Making an Operating HO Scale Loader: Walthers Glacier Gravel Co.
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- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
- Hey guys!
I actually made this video a long time ago, but I never put the clips together. So, today, we look at how I made the operating aggregate loader that's on my layout. It is very long, so please feel free to skip around. I first start with how to make the material distribute evenly, and then I get into more detail about the mechanism. A lot of it is me talking :) so please don't think that everything I say is crucial. I did a very rough job of editing it, but I hope you enjoy!
Thanks, Cam
It says you did this ten years ago, But still absolutely relevant and still absolutely brilliant!
Nice kit. I may get one in the future to build. I mostly scratch build for my HO and O scale railroads. So you have built the kit and modified it to be operational. Nice going. I see that you're using your brain housing group for the mods. Cheers from eastern TN
What a great loader and your ingenuity in getting it to function...so good to see youngsters so involved (using your mind for more than just sitting in front of a game screen!!! I'm sure you'ave probably already gotten the flows even, but one simple solution would have been to just make you slot a bit bigger in the slower side. It would be neat to make the conveyor operational as well. A very good video...thanks for sharing!
Instead of two strings, you could take an old ball point pen, disassemble it removing the small spring from inside. Run the spring along your round pivot pole and extend the ends of the spring into the door itself. Then when you do the string"pull" action, after releasing the string the spring would pull the door closed.
Looks great! I really like the simple design and construction. The loader adds something fun to operate on the layout! Keep up the great work!
Ethan
Thank you! It is pretty fun to operate. What I really need now though, is a UTP panel and another throttle by the loader so I can run a loco and cut of cars and operate it at the same time.
Thanks, Cam
Your design is very good and the mechanism too. Very thoughtful!
Very engenious! Excellent 💡 idea
A lot of thought went into your gravel loader project. Thanks for all the effort and for the video.
+Robert Vine Thanks! I'm so glad you liked it!
-Cam
Dude this is gonna be so helpful, because I’m gonna make this for shredded cheese
Very nice a little note on how you can get them to flow even is to make that front hole smaller ,but if I make one which I might I would just make one hole to load cars then you can control the flow of ballast better and move the car forward as you fill
Yeah. I need to find a way to even out the flow, so nice suggestion. For the most part, it isn't an issue of even flow and more of how long each bay lasts. I would've done just one hole, but I was doing this on an existing model. I'd prefer doing this with a flood loader. Thanks for watching and the suggestion!
-Cam
Great idea man, up until about 11 minutes I was like wtf is this dude thinking, this isn't gonna work. Then it all became clear to me. I understand it now and I am going to implement this on my coal mining layout if you don't mind me taking and using this design.
Pretty slick. Wonder if painting the inside of the hopper with gloss might help even the flow across both bins and reduce any tendency to jam as the volume gets low and there's less force.
Excellent model. I'll be building a loader for myself soon and got many great ideas from your project. Well done and thanks for sharing. I particularly like your open/shut mechanism. So simple, yet so effective. Your counterweight contraption can be replaced by torsion springs. Most household appliances that I strip when broken have torsion springs of varying dimensions and strength, but you can also have them made to specification for very cheap by a spring manufacturer. Your uneven loading can be easily fixed buy making that hole in your styrene divider bigger and then having a moveable styrene piece (held in place with a small bolt) that swivels over the hole to throttle or open the hole for a perfect balance.
Thanks for the ideas! I like the improvements you've made. It would be helpful to have a hole that could change size like you said. Because the balance would need to be adjusted based on the size of the gravel. I'll be reinstalling this loader on the new layout and should be able to make these improvements. Anyways, I'll consider all of that, and glad this spurred some brainstorming! We're starting a new layout and should have layout update 1 soon if you're interested. Thanks for watching!
-Cam
Great rigging job and clever thinking.Thanks for sharing!
I see this is fairly old post, but I figure for anyone else that might come along.. The suggestions for your activation wires are good, however there is a simpler and more elegant way to about it without to much mod... A] Make a or find a round object to make a drum, probably about 1/2 to 3/4 inches in dia.. make sure the drum has a top/tbm.. make about 1/4 hole in top/btm.. find a spring with 'eyes' about 1 inch long [but any length larger that 1/8in will work good] at both ends and taught enough to return to its compressed state yet 'soft' enough that one turns it with minimal force. Prop Close your trap doors... wrap one side of your cable around the drum, depending on which way you want to turn to load, is direction to start the wrap. wrap at least twice.. then take the end coming off [or is in your fingers and attach to one end of spring. Now stretch the spring just a wee bit to have pressure applied and attach the "closing" string to the other side of spring.. You'll also need some of those tiney loop screw in doobobs to route the string to and from your holes... since most inline cable tension adjusters are too big for this application..in the future if the string stretches out or spring tension expands.. the tstring can be wrapped around something small under the layout.. Can't post a pic of the routine but hi me up and I can give the url on my site for the basic schematic
Dude, that's awesome!! Well done. Thanks for sharing this!
Deryk
Thanks!
Wow, very impressive
Awesome! you gave me ideas how to improvise my own. Very Smart!
