yougottawantaUlrich - I watched teh video this morning Do the cars jack up on the other end when going up opposing grades ?
YGW - the cars are something in between a cable car and a trolley, shuttling back and forth on that incline, never going anywhere else.
Morning diners,
yougottawanta Angel - Did you post a photo the other day of layout progress ? I was scanning through quickly and I thought I saw some of your work ?
Angel - Did you post a photo the other day of layout progress ? I was scanning through quickly and I thought I saw some of your work ?
Yes I did post some pictures. Back on page 2 Monday the 5th. Later on I need to show a newer version. I had it out Friday, tracing the track on the foam with a pen. Unfortunately after I put it away I forgot to a take a photo.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
Mornin'....
Flo, can I get a refill for my coffee please?
Nice bright sunny day here in the Finger Lakes Region of NYS. Current temperature is 85°F with a high mid afternoon around 89°F. Checking on the Solar Panel output a couple days ago, I realized that they have now propduced 20,100 kWh of power and that means they are a little over 1/3rd. payed for. (Well actually they are paid for, but that is where the payback stands. They will pay for themselves in about 10 years total at the current rate of electricity here. I am on 100% green power when I buy electric from the grid as well which is cheaper than the mix from most ESCOs.)
Got up early and drove over to my #1 Granddaughter's school to see recieve a reading award this morning. She officially turns 10 years old tomorrow. The family celebrated Father's Day yesterday as my son has to work all next weekend. I brought some "Top Sirloin Steaks" for the cookout as I got them beautifully trimed at the local Tops Market where they had them on sale for $3.95 a lb. The Scoutmaster of the handicapped Troop I work with clued me in and told me to stop over on Saturday when he was working and see him personally....
Got home from the award ceremony at school to find I had an email from my SIL who is taking turns watching my sister's kitties while she is down South visiting an old college friend of hers. She wanted to know why I asked if she had been over to feed the cats yet (Yesterday). Seems she put the wrong day down on the calendar at her house. So the cats didn't get any food yesterday! She should be over there right about now, I hope! They should be OK as long as they didn't get into anything that could hurt them.... I pick up my sister this evening at the Airport.
Hope you all have a great day!
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Good afternoon everyone, missed several diner sessions lately, just dropped by to say hello! All quiet here, temperatures have started rising (Greek summer...) although we had some odd cloudy days lately.
MisterBeasleyHis cat has reached the end of the line, and the vet said it's time to give him his final rest.
Yeah. Tillie met the end of her line. Br. Louie took her out to the orchard and gave her a 22 cal injection. : (
Callista is still alive and well : )
She comes into my office to schread paper.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Lion - Bro Louie gave her a 22 injection ? Monks have guns ?
Yannis - Hey good to see you again ! I was wondering if you were okay. What is odd about the clouds ?
Howmus - I am wondering if you took that orginial payment for solar and calculated the amount of interest you could have earned how much longer the payoff would be ?
Garry - How are you ?
Is Steve back yet ?
Alright! We hit page #5. This is my favorite part of the month.
Richard
Hey everyone. Pizza for dinner.
Thre penguins did win last night, and are now FIVE TIME STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS! The first NHL team to go back to back in 18 years. Work was stressful today, so I'd really rat her not talk abotu it lol
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
yougottawantaHowmus - I am wondering if you took that orginial payment for solar and calculated the amount of interest you could have earned how much longer the payoff would be ?
Frankly, not a whole lot if I just left the $$$ in a Standard Savings Account. A few dollars a year..... However, the system was an investment that would, if I was to sell my house right now net me several thousand dollars. It is better than money in the bank as far as I'm concerned. Remember the system loses value very slowly as it should be still producing good power 40 or 50 years from now. In NYS as long as the system produces less than 110% of my total years need for electricity (mine was sized for 70%) I am not taxed on the value of the array for property taxes. Frankly that investment will earn me a whole lot more $$ than that money would make sitting in the bank making money for the --------- Billionairs!!! And it is the right thing to do for planet earth! Period!
Same sort of thing that you are doing with your hobby barn. What if you just put that $$ into a savings account? As it is the building of the barn raises the value of your property and you will get at least some of that investment (minus the tax increase for your property) back when you eventually sell the property.
