Giles

A most interesting and informative thread. It also imparts a charm to the locos that I had not really appreciated before. Thanks Dave.

Throughout all, I've been gently progressing Denton Brook, (apart from the very front, which I'll do last so it doesn't get damaged) and I've got the bulk of it very nearly ready for grass.... I'm still in several minds as to what I shall be doing with fiddle yards, including whether to have a 'road fiddle' at the open end or whether to bring lorries in along Tram Road.... Certainly to begin with, rail wise there will only be one fiddle at the factory end. Operating this little lot is a little unknown as to how it will pan out in practice, what with two gauges of railways, road, and two cranes.....

I got the screw jacks fitted for yesterday - I threaded the stabilisers 12BA, and used a pair of brass machine screws, and tapped the supplied plates, and then glued it all up...... I also had the front axle off, and fitted bearing to the wheels (in the foreground)

That trackwork looks superb! There's obviously no substitute for doing it properly!!!

No mate there's a number of places on EBay -abroad though....... If you do a search for Maz 200 crane you'll probably find a good choice!

Apart from adding the screw jacks to the out-riggers, this end of the vehicle is now complete and functioning. The back axle is driven, the rear outriggers are operational (or they will be when hooked up to a receiver!) and the crane is fully operational. So it's just the front steering axle, servo and radio gear to go, followed by weathering - however I'm sure all of that will have its joys ready and waiting! I shouldn't think we'll get round to running actual trains on Denton Brook.......

Bless you! John's workmanship is absolutely superb, and I had the pleasure of meeting him at Warley - and he's a delightful chap as well...... No, I'm not in anyway trained - but have evolved into a bit of a design engineer in my profession (by default, as things needed doing and problems needed sorting). I do find that skills in my hobby do feed into my profession, and visa versa, which is very satisfying. The daily use of AutoCad for work is a great help with this sort of thing, however, and had made the use of the laser cutter very much easier.

Congratulations! It's great when you get there...... Some indexing marks are always extremely useful. For the story on the crane, see her if interested http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/18108-radio-controlled-road-vehicle-gantry-crane-and-now-mobile-crane/page-18

I've been using the Emblazer for the conversion of a 1:43 mobile crane to radio control one. Laser cut bits include the winch motor frame, but also hopefully solving the problem of working stabiliser jacks. At the rear of the mobile crane there is a transverse frame mounted to the end of the chassis rails. This frame carries the rear stabiliser jacks - to be lowered before lifting. This is the innards - the slightly larger gear in the centre cluster is a temporary one to be substituted by the servo. The whole lot is laser cut, with 1.5mm silver steel stub axles Winch frame. Hoist is the top motor, Derrick is lower motor.

Rear view assembled. Front view raised And down It needs cleaning up and detailing. But it works, and works under power (servo tester)

This is the innards - the slightly larger gear in the centre cluster is a temporary one to be substituted by the servo. The whole lot is laser cut, with 1.5mm silver steel stub axles

The eureka moment was when I realised that I could (and should) be radical, and cut off the entire rear out-rigger assembly and start again, with the freedom to vary it a little if I needed to. This meant that I could just shove a servo in if I move the whole assembly rearwards 3mm (and why not?). What does this drive.... I looked at using cranks set at 180 degrees, but the only trouble with this is they lose efficiency the further round the circle they go. Also, although I was happy using them in tension, I was a little reluctant to use them in compression. The end fittings were going to become a major problem given how little space I was going to have...... Therefore this...... Laser cut gear (three laminations) mounted on the 1.7gm servo.

I'd thought about driving a screw - but I'd need a miniscule left-hand thread to do the job properly! However, I think I may have solved it - for the rear jacks, which will do...... I did a test piece this afternoon which basically worked (almost to my surprise!) but I could see that it would need reworking to allow for servo travel. I've cut the new bits, but not assembled them, and I can't test a powered version until I get my transmitter and receiver (servo testers don’t seem to give you full travel....) You'll see shortly - but I love our laser cutter!!!

These things get better and better.... I particularly like the back-head! The only thing I'm a little suspicious of is the front corners of the firebox cladding, which appears to be a little bevelled off, rather than ball-nosed (meaning this in the most positive attitude of constructive observation, I assure you!) Best, Giles

This sounds familiar. I think I thought it was me messing them about so much that caused it. Seems like it wasn't...... I certainly had to do quite a lot to the cylinders before I was happy with them

The only other thing you could try, is in Edit, with the vectors highlighted (pink), select 'join vectors' - there is a variable with the gap to play with in that function......

I would - for exactly the same reason!

I'm unfamiliar with the .eps format, however, once a file has been imported into Cut2Dlaser, you need to select the layer with the data on, go into the edit drop down, and pick 'select all vectors on this layer' or some such...... At this point your lines should go pink. Then, on the bottom left, select the 'T' for tool paths, and then select your cutting speed, power, number of cuts etc.....save. If you are cutting more than one layer, you have to do this for each, close them, and then again at the bottom left, click on the memory card, which will bring up the multiple tool path box on the right. Rick the various boxes, and finally click save. By this time all the programs know there is something to be cut! Hope this helps!

Simon - I've already sneakily adapted the rear axle, and shoved a motor on - so that end's done, but I've got to do the front axle, which is time- consuming and always less straightforward. I'm putting a larger (650mAh) battery into this, due to having more work to do, and this may go between the chassis rails - but we'll see when it arrives. The jacks are much more of a problem, and may be a bridge too far. There is absolutely no way I can get even the smallest servos operating close to each pair of jacks, as there is simply not enough room. The only possible chance I have (and it's a very slim one) is to have a pair pulled down by Bowden cable with a spring return. I don't think I can afford the power to use memory wire, or anything like that.....

Simon, the slip rings came from a company called 'Digital Means Ltd'

It is - yes! It's reasonably non-descipt (ish...!) when you take the Russian writing off, and it's of such useful proportions.....

I think this is looking superb...... Congratulations.

In the photo above, you can also see the slip ring bringing the 6 wires up through the slew ring. All wired up, and reeved up. Cab on. When you apply a battery to the wires underneath, the Derrick raises and lowers, the hook hoists up and down, and the whole lot slews round and round......

Winches fitted, now with drums (10mm X 10mm - turned from brass stock). They butt right up to the cab side in order to get the drums central enough - but it's ok. It's also an extremely tight squeeze in the other dimensions. I could have cut away the internal pillars, but actually they're in the ideal place, underneath the pulley shaft - so I really wanted to make the positioning work - and it does!

This is the slew motor in position And the winch assembly (Derrick on the bottom, and hoist above)