Atlas SD 35 coupler height

[shawnfinley@att.net]

Exactly, they were without a solution other than to return it to Lombards. I've thought about the GP38 light board from FURX with the ditch lights connector, possibly having U+ and hit the E24 cap as suggested in your previous post for the SD9, for keep alive if needed, which I've done successfully thank you. So far it's been behaving well without it. I often wondered if they shipped the Gold models with the 58721. The Cargill was only available in DC at time of purchase which seemed odd to advertise it as Sound ready.

[spookshow]

member=1935]spookshow[/member], might want to update your SD35 description to include this mess.

Once again, I didn't even notice the coupler height being off on mine when I tested it because I didn't have any problems using it to pull a long train. Seems like kind of a non-issue to me, but I plan to purchase another one and take a second look anyway.

-Mark

[signalmaintainer]

Exactly, they were without a solution other than to return it to Lombards. I've thought about the GP38 light board from FURX with the ditch lights connector, possibly having U+ and hit the E24 cap as suggested in your previous post for the SD9, for keep alive if needed, which I've done successfully thank you. So far it's been behaving well without it. I often wondered if they shipped the Gold models with the 58721. The Cargill was only available in DC at time of purchase which seemed odd to advertise it as Sound ready.

Atlas Gold models come with the ESU LokSound V5 Nano 24-pin decoder loaded with a factory sound project. My personal choice is to buy the Silver series and blank decoders, then load the sound projects myself from the ESU site.

BTW, the NMRA is working on E24 standards. And I've recently brought up with the NMRA S&C committee the idea that U+ and GND solder pads for keep alives should be the standard for all N scale locomotive lightboards. Atlas, Scale Trains, BLI, et al, really must wise up on this. It's not hard. There's plenty of room on their respective lightboards. Since Zimo can find a place on its E24 decoders for U+ and GND pads for keep alives, then anyone manufacturer can on a lightboard.

[NtheBasement]

Thanks everyone for the help.  Took @peteski's advice and rummaged thru my wife's "magic craft room" (source of many handy materials and tools for model railroading) and found some Sculpey modeling clay and some dilutant? to soften it.  I rocked the fore and aft ends down to make sure the seesaw fulcrum was engaged.  Note this is with Kapton instead of the molded pad.  The place where it bottoms out is clear, its on either side of the rectangular smoke stack in the roof.  The culprit components are the two rearward of the four tannish capacitors.  The black plastic cab insert does not appear to be implicated.

I'm sort of optimistic that I could take material off the edges of the smokestack hole without completely destroying everything.  I'm not optimistic that it will lower the couplers enough - something else will hit.  Any guess what would happen if I ground off the tops of those capacitors?

In the meantime I found a decoder that might fit: https://sbs4dcc.com/products/digitrax-dn163a4-dcc-decoder-n-drop-in-board-for-atlas-gp7-gp9-gp15-gp30-gp35.html  No sound but at least I could haul a coal drag with it.

I will hold off and wait for a response from Atlas before doing anything further.
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[signalmaintainer]

Any guess what would happen if I ground off the tops of those capacitors?

Hmm, I'd defer on taking that step. Just a .001" too much could mess up an expensive decoder.

[NtheBasement]

I didn't notice any problems with the coupler height, but then again that's not the kind of thing I'd typically spend a lot of time checking. However, I always do a max pull test with as many freight cars as a loco can handle and I didn't encounter any coupler issues there.

But anyway, I've had my eye on one of those Cargill units, so I'll snag one and give it another look.

-Mark

Glad you are investigating, not sure I would risk the $$.  Do you know what year you tested the loksound version or what decoder it had?  I gather that mine, marked ESU 2020 02520-23198, was new in 2020.

[shawnfinley@att.net]

Atlas Gold models come with the ESU LokSound V5 Nano 24-pin decoder loaded with a factory sound project. My personal choice is to buy the Silver series and blank decoders, then load the sound projects myself from the ESU site.

BTW, the NMRA is working on E24 standards. And I've recently brought up with the NMRA S&C committee the idea that U+ and GND solder pads for keep alives should be the standard for all N scale locomotive lightboards. Atlas, Scale Trains, BLI, et al, really must wise up on this. It's not hard. There's plenty of room on their respective lightboards. Since Zimo can find a place on its E24 decoders for U+ and GND pads for keep alives, then anyone manufacturer can on a lightboard.

