[ebaykal]

Was at our usual gathering in our Maerkliners loft yesterday.
They are up to an ambitious project.

Project simply is; using a modified water crane to fill in seuth smoke fluid thru the smoke stack of a steam loco. All fully automatic.

Guess this will be the first of its kind .

Now I'll try to describe of what they have done so far: The loco stops next to the water crane and by a servo motor the cranes discharge mouth rotates precicely to the opening of the loco's smoke stack. This precision is achived by using occupancy detectors and Train Controller PC program and not to mention the ECos.

Than, as seen from the second photo, by the help of some gadgets, which I have no clue abt, a predetermined amount of smoke fluid is pumped to the water crane which fills in the smoke generator. Than off the loco goes.

They are still working on it, trying to figure out of a technical solution for all type of steam loco's with different axle lengths. ( the predetermined stoping point of which the loco's smoke stack mouth and the cranes discharge mouth coincides.)

Once the project is finallized shall film and share it.

cheers

Baykal

 

[neil_s_wood]

How do you measure out the exact amount of smoke fluid? On my number 11 Seuthe smoke generators they don't work if you use more then 2 mls of fluid.

 

[ebaykal]

Neil,

To be on the safe side the gadgets you see just pump in 1 ml of fluid. Don't ask me how, really don't know.

Baykal

 

[dwb]

Now this is my kind of stuff! Excellent

David

 

[neil_s_wood]

Will you be marketing this as a new digital feature? I can see a demand for these.

 

[tekin65]

QUOTE (neil_s_wood @ 17 Oct 2007, 00:15) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Will you be marketing this as a new digital feature? I can see a demand for these.

Neil hi,

The guys making those are into decoders and other stuff too. We are working on various projects which some might have "commercial potential" (anybody remember Zappa?). Soon we will start working on a complete accessory control system - the decoder and interface already in place, i will be writing the software.

FYI; Mr. Cem Akar (we share the same name), one of our friends, made a function decoder for older type Marklin locomotives - fits without modification. Unlike Delta decoders this one have 4 function outputs (apart from lights). Best to my knowledge this is the only one available in the world. This is the first time this decoder gets mentioned in international platform, lets see if there will be any response ...

Take care,

Cem.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (cem tekin @ 17 Oct 2007, 18:52) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Neil hi,

The guys making those are into decoders and other stuff too. We are working on various projects which some might have "commercial potential" (anybody remember Zappa?). Soon we will start working on a complete accessory control system - the decoder and interface already in place, i will be writing the software.

FYI; Mr. Cem Akar (we share the same name), one of our friends, made a function decoder for older type Marklin locomotives - fits without modification. Unlike Delta decoders this one have 4 function outputs (apart from lights). Best to my knowledge this is the only one available in the world. This is the first time this decoder gets mentioned in international platform, lets see if there will be any response ...

Take care,

Cem.
Sounds good. It may well have "strictly commercial" potential. It would be well worth letting us know the outcome as some of us may welll be interested.

Do I remember Zappa, oh yes. I used to have most of his stuff memorised when I was younger.

 

[tekin65]

QUOTE (neil_s_wood @ 17 Oct 2007, 23:15) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Do I remember Zappa, oh yes. I used to have most of his stuff memorised when I was younger.

cool

you ask me, he died far too young. i wonder what would be like if he won the elections, say, instead of mr. Push.

well, enough politics; surely Baykal and I will keep you updated on thingamatics we make.

regards,

cem.

 

[adecoaches26point4]

Folks,

Seuthe used to make a overhead signalbox which held smoke fluid in a hidden tank in the upper superstructor.
You would stop your loco underneath.then push the upper superstructor down to touch the chimney and a measured amount of fluid was dispensed into the smoke unit

They do come up on Ebay from time to time.

David

 

[kq53]

Hi guys
First time I come across this thread , very interesting.

QUOTE (neil_s_wood @ 16 Oct 2007, 08:52) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>How do you measure out the exact amount of smoke fluid? On my number 11 Seuthe smoke generators they don't work if you use more then 2 mls of fluid.

I guess the guys are using a JR servo to preassure activate a plastic commercial pump , the type you find on soap and shampoo bottles. This is the simple way to predetermine the fluid amount . Using an electric pump may be more accurate but more complicated.

Baykal, my compliments to your buddies , my question is the height of the crane, does it accomodate all your locos. It would be interesting to device a crane with adjustable vertical and horizontal action. will solve the issue of different loco sizes and requires only two micro servos.
Cheers
Kal

 

[ebaykal]

Hi Kal,

Was at our usual gathering yesterday, unfortunately their progress is going slow, infact they have channeled themselves into making a fully operational crane which picks up steel pipes (magnetically) from the gondols and loads it on to the lorries, digitally controlled.I've seen it work , another good project.

As far as I have seen,the water crane project is on their shelves at the moment till they figure out the only obstacle left, i.e; how to stop steam locos with different axle lenghts exactly under the discharge mouth of the crane . It works fine with one type .

Yes you are right, it is a kind of a servo motor but don't ask me the details cause I really do not know. The height issue, yes I'll forward it to them and see what they come up with.

Cheers
Baykal

 

[Richard Johnson]

QUOTE (ebaykal @ 3 Nov 2007, 17:31) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>As far as I have seen,the water crane project is on their shelves at the moment till they figure out the only obstacle left, i.e; how to stop steam locos with different axle lenghts exactly under the discharge mouth of the crane . It works fine with one type .

Cheers
Baykal

***Hi Baykal

Thinking about this, it strikes me that it may be far simpler to have a crane that can rotate as this will remove the need to improve accuracy beyond +/- about 20mm for the loco stop. Key thing is that the loco chimney is always within a few mm of the same height and always on the loco centreline ....and the hole in the chimney is always larger than the smoke oil discharge nozzle inside the water crane. (ie chimney hole say 6mm, nozzle say 2mm)

If it was done this way, this is the scenario:

Loco stop is triggered and the loco stops within +/`20mm of ideal point.

Crane has a small piece of hard wire or stiff cosmetic chain fixed so it extends a few mm lower than the mouth of the crane.

Crane rotates until the small wire/chain touches the loco chimney and stops.

Providing the loco is indeed within +/- 20mm of ideal point, crane can activate. Crane senses the rotation arc and knows this.

discharge nozzle is smaller than crane nozzle so at the limit of the arc or if not perfectly centred left or right it still doesn't miss.

Crane discharges oil and reverses rotation.

Loco leaves.

it may not be the perfect answer - but it is I think it may be easier to adjust crane and its travel than gain perfect stopping for any possible loco type!

Regards

Richard Johnson

 

[ebaykal]

Hi Richard,

Your comments has been passed to the team.
Lets see what comes out of it.

Thanks
Baykal

 

[bangerblueed]

Interesting scenario but you would surely need some sort of positioning device (magnet/reed switch perhaps) on the loco to get each individual engine at the right point but it should be technically feasible. there might be some issues with spilt oil build up though