hollywoodfoundry Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 Hello, After about a year of designing, testing and general fiddling, I have finally been able to do some test assemblies of an updated drive idea I have been working on. The concept is not at all new, these drives were around in Japanese and Korean brass trams produced for the US market many years ago, but I have updated the design and added a few new features. The drive bogie is called Diablo, mainly because one part looks a bit like the wooden child's toy of many years ago, and also because it was a devil of a thing to get the design right. The trailing bogie is called Lightning because of its tendency to fly off the work bench like lightning if you don't keep it under control. The design uses a belt drive to translate the drive power down to the bogie from a motor in the cabin or body of the model. While it is primarily intended for use in trams or MU vehicles of any sort, it can be used in almost any drive application where a four wheel bogie is needed. You can see more information on the Diablo in a preview page on my web site: http://www.hollywood....com/Diablo.htm The specifications shown on the web site are mainly aimed at US modellers, but the sizes can easily be adapted for British or European trams or MUs. Geoff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 Great, I have a few projects with Suydam-type drives that need remotoring. On a similar note, do you think there is a place in the market for the belt to be used as a direct replacement for the springs in older drives, possibly with a new motor but keeping the existing bogies...? I suppose it would depend on whether the new belt could be fitted into the bogie without dismantling it too much, which could be an issue for some of the drives in my collection. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollywoodfoundry Posted March 30, 2010 Author Share Posted March 30, 2010 The double spring drive relied upon the spring being able to be uncoupled to replace it, whereas the belt is one piece. On that basis, you would have trouble dismantling the drive to put a belt in there. The other problem is that the spring drive had a pulley specially shaped to use the metal spring and was knurled, whereas a rubber belt needs a different design of pulley, hence my new design. If you need to replace the spring itself, Alpine Models sell springs for the purpose. Geoff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Devil Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 Fantastic, I really like the look of this, it all looks 'so user friendly' in comparison to some other drive mechanisms. I can see quite a few applications that I could use them for. I know I shouldn't ask, but I will anyway! What sort of timescale do you think we're looking at for them to become available? Thanks, Mark. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollywoodfoundry Posted March 31, 2010 Author Share Posted March 31, 2010 Fantastic, I really like the look of this, it all looks 'so user friendly' in comparison to some other drive mechanisms. I can see quite a few applications that I could use them for. I know I shouldn't ask, but I will anyway! What sort of timescale do you think we're looking at for them to become available? Thanks, Mark. Mark, Not certain, but I am working on it at present between filling orders and getting ready for one of only two shows I attend each year. The timescale will be in terms of months though, as it is mostly just a case of getting the materials in hand. The ones you see in the photos are all built from parts I fabricated myself, and that takes a long time. Geoff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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