I'm making a small board that hinges along the long edge and all the points and power feeds are on the front half as viewed. As I can't do my usual point control of rod-in-tube (no connected run across the joint) I'll have to use motors. My question is how best to do it?
I have thought of separate plug/socket joints to each point as I could connect them up when opening the board. It would be difficult to have continuous wires to the control point as, closed up, there is a 12inch gap to cover.
This is a small roundy-roundy to try the scale/gauge combination before committing myself, and is based on one of the Peco 'Small Plans' 6x4s but reduced to 3x2.
There are plenty of varieties of multipole electronic plugs and sockets available. Old style computer serial and printer type connectors and cables could be used.
For a "no solder" connection a "traditional" model railway connector is the pluggable screw terminal block available from places like Squires and elsewhere:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.microminiatures.co.uk%2Facatalog%2FPLUGABLE-TERMINAL-STRIP-261.jpg&hash=fe3b7fddd0ed0e4a7cc9baa9996a9c7caf990f2f)
http://www.microminiatures.co.uk/acatalog/Screw_Terminal_Blocks.html (http://www.microminiatures.co.uk/acatalog/Screw_Terminal_Blocks.html)
Thank you for that. Filed away for future reference.
However, having looked at the two boards placed together, I realise that the whole area is not too big to manhandle comfortably, so I may take the easy way out and fix them together permanently. That makes the problem go away, and I can resort to my default setting!.
Once I've sorted things out, I'll start a layout build thread, thereby keeping a diary of progress, showing my incompetence and getting a lot of advice into the bargain.
If you do link the two baseboards together permanently I would suggest that you use the joiners shown at the joint. This is just in case you need to split the boards later. Remember that the addition os scenery can add considerably to the weight dependent on what you use for scenery.
Good luck with it.
I am using 8 Tim Horn laser-cut MDF 400x250x50mm baseboards for my layout. Because I am using DCC control for all aspects of the layout control I decided to use the brass pattern makers dowels used for aligning the boards to also carry the DCC power and control bus.
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1276.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fy462%2FRetiarius%2FTim%2520Horn%2520Baseboards%2Fth_fe57608520466209e91634acf6074819_zpse90d53a4.jpg&hash=828d3155308e836d67b1257849fcee40299646af) (http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/Retiarius/media/Tim%20Horn%20Baseboards/fe57608520466209e91634acf6074819_zpse90d53a4.jpg.html)
Each board is autonomous with it's DCC controls and so each board can be individually tested in my small workshop as well as when connected to its neighbouring boards. The picture below shows how I am uing N-gauge track as a pair of dual busbars and also a Digitrax DS64 decoder installed to power the solenoid point motors on that board,
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1276.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fy462%2FRetiarius%2FTim%2520Horn%2520Baseboards%2Fth_70AF7CF6-A0A1-4A48-B832-70004446835F_zpsck3udxpz.jpg&hash=8801ee53e16473e9b647b1d571e424585767080d) (http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/Retiarius/media/Tim%20Horn%20Baseboards/70AF7CF6-A0A1-4A48-B832-70004446835F_zpsck3udxpz.jpg.html)
First thought: why not? ???
There is nothing stopping you taking mechanical point/ signal controls across a board joint. I use rope, i.e. pull only against spring; - to take that across a joint use a seesaw set up (converting pull into push), that pushes the same setup on the other side (converting push back into pull). For rods, i.e. push & pull, it gets slightly more complicated, unless you're happy with a quick connector in the rodding.
If you look for an electrical setup I strongly recommend to follow FREMO standards; see https://www.fremo-net.eu/en/home/. These guys are serious operators, and their solutions are tried and tested.
By the bye, following FREMO standards in everything (tracks, clearance, etc.) is a very good idea; just watch their operations on youtube to see how well it works.
Cheers
Waldschrat