YGW Don't know why you are surprised. Friar Tuck of Robin Hood fame carried a sword, but they aren't automobile friendly and it's sooooo 13th century. I will not take another dog to a vet. My last dog got a "sedative' before the injection and got aggitated and wild. It was not humane at all.
Heat and humidity have arrived in the central Atlantic.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Good afternoon from the sunny West Coast.
cudaken Brent How's the sick Doggie? Tail wagging again? BATMAN All those days in the Vet hospital I hope you are talking about a Veterinatrian Hospital and not the VA Hospital!
Brent How's the sick Doggie? Tail wagging again?
BATMAN All those days in the Vet hospital
I hope you are talking about a Veterinatrian Hospital and not the VA Hospital!
Ken, the dog is doing much better, she is at about ninety percent and back to chasing the ball.
Yep, I meant the Veterinary Hospital. Those middle of the night emergency calls would (sometimes) require getting the kids up as well. Didn't happen often but from a young age, they never complained about being woken up and helped out when we got to the hospital. Usually, the wife would go in by herself, but sometimes the phone would ring and it might be serious, an injured Police dog or something and I would get a punch in the arm and the wife would say "let's go". I became a pretty good anesthesiologist. I remember being so tired sometimes when the phone would ring, and would be going, "please no punch in the arm, please no punch in the arm"
She retired a few years ago after she tried going part time, however being a talented surgeon the phone just doesn't stop ringing, so she finally just packed it in altogether. The Doctors have told her that her hand injury is career ending and she will need all new joints in three fingers of her right hand. She is not a happy camper right now even though she is retired.
Right after we were married I came home from a long cold 14-hour shift at the airport. As I drove in the driveway I noticed the hood up on the truck and the wife working away. The water pump had gone on her truck and she was on call that night. She said the guy couldn't fix it until the next day so she decided to fix it herself. I asked if she wanted help and she said: "I do micro surgery on animals, how hard can a water pump be". I went in and went to bed while she did a perfect job on the water pump and put a new thermostat in to boot. I hope she can at least continue to earn her keep by working on the cars.
Congrats to the Pens on the cup. My one wish is to see the Canucks win the cup before I croak. 47 years and only three sniffs at it.
All the best to all.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
yougottawanta Is Steve back yet ?
No. Not until tomorrow.
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
Steven OtteNo. Not until tomorrow.
Don't worry. Brother Louie from Lion Abbey has things under conntrol.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
YGW,
You never read about Warrior Monks??
herrinchoker
yougottawantaDave - What issues is being reported on the Volt that they say it is unreliable ?
Hi YGW:
That is a very interesting question! I have been relying on Consumer Magazine for the ratings, and they gave the 2017 Volt a reliability rating of 1 out of 5. I chose not to look any further until you asked your question. When I went into the detailed review of the Volt, the ratings are no where near that bad! So, I'm confused. I don't know how they arrived at that conclusion. If they had made a mistake you would think that GM would have said something by now.
In any case, the Volt is out for other reasons, namely that they are hard to get into and out of. I am 6' 2" and I have a partially fused spine. I have a lot of trouble getting into most sedans so buying something that is difficult for most people to get into is a non-starter.
FWIW, Dianne and I concluded tonight that buying a second vehicle would be a waste of money.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Good evening Diners,
Brunhilda, I'll have an Earl Grey tea with cream and honey, please.
Havent been in for bit. Just thought I'd stop in and say hello.
"Hello!"
Work front: things have been going well. Learning a bunch of new things including new (to me anyway) CAD software. Getting the hang of it. Theyre all similar in many ways, but each has its own liabilities.
Congrats to the Penguins. Two in a row. Not a small feat.
Unfortunately, no MRR report today.
Hello to everyone, and I hope everyone is OK, and safe.
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
I Hate Page 5!
Evening Diners!
Flo, Brent, Jan and I will have a please and if Ed makes it in give him a Crown Royal on the rocks.
Diabetes Front Today I did what the VA Dietitian said to do! I had only been eating around 10 carbs per meal and she said that was way to little! She wanted me to eat 40 carbs per meal! Said the Liver will make Glucose if the body thinks the sugar is to low. OK I will give a try!
