DalaGStanator's Customs, Mods and Experiments

I've been trying to find some potential in strips from metal tealight casings, in part because even that metal is conductive; might be aluminium since regular scissors can cut it without breaking. After managing to repair two of my DC motors with them by cutting out new brushes, I recalled having the core and end piece from a third spare parts motor (the stator was missing). When looking up how track power pickups work prior to my metal rail experiment, I found this video that showed wheel wipers can add too much friction and impede performance. It offers a brilliant solution in the form of copper tubes on axles that don't roll with the wheelsets, and therefore can be wired to the on board component/s without getting tangled. The copper coils that power DC motors are made of (very, very) long wires, so I ripped them out and turned them into new coils to stand in for the tubes. While not very well made, they should still function the same way when fitted. If I had copper sheets or tape or wound the wires properly, they would've been smoother and (probably) more effective. As mentioned, I still plan to try the wiper method as well.



I then came up with an idea for a working LED signal, similar to the recently reintroduced Plarail/TomyTrain one that can move the lever of a stop/go track. I thought wiring the usual way would make the circuit too bulky or prone to malfunctioning and wanted to have the battery/ies at the bottom. I remembered multiple videos showing "paper circuits" that made use of foil, copper tape and other conductive objects - among them "traffic light" ones that allow triggering different LEDs individually. I noticed the cathodes of the LEDs were connected to each other, and the anodes to separate contacts touching the live switch/es. After examining those circuits, I grabbed a red LED and a green one and cut them down to size. V1 used foil strips glued to the back, with the switch being an old contact from a primitive plastic rocker switch. A screw was used to attach it for the hinge to be stiff.



No, I didn't mix up the lights. Plarail J-10 also has the green one on top. If I made a semaphore, I would only need a single white/yellow light with a hinged red-green lens in front of it.



For V2, I replaced the foil strips with better "tealight" ones and glued them under the LEDs' leads, with the ends being folded over them. The new switch was a bent safety pin with the pin itself cut off, leaving only the spring and clasp. While both versions worked perfectly, I'll still have to build a third one with hot glued/superglued contacts, a regular switch and (perhaps) a better material for the casing. In theory, the same circuit could be used to electrify one of these Plarail signals, though the original "semaphore like" arm would be redundant; both lights would never be on at the same time. Looking forward to finishing one of these and mounting it to a post.

Update:



So, now I've found how to get a proper switch to do the same thing: wiring the middle prong to the power source/other switch and the other two to the anodes of the LEDs. This particular switch has rigid wires attached to the prongs, which I've bent outwards to reach the anodes. While I always knew it was possible, it's the first time I've been able to wire a switch/button for another function besides on/off. I'll just have to solder three-five connections before guiding the long wires down the back of the post, though I might replace them with flat strips to hide them more easily. Not to mention, the positive wire will no longer have to move with the switch and risk getting torn off.