Lift-span Bridge

Added wiring harness to console control panel. Since it is the underside (not easily seen) it was pointless to dressed it up.

Connected control panel and harness to console.

Made small harness between terminal strips and the two D-Connectors to the back of console (these connect to control box under display table).

Added Passive Infrared (PIR) sensor for detecting any museum visitors approaching the display.

Dyed some felt a grey color and lined the console edges of front panel.

Drilled holes in the thick Perspex, allowing heatwaves to reach the PIR sensor. A portion of the front panel was used as a kick board to protect the Perspex.

The PIR sensors movement in its vicinity. When it does it will turn the console lighting on. The only times it turns off is when the PIR no longer sensors movement for 10 seconds, or when someone starts working the console.

How's the bridge project going Peter? Haven't seen any pics lately. Hope all is well. JD

Brill look forward to seeing it working !!!

H

Bridge project continues, but no longer so for this website.

Why? Over two months ago I completed a major portion of the bridge project _ the wiring diorama of the console. Yet it took until now to get a response. And even so, the response has nothing to do with the console.

This is a model engineering website, and I feel that my modelling posts don't come up to the expected standards of most forum members. It is as if I need lathe to become accepted. So I have bowed out of here.

Sorry if you are disappointed in me, but it won't be half as much as I am.

Hello Peter

I have been watching with interest as you took (what I thought would be a simple project) into something really impressive.

Maybe I should have commented (?), but you were doing well enough and I was hoping for a final video of the system in action.

J

Hi Peter ,

Sorry to hear you feel this way , i also thought you may have been taking a break or working on something else for a while - this happens a lot on this forum .

There is a strange sort of quirk with the forum in that if your post sits idle for a day or so it can slide off onto page two or three very quickly and as many only check the new posts they only see page one so that post that has dissapeared from page one gets forgotten .

Hello Peter

Whilst I can't speak for others, I would like to make my own position clear:

I was the first to comment on your opening post, and told you that I looked forward to reading your story.

Then, on page 3 of this thread, I tried to give some practical support; by mentioning how much detail of the structure could be seen on Google 'Street View'. ... Your response suggested that you already had everything you needed.

... so, since then, I have just quietly admired what you are doing.

Keep up the good work, and please keep posting.

MichaelG.

Sorry to confess that I'm another silent admirer.

The forum is at it's best answering questions, making suggestions and offering encouragement when it's obviously needed. The downside is that really good work is often received with a stunned silence. Unfortunately the forum doesn't have a 'Like' button, which is the best way of signalling approval.

There are four ways you can wake the forum up:

1. Ask a question that someone can answer.
2. Ask for help or suggestions
3. Have a glaring mistake in the photos or narrative
4. Tell us you've done 90% of the work and have run out of enthusiasm, and need encouragement!

Please keep it coming - this thread has attracted 7993 views since you started it!

I'm very impressed by the console; not a model bridge controller - it's a real one!

Dave

Very interesting project and thread, have been following silently. Please keep posting progress

Edited By XD 351 on 07/04/2018 13:45:45

To be a model engineer you don't need a lathe, a lot can be done with scissors and cardboard, the material can be anything, metal not require unless you are making something that actually is a working model. I was watching your progress, and taking in you methods.

Ian S C

Please reconsider, don't stop posting on your bridge build, I'm fascinated with it & am looking forward to seeing a video of it in action. As mentioned you don't need a fully tooled up workshop to be a model engineer, anything that has been used to make a model, working or not, can fit under the umbrella of ' model engineering ' to me. As it seems you are extremely delighted with what you have produced so far, & so do nigh on 8000 forum readers, most of whom are looking to your next progress posting it would be a great pity for you to stop posting on this super project.

George.

+1 for silent admirer. I've spent a lifetime in model railways so many of your methods are familiar to me and i therefore felt i was unable to offer any valuable response. That said, your wiring console is a work of art - it inspired me to tidy up the wiring on my model railway, which alas still does not reach your impressive standard.

As others have said, lack of response does not equate to lack of interest. With the number of posts this forum attracts, many of which have little direct relationship to model engineering, just finding and reading the few that interest me takes long enough, let alone trying to respond. Please keep sharing.

Geoff P.

Peter please keep posting, don’t be disheartened by lack of responses, probably find that many of us are in awe of what you are achieving, I am and have really enjoyed your project taking shape, it’s not the modelling that I undertake, I make or attempt to, scale internal combustion engines, in fact I was in Oz ten years ago and I brought home a set of castings for a Rosebery stationary engine, much to my wife’s dismay as it took up a fair bit of suitcase space on the flight back; it still needs a fair bit of work to finish it. Wife keeps enquiring when will it be finished and I say nearly there but she doesn’t believe me, I wonder why. Anyway Peter keep up the good work and keep posting we are all interested in your project.

Dave W

Hi Peter, just wondering how the bridge project is going and what the current status is? Did the wiring console work as well as expected? Has the bridge reached a point of being placed on display? I know you were disappointed in the lack of interest shown on this forum but i am sure there are a number of us keen to see the outcome and give appropriate credit. As a Queensland resident i hope to be able to get to see it one day when i'm able to arrange a holiday in that direction. Regards, Geoff P.