Ok I am kinda exicited about this one. I am motorizing the athern blue box rotary snowplow. Things are progressing nicely. Soon I will give a thread on how it was accomplished. But first my question. Right now it is going to be wired for dc then dcc. Dc first to see how it runs the blade. Then dcc to to add lighting and kill the pig squeal. My question is, can I add a resistor the the motor to make it turn slower? Does it matter what lead I put it on or should I put one on both leads?(My thinking is if I change direction of rotation to throw snow from the other side It would turn faster since there was no resistor.) Am I correct in this thinking or am I way off? Also once I go Dcc can the resistor stay put or will it have to come out?
Background on the rotary. I have dieselized it to modernize it. My plan is to put a sound decoder in it of a small 8 cyl cat engine to make it a little more realistic. Since there is a ton of room I thought it would be a good project to get my feet wet in sound.
Thanks for the help in advance
MIke
alco's forever!!!!! Majoring in HO scale Minorig in O scale:)
yes a resistor would slow it down, what value and wattage depends on what you are using and how fast you want it to spin. for DCC use i don't think you will need a resistor as you can just use the motor leads from the decoder and it will have controllable speed like a loco motor, it will just needs it's own decoder and electrical pickup.
Thanks david. I talked to the lhs guy and he suggested the gear redution and flywheel drive. My question is with a non gear-reduction motor what is this stiffness you speak of? Right now I have a single shaft motor (3 or 5 pole). Runs real smooth and is hooked up to a decoder and universal drive shaft. I am looking into a ball bearing coreless motor for this build but I am a little short on cash so I used what I had for now.
Ok group here it goes. I will start off with bill of materials, the build, and what is coming in the future, and what is going to be changed.
Bill of Materials:
-Athern blue box rotary snow plow.
-Bronze or thin copper sheet(found at hobby lobby for 3.99 for broze)
-Motor of your choice.(I used a single shaft cannon motor(5 pole)a ball bearing, coreless with a flywheel would be better, and a geared motor or a seperate gearbox)
-Decoder of choice. I used cheap bachman decoder(no need to spend to much money right now)
-Dremel tool for a couple cuts
-Misc screws and fasteners
-Universal drive motor couplings.
-Wood strips(optional)
-Caulk, double sided tape, heat shrink tube
Assembly:
First off these are pics of what I started with. I had originally used it with the rubber band drive, which didn't work worh a squat. It was too light so I added weight to it and metal wheels. This did not solve any problems so it got me thinking. So here it is.......
First I removed the weights then dissasembled everything. I then cut off the little nub on the underframe that acts as the pivot point for the original front truck. After that I put the frame up on the drill press and drilled out a 2mm hole and tapped it to mount the front truck.
Next I fashioned some pick up strips for the front and rear trucks. I used isolated metal wheelsets. The rear truck picks up off all three wheels. The front trucks pick up off both wheels.
I also used the broze as pick up points so I wouldn't have a long wire from the trucks to the motor or decoder. I milled a slot in the rear frame to allow the power wire to go through. Make sure to make it big enough to allow movement of wire for turns.
Next I took some universal joints and fashioned the drive link between the motor and the plow mechanism. I used some balsa wood to fashion a motor mount. I used caulk to secure the motor down in this cradel.
Last I wired in my decoder and tested it. Runs great.
Things to do:
-Buy digitrax sound decoder. Small 8 cycl cat motor.
-Buy geared motor or corless ball bearing motor with flywheel.
-Add surface mount led for headlights
-Decal for roadname
-Weather
and lasty
Plow snow!!
This was a fun one day project that was real easy. Hope you liked this and I hope it gives you ideas on what you can do
Mike
NICE JOB! Man o man I took on the same job, used a sound/motor decoder and it works great, though I must confess, not as clean as yours!
Nice job indeed! I would be proud of that kitbash Mike. A little gear reduction with back emf and she will run smooth as silk
-Don
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
Thanks guys for the kind comments. I think it will get a little messy when the sound decoder goes in and the lights go in. There will be lots of wires.
that should keep the mice off your layout