coaster

Sadly, no, I don't plan on attending any more shows this year. They just don't seem to align nicely with my calendar. I don't know anything about Blue Bricks, but I have no issues making the tracks available for it. Just need to figure out how to do it. Cam, I might take you up on helping me with that.

I'd suggest the o-ring route from McMaster. Go with the 1mm wide Buna-N o-ring. Cut the groove about 3/64" wide and 1/32" deep. I don't have any BBB wheels, but I can't imagine they would go with a wall smaller than that. That should give you a nice groove to work with. As mentioned before, I'd put the groove on the riding face rather than against the flange to ensure traction on curves. Also, would be interested in comparing round vs. square profile in this application.

I had plans at one point to do R200 curves and switches, but those will likely need to be printed only, as I doubt there'd be enough demand to justify tooling. However, because of the predefined grid we're working with, the switches are limited to certain radii, otherwise you can't blend them smoothly. For instance, an R200 crossover between parallel rails @ 16 stud spacing is a nice even 112 studs long, but an R216 (the next theoretical size up) would be 116.482 studs, which becomes super awkward. Crunching the numbers, we don't hit another even number until R328. So your theoretically possible switch options are: R8 (no) R40 R104 R200 R328 R488 Note that these last 2 are probably going to be a bit unwieldy. The R328 switch itself would be 7.5 straight tracks long, so we'd have to break it up into 3 sections, each of which is as long as the R104 I've made above. I'm likewise curious what you're planning. Would this be a backyard display?

After considering it further, Redimus, I'm of the same mind moving back to the 9V setup. I can leave the plate height the same, and it's easier then to gang two of these together on a bogie. And I imagined most folks would use 2 of these per bogie, but keeping them as single self-contained units allows for variable wheel spacing.

You're right, I keep thinking the PF connector is like the old 9V one where you build on top of it. I should have room though to drop it down by a plate, which would eliminate that issue. And failing in that, I can always go back to the 9V connector. I understand the concerns about maintaining contact. It'll be ok though. The flanges are spring loaded, like the old 9V motors, so the flanges are always in a compressed state against both rails. The problem with the solid wheels is the wheelset still floats between the rails, so you are always relying on only top contact on one wheel, which we know isn't reliable.

I'll build a few, see how it works.

It probably isn't clear, but these aren't solid metal wheels. They're 2 pieces, with the flange being metal and spring loaded, identical to the 9V motor. Pick up is from the side, so aside from the small breaks in switches and crosses, they'll always stay in contact with the rails.

Needed a break tonight from working on the tracks (which, if you haven't been following, you really should), so I put together a concept model of a power pick-up wheelset to basically jumper between 9V tracks and PF motors. This would sort of give us the best of both worlds in that there are no batteries needed, but you still have independent control of the trains, or you could keep it rail dependent if you wanted. Before I get too carried away, would this be usable to the community?

SEND MONEY! Just kidding. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of work I can outsource at the moment. However, once I start the kickstarter, it would be great help if you guys could spread the word amongst your LUGS and at shows. Even voicing your support here will help build traction.

I have a couple sketches of a single-axle wheelset with power pick up. Nothing formal, but after establishing these tracks (or if I need a break) I plan to work on that next.

Thanks. And before I forget:

It was awesome meeting a bunch of you guys at Brickworld. Wish I could have stuck around a bit longer. For those that didn't see it, I brought this around to show: Still need to machine a few more rails for it and make half a dozen minor tweaks, but it's mostly there. Per some Brickworld discussion and testing, I'll bend in the lead of the curved guard a bit to accommodate some of the longer bogies.

6986 Mission Commander. Best spaceship Lego ever made. Set's been built and on display for over 25 years, by far the longest anything has survived me.

While it may not seem like much to most people, to a machinist, 1mm may as well be a mile. I would be surprised if the Lego rods varied by more than ±0.1mm. That's a very easy and standard tolerance on "slop" parts.

Thanks Cale! Barring something going sideways on me, I should have the next prototype finished in time for Brickworld. EDIT: By the way, your modified switches are awesome.

Shoot me a drawing of what you want. I can get you an actual quote on what tooling and piece parts would cost in ABS. Expect about $5-8k for tooling and $.25-.50/piece. Alternatively, you could MIM (Metal-Injection-Mold) these in something like zinc, which would give you the weight you want for about the same piece price, but at about $25k for tooling. Unless you want 5000 of these, you're best bet is probably to just 3D print them in ABS or metal, and then sand and polish by hand.

