McKinley Dollhouse Build Blog (Electricity)

May 26 2008
Posted by Minis On The Edge
Adding Electricity

 I used a mixture of hard wire and tape wire to light up this house. Because this house has a flat back and will hang on the wall, I fed all of the wires to the back of the house by clipping off the plugs and feeding it through holes that I drilled into the back of the house.

After that, I added a 11" strip of tape wire and took the plastic cover off of the tape wire. Next, took the wire and split the two wires about half inch down and then added one side on each side of the tape. Do not let the two exposed hardwire touch each other when you lay them down. I then took some masking tape and tacked it in place so that I could do all of the wires this way. Once all wires were added, I then took my soldering iron out to heat it and while it was heating, I added soldering flux (just a little touch) to the exposed wires (All of them) so that the solder will adhear to the wires to the tape wire. 

After that, I add some solder to the tip of my soldering iron and then to the exposed wired to affix it together. I do this to all exposed wires. Here are the pictures to help you with the visual side of the instructions

After that, you can remove the little pieces of masking tape you use to help tack down the wires and keep them in place while you solder them in.

After that, I taped down all of the loose wires and labeled which room each wire it for. You can also add more lights & outlets to this later on if you like.

  Now, all you need to do is add the Junction Splice and put one prong on each side of the tape wire. Then you add your transformer lead in wire and transformer and You have Electric!

It really is simple to do. Don't over complicate things by thinking too hard.Remember, if you have more questions feel free to ask in the comment section.

Lily Dollhouse Build Blog Days 4 & 5

06 June 2006

Posted by Minis On The Edge

It's Electric

 I decided to show a little bit how I electrify the houses. I find it hard to explain in words but pictures talk in words that I may not express well so here you go.

I am just adding the extra outlets that my customer wants in this house right now so that is what the pictures will show. I started out with an electrical outlet with a plug at the end pictured below. The end plug will fit into the electrical strip later on.

Now, drill a hole in the floor where you would like to add the outlet so you can feed the wire through the ceiling and down below the base of the house

Now, take the plug and remove the prongs at the end of the plug. Place them in a cup or soda pop top where you can find them easily! They are so small that if they fall on the floor, they find a way to blend into the carpet or wood floors you may have

Now, gently remove the plug base (the white part) from the wire

Now, take that wire and feed it through the hole that you drilled in the floor of the house

Take the paper off of the back of the outlet and stick it into place on the wall

 
After you feed the wire through the hole all the way to the base or bottom of the house, you will then start adding the parts back starting with feeding the wire through the plug (white part)

After folding ONE wire in EACH hole (Two wires so one wire should fit in each of the two holes), you will then add the brass prongs in the hole in contact of the wire

You can now plug this into a power strip and use your outlet. You can hide the wire behind moldings so they will not be noticed easily.


Hope this helps. I will try and take pictures and show the next step when I get to that part while I assemble the house.

13 August 2006

Posted by Minis On The Edge

Stair Placement & Partitions

Now it's time to glue the staircases in. If you want your foyer to look neat and decorated nicely, NOW is the time to do it (Before you add the kitchen wall and glue in the stairs). It will be VERY hard to reach these areas later on. Originally, I thought a partition went in a different place which means I messed up my flooring!

  Please note WHERE these partitions go so you won't make the same mistakes. Notice that the wires for the lights are taped out of the way while I build. I am using paperclay on the inside walls but you can hide these wires later by using wood trim that has a groove cut in it to hold these wires so that you'll never see them.

Right Wall & Bay Sides & Back Foundation Wall

This house is coming along WONDERFULLY!!! It has so many details that are missed from the 2 pictures shown on the box of this kit!! I am totally in LOVE with it's design. The bays went together easily and so did the back wall of this house. Here are pictures of where it goes and how

Porch Assembly 

Now this part was a little tricky for me because I do not plan to use the lattice trim on my porch. My foundation will have clay with stones sculpted in them.

Be sure to follow the instructions and lay the house on it's back while you assemble the foundation part. It is VERY important to position porch foundation piece # 1 into foundation slot in the order as noted on the drawings or else it will NOT fit right (I bet you can figure out how I know that one )

 
I also had issues finding the porch ends for the top and spent time talking to Lynette (Nutti) on the phone as we both tried to figure the porch roof parts. We got off the phone and I was still a little lost but I pushed forward and was able to finally figure it out. I am such a visual learner and not having pictures with these instructions for this kit really threw me off completely for a bit. I was afraid to use my glue LOL.

The Thought Of The Day ~ Mistakes are painful when they happen, but years later, a collection of mistakes is what is called experience.

 Thank You For Taking The Time To  Read My Blog Today!! Hope You Have a Great Day!

Tracy

 ♥☆♥♥☆♥♥☆♥♥☆♥♥☆♥♥☆♥♥☆♥