sound in a 70 ton switcher

[Cted1947]

I have a DCC on board 70 ton switcher in Bethlehem Steel livery. Having just completed a sound addition to my 45 tonner, I was hoping to do the same to this loco. Unfortunately, the DCC board installed doesn't seem to be as readily adaptable to sound as the 45 tonner was. Can sound be added to this loco?

[Chris350]

I bet it can.  You just need to find the right sound/motion decoder and replace the factory DCC board and electronics.  It's probably a fairly straight forward soldering project.  You're basically going to redo/replace the entire DCC system from the ground up.

[richg]

Rich

[richg]

Here are two more I missed




Rich

[richg]

Got ahead of myself.
I poured my own weights to replace the stock weight. Below is a photo of the form used for measuring the weight. I just poured in the liquid metal after melting it until I got what I wanted. I used some Legos as forms.
I attached them to the inside of the shell with a little Walther's Goo.



Rich

[Cted1947]

Rich,

You are the MAN! Could you give me a little more detail on the small pc board you used, and is it all mounted on a styrene sheet?

[richg]

Rich,

You are the MAN! Could you give me a little more detail on the small pc board you used, and is it all mounted on a styrene sheet?

The small PC board consist of four copper strips. I used something called Vero Board I boughtt from a company in the UK some years ago when I did a lot of electronic projects. You could get PC board at Radio Shack also and cut it to size.
This cuts down on the wire splices that have to be insulated with shrink tube. Two strips are for the two motor leads. Two strips are for the left and right rail pickups.
I put the stock DCC Ready board on top of the sheet styrene and drew a out line to cut the styrene to the  same size. A little Walther's Goo to attach it to the four post on the loco frame.
A little Walther's goo to attach the PC board to the styrene base.
Goo to attach the decoder to the styrene base.
I trimmed the styrene to attach the two LED supports with Goo.

If you have trouble reading some of the details in the photos, hold down the Ctrl key and press the + keys to make the view larger on your PC. When finished, hit the Ctrl and Zero keys to go back to original view.
You can also download the photos and use a photo application to view the details.

The plastic speaker frame may be a little wide. I used a sanding block with 150 grade paper to narrow the speaker frame a little.
I use a digital caliper to measure stuff.

Rich

[Cted1947]

Rich,

Got it. I ordered the decoder and will get the styrene Friday. I'll keep you posted on how it's going.

Thanks for the details.

Ted

[richg]

Hi Ted

Ok, sounds good. I am usually around.

Rich

[Cted1947]

Rich,

The decoder arrived this morning, and is operating perfectly. I did as much pre-work as possible while waiting for the mail. Your directions were on the money. I didn't paint the leds, however, because they already had a yellow tint; and I cut up the stock weight and GOOed it back it two places.

I recommend  anyone looking to install sound in a Bachmann 70 ton switcher, look at the photos and details Rich sent me and follow them carefully.

Thanks again for making it easy.