Videos Showing Signal Manufacture, Installation, and Operation

I am in the process of making a series of videos that show different aspects of signal operation, installation, manufacture, etc.

Operation

• Route Selection : This video shows a typical double-headed signal at a route selection point in the railroad. The route switch motors are activated by engineer operated toggle switches or push-buttons.

Manufacturing

• Quad IVc Pick-and-Place Machine : I use a large number of Surface Mount (SMT) components on my printed circuit boards.  At first I was placing the components by hand – slow and tedious.  Luckily I had the opportunity to acquire a fairly modern (1980’s) “pick-and-place” machine.  This Quad IVc is not as fast as more modern machines but is fine for my work.  As with most “Computer Controlled” applications it does great at repetitive jobs but takes awhile to learn and setup.  This video shows the machine placing parts on a new BC002 Signal Controller which already has solder paste applied to it using a stencil.  in brief, after the transport rails have locked the board in place, the machine will a) use a camera to locate two “fiducials” (reference marks) on the board to ensure precise board positioning, b) pickup the vacuum nozzle it needs for the parts being placed, c) use a laser scanner to align the nozzle, d) pickup each part (located in tape feeders), e) rotate and place the part, … repeat …, f) change nozzles for a new part, g)  … place parts …, h) eject the board.  The board then goes into a “re-flow” oven where the solder paste melts to complete the process.  The board is then ready for the through-hold components.
• When I first started this project I created many prototype printed circuit boards to test various versions of the signal system hardware.  I had a Sherline mill that I converted to CNC by adding stepper motors and a PC running the “Mach3” control program.  To this I added a high speed engraving air spindle.  With this setup along with the Eagle PCB layout program I could produce prototype boards fairly quickly by the “isolation routing” method.  This involves engraving around each circuit trace to isolate it from the rest of the copper:
  Etching Prototype Printed Circuit Boards
  Drilling Prototype Printed Circuit Boards
  Mach3 Display
  Since the system is now more mature, I no longer need quick turnaround on prototype boards.  I now use OSH Park to produce my bare test and production printed circuit boards.  I highly recommend them.
• I also converted my Emco Maier Super 11 lathe for CNC operation.  One of the things I use it for is to manufacture the Fresnel-like lenses for the signal heads: CNC Cutting Signal Head Lenses
• Signal head parts are injection molded from ABS plastic using my injection molding machine: Injection Molding Signal Head Parts

… more to come …