Coffee XXXII Apr. 14th


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Went to KFC today with my parents. Three all-u-can-eat buffets, three senior discounts, take home snacks for the dogs.

The noisy FP7 isn't so noisy now. After I returned from KFC I made sure to get the bottle of disc brake caliper lube out of my van. It's plastic safe as it's made for use on rubber seals and plastic rings. I used it on the plastic parts of the vans wiper transmission rods last year and they're doing great. So I popped the truck side frames off and put a little on three of the gears in each of the trucks then put the side frames back on. They pop on and off similar to the ones on Bachmann locos. I've had the loco running for about twenty minutes now and while it still hums a bit it's a lot quieter and it isn't running as hot as it was. The shell still gets warm but not hot like it was.

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Good Afternoon at 4:50 Pm here in Central Calif,

It's another hot one here and feels like almost as bad as yesterday but clear blue skies for the most part. Well I just went out to let my old kitty in and decided to brave the heat so I stood in the sun with the little Caldwell Digital Wind/Temp unit and it read only about 3mph breeze intermitently but said 113.3*, and I thought yesterday at 108 was hot!! Thank goodness the back yard is gravel and dirt and no asphalt or cement anywhere around but lots of grassy fields. In fact there is very little pavement or sidewalks in any residential areas out here, country is country and how I like it.

Lets check WuW:
Now Mostly Cloudy - Not an my location, maybe to the East a bit?
Temperature 98.2 °F, Feels Like 93 °F - Big discrepancy here!
Wind(mph) 3.0
Sunrise / Set 5:38 AM / 8:21 PM
Moon Waning Crescent
Tonight Clear 63 °F
Tomorrow Clear 99 °F - That will be welcome if it drops like that.


On the train scene I made a simple gauge to determine the right spacing to cut the width of a tie on my band saw and marked it also on the side of the table to know where to place the fence if removed.

Then I readjusted the fence to cut a PC board into two different widths and did that for different length ties for the turnouts I'm building as well as future ones.

The Bi-Metal band saw blade cuts a nice smooth cut too with no effort.

Then I tacked these down on the template I had printed from a Fast-Tracks download but I add 2 extra PC tie strips just before the frog plus an additional one at the frog to give it extra strength.

I guess I stay up later as it's cooler to work at night rather than during the day. I also opened up all the ceiling vents to allow the heat to escape as well as removed the cover on the cooler.

Well it time to get something to eat and then water the grass.

See you all later.
 
Well I put the brake caliper lube stuff in the gear boxes of both FP7's and they've been running just over two hours. The older unit still runs flawlessly and quiet. The newer unit, the one I've been having problems with is running much better but the gears still hum a little. The motor is running much cooler. Hey, I think I've found my new lube for loco gears. This stuff is expensive, like $12 a bottle but with the little bit required for a loco that eight ounce bottle will last for years.
 
Good Morning

Gonna be hot and sticky the next few days by the looks of our weather network thingee...highs around 90F with humidex's around 106-109F....oh frabjious joy...:rolleyes::cool:

Today will be one of those prepare for the news kinda days...get to see what the doctors find out..so far my immune system has been working sorta well. So we will see if masks are going to be needed.... I have a friend on another forum who has been calling himself "Bubbleboy" because of all the dang things he is having to avoid...:eek::eek:

Our holiday weekend is going to be kind of quiet this year...mmmm...I wonder why:rolleyes:
 
How Ya'll doin today.

Hot day here, cleaning the parrots cages out in the sun with some classic Hawaiian tunes playing,

;)
Later folk's
 
Good morning. It's 80° and partly cloudy with scattered showers and thunderstorms. The high will be 88°.
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The two Atlas FP7's are still running. They've now have five hours on them since the disc brake caliper lube was put in. The unit that was giving me a problem is no longer a problem. It's now running as good as the other unit though the gears still hum a little. I'd have to say it's performance level has doubled and the shell hardly gets warm now. The motor used to get so hot you could cook bacon and eggs on it.

I was thinking about mowing my parents yard today but I thing I'll hold off until tomorrow. There's a fair chance of rain today and Murphy's law would dictate that a concentrated cloudburst will gather right above me and cut loose. The chance for rain tomorrow is minimal so I'll do it then.

I still have some cleanup work to do on the layout. I can see a lot more of the layout now.

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Rybcon said:
A shout out to Sir Paul McCartney. Happy 70th birthday!! Thanks for the lifetime of music.
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X3



We have storms moving in from the south and it's looking nasty outside. I told my father this morning that we'd be having storms today. He waved it off and said it never gets bad below 50%. Problem is it's not a 40% chance anymore. It's gone up to 60% and I'm now seeing rain and hearing lots of thunder. I may have to shut down in a little while.

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Rybcon said:
A shout out to Sir Paul McCartney. Happy 70th birthday!! Thanks for the lifetime of music.
Click to expand...

The Beetles were very well liked indeed!
So I'll say X4!

~ ~

It's not quite as hot as yesterday but still hot at 101* without any breeze but 98* when the breeze blows at 4.2mph. Humidity seems low too but probably about 25%

~ ~

OMG Jeffrey: Have you ever got the Thunder and Lightening activity in your area! Stay safe.

Btw, what's the annual rainfall there?
 
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Trussrod said:
OMG Jeffrey: Have you ever got the Thunder and Lightening activity in your area! Stay safe.

Btw, what's the annual rainfall there?
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Louisiana is the wettest state in the continental US. Annual rainfall average is sixty inches and we average twenty-five tornadoes a year. Rains of as much as twenty inches in a month have occurred in most Louisiana cities, and rainfall as much as ten inches in twenty-four hours isn't rare. Only Hawaii averages more annual rainfall than Louisiana.
 
Jeffrey,
That's quite a bit of rain alright, no wonder many of the rail cars look so weather beaten.

I like the Switch engine above very nice.
 
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