Giles Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 There's a thread on this in the 7mm section, but I thought I might post this here, in case anyone might be interested. It's a crane for my next layout, to bring goods out of a factory, and load up wagons and lorries. The 'winches' are 'zero-fleet', which means the drums travel side-ways as they rotate, so that the spooling wire rope is always pependicular to the crane. This is very simply achieved by using M6 bolts as the 'drums', and mounting the drum/motor assembly via by using M6 nuts soldered to the brass frame. The bolts then wind into the nut when rotated, and the wire rope sits in the thread at the same frequency. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=negf4qwRl6M&feature=youtube_gdata_player Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Giles, that is truly awesome! Thanks for sharing. Allan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted July 1, 2013 Author Share Posted July 1, 2013 Thank you Allan! These things add a little interest sometimes! I used Nigel Lawton's pulleys, and fitted 1.5mm I.D. Bearings for all the sheaves, but the wire rope was ore of a problem, as I couldn't find anything conventional that behaved plausibly. Eventually my wife solved it (she is Head of Wardrobe at RADA, and A silversmith by hobby....) and she suggested using silver 'snake-chain'. So I bought some 0.8mm, and it works brilliantly.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Hi Giles. So your good wife is a silversmith, well that's terrific, so was my father but he never made it back from El Alamien. I might be able to knock up a presentable cottage or two Giles, but not in a million years could I build crane and least of all, one that worked. Each to his own I suppose and you're very good at what you do - even if the wife had to get it to work !!!! My best regards to you both. Allan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Hey Giles! I just this moment went to your link and drooled over 'The Loop'! Now as it happens, that was one of my favourite little layouts and didn't it appear in the Model Rail? Anyway Giles, whether it did or it didn't, I reckon it's well worth another airing on here, mine and Iain's thread preferrably, then I can tell him I built it!! Cheers. Allan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 It's no good Giles, I've just gone back and had another look at 'The Loop' and I INSIST you re run it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On a closer and a more respectable look I found it utterly awesome - everything, the loco's, stock (Oh my oh my, but those dump trucks...) the scenics - the whole things a masterpiece built by a master craftsman. Mind numbingly brilliant. Allan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted July 1, 2013 Author Share Posted July 1, 2013 Allan, you do me a great deal more credit than I deserve, sir! Particularly from a genuine modeling genius such as yourself..... Both of these layouts appeared in Model Rail - beautifully photographed by Chris Nevard. 'The End of The Line' was my second layout - having learned a lot fron 'The Loop' - particularly with some of the grasses.... 'the Loop' was my first layout, and a real exercise in getting a practical, but primarily scenic railway into 4' x 2' Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted July 1, 2013 Author Share Posted July 1, 2013 forgive me, but since you're interested, I've also been playing further with grasses Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 2, 2013 Share Posted July 2, 2013 Hi Giles. Formidable modelling and that grass is about the best I've ever seen, looks like my front lawn ! We desperately need to see more of your talent Giles, so what have you got going at the moment ? Cheers. Allan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted July 2, 2013 Author Share Posted July 2, 2013 well..... Life is catastrophically busy with work at the moment - so I've just been getting the crane working - and planning a little 8' x 4' factory layout to incorporate it. Any chance you'll get to the Newark show in September? We'll be going with 'The End of The Line' Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 2, 2013 Share Posted July 2, 2013 Giles, I'm telling ya', it don't get better than this - how can it ?! Superb. Allan. PS. see if I can get to Newark in September, It's only about an hour out of Immingham and the edge of civilisation as we know it ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted July 28, 2013 Author Share Posted July 28, 2013 The Transfer crane is basically finished (with its controller) - but next I have to make some (powered) sliding doors to go behind the brick arch to hide the loading, before the reveal.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 Hi Giles. Terrific model making and I could probably build that crane, but it would never work ! Cheers. Allan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlostcreek Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Hi Giles, looks good the grass. What grass master you're using John LC Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattWallace Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Hi Giles, I've only just found this thread and it looks amazing - how hard do you think it would be to shrink that crane mechanism down to 4mm scale? Thanks, Matt P.S. Any chance you could point me to a good reference on zero-fleet winches or post a short primer on how they work? A google search just returns marketing guff... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted December 9, 2013 Author Share Posted December 9, 2013 Hi Giles, looks good the grass. What grass master you're using John LC Hi John, What you see was done with the Noch GrassMaster (with additions by hand) - but I sold it and bought an Green-Scenes Flockit, which I find much better! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted December 9, 2013 Author Share Posted December 9, 2013 Hi Giles, I've only just found this thread and it looks amazing - how hard do you think it would be to shrink that crane mechanism down to 4mm scale? Thanks, Matt P.S. Any chance you could point me to a good reference on zero-fleet winches or post a short primer on how they work? A google search just returns marketing guff... Matt, it's easier to show you how they work - and it's very simple..... There's now reason why you can't do this in 4mm, although the actual winches are going to be over-scale and need to be hidden (like mine) The idea with a zero fleet winch is that it pays out the line from the same point in space all the time. One simple way of doing this is to have the cable drum move sideways as it rotates. That sounds complicated until you think screw thread, and then realise that you can have your cable nesting in the same screw thread. Therefore all you need do is to attach a motor to the end of a bolt, in the simplest terms. Your mount becomes a nut, and job done..... In practice, I used a 45rpm 12v motor gearbox running on 1.5v, which gives me a very slow speed. The top motor travels the carriage using two cables. As the 'bolt' rotates, the cable at one end pays out over the top, and the cable at the other end collects. The lower motor lifts and only has one cable. The cable I use is 0.8mm silver snake chain, as it is the only thing I've found that behaves anything like scale when it comes to bend radius etc. There is no reason why the cables can't be diverted up or down to change the motor position if necessary. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlostcreek Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Hi Giles, Thank you, I'm curious of the further progress of the transfer crane John LC Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted March 15, 2014 Author Share Posted March 15, 2014 Just an update - the finished transfer crane. An article will be in the next Narrow gauge and Industrial Modelling Review (98) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium figworthy Posted March 15, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 15, 2014 Just an update - the finished transfer crane. An article will be in the next Narrow gauge and Industrial Modelling Review (98) Very impressive. How do you manage to get it to hook up and unhook automatically ? Adrian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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