I posted this question on the HO Forum also. I am interested in doing a DCC powered crane. I would like to make all of the crane's function via DCC control also. Can anyone give me any advise or direct me to any articles?
HO Crane Project
- Thread starter streetisneat
- Start date
Greetings 
http://www.tee-usa.com/roco40110.html
You may want to take a look and see if it generates any ideas
Regards
Interestingly, I was just looking at the Roco Dockside Crane which comes already DCC fitted and has an optional joystick controller.streetisneat said:
http://www.tee-usa.com/roco40110.html
You may want to take a look and see if it generates any ideas
Regards
A year or two ago I bought an HO crane car on ebay. The crane had little knobs on one side that controled the boom and hook and it swiveled manually. I was thinking that there must be a way to mount little motors on it and control it remotely. I can't tell you who made it as it got packed away when I put that layout on the back burner when I started My N layout, but you might look for something like it in the MOW section.
Maybe take a look at some of the RC stuff for cars and planes. Little servo motors that control things like aelerons (sp?) and steering might be adapted for cables on a crane. It wouldn't be DCC, but it should work off the RC controller.
Val
Val
Actually Val, if one could get teh mechanical part of your idea accomplished, that is installing a motor that could raise nad lower the boom, etc. the DCC part would be a snap, just use the function outputs of a decoder. Hmm, maybe not since probably only the motor output would drive those servo motors, the other outputs may not be strong enough. Perhaps having the servos get track power and just turning the power on or off, or reversing polarity with the function outputs.
You would need to be able to turn the crane housing, raise and lower the clamshell bucket, and open and close the clamshell. The first 2 would be accomplished by rotary action. Housing turns like a turntable, bucket attached to a cable that spools around a revolving winch. As for opening and closing the bucket, that would be a pulling action. I'd think you would have it spring loaded in the closed position, and use a cable to pull it open. The framework would have to be strong enough to withstand this.
Val
Val
Gary. Re: the crane I was talking about, I was thinking about the motors that they use in pagers that make them vibrate. Haven't done much homework on them, just enough to know that they are easily obtainable and pretty cheap. I'm not sure if the off-balance weight is incorporated in the motor itself and if so how hard it would be to remove it. Just some thoughts I had kicked aroound.
hey guys, you are sharing some incredible ideas here. I think that in the end, we'll have an operating dcc crane.................Thanks for all of your input!!
You might want to look at some of the smaller motors, used for remotoring in N, Nn3, and Z. Use smaller decoders as the ones used for smaller N scale locos. IF you are looking at doing a wrecker crane. You can put the decoders stacked carefuly at the rear. If you could get a appropiate sized motor what about putting it inside the drum geared to an internal gear on the one end of the drum, this is assuming that you are doing a lot of scratch building on this. At any rate good luck and keep us posted.
As a side note I've kicked arround the idea of doing an operating pile driver in N scale. However it would be stationary on the track with cabling coming from underneath through hollow trestle bents.
As a side note I've kicked arround the idea of doing an operating pile driver in N scale. However it would be stationary on the track with cabling coming from underneath through hollow trestle bents.
i had an idea to do this with dc it involves using a nother set of rails and and metal weels for it
my idea is to put a smaler gage track inside a section of ho track and using metal wele sets for the electricity from the inside rails
by the way does n scale track fit inside ho scale or would i have to go z
my idea is to put a smaler gage track inside a section of ho track and using metal wele sets for the electricity from the inside rails
by the way does n scale track fit inside ho scale or would i have to go z
If you are looking for small motors, see if you can find the motors from inside of automotive rear view mirrors (external mount) they are tiny and have a worm gear as the shaft. the mirrors often get broken off and can be had cheaply or free if you know somebody in the auto repair business. They may have some application here. I believe that they are 12 volt dc.
George
George
A clam shell bucket closes by pulling on a cable. There are three cables to the bucket. One: lifts the bucket up and down.
Two: closes the bucket and runs alongside the lift cable.
Three: retrieve line, it runs from the inside(toward the crane body) edge of the bucket to a winch on the main platform of the crane. It's used to position the bucket in and out from the crane on some rigs. Other times it's a spring loaded line that keeps the bucket from twisting and fouling the pickup and close lines. Rigged as a retrieve line it is much easier and faster than raising and lowering the boom. They are rigged differently depending on the job. In dredging, the retieve line is used alot. Land operators mostly use the third line to keep the bucket from spinning. A good crane operator can throw that bucket around like you would your hand.
The bucket close line is pickup at the same rate as the lift line, so the bucket stays closed. Operating one is like rubbing your head and belly at the same time. lol
Two: closes the bucket and runs alongside the lift cable.
Three: retrieve line, it runs from the inside(toward the crane body) edge of the bucket to a winch on the main platform of the crane. It's used to position the bucket in and out from the crane on some rigs. Other times it's a spring loaded line that keeps the bucket from twisting and fouling the pickup and close lines. Rigged as a retrieve line it is much easier and faster than raising and lowering the boom. They are rigged differently depending on the job. In dredging, the retieve line is used alot. Land operators mostly use the third line to keep the bucket from spinning. A good crane operator can throw that bucket around like you would your hand.
The bucket close line is pickup at the same rate as the lift line, so the bucket stays closed. Operating one is like rubbing your head and belly at the same time. lol