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 Posted - December 25 2010 : 6:00:52 PM
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I spent my Christmas afternoon ( after the morning rituals of opening presents and drinking nog coffee ) building this rather , um, unique? item out of leftover bits of electronics and a lamp carcass. I used a swiveling base off of an outdated (and trashed) monitor, and removed the dented and beat up base of this formerly nice desk lamp ( which I'd just bought for $2 Christmas Eve at a Bazaar/Flea Market my wife was working her last day at this year ), and mated them successfully into a new item, a powered train-servicing cradle. What I like about it is I can adjust the height, and swivel the base, to get to any area. The base swivels 180 degrees, and I can put the cradle up high, or drop it down. The neck has levers on it to lock the lamp neck in place in any desired position. And with the power, I can test engines upside down. I tried an old Tyco 855 model power pack, but it smoked, and the throttle was busted, it would only work on high. So, in the trash it went. Dug out a Model Power unit, which works well, and hooked it up, and no problems. Wee! Here's what it looks like -
How many times I wish I'd had something to (easily) hold my engines while I work on them! I have a wood and foam cradle I made for my work bench, but it's bulky. This is a bit more refined, and more easily used. Won't hold my Tyco GG1, but for most small Tyco and other engines, it will work just fine. I may " invent " an insert cradle which holds larger engines out of this cradle, and is open-ended. That's Rev. 2. I'll just be happy with the current one right now.  So my Christmas has been both pleasant AND productive. HO! HO! HO! and Ho! Ho! Ho! as well. 
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - December 26 2010 : 5:04:36 PM
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Dang that looks convenient I often just try to balance engines upsidedown on my layout in between the two tracks...it doesn't work so well. I bet your lamp/engine cradle would make wheel cleaning (among other things) so much easier.
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Posted - December 26 2010 : 8:51:33 PM
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quote:Dang that looks convenient... I bet your lamp/engine cradle would make wheel cleaning (among other things) so much easier.
Originally posted by DaCheez - December 26 2010 : 5:04:36 PM
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Yes, most older, wiser, and more experience modelers build some sort of work cradle like this to work on their engines. This just happens to be a bit more, er, zany than most, but because of the adjustability, I think it surpasses a table top cradle. Well, both have their places. This lamp just happened to be a very usable piece, plus joining it to a swiveling base increased its versatility greatly. I'll try using it to clean wheels before too long, and give a report on it's effectiveness.
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Country: USA ~
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Posted - December 28 2010 : 1:19:27 PM
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Great idea!
~CamdenLine
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