Richfilth

ALL arduinos can run without a cable to the computer - that is what Arduino is designed to do. You only connect them with a cable when you want to program them, but after you write your program and send it to the Arduino, you can remove the cable. I only have the cable in my videos to supply 5V power. Some people add a Bluetooth module to their Arduino so that they can read the sensor inputs and control motors - a simple HC05 Bluetooth module is all you need for this. Some people have connected an arduino with wifi and were able to program it, but I don't have any experience with that.

You can't have a wireless motor (they need power :D), but you CAN get an Arduino Nano. This very small arduino can be located next to your motor/sensor so that your machine is "independent" - it does not need long cables to anything. But you must always think how you will power these machines - a motor needs a lot of batteries, unfortunately.

Fantastic work as always Arjen! I'm as jealous of your camera collection as I am of your trains

Here's the latest vid in the series: Controlling your junctions/crossings with an Arduino.

I think it's a great design, and I'm particularly pleased with the use of the old 9V motor - those torquey little lumps are great motors, and I wish Lego still made them. I need to source over a dozen for my final track setup.

My signature includes some tutorial videos on automating Lego trains using an Arduino. I don't have any experience with sound automation, but I'm sure it's been done elsewhere. In upcoming weeks I'll be explaining how to run multiple trains, how to use an infrared remote and a few more complex component combinations. So let me know if you have a specific use case in mind and I'll help however I can.

I only have official kits, no MOCs, so they're all packed up individually in shoeboxes and stored in cupboards in my office. Even then, they need a LOT of space, so I need to find a better way of storing them. I'd love to put them on display, but I've seen what 20 years of sunlight exposure does to lego (especially Light Gray and Blue bricks), so they'll probably stay locked away rather than on open shelves.

Here's the latest video - adding an LCD display board to your stations

I love the look of this train too - very vintage, and very cool. As others have said, if you swap the first and second driving wheels (so that the blind wheels are in the middle) then the loco won't have such a sharp angle when it goes around curves. For the bogies, the wheel axles are based on a 2 x 4 brick. Is it possible to join these bricks with a 2 x 6 plate underneath, instead of from above? If that's possible, you could then remove the lift arms from above the axles, and relocate your bogie pivot in between the two axle bricks. Another option, which really retains the Classic Train look, is to use the sliding wheel linkage bricks bb36 and bb37. This allows for a bogie setup similar to the 4.5V set 182: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?S=182-1

Thanks for all the support guys It's much appreciated! Don't wait! You only really learn this stuff by playing around with it. Also, it takes me so long to make each video that I have no time to work with the Arduino, so I don't know when "all" of the videos will be made :) I will be covering Infrared LEDs and phototransistors in future videos, which is how the Power Functions systems work - however, I don't know how to control one directly since I don't have any PF stuff. But if someone wants to donate a PF remote... It's already been answered once in this thread The Pi isn't really an input/output controller, it's more of a general computer for running software (like media file centres etc). The arduino is specifically built to read sensors and power physical switches like lights, relays and motors. You can do this sort of stuff with a Pi, but it's more expensive and more complex - you don't need 1Gb of RAM to drive a lego train forwards and backwards.

I'm a big fan of crane wagons myself (finally bought a 4552 this month!), and you've done a really great reproducing a great-looking crane. For the hook, can you use a metal Technic hook (http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=x99) so that you don't need the fishing weight?

Not sure if anyone's still interested But here's the tutorial for Ultrasonic-managed Sidings:

This is a great MOC, and it's good to see that the newer trains can now also have a variety of carriages; one loco pulling lots of identical coaches looks a bit boring to me. When did Lego stop making accessory carriages? Beside the 4547 reissue, the only accessory carriages I remember are the two grey Santa Fe ones.

I'll admit that I don't understand the MISB obsession (rip 'em open and build the kits already!), but I'm envious of your collection.

New video Motorized track switches this time.

The Lego regulator takes in AC voltage and outputs DC - check the power supply for more details. The circuitry inside the regulator is extremely simple and yes, it will only output 9V. Why do you want more? I think 20V will potentially kill a lego motor.

Log in to Bricklink Select Catalog Items from the top menu, and search for the set you want On the catalog page, under the On Wanted Lists section, click Part Out On the new page, deselect certain items (instructions, minifigs etc) Add To New Wanted List, and enter a name for that list Check the box - Set My Minimum Desired Qty for each Item to Qty of Items in Inventory Click Submit for Edit, and confirm the pieces Download Brickficiency Open up Brickficiency and click Import to download your wanted lists Select your new Wanted list and click OK Click Calculate and select your desired countries and min/max number of combinations (more sellers = cheaper parts, but you pay more for shipping) Click Calculate and let Brickficiency do its thing. Once you have your Brickficiency report, click each seller's name to access their Bricklink store On the left hand column of each store, under the title, click Show All Items this store has on my Wanted List (All Items) Select your Wanted list from the drop down menu Click Auto-Fill Cart Min, then Add Selected items to cart Repeat this for all stores in your brickficiency report Click View Cart for each seller, and confirm that you haven't ordered the same parts from two sellers, or that you haven't ordered both New and Used parts from the same seller Click Checkout on each Cart and pay for your bricks Receive bricks and assemble! The only downside here is that once you have a list in Brickficiency, it's not easy to add new parts to the wanted list - you have to add the parts in Bricklink, then download the list again, and probably save it to your PC to make it easier to open later. I generally end up with half a dozen variations of the same Wanted list, with a few bricks removed or added to see how it affects the pricing, based on unique parts availability, colours etc.

You can probably do some of the basic things, but a Raspberry Pi isn't really an input/output board, so you will still need to buy some interface boards to connect sensors and control the motor controllers (since the Pi doesn't have PWM capabilities). So really you need an Arduino-equivalent too, but you can connect it to the Pi so that they work together: they're not mutually exclusive.

I bought a job lot of 9V track from someone who had used traditional scenery components. Each piece is now covered in various types of paints, glues and plasters, with powered sawdust here and there. I'm sure it looked great on whatever layout it was originally planned for, but the track is now useless for any future layout and is only good for my behind-the-scenes/workbench usage.

Here's the next video in the series: an introduction to Sensors, featuring an auto-stop setup with 5-second wait time:

What a brilliant machine :D

That's very cool, and reminds me a lot of the old Polish locomotive Pu29 (of which only 3 were made): There's one currently sitting half a mile away from my house

For complete sets, I think 4512 has the best Cargo locomotive look, although it's ten years old now. For accessory wagons, the 10170 wagons are pretty cool for cargo, but there's also the older 4549 Double-stack cargo wagon, which is fairly cheap to build if you want more than one. If you want a Train depot, the 4512 had a green accessory crane 4514, and there is also Cargo depot 4555 which has an additional cargo wagon too. Wagon 4533 is a working snow blower

I think that's a very clever locomotive, and very similar to something TLG would create. The use of train doors (similar to kits 4563, 4558 etc) is a very nice touch, since they didn't come from a train model originally 28 studs long also keeps it in perspective to standard train sets. That would look very good with lots of black-and-yellow open cargo wagons from set 4563, or the hopper wagon from 2126.

Thanks! The next videos will be: 1) Introduction to sensors (stopping at stations and using counters) 2) Motorising your switchtracks 3) Distance detection via ultrasonic for sidings control 4) LCD info displays 5) Controlling your train with an IR remote 6) Crash avoidance with junction sensors 7) Switching train programs with a Finite State Machine 8) The automated decoupler (still a WIP on the lego side of things) 9) The Arduino Marshalling yard for mega train management. So that will be 10 videos in all, but it takes time to record all the video