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Before anything else, thank you for the reply! In these past few days I’ve gone
out of my mind trying to figure out alternative designs for the discharge
mechanism, but as ideas get harder and harder to pop all the input is welcome.
In lugnet.technic, Huw Millington wrote:
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I have experimented with many different mechanisms for auto-discharging
hoppers, although none have been like the one you describe.
I have tried ones with levers that are moved up and down as the wagon passes
a trackside mechanism, and while these work to a degree, my most successful
effort to date is as illustrated here:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=56841
The wheel on the side of the wagon rubs along the top of a 1x8 tile to open
the door, then along the bottom of an upside down one to close it.
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I understand the concept - very clever, except for one thing: it requires that
the wagon is placed on one orientation, ie, “wheel to the left”. But since it
works... not much I can argue.
In essence, the mechanism I am designing is intended to be somewhat symetrical.
And the other advantage of having tilting (?) lower doors is that the cargo is
discharged *faster* - almost instantly, in fact, given the 16x2 hole in the
bottom. The downside of my mechanism is the requirement of a rather large wagon,
one that can fit the mechanism AND the cargo bay head-to-head.
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The choice is load is important. For obvious reasons, the rounder and
smaller the part used, the better it works. 1x1 round plates are thus ideal.
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I’m thinking soccer balls, since knowing about some of their benefits :-)
(it could almost become the LEGO standard for hopper cargo!)
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If you (or anyone else) is interested, I’ll dust them and the mechanism off
and take some photos, although you can probably get the gist from this
picture taken at the Brickish Association AGM:
http://www.brickish.org/events/2003-04-agm/AGM0022.JPG
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From the Brickshelf folder I pretty much understand how the thing works: simple
and effective in fact my only issue regards the “assymetry”, if it can be made
symmetrical then it will fit my neurosis a lot better ;-)
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The odd-looking structure on the left is the Mindstorms-controlled loading
chute which is triggered when the wheel on the side of the wagons hits the
touch switch. I have therefore developed a ‘merry go-round’ system of
auto-loading and unloading wagons while the train continues to move. (one
day I’ll get round to describing it fully...)
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Well this is just the hopper for te time being... hopefully more complex cargo
facilities will follow suit.
I’ve updated my brickshelf folder
(http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=56581) with some more files
(and changed others). By now you should get a less abstract picture of what the
thing will look like - the missing bits can be described as “details”, being
only a matter of joining the bogies to the main body and raising the walls.
Now I just gotta get my hands on some technic parts to build the prototype!
Pedro
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Assistance
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| Pedro, I have experimented with many different mechanisms for auto-discharging hoppers, although none have been like the one you describe. I have tried ones with levers that are moved up and down as the wagon passes a trackside mechanism, and while (...) (21 years ago, 15-Sep-03, to lugnet.technic, lugnet.trains)
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