (see below), but I hope I can sort those out with a few more iterations.  A few quick in-progress photos:





The good things:

* see-thru walkways with a better step profile, hollowed-out container guides, stand-alone grab irons, body-mount couplers and closer coupled car spacing. 

The remaining issues:

* The upright posts are warping inward a bit.  Not by much, but just enough to bug me.  They print and cure nicely, but they tend to warp over the next day or so.   I'll continue to experiment with different print & cure settings.  I'm also considering substituting etched parts for these uprights, but that makes the project much more complicated than a single at-home printed part.

* The coupler height is still a bit variable from car to car.  Kato's 3-pin mounting scheme for the end frames works fine if you're using truck-mounted couplers, but it's not quite rigid enough for body mounts.  I've got a few more ideas to try out.

[John]

Gary -- maybe a different resin would mitigate the bending of the uprights . .

These look great .. I'm impressed with the walkways showing the holes so nicely vice the injection molded parts

[arbomambo]

  A couple of short videos…
Detailed Kato ATSF freight Fs pulling a short freight (still have to remove paint from a few wheels) on some of my T-TRA
K modules. These are DC and are being controlled by a Kato Soundbox.

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  Next are detailed Kato warbonnet Fs, pulling a 1957 era El Capitan, on some more of my T-TRAK modules.

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[ednadolski]

The upright posts are warping inward a bit.  Not by much, but just enough to bug me.  They print and cure nicely, but they tend to warp over the next day or so.   I'll continue to experiment with different print & cure settings.  I'm also considering substituting etched parts for these uprights, but that makes the project much more complicated than a single at-home printed part.

LMK if you would like to collab on some etched parts, as I have a few things in the drawing stage.

WRT warping, from what I have seen it seems to be a matter of how thick the material is, and how long the (unsupported) span is.   IIUC there are some resins that can minimize it, but I haven't tried them so I can't speak to them.

Side note, it would also be nice to replace/upgrade some of those thick plastic air pipes with wire parts

The coupler height is still a bit variable from car to car.  Kato's 3-pin mounting scheme for the end frames works fine if you're using truck-mounted couplers, but it's not quite rigid enough for body mounts.  I've got a few more ideas to try out.

Do you think those could be adapted to the IM Maxi-IVs?    I have come up with some old-fashioned (material removal) fixes that seem to work, but perhaps this could be another approach.

Ed

[Dave V]

YYYY-MM-DD works for me. Been doing it that for the last 15 years for Record Management with Department of Defence.

The US DoD is going that way too, but when I came on active duty in the 1990s it would have been 07 AUG 21.  Well almost…. Once we got serious about the Y2K apocalypse, we started using the four digit year.  To this day I still tend to write dates like 7 AUG 2021.  In the US civilian world it’d be August 7th, 2021.

BTW, August 7th is my wedding anniversary.  26 years today.  And we’re celebrating Colorado style by camping in the high country.  Glad I have signal!  The wildfire smoke is crazy though.  It’s not even from Colorado—for once we’re not on fire—but from the West Coast and Canada.

This guy decided to join us for drinks last night.

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[gi-depp]

This weekend I start a project, that was 10 years in my head.

Rebuild the old 48' double stacks from Walthers.

[peteski]

The US DoD is going that way too, but when I came on active duty in the 1990s it would have been 07 AUG 21.  Well almost…. Once we got serious about the Y2K apocalypse, we started using the four digit year.  To this day I still tend to write dates like 7 AUG 2021.  In the US civilian world it’d be August 7th, 2021.

BTW, August 7th is my wedding anniversary.  26 years today.  And we’re celebrating Colorado style by camping in the high country.  Glad I have signal!  The wildfire smoke is crazy though.  It’s not even from Colorado—for once we’re not on fire—but from the West Coast and Canada.

This guy decided to join us for drinks last night.

OH DEAR!

Since we are still on the dates kick, back when I was growing up in Poland, we used Roman numerals to represent months.  Today's date would be 7 VIII 21.  I think we did use 2 digit years (this was way before y2k).   However, with the widespread computer use, I have doubts that Roman numerals are still being used.  Well, the older generation (like my mom) still writes dates that way on paper.

That method made sense, since it was unambiguous (especially if a 4-digit years were to be used).  To me it makes sense to go from smallest to largest divisions of the year (or largest to smallest).  Not sure why some parts of the world (English speaking?) have to mix the order by starting with the month.

[C855B]

Don't get me started about deer. Last week. $5K and counting.

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[GaryHinshaw]

This weekend I start a project, that was 10 years in my head.

Very nice!  I've had the same project in my head for that long too.    Where and how did you make the cuts?  That metal is such a pain in the a$$ to work with.

LMK if you would like to collab on some etched parts, as I have a few things in the drawing stage.

Will do.  To start with I'm going to experiment with some GMM parts I have that are suitable for these uprights.  But between the Maxi-IVs and the Maxi-Is, I have ~25 sets to convert, so I'd really like to keep this as simple as possible.  If I can make the print work, I'll probably stick with that.

Do you think those could be adapted to the IM Maxi-IVs?    I have come up with some old-fashioned (material removal) fixes that seem to work, but perhaps this could be another approach.

Not really sure what you're thinking here?  Do you want to convert the IMs to LEZ couplers?  That would be a pocket mod, not a whole new end frame, right?

[rodsup9000]

  Started working on the sawing equipment for the sawmill. These are just basic and I'll go back and add more detail once I have the basic design the way I want.







More in my sawmill thread
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=52421.0

[gi-depp]

@GaryHinshaw

Here is a picture where I cut out the segments:


My workstation:


I take a metalsaw with a new blade:

[peteski]

I take a metalsaw with a new blade:

That is a beautiful little vise!  Did you machine it yourself?

[gi-depp]

@peteski

my son did it, he's a tool mechanic