Very good work! I figure between you and Josh (NSmodeler24), if anyone has a loader, they'll have to make it operational too to keep up with you two. :D
Even though you didn't show everything (I don't blame you for not doing so, that would make for an extremely long video), I thought it was still pretty easy to follow along with what you were doing, you did a good job explaining things to fill in the gaps. I suppose the closest I'll ever get to this would be the sand towers on my diesel facility. But that would then require me to modify my locomotives with little sand bins inside the shells for the sand to go into. Not to mention dealing with the TINY sand hatch openings on the locos. No no, and no...
Great video Cam!
Thanks so much! That means a lot to me!
And yeah. The reason I didn't actually upload this video for about 6 months is because it is a bit incomplete. But, I just decided that even though not every single thing is highlighted, the concept is still applicable. At least I hope so. I like your idea though! It would be really difficult to do, but still a cool idea.
Thanks again!
Cam
And I just saw your 70mph BNSF Z train video, and that was sick!
Nice finishing touch to your previous video. Have you thought of using an actual weight to keep the door closed and pulling one string to operate. When operating is done the weight should automatically close the door. Just a thought.
Thanks for the idea! That was my original plan, but I decided against it because of the stress that it puts on the mechanism and the structure itself. I actually built this kit many years ago, so at the time of upgrading it, I wasn't completely confident in its structural integrity. I know that the weight wouldn't have to be very heavy and I make it seem like the whole thing would fall apart, but I was just concerned that when opening the door, the weight would push back which would add additional force. After a while, this might cause the eye-bolt that I glued into the model to fall out. So, yeah. Your idea is probably the best way to do it, and if I had planned on doing this when I built the kit, I would've designed it differently so it could handle the extra stress. But for now, I think it's fine to have the extra tab. I almost think of it as being a lock, as if you are the operator who has to open and close the door and place an override lock on it.
Thanks for the idea though!
Nice engineering
Very nice video. My question to you is, is how do you load the "tower"? Is that belt functional? I have kinda the same idea for my coal operation. Just trying to find a away to get the coal to the tower preferably not by hand. Great job!
Thanks! No, the belt doesn't really do anything except look convincing. I'm sure there would be a way to do it, but I just preloaded the building before operations.
-Cam
Very well thought out!
You are very clever ...wish I lived next door
Haha! I appreciate it. Feel free to check out our more recent videos on our new layout.
-Cam
Thanks
hey Cam.... that was a great video ... one suggestion you could use a small spring to close the door... just my 2 cents
vinny
Thanks Vinny! That's a good idea! I probably should've tried that. That would actually work very well. If I designed a system before the structure was actually built, I might've incorporated that, but there were some things that I was limited on because I couldn't cut and reshape pieces as if I were building it from scratch. It was already built so I just tried to go with that. But, if I do something else like this again, I'll definitely try that!
Cam
Brilliant
Great idea. If by chance you use DCC on your layout, then you can operate your dumper using a servo motor, controlled by a "Singlet" from TAM VALLEY DEPOT. The servo could pull down the string. The Singlet is usually used to operate turnouts via servo motors, but can be used to operate many things. Total cost would be about $20.
That's a good idea! With the new layout, I think that would be very possible. That way, people could just flip a switch to load a car.
-Cam
Nice work! Thanks for sharing…
Thanks! Some of the work isn't the prettiest, but as long as it's strong, looks good from the outside, and works well, it's good enough for me.
Thanks, Cam
Very good job i love it
Nice work
Thank you!
I was looking at the string, and thinking, hey, I know something that may work better for you. Try some Muskie Master braided fishing line. You can get different test line, and get some pretty fine stuff. t's very strong, and doesn't have the frayed fibres sticking out from it, so it would run very smooth for you. You could also run the line inside a brass tube, painted to match the steel, instead of through the eye bolts. That way you'd never see the string or line at all. Just a thought, I really like the idea.
Thanks for the input! The fishing line would definitely work better. Especially with some of the sharp angles the wire has to go through, it would be helpful to have something smoother that would track better. I also thought about hiding the line. When I do something like this again I'll keep that in mind. I thought maybe a thin piece of styrene would disguise it but, that would've been tedious to make. Good suggestion on the tube. Thanks!
-Cam
Good job!
I like it
Thanks! I'm glad it works :)
Rather than buy 40 foot hopper, maybe buy some Herzog Car-Toppers, they are often seen full of gravel.
excellent work :)
Thanks man!
you could put a false bottom in the trucks then you wouldn't use so much sand
Great video.
+WestBlythMPD Thanks!
-Cam
Put the counter weight on a small tension spring
thats great, i love it
Thanks man! Glad you enjoyed it!
-Cam
very nice
Thank you!
-Cam
Is this the on the layout you have now?
No. This was the old layout; it's the same room though.
-Cam
nice
Thanks! I'm just surprised that it works. :) I mean, there are so many things that could go wrong, and to tell you the truth, I never took any measurements when doing this. So, just that alone could've trashed this project completely!
Thanks, Cam
yea u did good