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Subject: 
Perpetual Duplo Motion
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.trains, lugnet.duplo, lugnet.org.us.sealug, lugnet.technic, lugnet.znap, lugnet.build
Date: 
Wed, 22 Nov 2000 02:38:31 GMT
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Heh- sorry about the wide distribution, but this fits into a lot of categories.

I have a new creation up on my site, a device for defeating the timer on the
Duplo battery trains.  This uses Duplo Trains, Technic, and a critical Znap
part.

I call it the Perpetual Duplo Motion machine.  Check it out at:
  http://www.hafhead.com/lego/mytrain/pduplom/index.html

At the most basic level, this simply stops and restarts a train at a given
spot, resetting its internal timer.  The point is to allow a train (ie at a
train show) to run for an indefinite period of time.  Trains aren't very
interesting to see on display when they die every 4 minutes, requiring an
operator to go over and press the button on the top of the locomotive.

For more advanced usage, this device can be easily modified to run a slave
unit off of the main unit- allowing you to do any of the following:
   * Run two trains on separate tracks (with one changing direction on
     every other pass if desired).
   * Run two trains on the same track circuit, without risking collisions
     (you could even have one waiting at the station until the other is
      about to arrive, then leave just in time).
   * Control other actions while a train sits in the station (like having
     a crane rotate back and forth over a cargo car).

I'm really hoping that I'll be able to display this in the NMRA train show
at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle this coming weekend, but it depends
on whether I can get away and make it to the show.  Chances are very good it
will be up on Friday.  As for the rest of the weekend... I'm crossing my
fingers.  That partly depends on how well it holds together for extended period.

--
Tony Hafner
www.hafhead.com



Message has 2 Replies:
  Re: Perpetual Duplo Motion
 
Tony, This is pretty ingenious! I really like how the train moving the lever makes the button on the battery box get pressed. :-) A neat mechanical solution. -Andy Lynch In lugnet.trains, Tony Hafner writes: <snip> (...) (24 years ago, 22-Nov-00, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.duplo, lugnet.org.us.sealug, lugnet.technic, lugnet.znap, lugnet.build)
  Re: Perpetual Duplo Motion
 
"Tony Hafner" <hafhead@PANTSplanetquake.com> wrote in message news:G4EnC7.4Et@lugnet.com... (...) the (...) Znap (...) from Germany in about 1994; it had an image of the "New" at the time DUPLO trains, and I remember thinking how cute they were. Is (...) (24 years ago, 22-Nov-00, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.duplo, lugnet.org.us.sealug, lugnet.technic, lugnet.znap, lugnet.build)

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