Subject:
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Re: Mindstorms on RailRoad?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Thu, 27 Dec 2001 21:12:59 GMT
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Original-From:
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Steve Baker <sjbaker1@airmail+spamless+.net>
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Reply-To:
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SJBAKER1@AIRMAIL.stopspammersNET
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Viewed:
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685 times
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Larry Pieniazek wrote:
>
> In lugnet.robotics, sjbaker1@airmail.net writes:
> > I got my son a Lego Train set for Xmas - and have been trying to figure out
> > how to build a Mindstorms robot to run on Lego train track.
> >
> > * The Train motor isn't much use since it picks it's power (and hence
> > speed and direction) from the track.
> > * The other wheels that come with the train have non-Technics axles so you
> > can't power them from a Mindstorms motor.
> > * I can't find any other Lego wheels that will run on the train track without
> > derailing at the drop of a hat.
> >
> > Someone must have solved this...but how?
>
> This is a recurring topic in .trains and the consensus seems to be that a
> mobile RCX brick requires either that it is battery powered (not great for
> battery life), or that you do surgery on the motor. The surgery that needs
> to be done is well documented (it's very similar to what you need to do to
> install DCC inside a motor).
I don't mind that the RCX is battery powered - I want to make a robot that
happens to run on rails rather than some long running train that happens
to have an RCX onboard.
I don't really want to use the train motor at all (modified or not).
All I'm trying to figure out (and I spent several hours last night surfing
Lego train sites trying to find an example) is how to get some kind of Lego
wheels that I can drive from a Technics motor to roll nicely on the track.
> Using an RCX EXTERNALLY to control locos on the track, on the other hand, is
> well documented and is done all the time.
Yes - that's pretty obvious.
(I had some fun on Christmas day when I secretly switched the wire from the
train controller to a Scout and controlled the train using the Lego InfraRed
remote. My kid took quite a while to figure out how the train seemed to be
doing what I was telling it to do from across the room :-)
> A motor unit that has two power connections and an arrangement to allow
> power to be taken out from the wheels, routed elsewhere, and then routed to
> the motor has been asked for and the tooling changes to do it, while not
> easy, are not as hard as some things that might be wished for.
The part that would make most sense to me would be a train wheel which could
accept a Technics axle.
----------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------------
Mail : <sjbaker1@airmail.net> WorkMail: <sjbaker@link.com>
URLs : http://www.sjbaker.org
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Mindstorms on RailRoad?
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| (...) Lego (...) Isn't that the seme thing? If you modify the train motor to accept power from the RCX, you have wheels that roll nicely on the train track. Anyway, have you tried the small yellow/white wheels that come with the solid rubber tires? (...) (23 years ago, 27-Dec-01, to lugnet.robotics)
| | | Re: Mindstorms on RailRoad?
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| (...) No problem, then. (that wasn't what you asked at first, you complained that the train motor took power from the track...) In that case just put *no* power on the rails (that is, run on some track not connected to any power) and feed one of the (...) (23 years ago, 27-Dec-01, to lugnet.robotics, lugnet.trains)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Mindstorms on RailRoad?
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| (...) This is a recurring topic in .trains and the consensus seems to be that a mobile RCX brick requires either that it is battery powered (not great for battery life), or that you do surgery on the motor. The surgery that needs to be done is well (...) (23 years ago, 27-Dec-01, to lugnet.robotics, lugnet.trains)
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