3d printer

Jusr got into 3d printing this week and have been experimenting with small items thus far. Im really impressed with what you can do. I would li,e to see a video of your dumper in action.

awesome!

That looks great. You could probably turn that into a business if you wanted.

Are you planning on uncoupling every car, or have you thought about rotating couplers? I was wondering about those just the other night and discovered that most people mention Sergent Engineering rotary couplers, which unfortunately they have discontinued.

But there was one guy out there 3D printing his own rotating couplers. They didn't automatically couple and uncouple like kadees, but they did rotate, and with a 3d printer you can make them be a drop-in replacement for whatever coupler boxes you have.

For this scheme to work I guess all your hoppers have to be the same length and the rotating part of the dumper must exactly match that length, but the payoff is much faster and prototype-like unloading operation.

rotating couplers

Excellent work!

I saved this from TrainOrders many years ago, but though that I had saved the photos as well, but can not find them

Step 1.  Disassemble the coupler.  I have only tried this with Kadee #5 couplers.  After carefully removing the spring, I cut the trip pin just below the head of the coupler.  Then it is easy to press the pin out through the top of the coupler.  It helps to have a block of wood with a hole just larger than the pin.

Step 2.  Drill a hole with a #73 bit into the head centered on the shank.  The hole will go though the shank and a straight pin through the hole will hold the head onto the coupler.  Use a drill just big enough to clear the pin you are using.

Step 3.  Round the shank with a needle file and cut the head off.  I just round the part next to the head so it can rotate freely.  Make sure the hole is drilled far enough into the shank so when the head is cut off there will be a mark on the shank so the drilling can continue.  The drill needs to be exactly square because the coupler shank is not that big.  The cut needs to be exactly square as well or the coupler will hang up as it tries to rotate.  It it is off a little, file it square.

Step 4.  Drill a small notch so the pin can be bent up and not interfere with the mounting boss and inhibit the coupler swing.

Step 5.  Insert a straight pin through the severed head and through the shank.  It helps to give the pin a slight bend so when it comes through the end of the shank it will slide out and not hang up on the back of the mounting ring.  Bend the pin up with a pair of pliers.  It needs to be tight or the coupler head will sag.

Step 6. Cut the remainder of the pin off and file flush.  Before I file it, I put a little CA on the pin to hold it securely.

Step 7.  Reassemble the coupler and mount on the car.  I usually flatten the edges of the ball on the knuckle to clear the head of the pin.  The head of the pin can be filed as well, as long as it doesn't pull through the head.

A couple of questions

- what is your CAD tool of choice?

- which printer are you using?

very sharp

Excellent job!!! What printer are you using? And the material is?

Bob Harris

Rotary Couplers

I already have rotary couplers on my cars. They are relatively easy to build from kadees. There is a video on youtube that shows how to do it, the only thing I did different was to encase the whole thing in a square tube to make attaching it to the case easier

printer

I am using a Monoprice Voxel and the material is ABS

CAD

I am using Design CAD-3D

rotary coupler

Where on you tube is your rotary coupler video ?  Thanks. Ken

Wow

Rotary Couplers

Here is the YouTube Link. 

I had been trying to make rotary couplers for a while when I found this. About kicked myself for not thinking of it as it is so simple. The only thing I didn't like was the glob of silicone used to attach them since the shafts were round. I glued a piece of 3/32 square tubing around the whole thing for a better gluing surface.

Very impressive

Great model.  I cant wait to see more of this.

Rotary Couplers

I have an operating N Scale 2 car dumper that a friend of mine made for me many years ago. I use fishing line swivels in the kadee coupler boxes. So just like the prototype, 2 cars are permanently coupled and have the painted end ban on the cars.

rotary couplers

Any idea who or where the guy 3d printing rotary couplers is located ? Interesting idea !  I looked on Shapeways but found nothing there. ---  Thanks, Ken

I remember finding someone

I remember finding someone doing that when I was web searching, so I searched again, and I remember seeing this before:

http://forums.mylargescale.com/15-model-making/78977-type-f-rotary-couplers.html

I guess it's not HO scale, but they have nice pictures. I can't say if scaling it down to 1/87 would make the couplers too brittle for practical use.

I'm not going to swear that I didn't also find someone else doing 3d  printing of couplers, and maybe even in HO scale, but at least I found the one above again.

Consolidated Nickel??

Hi all,

for more inspiration on rotary-dumpers and car fitted with rotary-couplings in HO scale have a look at the Consolidated Nickel thread by Mad Doc Mario and Nickel Queen Bice - look for stuff in the "car positioner" postings.

Check out their Youtubes of them in action, 

3d cad files

Do you have the 3-d files shared anywhere like thingiverse?

Cad files

Well, at least not at this time as it is a work in progress. Right now it consists of 35 separate files

Wonderful your project, how

Wonderful your project, how it costs I am a buyer!

How much it costs

Well the project isn't half done yet and at this point I have no real intention of selling it. Since I don't think the market would be exceptionally large my ROI would be rather high. 

Rotary couplers

Thanks for the link to the coupler video. Much easier modification than the one requiring drilling the shank. In fact I made a few in an hour as an experiment. If you ever consider making the dumper for sale let us know here. I think you would be surprised how many people are interested in an operating version. ---  Ken

Stl or CAD Files

Fabulous! Are the CAD or STL files readily available for the coal dumper?

Which 3D Model?

Which model of the  Monoprice Voxel are you using?

rotary dumper

 Not sure about this one but there is someone 3D printing and selling a complete rotary dumper. I have one and it works great. Look for Dumpmaster 8700 by Beyko Engineering on you tube for further info. ---  Ken 

link to the Beyko Engineering

For those looking, it appears it is Beyko Engineering, not Beyco Engineering, I could only find the youtube video by going through the facebook link. 

Mike