Had a bowel of Oatmeal and slice of whole wheat totast with butter. Total of 39 grams of carbs at 8:30 AM. Checked my blood at 11:30 AM, it was at 233!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At 2:30 PM it had only went down to 193? Finally said Ash Pit this and ate 1/2 can of spinach, I was starving.
Guess it is time to seek some other help outside of the VA.
YGW I understand you for getting to look. Could have gave the Kids a Proto 1000 Engine Hunt as a game!
Lion In another post you stated "Him has 14 miles of track" or something along that line. Did you mean scale miles or real miles? K-10 Model Trains has 1 real mile of rails laied and it covers 61' X 80' foot buliding. Soory to read about your furry freind.
Brent I am impressed by your Wife! Heck my wife will not / cannot put gas i her own car because it is To Hard! And she is going to have a Knee Replaced July 19th. If she thinks putting gas in her car is to hard, wait till she has to learn to walk again!
Later Ken
I hate Rust
Wow, sure is dead in here... don't tell me all of you were at the Bead & Button Show all week with your wives, like I was?
Hello all
No w**k on the hobby barn yesterday - to stinking HOT ! Yuck do not like summer...
W**K crazy busy I am busier than a one armed paper hanger ! have another unit that goes Friday, another digging a basement, framining, drywalling, rough ins, roofing, extr trim.....This site has me running everywhere ..
Steve - Welcome home ! I am sorry but that does not sound like fun. Beads ???? I had no idea that people gathered to meet about that. Not knocking it, some folks think I am crazy for my love of trains...But what is the attraction ? What are we missing ? Have a question. I tried to copy and paste a qoute yesterday and intead of pasting it deleted several comments that I had typed in. Any clue what have gone haywire there ?
Ken - LOL That would have been a good idea !
UP831 - Hey good to see you in here again. I always enjoy your post.
Dave - only a 1 out of 5 ? Thats pretty bad. But yet the reasons given werent that terrible ? What part of your back did they fuse ? Upper or lower ?
Herrinchoker - Warrior monks ? LOL no I have never heard of those.
Brent - OWWWW That sound painful new joints in three fingers ? Make chills run up my back ! Will she be able to return to w**k once that is repaired ?
Henry - But Friar Tuck was only fictional character right ? Just in the movies ?
Howmus - There will be no monetary gain on the my building. I am building so way over barn std specs there will be no recovery of the expenses. Most barns are built using post and thin metal over sparse framing. My building is built to house specs. with full concrete walls, slabs, grade beams, 100% wrapped in plywood, with a synthetic sheathing.....I will probably Loose money on the build when and if we sell. In the future I want to install a power system and heating and cooling. Unlike some closed minded people I am exploring all options including solar, wind, wood heat, traditional methods.....It just has to make sense money wise. Were you offended by my question ? Your response about billionares etc.. seems to be taking a shot at certain beliefs.
Jimmy - Yes they did win. Congrats on their win. Unfortunately our team didnt go the distance....Thanks for the Pizza.
Ulrich - Are you okay ?
Garry - Good morning !
Yannis - You around ? Whats going on in your area today ?
TTYL
YGW
yougottawantaLion - Bro Louie gave her a 22 injection ? Monks have guns ?
Well, we *are* in North Dakota! We have been in ranching for almost 100 years. We used to butcher our own cows. How do you suppose they went from standing to hanging?
Steven- I believe the diner was dead for a week was because, their was nothing much to talk about.
I went to Target to get my dad a pair of jeans. His leg jeans torn so bad they look like bell bottom pants.
I found out that the world is obese by 1/3. It is obesity when your weight is 10 pounds over the ideal weight?
Mornin' everyone..... Ah.... Well let me rephrase that. Ahem! Afternoon Everyone!
Chloe I could use a refill for my dark roast, Marrakesh Express coffee please, and Reubin Sandwich for lunch. Thank you Ma'am....
Overcast with some occasional drips outside here in the Finger Lakes today. Should have mowed the lawn yesterday, but it was way too hot during the time I could have done that. Got my sister home from her wandering down South last night. Today she is at the hospital having a MRI on her knee. That was scheduled before she left, BTW. She has been having most likely some arthritis in it for the last several months. Amazing, as she always does Yoga and according to her she should live to be 109 years old and be in perfect health the whole time.... I am careful not to bring that statement up to her now that she has found it to not quite be true....
yougottawantaWere you offended by my question ?