That's good to know, thank you

[peteski]

That version 2 board @peteski  posted with the E24 connector would solve the problem, I found that info from your research of these locomotive decoders Invaluable, Thank you for the work. I forwarded a link to Atlas asking about that board and the answer was they had no way of knowing what it was without part # and suggested I ask for a refund. Another great Idea with modeling clay. You are correct on the insulator being minimal, but i was looking for a few .000" without going through the roof.

You''re welcome Shawn.  This is the sort of "model railroading" I really enjoy doing.

As for that that black insulator, as I recall the decoder is not even touching it, so removing it wouldn't gain you any clearance.  As I mentioned, the decoder is firmly located in the slots in the metal frame halves. It will not really budge any further (unless you are hoping that the board  will flex down slightly between the mounting points. But that is highly discouraged. Those circuit boards have multiple internal layers and should not be flexed, plus the surface mount components also do not handle stress (of flexing) well.

If you really wanted to lower the decoder, you would have grind down the bottom of  the 4 slots in the chassis, but they you would have to install some sort of shims on the top to make sure the decoder is tightly installed ini the chassis.

Not sure I understand what is involved in using the connector decoder but has anyone successfully used that option on an SD 35?

The E24 decoder simply plugs into the E24 connector on the light board. The question is whether there is enough clearance between the bottom of the light board and the chassis to accommodate the decoder.

Also I did not realize that the caps which interfere with the shell are between the chassis posts. Not that it makes any difference, but those aren't Tantalum caps marked "107J". The capacitors affecting the fit are multi-layer ceramic caps (MLCC) components. The entire component is the capacitor (it is not encapsulated in an epoxy shell like some other components) and any modifications would damage it.

[peteski]

Atlas Gold models come with the ESU LokSound V5 Nano 24-pin decoder loaded with a factory sound project. My personal choice is to buy the Silver series and blank decoders, then load the sound projects myself from the ESU site.

Not all. Atlas produced many "Gold" N scale narrow hood diesels in the recent few years which successfully utilized the ESU 73199 or 58721. I own few of  thse models  (check out photos on the Spookshow's site).  The E24 adapter board (without on-board speaker) is a fairly new development.

[shawnfinley@att.net]

Not all. Atlas produced many "Gold" N scale narrow hood diesels in the recent few years which successfully utilized the ESU 73199 or 58721. I own few of  thse models  (check out photos on the Spookshow's site).  The E24 adapter board (without on-board speaker) is a fairly new development.

This Atlas N scale rabbit hole is starting to resemble an Ant colony

[signalmaintainer]

Not all. Atlas produced many "Gold" N scale narrow hood diesels in the recent few years which successfully utilized the ESU 73199 or 58721. I own few of  thse models  (check out photos on the Spookshow's site).  The E24 adapter board (without on-board speaker) is a fairly new development.

Thanks for setting straight, Peteski! I spoke too broadly.

[spookshow]

I received my Cargill SD35 today and can confirm that the coupler height is indeed off. Not by much, probably less than 1 millimeter, but evidently enough to cause coupler problems (which I experienced almost right away with this one, which leaves me mystified as to why my first one didn't have any such issues).



I took a Dremel grinder to the inside of the shell and shaved off some of the plastic. Not enough to get the height 100% right, but enough that uncoupling is no longer a problem. But of course that's not something that people are going to want to do, so I'm thinking a revised grade of "F" is appropriate here. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

-Mark

[shawnfinley@att.net]

I can confirm that I went to the fan housing surface safely, just for the caps without any problem. Did you reach that surface?

[spookshow]

I ground the shell over the top of all of the components on the motherboard that are clearly sticking up higher than the chassis, but it's really difficult to get in there with any sort of precision (at least using the tools I had on hand). One thing I didn't try (and probably should've tried before attacking the shell) was replacing the Accumate couplers with MT's. MT's aren't as skinny (top to bottom) and might actually render the height issue moot.

-Mark

[NtheBasement]

You got a better height than I did.  Speculation: the difference between from your previous evaluation is due to the version of loksound decoder - pre 2020 vs post 2020, which might have bigger caps.

What sort of bit did you use in the dremel?

Atlas continues to ghost.