RMweb Gold SHMD Posted May 26, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 26, 2012 Hello Steve, How's progress going with Fox Walker? Your 6mm by 7mm Stepper is amazingly small, where did you get it from? I've been thinking about different motors for you project. One possible source could be an old/obsolete/broken mobile phone. These nearly always have a 'vibration' feature to silently alert the user of a call or message. The vibrations are derived from a small unbalanced weight attached directly to the drive shaft of a small dc motor. Some experimentation would be required along with, probably, a series resister to allow it to work with 'normal' train controllers. Kev. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nth Degree Posted May 26, 2012 Author Share Posted May 26, 2012 Hello Kev, thanks for your interest. After some eye and headache trouble a few weeks ago I decided to put it down for a while until I felt I could continue. I feel much better now and bought the 'third hand' thing to help out seeing. I got it off the shelf where I keep it a few days ago and promptly broke the cylinder arrangement for the other side that I'd spent hours on previously. This annoyed me so much I put it back on the shelf! The stepper motor is a prototype from a supplier that I can't talk about at this stage. It's not been officially released yet and is still being tested. I came across it through my job. Part of what I do is designing in-store promotional items for retail outlets and supermarkets and I had a really tight brief which required some cutting edge minute electronics. This (or these) are the remnants of the client presentation material we used. I had also thought along the same lines as you've suggested but these little things are so high revving and require a significant gearbox to run reliably and under control. I haven't really got the space for it if I want to add some weight for reliable running. I've got someone looking into a controller for the retail project which I can hopefully adapt for this loco but it's taking quite a while. The project has been put on hold until a clearer picture of the Euro economy emerges. I will get back to this in the next few days so hopefully and update soon. Your project looks very well advanced. You'll soon be able to put your feet up with a cuppa and a Jaffa Cake soon! Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nth Degree Posted August 22, 2012 Author Share Posted August 22, 2012 I finally managed to keep an appointment at an eye hospital this week and I'm afraid the news isn't good. I have previously suffered with retinal fluid bubbles which were always temporary, usually coinciding with pressures at work. Well, it seems these bubbles have left scarring on my retina affecting my vision. Normal vision is fine but focussing close up is the problem - and there is a lot of close-focussing in 2mm! It's a huge regret that I have to pull out of the competition (and this scale too) due to me eyesight. I've always had 20/20 vision so this is annoying in many ways. Subsequently, I can offer these etches to anyone interested in them for free. I have 5 left (from a sheet of 6), all I ask is a contribution toward a Jiffy and postage, probably £3.50 each. I'll include a length of tube to make the cylinders, 0.3mm brass wire and, if you want it, a length of carbon fibre rod for the axles. I'd prefer to offer only 1 to anyone interested, rather than give them all to one person. Let me know if you're interested. It's not all bad I suppose, I can now concentrate on 7mm scale which I was spending most of my time on anyway. Good luck to the other competition entrants, I'll be watching with great interest and a little bit of envy. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold SHMD Posted August 23, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 23, 2012 Hi Steve, Sorry to hear the bad news but at least you can still carry on with the Hobby, I enjoyed following your entry and was interested in seeing how/where things would go. Good on ya for offering to pass on your work to good homes. I was tempted, (owt for nowt), but my eyes aren't much better than yours. Still, hopefully you can make the same entry next year but in 7mm! Best regards, Kev. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
N15class Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Very sorry to hear about your eye problems. 7mm is not so bad I gave up other scales years ago. Good luck for the future. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nth Degree Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 Thanks Kevin and Peter. I'm so gutted not to be able to complete it. I'm just learning to solder too so I could have produced something potentially much better than a superglued effort. I've kept two etches just in case something changes with the eyes. I live in hope! I'm pleased that some of the etches have gone to RMWebbers so I'm looking forward to see what they make of them. Again, I wish everyone in this competition the very best of luck and I'm really looking forward to seeing the final entries and the results. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nth Degree Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 As an aside, and now that I'm able, this is one of the four bi-polar stepper motors I have in my possession. The body is 7mm in length and 6mm diameter, which comfortably fits either inside my boiler or between the frames and would eliminate the need for a gearbox, had I found a small enough controller to power them. I originally obtained these test samples for a retail project my company was working on but it was cancelled to the financial situation. I don't think they are officially released yet so I may have to send them back. As you can see, they are beautifully designed and being stepper motors they don't rev too high either. Perhaps next year... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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