Time to build a few Static Grass Applicators

Some time back I received a package from Oatley Electronics and in this package were 3 x power supplies and 3 x ion generators.
Last night I purchased all the other hardware to build three static grass applicators.

This photo below, minus some wires, solder, and other tools used to build these.

I have the pipe, pipe couplings, pipe caps, steel mesh (strainer) generators, power supplies, latching on/off buttons, araldite and RCA plugs.

Just got to get the drop saw and electric drill, soldering iron etc and make a start on these tomorrow.

I will do a follow up on these as I go along

Cheers, Gary.

 

Hi Andy, the Negative Ion Generators I purchased are wire to the diagram below. I do need to add the external black wire to the 'pin'.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Hi Gormo,

No, my static grass applicator is working fine. A few people on here are after one so I went and purchased enough goodies to build six of them ! The only difference will be the latching on/off button. I decided to use these as the momentary push buttons tend to wear a little where I can fill the electricity (12 volts) flowing through !

Cheers. Gary.

 

The Negative Ion Generators I purchased come with a wiring diagram to build a static grass applicator from the supplier. The supplier diagram dictates adding the extra black wire that will supply the positive feed to the pin (local earth). https://oatleyelectronics.com/product_info.php?products_id=1204&osCsid=m3f2jafuglto36tkmrr057dp31

Looking at what you have, the black and red would be your power supply and (I'm guessing) the white should got to the strainer (mesh) ??

Cheers, Gary.

 

You can buy one straight from my source without the power supply : https://oatleyelectronics.com/product_info.php?products_id=915&osCsid=sn3bifpeaauus0og1ih62kc491

Cheers, Gary.

 

The first of many is complete, but no construction photos with this one as it is a gift for a mate.

Nice compact size, around 250mm (10") in length...

Latching button and RCA plug for power supply.

All the electronics are housed in the top section, this is approximately 65mm (2.5")

Looking through the applicator. This time I decided to sheild off the electronics from the grass chamber.

The sifting end.

I will go about explaining the build on my next applicator with photos.

Cheers, Gary.

 

This is perfect if you are modelling N, HO or OO and works great with 2mm to 7mm grass fibres. Any grasses larger I generally do the 'pinch and plunge' method.
Can I ask, how much did you pay for the WW Scenics applicator ?

Cheers, Gary.

 

These applicators cost approximately $35.00, or just under £18.00 and are great for OO and HO, they work fine. No real need for other sized mesh filters as I layer the grass in two and three applications.
I have used this size mesh on all of my layouts on Platform 1 MRC.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Here I demonstrate how I put this static grass applicator together...

1. Trace out an 'end capping' onto a piece of 1mm thick styrene sheet.

2. Take a 65mm length 50mm diameter PVC pipe and glue the circle of styrene to this. Drill a 2.5mm hole halfway down the side of the 65mm PVC pipe. Drill another 2.5mm hole towards one side of the styrene. The hole on the side of the PVC pipe is for the earth/ground wire.

3. Sand down the edges flush with the PVC pipe.

4. Glue on a pipe coupling to the styrene end of the PVC pipe. The black wire protruding from the PVC pipe is explained further down in instruction #8.

5. Take a PVC end cap and drill two holes in the top, one hole 12mm and the other 8mm. Both holes need to be approximately 3mm in from the inside edge. These holes are for the latching switch and the RCA plug.

6. On the underside of the cap, the hole for the RCA plug needs to have a chamfer/bevel to allow the plug to screw in.

7. Attach both the RCA plug and Latching switch.

8. Now this is where soldering skills come in handy. Use the diagram below to wire up the RCA plug to both the Negative Ion Generator (black wire), RCA plug to the latching switch (red wire) and then the red wire from the negative ion generator back to the other tab on the latching switch. Do not worry about the red wire at the bottom of the negative ion generator. We will get to this in step #12. The use of heat shrink is very useful in this step.

I recommend plugging the power supply into the RCA fitting to help keep the pin centred when heat is applied. Do not connect to mains power...!

Please note that you will be required to splice in another black wire to act as the ground, as per the diagram.

I shortened the red wire between the negative ion generator and the switch to contain the wires inside the PVC pipe.

9. Take another PVC end cap and trace out a circle onto a piece of steel wire mesh. I purchased a cheap wire strainer and cut the mesh from this. Cut and trim the mesh and use araldite (quick set two part epoxy) to glue to a 160mm length of 50mm diameter PVC pipe.

10. While you have the araldite out, secure the negative ion generator to the inside of the top cap.

11. With the end cap, now drill out or dremel out the flat surface on the end cap, leaving a 1mm lip inside.

12. Once the epoxy has dried on the pipe/mesh, trim up any excess with a good, sharp pair of scissors and place the drilled out cap over the end. A spot of MEK here inside the cap sides helps to secure the lot in.

Using this diagram, pass the lower red wire from the negative ion generator through the pre-drilled 2.5mm hole in the 1mm styrene. Pass this through the 160mm PVC pipe to the mesh. Do not shorten this red wire as you will require the length to open the hopper for filling of static grass fibres.

If using stainless steel mesh, you will find that solder does not adhere. I recommend stripping enough wire and passing the wires through the mesh then give them a twist. A small amount of solder will secure this to the mesh.

13. Take a 40mm nail and solder the black ground wire to this. I added some heat shrink then passed the lot into a short section of styrene tube. Use araldyte to secure wire to the inside of the styrene tube. Having the styrene on the end makes it easier to handle !

14. Now with everything soldered up, push the hopper end (160mm PVC pipe and mesh cap) together into the coupling. DO NOT GLUE THIS ON !
The lower hopper needs only to be pressure fitted only as this is what you fill with the static grass fibres.

If you have followed through with the instructions, you can now plug in your power supply, fill hopper with grass fibres and start applying the grass !

Cheers, Gary.

 

This diagram here is based on the instructions from Oatley Electronics, supplier of negative ion generators.

Cheers, Gary.