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Servo's and steppers are completely different kind of motors, each suited for their own purpose.

@@AikoPrasTrains you could easily replace the steppers for servos and have the same functionality with nearly zero noise and equal if not better accuracy.

i expect your driving the steppers with step and direction signals to the drivers, there are also step and direction drivers for servos. The benefits you will see are virtualy silent motion, more torque, more accuracy and less transferred vibration to the driven part.

@@rdrhouse can you share with us a link of a servo & linear rail “module” that allows precise movements of 1 meter. The nice thing about this loklift design is that you can buy the mechanical components off the shelf. Therefore it is easy to build. I’m not aware of (servo based) alternatives, but if you can share with us a link off such module, others may find that quite interesting. .

@@testchannel7038 you're going to have to tell me a bit more about how you're driving your steppers. What does train controller give as a feed to run the lift. Is it arduino based or does it have a dedicated parallel port/usb stepper driver from the computer.

Thanks 😀

Hi Eric. Leuk! Je reactie is precies wat ik het leukst vind: anderen bouwen verder op wat ik heb gedaan. Mijn ideeën heb ik ook weer van anderen, en zo helpen we elkaar verder .

Hi. My system is able to signal back to my control system multiple things. The most important is a signal whether the lift is moving, or not (1 bit). I also signal back at what level the lift currently is (10+1=11 bits). There are also some other signals. Since my command station is a LENZ LZV100 (connected to TC-10), I signal back information via the RS-Bus. The RS-Bus is (unfortunately) not very popular, but signalling back via other buses, for example Loconet or S88, should be equally possible. From your text, I understand that you want to provide feedback of only a single bit (lift is moving). In that case your approach, via an optocoupler, should be perfect. Therefore I don't understand why it doesn't work with your DR4088LN CS. I would try to find the problem somewhere in that direction; maybe the DR4088LN CS doesn't like the fact that an optocoupler "passes current only in a single direction" (like a diode). Can you test that? (just connect a diode plus resistor to the DR4088LN, and see if it gets detected). If that is indeed the problem, you could try to replace the optocoupler by a relay (plus resistor), or connect a loconet interface directly to your Arduino. I hope this helps.

@@AikoPrasTrains Hi thanks so much for these ideas - I will try them, particularly how to connect loconet to arduino. . Interestingly, I literally connected up a relay module this morning before I saw your text and this works ! Just have the ' -'ve' of the dcc connected to the common output on the relay module and the NO signal with inline resistor connected back into the DR400LN. The DCC track voltage in my system is running at 18V ac. Not sue of your experience in this but do you think I'd have to put some filter or capacitor across the relay output so no spikes go to the DR module? I'm actually setting up dummy blocks/ signals on Train Controller switchboard and then integrating those into schedule request and start/ finish conditions . Thanks a lot !

@@ardespmaker nice! In general a capacitor will not be needed. If you connect the tracks to an occupancy feedback module, and a train is running, the detection unit may also have to deal with weird signals. And the output side of the relay remains stable soon (50ms?) after its position changed. At the relay input (coil) side it is generally good to connect a diode for protection, however.

@@AikoPrasTrains Thanks for your help there - I'll add the protection and can continue with a lot more confidence. Cheers 🙂

Hi Alan. The two motors are controlled using GRBL, running on an ATMega 328 (“Arduino”). GRBL can be configured to use two outputs for two parallel motors. Until now (1,5 years of operation) that worked flawlessly, no problem regarding staying synchronized. Pulse loss only occurred during the configuration phase, when I tried how fast the stepper motors could run. But after the speed limits were known, and configuring the maximum speed 20% below that maximum speed, it always works fine. I wouldn’t invest in accelerometers or something similar, since there is no problem to solve. And yes, it would be nice if multiple people would build something similar, and a kit solution would be viable 😀

@@AikoPrasTrains Thanks for this reply. I'll have a look at using GRBL in that case. Beyond my current prototyping my ambition is to build a lift that can do trains up to about 6-7 cars long (2.5 metres or more) so it's not impossible that I will need three motors and screws. One other question if I may, how do you ensure the exact levelling of the lift to the shelves? I can see you're using IR break-beam detectors just above the track level - but I am guessing that is just to detect the passing train - not for the levelling? BTW I love that your lift has three tracks which allows moving multiple trains at once - I've seen others which only have one track which seems to me to be missing a trick! Mind you with 3 tracks on the lift and three tracks in each siding shelf I would imagine that scheduling movements get a lot more complex than in the introductory example you show in the video! Thanks again for the inspiration and advice!

First a small correction: I didn’t configure the two stepper motors as parallel (one axis) motors, but wired one as GRBL X, and the other as Y. The reason is that I wanted to be able to home both motors independently, so small differences would be compensated. This also answers your question: when the power gets switched on, homing is performed first. GRBL homes the X and Y axis at the same time, so in parallel. For homing I use (for each axis) a hall sensor (fixed) and a magnet (moving in height). These hall sensors are remarkably precise, just as the steppers. If I would built things again, and have 2,5 meter for the tracks and usage from both sides, I would take aluminum (instead of wood) for the “moving thing” holding the tracks. This would improve precision, which gets more difficult if the lift gets used from both sides. If you have more questions, let me know 😀

Btw: I don’t think you would need three motors.

@@AikoPrasTrains Yes, my proto design is using a t-slot aluminum frame with a wooden top made out of offcuts of laminate flooring which is nice and flat! However, when I scale up I think that I will have to use a lighter timber for the deck (probably just 3mm plywood). In my final version the idea is to make the lift have multiple shelves as I don't have space for shelves+lift. However it will have tracks at both ends because I will be able to have a turning loop at the far end of it. So trains will come onto lift shelves from one end then be moved up to a high level line going off the other end which takes them out and back via the turning loop. As to position registration... I have experimented with IR sensors, but I can't get 100% repeatable stop points. So, I will try out your suggestion of using hall effect sensors instead. Many thanks for your offer for continued help and advice - I am sure I will need it! best wishes. Alan T.

The two stepper motors are controlled via GRBL. GRBL includes a homing facility, that ensures exact positioning of the first level. I've used hall sensors (instead of microswitches) for the homing, The remaining software was written by myself, and runs on Arduino Mega 2560 processors. My plan is to create a (somewhere in december this year) a new movie with info for people interested in building something similar.

@@AikoPrasTrains I look forward to the video

@@Llamberg.Railway I expect to be able to create them around the Christmas holidays.

Hi. My plan is to (later) create some videos that show how to built something similar. Such videos may become available somewhere around the Christmas holiday, I assume. In the meantime you could already take a look at my GitHub pages, where I give already a couple of links that might be useful: github.com/aikopras/Lift_Vitrine

Danke 😃. Es macht auch spass!