Building a DCC caddy A way to store and transport your DCC equipment/Walt Muren T
here have been a lot of magazine articles and books written about DCC, but I don’t recall seeing
any articles about how or where to store your DCC system. So, this article will concentrate on the construction of a portable cabinet or caddy for a DCC system.
I own an NCE 5-amp Power Pro Sys-
tem, so my cabinet was designed to fit it. The following features are included:
• A handle for easy transportation. • A 9½″×5″ opening on the top shelf for system expansion. • Two built-in storage compartments
(each approximately 8½″ deep × 8″ long × 1½″ wide). One holds the sys- tem manual and a Radio Shack RS- 232C cable to connect the system to the computer. The other one holds the throttle; this compartment includes a layer of foam rubber to protect the throttle. • A fully ballasted, 23¾″ long HO test track. • A ⁵⁄₈″ opening between the middle shelf and the storage compartment for wiring to pass through. • A 1¹⁄₂″ opening between the test
track and the storage compartment for access. • Rubber bumpers at each end of the test track (to prevent serious acci- dents). • Rubber feet on the bottom of the
unit. • Storage hooks for the a.c. electrical cord on the back of the unit.
The caddy, with the DCC equipment, weighs in at 19 lbs. There are 17 wood pieces in the cabinet, either cut from plywood or dimensional lumber. I used a circular saw, a jig saw, an electric miter saw,
drill, No. 8 1″ pan head
screws and No. 8 1″ flat head screws, plus four 2″ wood screws.
Construction I started by building the side panels
and the supports for the shelf and the test track (pieces A, B and C). The two side panels were made from ¹⁄₂″ thick birch plywood that I had on hand. They measure 8″ wide and 10″ tall. The front top corner was rounded with a jig saw to soften the cabinet’s appearance. The template for the rounded corner was a discarded can from the recy- cling bin. If you are curious, the can
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PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR
had a diameter of approximately 4¹⁄₄″. I then cut, glued and screwed sup- ports B and C to the side panels A. The supports are used to help reposition the shelf and the test track if they ever need to be temporarily removed (for maintenance or expansion of the DCC system, etc.). The supports were cut from a 1″×2″. Support B measures 5¹⁄₄″ long with one end cut at a 45° angle. The top of support B is 4¹⁄₂″ from the bottom of the side panel A and ¹⁄₄″ from the front of the side panel. The test track support C is 2¹⁄₄″ long. One end is mitered at a 22¹⁄₂° angle. The top is 8³⁄₄″
DCC storage caddy parts list Piece
Sides A (side panels) B (shelf supports) C (test track supports) ¹₂″ plywood 2 8″×10″
1″×2″ 25¹⁄₄″ 1″×2″ 22¹⁄₄″
Storage compartment D (faces the inside of the cabinet) ¼” plywood E (faces the back of the cabinet) ¼” plywood F (bottom support) G (center supports) H (side supports) I (top support)
1″×2″ Shelves
J (bottom shelf) K (center shelf) L (test track shelf)
¹₂″ plywood 1″×6″ 1″×3″
1 1 1
23³⁄₄″×7³⁄₄″ 23³⁄₄″×5¹⁄₂″ 23³⁄₄″×2³⁄₄″
APRIL 2013
1 1 1
23³⁄₄″×9¹⁄₂″ 23³⁄₄″×10″ 23³⁄₄″
1″×2″ 28¹⁄₈″ 1″×2″ 28¹⁄₈″ 1″×2″ 16¹⁄₄″
from the bottom of the side panel A and 2¹⁄₈″ from the front of the side panel. Before attaching them to the side pan- els, I sketched the location of the sup- ports, the shelf and the test track on the side panels. I then found the cen- terline of each board, marked the screw locations and drilled the holes for the screws. Since I used No. 8 1″ flat head screws to attach the supports, shelf and test track to the side panels, I used a countersink on the outside of the side panel so the head of the screw would be flush with the side panel. The shelf and support screws were placed
Wood
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Dimensions
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