Giles Posted February 3, 2018 Author Share Posted February 3, 2018 I recently upgraded the battery in the TK artic to a 1200mAh flat battery (lipo), as it was only lasting 5 1/2 hours of exhibition use with its 650 battery. It now lasts more than 2 days of constant use! I'm well pleased with that! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted February 27, 2018 Author Share Posted February 27, 2018 I've been having a play with our HHO machine, which we bought 18 months ago. Di uses it all the time, but I haven't got round to it, so I thought I'd give it a go. HHO is hydrogen hydrogen oxygen, and is generated through electrolysis. Is is then burnt via a very fine torch, giving immense controllability. These machines used to be extremely expensive, but now you can buy them for as little as £150. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
N15class Posted February 27, 2018 Share Posted February 27, 2018 These are used in the jewelry trade. We used to use one for polishing the edge of acrylic sheet. We used with MEK in the pot which gave a a very clean pure flame. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymw Posted March 19, 2018 Share Posted March 19, 2018 Hi Giles, Thanks for the video. Been thinking of making such a unit, but not worth it now the price is so low. There seems to be two basic sizes, 75L or 95L - which is yours? Which electrolytic powder do you use? Apparently HHO (Brown's gas) has some useful, peculiar properties, iirc. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted March 19, 2018 Author Share Posted March 19, 2018 Potassium hydroxide is the electrolite we use, and the machine is a 75l info remember correctly! Certainly for our sort of work I suspect capacity isn't much of an issue. There was certainly a great deal more heat available than I needed! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted March 20, 2018 Author Share Posted March 20, 2018 (edited) I seem to remember having a little difficulty in finding out about the chemical and the mix. I did eventually, and, as I say, it's Potassium Hydroxide (Flake) also sold as KOH, and the solution is 150gms per litre of distilled water. Bought from Amazon or Ebay or whatever.... Edited March 20, 2018 by Giles 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted October 7, 2018 Author Share Posted October 7, 2018 (edited) Next slightly mad minor project is hopefully a fully working steam crane in 0-14 (not actual steam, though...). Not complete yet, but progressing.... The reason for this being that the radio control mobile crane, though remarkably successful, only has an endurance of around 5 1/2 hours, as I can only get a 650mAh battery in it, and it isn't swappable. This means that it has to retire three-quarters through the exhibition day. I do have a kit to build a duplicate, but I wanted to try something different. A rail crane, but it needed to be narrow gauge to be any use to me. I had a Backwoods Miniatures face shovel which I thought would do for a basis, but as it happens, I've really only used the jib, the base-plate and the roof, and most of that simply because I had them. It would have been just as easy to scratch-build the lot (with the possible exception of the jib) as it happens. I've had to scratch build a chassis in order to get a motor under the foot plate, and that is powered via a slip ring through the centre slew-ring. Battery and control being within the cab. 2018-09-27_05-15-16 by giles favell, on Flickr 2018-10-06_06-05-24 by giles favell, on Flickr Edited October 7, 2018 by Giles 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted October 7, 2018 Author Share Posted October 7, 2018 Gentle progress.... I'm awaiting the two winch motors, but the battery, charging socket and on/off switch are fitted.... 2018-10-07_05-57-10 by giles favell, on Flickr 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted October 9, 2018 Author Share Posted October 9, 2018 (edited) This is the configuration of the chassis as built. I deliberately didn't want to make it with outside cranks and rods, as I could only find one prototype that was driven this way - so I thought I'd compromise by just driving one axle. This motor is a 40rpm job, so very slow speed - which is what I wanted for the crane. 2018-09-19_05-56-00 by giles favell, on Flickr However, although nothing stops the axle, it does slip at the slightest excuse..... which is no good.... One option was to build a new chassis with cranks and rods - but I didn't want to do that for reasons above. The other option was to find a way of driving the second axle. I thought I could fit a gear train between the wheels and the frames - so I got on the computer and drew up some gears and a frame, and laser cut some out.... These have laminated gears from Trotec, and trial sides of the same stuff. These are the idler gears. It worked well. 2018-10-07_05-58-58 by giles favell, on Flickr The final gearbox with nickel-silver side plates cut on the Stepcraft CNC 2018-10-08_06-45-19 by giles favell, on Flickr New configuration. This thing would now push anything off the track.... the crane being so heavy, and the drive so strong - it just goes... 2018-10-09_04-29-00 by giles favell, on Flickr Edited October 9, 2018 by Giles 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruston Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 This is superb! From where did you get the bevel gears for the drive unit? