Very nice - adds a whole new level to putting in new lifting rings on your locos.

to an Atheran crane. I've got one collecting dust in my railroad cabinet. Maybe I'll give it a try. But first I need to read the whole article.

Bernd

Now if you could bundle all those cool parts up in a single box, I'd pay you the $30 or $60 or $100 for the conversion kit... Too cool!

Hopefully Athearn takes a good hard look at what you did and applies it to their models!!  Aye-yi, then I'm buying another crane!!! [but a fully operational crane?!]

My time is worth more than $100 dollar per-model.

Bernd

I think Roco made a working digital model similar to this thing, but I guess that would take away all the fun of doing the conversion.

Roco did make at least 4 different DCC versions-- now no longer available-- with no sound, one accessory light.

But as you point out, building your own is a challenge and fun! This model has been around for 50-60 years and seemed like a good opportunity. (Also the $300++ Roco price was a bit high).

This was another learning experience for me to see what could be done with older, less costly, readily available models. That is a scenario i love to explore.

Best regards,

Geoff

Great job! Now how about an article on a working conveyor to move live coal loads in HO.

This was another learning experience for me to see what could be done with older, less costly, readily available models. That is a scenario i love to explore.

While an animated crane is not my cup of tea, this was the first article I read in this issue, and I enjoyed every word.  I love seeing modeling like this, and you have done an incredible job.  Also, I agree with your goal of bringing inexpensive models up to current standards.

This I just the article I have been looking for. In the past 10 years I have purchased 3 of these Athearn 200 Ton Wrecking cranes all still waiting to be built and I have 2 others I bought at a local RR club sale for $25.00 each partially built with a box of parts each to complete them. I have also Bought 3 Tichy 120 Ton Wrecking Cranes and I was planing to motorize at least 1 of each.

The Athearn 200 Ton Crane I want to Motorize and build in standard Gauge HO and the Tichy 120 ton Crane I plan to Kit Bash and turn one into the American R.R. Ditcher R.G.S # 030 self propelled Steam Powered and like Dr Bunza said in the article they were not fast but once dropped off at the site where they were needed they could move fast enough to maneuver into position to be able to get the job done.

This Article is now in My favorite MRH Magazine article file and has been placed on the CD I have set aside for just such top of the line articles.

Like Dr Bunza I have been collecting small 12V motors (around 200 of them) over the past 20 years and I have a large 24 Drawer cabinet full of all sizes and types of gears and gear boxes for railroad projects. Now with the article to help I should have everything I need to build both Ditcher and Crane.

I really enjoyed this article and Geoff gave every ounce of information for powering it in DCC and operating the lights and motors the one other thing I would have loved to have seen is a short Video of it operating. Even without the Video I still give the article 5 stars just because I can't give it more.

Dr Geoff Bunza has given us a few great articles in MRH E-zine and I look forward to more in the future>

Thank Doc your Modeling Rocks .

Dan

Dan,

Thank you for the very kind words.

You can find a link to your "missing" video on page 67, top right corner.

Best regards,

Geoff

I'm working on that right now. I started a blog  here: http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/blog/22860

If you follow the link you'll get to my web site on the construction of the whole project. It'll take a while but I'll keep the blog up to date and there will be more detailed construction posted on my web site.

Bernd

What a great article! You have pushed me to look at more animation possibilities.

My time is worth more than $100 dollar per-model.

Bernd

Adding it all up, this comes close to what this conversion cost in parts alone - though perhaps a bit more due to the good decoder used. And given the results, I believe it's well worth it.  I wouldn't want a dozen of these things on a layout, but one or two, now that's a nice added feature on a layout.

My Bad I got as far as the comment badge and hadn't turned  the page to see the video and now I'll add another 5 stars to your Model.

I usually skim through the entire magazine before I post or comment but this time I jumped straight to your article from the front cover and read up to the point I saw the reader feed back tag and posted. So from now on I'lI look farther before I post.

Again This one one of the best articles MRH has had to date and thanks for sharing this with us.

Dan

Dan,

If you are interested, I just noticed the MRH August Bonus downloads:

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/magazine/mrh-2012-08-aug/bonus-extras

has higher quality videos listed too.

Best regards,

Geoff

Absolutely the sort of high inspiration, high value result, high educational and help in depth value that has been absent from the dumbed down traditional hobby magazines since the 80's.

Nice article Geoff. I have an Atheran crane and may attempt to do this to mine.

Here's another source for people looking to use those small gear reduction drive motors if you can't find them on E-bay.

http://www.pololu.com/catalog/category/51

Bernd

Thanks Bernd.

I hadn't found them. It looks like a great source of gears and other parts too.

Best regards,

Geoff Bunza

Can you please provide a detailed bill of materials, with part numbers of the motors,relays and such?

It would be greatly appreciated, as I would like to do this myself.

Thank you.

Your welcome. Makes it easier if somebody wants to try building one.

For those looking for the electrical parts that Geoff used you could try Digi Key, Mouser, Jameco and some of the surplus electrical outlets. Also look under robotics. Much electrical stuff there.

Do a search on "electronic parts" without the quotes and you'll get 50.7 million hits. Should be enough to find what you need.

Bernd

This is most of what you need:

1 - Digitrax SDN144PS Sound decoder
1 - Digitrax TF4 Function Decoder
2 - small gear motors (used for spindles)
Ebay:  (Search for micro black gear motor)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Micro-Gear-Motor-Black-Gear-Box-Motor-/180867339...