Nope... Just trying to give you an honest answer.
yougottawantaYour response about billionares etc.. seems to be taking a shot at certain beliefs
Maybe.... My answer to that can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_a_needle If you want to look it up. Shouldn't be discussed here at the forum though. There are several other quotes I could use for it as well but they too shouldn't be dicussed here. Probably shouldn't have put that sentence in my comment to you. I appologise if I offended you.
I need to get myself doing some of the many items that I need to get done. Catch you all later!
Good evening everyone!
YGW all good here, what was odd about clouds is that it is not typical to have many consecutive cloudy/rainy days during Spring/Summer in Greece. Having said that, it is nice and sunny here today (30C max temp).
Chore day today....had to have the tires changed on my car.
Hello Railfans!
Just wanted to stop by, grab a quick bite, and see whats what at the Diner. Hope everyone is well and accounted for. Not much going on to speak of. Weather is finally starting to get hot. Had to put a couple of tires on yee old battlewagon. Thats about the highlite of the gist of things, here.
On the railroad front Im working on yet another crazy idea. You folks will love this one. If you thought my working couplers were a hoot check this out. (sometimes i think i have too much time on my hands though i do enjoy using the working couplers!)
I told you folks a while back my friend got a 3D printer (to which he got another this past weekend) and that got the creative juices flowing. Mostly focussing on making mold originals for resin casting as 3d printing still isnt up to snuff to meet my standards. Resin casting still outdoes 3d printing by far. And is way faster too!
Anyways, my idea (wait for it and grab your chair cuz your liable to fall out of it once you hear what im working on.....) is a 3 gear transmission for model locomotives.
.... waiting for the jocularity to cease...... pausing......
Thats right, you heard me correctly. A servo operated shiftable transmission for locomotives. No more gear changing or having to live with locomotives that go from zero to 290 scale mph in one notch of throttle response. Scale speeds ceratinly attainable.
Now I know what your thinking - dont i have better things to do? I prolly do. But the idea is feasible. Laughable, but doable. Is it needed - i doubt it.
Believe it or not but the first gear sets have been made. 3d printed ofcourse and they turned out hideous! While I have the gear box itself in mind, that has yet to be printed. Once the gears, shafts, and box are assembled then i can test a servo mechanism.
I will be curious to see if a servo can actually shift the sliding gear while under load. Also a concern is since there is no clutch mechanism, shifting gears should be herky-jerky. Not actually so, as I think I have a solution to this problem as well. The answer to that wont be known until a workable test transmission can be produced. However, Im staying positive on this.
i have been skeptical about this idea. Original measurements would indicate this device will fit into medium to larger models. A 4-4-0 Bowker - no way, but a 4--6-4 Hudson - heck yeah!
If your curious how this works heres the schematic. Not as far fetched as it may seem. Or is it?
There you have it my friends, on paper anyways. Next up - cyclinder chest and pistons for you smoke hounds who love working cyclinder drain cocks. (just kidding though ya never know!)
-Douglas
PM Railfan If your curious how this works heres the schematic. Not as far fetched as it may seem. Or is it? -Douglas
As I see it, the hard part is the teeth. Your gears are depicted as featureless solids. But gears need teeth. As your gears increase in diameter, the teeth on the gear need to become either wider, farther apart, or more numerous. None of those options seems good for keeping a cylindrical gear with fixed tooth spacing engaged with a conical one where this varies. But then, I'm not a mechanical engineer...
Steve - I prolly should have provided better explanations and drawings. Didnt think anyone would actually take this seriously. I pretty much was banking on the humor factor here. However, as you have, its possible others would want to know as well.... so let me clarify a few things.
Yes, as a conical gear gets wider in diameter you have to do something about the gear teeth. ie: make them longer, make them wider, or more of them. In this case its the latter as this particular device is a gear ratio enhancer. So no change to gear face dimensions, only more teeth added per ring. More on this in a moment.
(It should be 'assumed' my block drawn gears have straight teeth. Thats hard to draw freehand which is what the posted drawing is. Not to scale, and mostly representative. A bit of modellers intuitiveness [or engineering degree] is required.)
