{"id":8889,"date":"2019-02-24T15:14:53","date_gmt":"2019-02-24T20:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/?p=8889"},"modified":"2019-02-24T15:14:53","modified_gmt":"2019-02-24T20:14:53","slug":"railroad-control-panel-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/?p=8889","title":{"rendered":"Railroad Control Panel Progress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Progress on the City Point Model Railroad layout has been stalled for quite some time while I figured out the best way to etch a PCB that I want to use for the switch control panel.  I have etched many PCBs in the past, but this one is much larger than the small boards that I have etched in the past and didn&#8217;t have a large enough tank or enough etchant solution.  Sure, I could have just purchased a suitable tank, but I really didn&#8217;t want to add to much to the clutter that seems to add up around here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally I gave in and went to Walmart and purchased a large flat bottomed storage tub.  This new tub would be large enough to hold the etchant and PCB while etching.  However, I still didn&#8217;t have enough etchant to fill the tub high enough to cover the PCB.  Yesterday, I figured out that if I cut the edges off of the cover, which had a large flat bottomed depression in the middle, that the cover of the tub might work better and require less etchant.  As it turns out, all I had to do, was to pour warm ferric chloride etchant onto the PCB and roll it around a bit, catching any run off in the tub.  After about a half dozen passes, the PCB was etched.  This was much easier to accomplish than I had expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"663\" src=\"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/switch-panel-back.jpg\" alt=\"Switch Control Panel Back\" class=\"wp-image-8891\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/switch-panel-back.jpg 800w, http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/switch-panel-back-300x249.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/switch-panel-back-768x636.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption>Switch Control Panel Back<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The result is far from my best work, but it will have to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The switches and connectors will be mounted on the reverse side of the PCB along with the graphics, which will be covered by a transparency that should help prevent wear and improve the look.  I think these toggle switches will make selecting a route very intuitive.  It also removes the need to add LEDs to indicate the selected route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"644\" src=\"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/switch-panel.jpg\" alt=\"Switch Control Panel\" class=\"wp-image-8892\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/switch-panel.jpg 800w, http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/switch-panel-300x242.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/switch-panel-768x618.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption>Switch Control Panel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I need to print off a colored copy of the artwork before I frame it.  Once framed, I&#8217;ll mount it on the fascia of the layout.  After it&#8217;s mounted, wiring to the switch machines should be very straight forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Progress on the City Point Model Railroad layout has been stalled for quite some time while I figured out the best way to etch a PCB that I want to use for the switch control panel. I have etched many &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/?p=8889\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-model-railroads"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8889"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8894,"href":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8889\/revisions\/8894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.willegal.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}