oxidation Archives - The Silicon Underground

Repair a Lionel train motor

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 12:00:46 +0000

If you want to fix a Lionel train, what you probably really need to do is repair a Lionel train motor. There isn’t much to the rest of the train. The motors tend to be pretty rugged and they’ve held

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How to avoid cleaning Lionel track

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 13 Jan 2017 12:00:37 +0000

For some people, the only enjoyable part of cleaning Lionel track is arguing about how to do it. The rest of us don’t even enjoy that part. Recently I unearthed a decades-old secret that mostly eliminates the need to clean

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Cleaning electrical contacts with Everclear

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 11:00:24 +0000

When I was 19 or 20, I paid a visit to my old grade school to do some computer repair. My fifth-grade teacher dropped in, saw me cleaning up the contacts on a circuit board, and asked why I wasn’t

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Fight voltage drop with copper anti-seize lubricant

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 20:10:23 +0000

If you have issues with your trains slowing down on the far reaches of your layout–and judging from my website hits, many people do–there are a couple of things to do about it. The first thing is to run additional

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Fixing track that gets hot at the track joints

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 02:51:02 +0000

I saw a question about a Fastrack layout getting hot at a track joint. That’s a conductivity issue causing voltage drop, which in turn causes the heat. While not likely to be dangerous, it’s a sign of inefficiency and can

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Save money on cables by not buying at retail

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 02:33:44 +0000

I’m ashamed to say I own one Monster cable. Hopefully if I tell you I bought it at a garage sale for $2, I’ll regain your respect. But there’s an easier way to save money on cables than buying at

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Recapturing the charm of Dad’s Lionel train

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 04 Dec 2003 05:17:41 +0000

I unboxed Dad's old Lionel train Monday night. They don't make them like that anymore.

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A day of catching up

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 03 Aug 2003 13:09:32 +0000

I might finally have reliable DSL. Gatermann and I spent a good part of the day cleaning up my phone wiring. The wiring appeared to have been done by someone who couldn't make up his mind how he wanted to do it. Seeing as I had two jacks that didn't work anyway, and I own exactly three telephones plus an answering machine, we pulled out a number of the runs altogether (the wires are still there, just not hooked up at the box). And we cleaned up some oxidation that had shown up on some of the lines that were there.

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Remember your first car?

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 01 Sep 2002 13:28:55 +0000

The other night, the talk turned to first cars. And I sure remember mine.

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