1 - mini gear motor (I go for the cheapest watch out for the voltage 6-12 volts work well)
Serch Ebay for mini gear motor  --there are a bunch
also Bernd found this source
 http://www.pololu.com/catalog/category/51
and I bet there are allot more on the web

The miniature 12 volt relays can be found at All Electronics
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/RLY-616/MICROMINIATURE-1...
Other sources for relays and electronic parts
Digikey.com  and  Mouser.com
Mouser has the CL2 and CL25 current regulators too.
Frankly, there are probably another 30 or so that offer quite the selection. Google the part and watch!

One of my favorite sources for the small LEDs is LEDBaron whose ebay store is:
http://stores.ebay.com/ledbaron?_rdc=1
Many hobby stores and Walthers carry the model parts, plastic and brass

The article lists other sources for particular items too.
These should get you all or most of the way there.

Have Fun!

Best Regards,

Geoff

I thoroughly enjoyed this article and hope to see more like it.

In a perfect world I would have liked a few more photos supporting the article text and clarifying some of the procedures a bit more, but our world is far from perfect. I have to read through the article again and may have more questions once I do that.

For now:

Geoff,

Can you share the gear ratio or rpm rating for the mini gear motor you used for cab rotation?

In the video, the cab rotation seemed a little fast and/or abrupt.  Maybe it was just my perception or some other factor that gave that appearance?  I have never seen one of these cranes in operation so I could be out in left field with this.  Were you happy with the speed of the cab rotation based on your observations of the prototype?

Thanks for another great article.

Regards,

Kevin,

Go here and it will give you an idea of the rpm's at the final shaft out put.

http:// http://www.pololu.com/catalog/category/51

Bernd

P.S. Geoff, just got back from a search on E-bay on the mini motors. WOW, much better prices than Pololu. Thanks for that bit of info. I never think of using E-bay to find things like that.

Hi Kevin.

I'm glad you enjoyed the article.

I don't know what the gear ratio of the main motor is but I remember that it was rated about 60rpm (6 volt motor). Both the turn speed in the video and the amount of pictures, etc. in the article were tradeoffs of detail vs. time. Under DCC control the cab turn, boom elevation, and hook traverse can be made to go excrutiatingly slow. An early video I made mimiced a real steam crane I recorded (the one I got the sounds from) and it was boringly slow. So for the video you saw I upped the speeds to tell the story in a more acceptable way for most viewers. The cab rotation as a whole was a big challenge for me. The plastic bearing must have been worked over a bunch of times. It has to turn smoothly. I've noticed there is a variation in the crane production over the years-- you need to pay attention to the fit of the two cab floor halves around the crane well/chassis. I don't think the mold makers anticipated this animation 60 years or so ago! A little plastic compatible grease help too.

Let me know what you might like expanded upon and I'll do my best to clarify.

Best Regards,

Geoff Bunza

Geoff,

Thanks for the quick response.

I completely understand the trade-off between time and detail.  Speeding up the rotation for the video kind of makes sense but perhaps that should have been noted in subtitling etc. (possibly not your call) so viewers understood what had been done to save time and/or avoid boredom setting in.  I would have happily watched the "real-time" rotation, but that is just me.

Here is something I could use further clarification on:

Trim back the small gear motors (13)
as much as possible (cutting and filing)
so two of them can be stacked
and screwed with 0-80 screws after
holes are drilled and tapped.

What should be trimmed back to allow the two gear motors to be stacked and screwed?  Where should holes be drilled and tapped for the 0-80 screws?  Where are the screws placed so that the stack is fastened together?  Is there a photo that illustrates this?

Sorry if I am just dense and missing the obvious.

I added a small piece of
tubing between the boom beams to
widen the take-up path for the main
hook. This prevented the main hook
cables from twisting together when
the hook was raised or lowered.

This is another modification that seems like it is very important but that has no pictures that I can find to help to illustrate what was done, the issue it resolved or how it improved the operation of the animated crane.  Can you elaborate on this at all?

The crane I have, I believe is a Mantua model, rather than an Athearn.  I am hopeful that the two are similar enough that I can animate my crane in a similar way to what you did.  If not, I'll have to try to locate an Athearn crane.  They may become hard to find. I expect after this article, any surplus may be suddenly bought up!

Thank-you in advance for your time.  Any advice you can offer is greatly appreciated.

Best regards,

Hi Kevin,
You're right, both are not obvious. The trim is of small plastic edges from the spindle gear motor mounts--cut to make the box square and smaller. The small tubing insert is next to the main hook pulley and simply widens the cable drop from the boom. I'm answering you from the road today, but I'll post pictures here next Wednesday to make this clearer for all.
Thanks for pointing this out. I try to include every step a.nd piece of info in my articles so anyone can reproduce this. I have a mantua/Tyco crane at home and I'll take a look at that for you too.
Best Regards,
Geoff Bunza

Do not tell be on page 34 that the third Axel on front trucks is not off the track.  Can the crane lift it's self?

Yep, it's true, the front truck in figure 34 is derailed in the photo.

Seems the photographer didn't look close enough at the model he was photographing.

Well, as they say, nobody's perfect - not even award-winning magazine photographers ...

Athearn VS Tyco:

I just got back from taking apart that "Mantua" crane.  I would say that while it may be possible to animate it, the Athearn looks like a better overall candidate for animation as you have done in your article Geoff.

I am going to look for an Athearn specimen to work with rather than using the Tyco.

Thanks again for your quick responses to my questions.  Following up while on the road, now that is dedication!

I'll check back after Wednesday next week to see what you have for me.

Thank-you!

Regards,

Some very imaginative engineering going on here! I have an athearn steam wrecker that I reworked into a diesel model. It's going to have to get this treatment sometime in the future. Well done Geoff!