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Subject: 
Steam engine complex wheelbases (was: BBB wheels sales)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.trains
Date: 
Thu, 29 Jul 2004 09:21:03 GMT
Viewed: 
1418 times
  
In lugnet.trains, Ben Fleskes wrote:
In lugnet.trains, Mathew Clayson wrote:

<snip>  But the last 2 drive wheels and conneting to a 6 wheeled tender is
driving me nuts.

Any solutions that someone would care to share?

Mat Clayson

Mat,

What you need is a blind driver - a wheel without a flange.  The blind driver is
one of the two new parts that will be introduced at Brickfest.

Ben Fleskes
Big Ben Bricks LLC

Thanks for letting that slip Ben.  I presume the other one is still a secret
though...

I did just work out a way of getting a six wheel set around a corner, with
connecting rods.  It allows one of the middle wheels to fold in on the inside of
a corner, without pushing the opposite wheel outward.  It uses layers of 1x4
technic steering plates with a 2-stud axle vertically through the ends as a
hinge.  A length of flex tubing clipped at one end makes a gentle but precise
restoring spring.  This lets the brick holding the wheel move independantly of
its opposite number.  The pin at the middle of the connecting rod is an axle
pin, which can slip in and out of the wheel hole.

You have to mount all the wheels on technic twin-hole 1x2 bricks to get enough
stud space between the front and rear axles, without making the whole wheelbase
too long to negotiate a corner.  1x1 'Bosch Washing Machine' one-hole technic
bricks can rotate in place, so aren't suitable for holding axles.


As for a six-wheeled tender, you can make the middle wheel slide sideways if you
want it independant.

My latest wheelbase though has a trailing 2-wheel bogie, so what I've done is
connect that using a fishplate (a plate pivoted at both ends, to allow snaking).
The front wheel block of the tender is connected to the other four in the same
way.  Then, these two floating wheels lock together when you hitch up the
tender.  I use a magnet and aligning pins, so they don't flex.  They form a
four-wheel truck of their own.

Another alternative, if you're not using coupling rods (or if you only couple
the front two axles), is to let the back two drivers of your engine move around,
and lock them to the front two wheels of the tender.  That's how my Castle Class
engine works.  Although on that, this gives you a moving floor in the cab which
isn't save for minifigs.


Jason Railton



Message has 2 Replies:
  Re: Steam engine complex wheelbases (was: BBB wheels sales)
 
(...) To Jason Have you got pictures of your 6 wheeled train, wheelbase ? I would like to see your idea ! Here is what I did for my steam train (URL) wait to see what new parts Ben has made ! Ben , Will you also be doing an anouncement on (...) (20 years ago, 29-Jul-04, to lugnet.trains)
  Re: Steam engine complex wheelbases (was: BBB wheels sales)
 
(...) Jason, I may try something along these lines. I want the back two wheel sets of the tender to be a 9v motor. My next experiment was to connect the front truck in the tender to the rear set of drive wheels. From what you say this should work. I (...) (20 years ago, 29-Jul-04, to lugnet.trains)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: BBB wheels sales
 
(...) Mat, What you need is a blind driver - a wheel without a flange. The blind driver is one of the two new parts that will be introduced at Brickfest. Ben Fleskes Big Ben Bricks LLC (20 years ago, 28-Jul-04, to lugnet.trains)

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