This leaves us with three gear rings that one gear must slide across. You notice the one gear in the middle is at 45 degree angle. The teeth on the gear rings are at 45 degrees too. This means a straight cut gear will mesh with them (45 +45 = 90... a right angle). Almost like the ring and pinion of a rear end housing for a vehicle with a live axle. Think '87 Buick right Ken? (before front wheel drive became prominant).
Now, how do we solve shifting when the rings have different amounts of teeth? Well nothing to solve really as if I had a gear in hand i could show you that at a few points around the rotation of the ring gear, it aligns with the next ring gear ahead of it. As the whole process rotates, eventually the sliding gear finds matching teeth. The shifting is not immediate. This also allows the gear to 'roll' into the next gear ring with 'no jerking' action. Or so the theory goes. The jerking part remains to be seen, however the shifting already does work.
All that has to happen is rotation vs alignment must equal. This should happen atleast twice per revolution by design. To aid in the servo not burning out trying to force the gear instantly, i was envisioning a spring on the yoke. Between the actuator arm and sliding gear.
The servo actuates, slides control arm , but gear wont move until revolutionary alignment is perfect. Thus until then, the spring takes up the slack. Or crush, depending on which way you shift.
In other words, the servo will have shifted, but the gears wont actually shift until they align. Thus not burning out the servo.
Prolly not the best of explanations, and certainly hard to explain without a working model. The gears are the hardest part. Not having much success with 3d printing on gears. Everything else is easy to make.
Was thinking of using some kind of RC car/plane/copter servos once i get to that point. Operation is pretty straight forward.... 0 to 4 volts dc = low gear, 5 to 8 volts dc stock gear ratio, 9 to 12 volts = high speed gearing. I also wanted to put in a 'manual' ability to shift for those who like to spend their time doing timesavors or switching can utilize the low gears at high rpm.
Believe me when i say alot of time went into the shape and design of the gear teeth only to arrive back to a basic tooth shape. Nothing fantastic about this design at all.
Hope this lifted the fog a little. Any other questions gladly answered!
Steven - I found a picture that can better allude to my gear teeth alignment verses rotation. I hope this plus the above posts make better sense.
Here we see a bicycle rear sprocket set. This is a 'sprocket' as opposed to a 'gear'. For the life of me I can find no difference in how they operate. You will notice I have circled two sets of teeth.
You can see that for every revolution the teeth align twice. If you looked at the center gear of the loco transmission in the same way, you would see the teeth align atleast twice. How many times an alignment occurs is dependant on the ratio of teeth.
I dont plan to use widely seperated ratios so I will be at the minimum alignments, which is two. Or twice per rotation.
Just as the chain on this bike will not grab another set of teeth on the next ring, the gear on the loco transmission will not slide. Both the teeth on the bike sprocket and the teeth on the gear must align before either chain or sliding gear will move to next ratio.
In my photo above, 45 degree shaft plus 45 degree pitch on the teeth will equal 90 degrees. This is true for all gear rings. Thus, as long as my sliding gear remains in that 90 degree plain, it will slide across the gear (during alignment).
The only thing that remains is to see if there is a jerking motion, and if the servo is even gonna move the gear. I cant imagine that much stress on a model locomotives driveline. Ya never know.
Hope this clears things up better visually.
Afternoon Diners
Flo, Jan, Brent The Buick Guy and I will have a and if Ed makes it in, his usual.
Hotter than heck today at 92 degrees. Plus I felt like walking death so did not do a dang thing! Left my Glucose Meter at work! So I have no idea if I was high or low.
My Car A/C is fixed! JUst did not feel like picking it up.
Later, Ken
Robin Hood He could have been real. Maybe he was a product of wishful thinking or fake news by opressed serfs http://www.history.com/topics/british-history/robin-hood
3 D printing There's a couple guys who call themselves TSGMultimedia on Youtube. They did a layout tour of Jack Burgess's Yosemite Valley RR He uses 3D extensively and sends his designs to Shapeways. I don't want to incur the rathe of Vinne but search youtube for the vids and you should find it easily.
Hello everybody ... I just returned from the trip... I did have a brief time in a model train shop, and I purchased some supplies for upcoming projects.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU