Following it with great interest. I find the rotating speed a mite high. Do you have plans to slow it down?. Jose.

First a thanks for the compliment.

I used an old Radio Shack wall wart that you can adjust the voltages on, 3V, 4.5V, 6V, 7.5V, & 9V. At the 3V setting the motor is actually running at half speed. Max voltage on this motor is 6V. Since it will have an electronic speed control I'll be able to adjust it when all is done.

Bernd

I know what you mean with the curved guide, half a tube inverted. I think it would be a little tough to bend. The plastic air plane tubing would be to big in diameter if I remember right. The lubeing of the cables would probably make the cable stick to what ever it touched. Although the graphite might work in powder form. I have some of that.

Yup, two blind drivers. Never knew the prototype did that. Sounds like a plan.

For those of you who would like to try plating yourself here's a place you can purchase a kit to nickel plate metal.

http://www.caswellplating.com/electroplating-anodizing/nickel-plating-kits.html?p=2

The 5 pint kit for $109 would be the way to go.

Bernd

I started working on the boom. I needed to build a new snatch block. That's the rigging that moves the boom up and down. I was going to rebuild the whole boom making it out of brass so I'd have a nice counter weight to the motors in the back of the cab. I decided not to do it since I'd probably never get the crane done. So let's begin this segment.

This is the snatch block that comes with the crane, a white metal casting. I've had it so long that one of the pulleys froze on the shaft. So I making a new one. Using two pieces of brass .032" thick brass plate and using the original cover plate as a template.

And I made a "boo, boo". I drilled one to many holes. The two pieces were soldered together and the white metal plate was ACC'ed to the brass plate. The holes were drilled. And I added an extra that I didn't need. When I heated up the plates to separate them I melted the white metal part, darn. So I used the plate from another crane and made new plates.

Another picture of a pair of good plates. Pretty close to the original.

Next to be made is the piece with the slot in it. I used a piece of brass .125". It just happened to be close for what I needed. It's the piece on the right.

The piece is solder to a sacrificial table. This works better than trying to hold it in the vise.

The table is bolted on a piece that is held in the vise. It is now ready to be whittled down.

The finished part after much whittling. A slot down the center and a hole in the end for a pin to hold the cover plate.

A bit of test fitting.

Next I made an assembly jig using one of the plates. It's ACC'ed to the aluminum to hold it while drilling the holes.

Drilling out the holes. I'm using a piece of MDF so I won't hit the hardened vise and ruin the drill.

Small brass tubing is used as axles for the pulleys and the to center the two plates. They are cut long and will be filed flush when everything is soldered together

When I milled the long part to size I took a bit to much off and had to shim the plate up about .016". So I made a small shim. It fits around the center post.

And here it is all finished. The only thing left is a hole in the end and bit of filing to make the left hand end round like the original.

That's it for now. Next fitting the boom and the pulley's...........I think.

Bernd

......... sorry, couldn't resist. Great work!.

You found out. Guess I'll have to be more honest next time and back out further to take a picture. <BG>

Bernd

The New York, Vermont & Northern Railway electrical engineers had a very heated debate as to whether to go with DCC or R/C. The decision was made to go with R/C because it will not be used on a daily bases as an locomotive would. The engineers found a company that had a new product, the reciever, for use in the model railroad hobby.

So here are three pictures of what will be put together to make it function. Notice how big the Receiver is?

The transmitter.

Here it is all together. Gives you an idea of the size of the transmitter.

Now I need to put it all together and see if I can make it function. The battery will eventually be put in the crane tender car. Another thing that is going to be added are Precision Scale Co.   #3397 "HO" Modern 6-wheel Buckeye trucks, with 33" wheels, 9'-10" wheel base, with plain journals. They should be here by the end of the week hopefully.

Bernd

The receiver is tiny!

The battery pack, yikes!  Will that really fit in the tender?

I imagine the pack is fairly heavy, not?

No need for track power with this system.  That's nice.

Are you thinking about adding a fourth motor and using the add-on board?

Did you have the transmitter already or have to buy it for this application?

Looking forward to seeing how this works for you.

Kevin,

The receiver is .520" X .468" X .095". The battery pack came from a cordless phone. It's the proper voltage, 3.6V and over .800 mAh. The motors will run a long time on that. I tested one motor on that battery and it ran for over 8 hours without a load on the motor. The batteries are 3 AAA cells. That'll give you an idea of how much they weigh.

Nope, no need for track power unless you want to set up a track to charge the battery.

There is no room for a 4th motor. The next crane that I modify will have 4 motors.

I picked up the transmitter today. It's used for the tiny helicopters that get flown indoors.

I got this idea from another forum I visit. An English gentleman, David Theunissen, produces the receiver. I ordered it from him. Here is his web site: http://www.deltang.co.uk./

I've got some ideas about using something like this in a steam engine. Since you can only control one piece of equipment for one Rx/Tx pair it would work fine on a steamer since you don't run multiple engines like you do diesels

This part is going to take some time as I don't want to let the magic smoke out of the board.

BTW, the trucks should be here by end of the week.

Bernd

Bernd,

Ok the battery pack is not as big or heavy as I thought.  I was thinking three AA cells for size and weight.  A lot of operating potential in a very small footprint with (up to) 4 motors and lights etc.

Somewhere I have a schematic for a charging circuit using track power...

What was the ballpark cost of the transmitter, if you don't mind saying?

Good news on the trucks, do let me know about that when they arrive.

I recently got the rest of my electronic parts and have got my cab rotating very freely now with the addition of some graphite with molybdenum.

Sick as a dog the past week but recovering so maybe will get something done soon.

Thanks for the link!

Regards,