I just built a water windmill to go with the building I just finished. I installed a 1 rpm motor under the layout. I used a rubber band to drive the windmill. The problem is that the band slides on the shaft of the motor and does not turn the mill. I need another way to make this work. Please advise.
Hi again.
How well does the windmill blade assembly turn? Does it bind at all, or turn freely? It looks like you've got a pulley at the top so that the drive band stays in the groove. Could you put one on the drive shaft as well?
What's the top shaft made of? If it's not something stiff like brass, it may be bending with the tension of the rubber band. If you want a wood shaft, try adding some cradles on either side of the pulley to keep the shaft from flexing.
The cool solution: Get a pair of beveled gears and use a vertical drive shaft, with the beveled gears used to translate that rotation to the horizontal shaft with the windmill blades. Either drive the vertical shaft directly from the motor, or use a pair of flat gears. The beveled gears would look much more realistic than a big rubber band.
And nice pictures!
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
If you can't use a pulley on the motor shaft you could put a small piece of rubber tubing on the motor shaft to give the rubber band something to "bite" on. I like Mr Beasley's gear idea. I would look a lot more realistic.
Joe
Super-simple fix with the rubber band, just wrap a few layers of tape around the motor shaft on either side of where the rubber band should go to keep it from hopping out.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Sorry it took so long to reply. i had to go out.
The shaft is made of solid brass. The shaft is free turning. It goes through piller block on both sides which are made of hard wood with a Brass sleeve throug the center. I like the ideas of gears but the shaft is not in perfect alignment due to the direction of the blades.
Harold
Hi Harold,
I suspect this is part of Your problem:
Quote: From You.
but the shaft is not in perfect alignment due to the direction of the blades.
I would try Randys suggestion or rubber tubing first.
Take Care!
Frank
rrinker Super-simple fix with the rubber band, just wrap a few layers of tape around the motor shaft on either side of where the rubber band should go to keep it from hopping out. --Randy
I am going to try a piece of shrink warp. Not heated
You may need some sort of collar on the end of the motor shaft to keep the rubber band from slipping off the end.
Harold:
If I understand your first post, the band is not coming off of the end of the shaft as some have assumed, but it is simply not gripping the shaft sufficiently to turn the blade.
If I am correct I would suggest trying a very simple solution. That is to wind the elastic around the motor shaft once only so that the elastic is in contact with the shaft all the way around. You may have to put something on the motor shaft on either side of the elastic to keep it in place because unless it is perfectly aligned it will have a tendancy to run up or down the motor shaft and it might come off the shaft.
This solution, if it works, may cause the elastic to wear over time so I hope your design allows for easy replacement.
Great looking scene by the way! I remember the house from your thread on building it.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
The bevel gears were used in wind-up watches. They converted twisting motion 90 degrees to wind the main spring and set the hands to the time. I realize you said the alignment was not good. So would changing that be impossible?
I still like the bevel gears, particularly if they are visible at the top. They would be turning slowly, and would have even more visual interest than the windmill blades themselves.
You can either correct the misalignment, or use a flexible coupling (like the motor-to-truck coupling in a locomotive) to link the output of the gears to the blade shaft. A piece of flexible tubing between the shafts would probably suffice.
While this doesn't really apply to what you are doing with shafts and gears, I thought I would throw it in anyway.
I saw a layout at a train show where the guy had put a fan out of an old computer under the layout. Using some sort of funnel and small hose setup (1/8 inch hose I believe) he ran the hose into a house on the layout and pointed it out the windows of the house. On one side he had a windmill similar to yours and on the other side of the house he had a flag fluttering in the breeze. He also had the same setup turning the prop on a biplane on his little airstrip. All in all it was very effective. You would just have to have some pitch on the blades.
A very nice scene you have there. I wish I was as talented.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Harold,
This is the kind of gear that you need on the Windmill shaft and the little gear connected to the shaft connected that goes on the motor, put that shaft in a plastic or brass tube going up to the windmill shaft gear. These parts are all available from slot cars, starting 1/87 scale up. Guranteed to work in what you want to do. Forget the rubber band...My Opinion only:
Backwards looking at this you are...
Wind turns the blades. You need a source of wind. Next the blades on your model look a little large for a real western Aermotor. The motion generated by the Aermotor is a recripical up and down motion, not the turning motion of a shaft. The Aermotor lifts the shaft up and then pushes it back down again. You probably want to see the shaft moving up and down in your model.
Im not sure how one would model both the up and down motion of the piston and the truning of the wheel, and keeping things smooth at the same time, but that is the motion that you are looking for.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Yeah that would be hard to make reliable in HO or smaller. The cheater way is to spin the shaft and use bevel gears at the top to change from a vertical shaft to horizontal. Though I do like the idea of making the blades actually properly shaped and just having air blow on it.
Several things- check out some of those motorized Lego cars and vehicles- they use simple plastic gearing in some cases- which may be useful to you. Also, discarded printer/VCR/CD player gears- again, a possible source of gearing for re-purposing to your animation. Another place to look- PITSCO (a supplier of project parts for technology education for schools- look at their online catalog for gearing/robotics parts).
Last- is there anything offered by Micro-Mark that would help you??? Look online.
If you want to keep a rubber band on the motor shaft, a small collar,"glued in place" with threadlock paste (Loctite brand) that you can get at a hardware store or Walmart, would help keep the band on the shaft- and, check out the women's hair aisles at Walmart for the Goody brand elastic/stretchable hair bands- many have used these for repowering Athearn RDCs with those old rubber band motors- these bands may be more stable and durable.
Cedarwoodron