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted October 10, 2018 Author Share Posted October 10, 2018 Thank you Dave! The bevel gears are from Technobots - about 45p each. They are 2mm bore, and come with a boss on the back, which I remove as and when necessary. They're a fraction under 12mm O.D. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CME and Bottlewasher Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 As always, ingenious and wonderfully well executed! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted October 10, 2018 Author Share Posted October 10, 2018 (edited) Thank you...! Another little detail I tried out in the light of previous models was 'drop-out/removable bearings'. It was going to make my life much easier (and indeed - so it proved!) if I could just drop the axles out of this thing if I wanted, rather that faff about, and so I used the capabilities of the Stepcraft - Although it would be perfectly reasonable to do this by hand or any other method. I drew the frames with the bearing holes slotted out, and drew separate little 'U' (?) shaped profiles to fit in the slot, under the normal top-hat bearings. These were then silver-soldered to the top-hat bearings, which gave me bearings that would neatly slide up into the slots - accurately - but not rotate....... 2018-09-19_06-04-29 by giles favell, on Flickr IMG_1109 by giles favell, on Flickr I shall certainly use this method again.... Edited October 10, 2018 by Giles 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 2mmMark Posted October 11, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 11, 2018 This is the configuration of the chassis as built. I deliberately didn't want to make it with outside cranks and rods, as I could only find one prototype that was driven this way - so I thought I'd compromise by just driving one axle. This motor is a 40rpm job, so very slow speed - which is what I wanted for the crane. Back when the Chatham show was in the dockyard, I had a lift from the carpark to the exhibition hall on one of the Grafton steam cranes. We reached a heady ½ mile per hour but our average was reduced by stopping to insert extra links in the couplings between the crane and its match trucks for the tight curves. A couple of weeks ago I was at Ropley watching the departmental crane relocating a boiler. The lift and slew were very slow indeed. So slow is good! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted October 13, 2018 Author Share Posted October 13, 2018 (edited) laser-cut slew-ring gear and slew motor gear. These are each cut from 0.8mm trotec, and lominated up to whatever thickness I want. IMG_1065 by giles favell, on Flickr IMG_1083 by giles favell, on Flickr Edited October 13, 2018 by Giles 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted October 13, 2018 Author Share Posted October 13, 2018 Little video of the laser-cut gear train 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin2 Posted October 13, 2018 Share Posted October 13, 2018 These are all fabulous. You have probably told us already but would you mind telling us again what laser cutter you are using? ...R Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted October 13, 2018 Author Share Posted October 13, 2018 Hi Robin, I use the Emblaser 1, which I've had for a few years now - and a stunning little machine it us (within its limitations). I have an Emblazer 2, but I've not even plugged it in yet! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CME and Bottlewasher Posted October 13, 2018 Share Posted October 13, 2018 Master of the craft - inspirational! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin2 Posted October 13, 2018 Share Posted October 13, 2018 I use the Emblaser 1, which I've had for a few years now - and a stunning little machine it us (within its limitations). I have an Emblazer 2, but I've not even plugged it in yet! Many thanks. ...R Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted October 14, 2018 Author Share Posted October 14, 2018 It now runs and slews under its own power and radio control...... I'm still waiting on the hoist and derrick motors which are on a slow boat from China, having ordered them nearly two months ago! The slew is too fast, and I shall look at re-motoring it. I don't have any slower motors tucked away - so I'll have to see what I can order. The travel is lovely though - just as planned. Similarly I think I've got the balance right, so it doesnt topple when slewing empty. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin2 Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 The slew is too fast, and I shall look at re-motoring it. Do you have electronic speed control for the motors? ...R 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted October 14, 2018 Author Share Posted October 14, 2018 it;s straight off the deltang Rx43 (via an Add1 board) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted November 3, 2018 Author Share Posted November 3, 2018 Ive remotored the slew, so it's a nice speed now, and yesterday a pair of flip motors finally arrived! I've turned a pair of drums for them, and now they just need fitting (somehow!) and we're done. 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted November 4, 2018 Author Share Posted November 4, 2018 i got the hoist motors mounted...... It turns out the gearbox spacers are like hollow stays, and I was able to tap them 10BA without drilling. A mountinng plate was made to hold them in the correct relative positions, and then soldered on to the base frame. The whole lot was then painted matt black. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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