Progress Update

The good news is that there has been some, the bad news is that the outcome doesn't meet all the requirements for a commercial drive.

Let me explain.

The prototype gear box was made with cut gears, which were expensive and we had to look for alternatives.  A Chinese manufacturer said they could produce what we wanted by printing the gears on their machines.  After a prolonged period of exchanges this turned out not to be the case.

We went and looked elsewhere and a different prototype designed for P4 is in the process of being brought to market using printed gears.  The bad news is that they will be sold with the proviso that the gears are not designed for sustained running, which is not what I wanted.

This is a problem that money could make go away, but I fear that he market is so small that the money required is far beyond my means.  Rough ball park figures of around £10,000, or $15,000.  This would probably mean producing 10,000 sets of gears to get the unit costs down.

So the project is now on hold until we can come up with alternatives.

Delays

I've just had an update from the supplier of the gears for the axle hung motors and we've hit that problem that comes from only wanting a low production run, rather than thousand of gears, which would be a doddle.  For definitions of doddle that mean having enough capital to invest in an injection moulding tool being made.

So it is back to the drawing board for this.  There is a solution, but as the old adage of cheap, fast, quality, choose any two applies.

Slipping into the New Year

Can you see the problem?

Well this is very much work in progress, and what you see here has some bugs that still need working on.

Oops, I've put that axle  in the  wrong way round.

To answer what it is going in. North Shore Suydam EMU.

I plan to put the chip behind the battery boxes/resistors.

The problem to correct is that the new bogie bolsters are putting the side frames slightly too wide for the axle lengths. Hence the axles drop out of the trucks. However, the motor runs, I just can't show any running of the unit along track at this point in time. So new parts for printing out on order. Gears for a production run are the next project goal, and that looks like February, due to money.

So Happy New Year to everyone who reads my blog. Remember patience is a virtue, and virtue is a grace, and Grace is a little girl with dirt on her face. :-)

Farewell to the Old, Welcome New & Shiny

 
Not been posting much here of late. Lots of good reasons for that state of affairs, but now I have something I want to show you, which you can see above. This is a prototype axle hung motor for H0 and 4mm scale models of trams, trolley cars, EMUs etc. project that I have been driving.

They will be available to buy later in the New Year, further information on this will be announced as and when we have finalised the details. Don't expect these to be cheap, as they are bespoke, small run items that are hand assembled.

Test runs show that one power bogies will be adequate to power a car and trailer, assuming that the trailer is free rolling i.e.: pin-point bearings and not weighted to sink the Titanic. I will post a picture of an assembled bogie/truck in the New Year, but just wanted to give you all a taste of something that quite excites me.

So, let me finish this blog post by wishing you all a Happy New Year.

Thanksgiving

It's an American thing and yes we celebrate it over here in Blighty, because my partner is half-American. So it's a family tradition. We have had the turkey now it is time for the cobbler...

I've been doing some blog admin and have switched off the captcha and gone for moderation of comments instead, so as to make it easier for people to post. I know some people find the codes difficult to read. And to be honest they are a pain in the bum.

Burnham Yard Fall Tidying Session

Over the last few months nothing much of anything has been happening on my layout. Lots of reasons for this, but one thing I did decide to get to grips with was the fact that the layout was being used as a storage shelf.

It may be hard to imagine, or not as the case may be, but this is picture is taken after I had already removed a bunch of Walthers Cornerstone buildings boxes that were obstructing the right of way.

So I decided to make a start at correcting the situation, as at some point it would be nice to run some trains, the lack of installed Hex Frog Juicers not withstanding, I use to be able to run stuff.

While the rest of the layout still needs clearing, and while there is still clutter on the layout, none of it interferes with the right of way. So that's my new rule; stuff can be placed on the board, but mustn't block the right of way.

Unsurprisingly enough, I now feel motivated to start working on finishing off the cars in the above picture, which are in the process of being weathered, and or having details like uncoupler bars added to them.