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20 pieces off three aspect signals. I have already installed the
three led's. Green on top, yellow in the middle and red on the bottom,
just the opposite of a traffic light. |
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The other materials needed. Brass tubing and a bag off plastic
ladders. |
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The aspect in front. |
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And in the rear. Easily visible is the order of the led's. |
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This is how the signal is supposed to look like when finished. This
is a model from Henckens. |
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Some of the tools required to work with brass:
Solder iron, small file,
hobby saw, drill bit holder with a small drill bit and a
glass fiber pencil. |
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The small 1/16 tube is inserted inside the thicker 3/32 one and after they are
first cleaned with the glass fiber pencil, are soldered together. |
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After soldering, the excess solder is removed with a file and with
the saw blade the tube's are cut to length. |
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Since 3 wires have to fit inside the small tube, I clean the tube
with a small drill bit, to remove any burrs. |
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The beginning of the mast. |
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Here I am turning the base from the signal, which will be used to
mount the signal onto the layout and to attach the ground wire for the
led's. Three wires for the led's will have to go trough the base. This
part can also be made out of a regular 1/4 inch or M6 bolt. |
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After the tread is cut, the base gets cut off from the stock brass
rod. |
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And turned smooth on the lathe. |
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Here the machined base including spacers. |
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Soldering a 1/8 inch brass tube into the base, which will be
the visible bottom of the signal. This will be cut of at 1/4 / 6 mm in
height. |
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After drilling a hole in the brass flat stock, I solder it on the
base. The ladder is later glued (plastic) or soldered (brass) to this
flat piece. |
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Then the mast is soldered into the1 /8 inch tube.
The
position of the "hook" at the left of the picture depends on whether it
is a left or right signal. |
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Soldering the common ground of the three led's together. Next the
mast will be soldered at this location. |
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By now the aspect front is mounted on the mast and the brass flat
stock cut to length. Finally it start to look like a signal, but there
is still more work to do. |
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Three tiny wires have to be soldered to the led's. I use transformer
wire from the local Radio Shack. |
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After testing and making sure the led's light up, I guide the three
tiny wires trough the small tube. |
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And one more check to make sure there is no short or loose wire. |
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After cleaning and priming the brass mast, I spray on a gloss black
coat of paint. |
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The rear of the aspect with the wires still out in the open. Next
I fill it up with some putty and sand it flush, just be careful not to
sand the wires. |
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Look at the rear aspect now. I also painted the "access door" to the
lights white. |
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The ladder is from plastic and super glued to the signal. |
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to be continued |