Of course! I don't want to release something that people aren't going to love, so any and all feedback is welcome. One thing that I haven't made evident is even without the above mechanism, the switch can be automated through purist means. The throw-arm in the base that shuttles back and forth has a hole in each end that is 3.2mm, or, the diameter of antennas, tubes, rods, etc. Basically, if a minifig hand can hold it, it'll fit. I've also modified my switch such that the stroke distance is 8mm, or 1 stud exactly. if you build a mechanism that can move a rod by 1 stud lock-to-lock, you're good. I'd suggest starting with one of these, but you're free to use whatever. Yep, the offset is from the switches being only 40 studs long, so with a 1/2 length straight, which will be available (in fact, I've already built a couple for myself to go around my son's room), you will be in perfect alignment at 16 studs apart. Of course, to accomplish this, the curve angle is slightly greater than 22.5°, so with each switch, I'll be providing 2x unique curve segments to get you back to either 0° or 45° (sidings or turnouts). That's the only weirdness with these, and it's simply a math problem of constraining to the stud grid. Does this make sense? As I get further along, I'll provide a cut sheet detailing how curve segments are notated and to be used.

Well, with the removable rack, we do have some flexibility here, so other switch mechanisms could certainly be developed. Overall feedback though is pretty positive towards the turntable approach. Don't forget, the axle hole goes all the way through, so you could easily motorize it from the bottom. And a few pieces on top should be fine. Remember, cars and engines won't swing out as fall on these. Yep, already set up that way: The light greys are fine too. I just don't think we'll be running in yellow, purple, or tan at all.

Dark bley? Eww! If molded, then yes, I'll offer both the old dark grey and dark bley, and I'm open to doing other colors like dark brown too. Adding a new colorant costs about $300 (across the board, not just for one piece), so doable, but let's not get too carried away. There's a manufacturer's show here in 2 weeks, so I'll bring copies of these and touch base with some vendors about getting quotes. Had some budgetary numbers from a few guys, but I'd rather have firm quotes across the board before committing to anything. Frankly, the plastic is the easy part, it's the rails, machining, stampings, and wireforms that are still question marks. But this is normal for the process, it'll all shake out.

Correct, they are 40 studs long, or, 2 1/2" straight segments. It was discussed here somewhere, but there is logic to it. It allows you have nested switches, as well as space for the yard ladder. Don't worry though, I'll have a track pack with various length straights in it.

Alright, here we go! Modified the switch mechanism to return to the 1/4 turn turntable style. Also was able to shrink it down to size: Currently stands 2x plates tall, and the axle hole goes all the way though. Like the official switch though, no tubes or negative stud area on bottom; just flat. Still clicks between 2 positions. But wait, I thought we were putting the switch stand on the straight side? Well, if you don't want it on the curve side, take it off and move it: The mechanism is reversible as well, so if you have an arrow on it, you can set it such that the arrow correctly points to the corresponding direction. The removable switch definitely opens up some design space, as now you can you have a switch opposite a yard ladder, sort of like this: And now, it's way past time for me to go to bed.

Hey! Stop leaving! Real life can wait! As for the 3D printing of these, that's certainly still on the table for the more exotic geometries, but I've gotten some reasonable estimates on actual injection molded tooling, so it's not outside the realm of possibility that I end up molding the switches as well. If nothing else, designing for a mold and ending up 3D printing is much easier than going the other way. I had an idea for the switch that I'm fleshing out now. Give me a couple days and I should have something to show.

Looks ambitious, but I like it! With regards to the ramp, it's a little steeper than I normally like, but you might be ok. I typically do 1x plate/track segment, which means you'd need about 62 pieces to gain 20cm in elevation. If I've counted correctly, you're doing about 1.4 plates/segment. Before you get too far along, might not be a bad idea to mock up the ramp (including the curves) and try it out.

M_slug, that does make sense. I think what I shall do though is make one with the switch stand on the straight side @ 4 studs max (as I show above), and we'll just try it. Will anyone be at Brickworld in Chicago with a large engine? If so, let's arrange to meet up and try it out. While that's running, I'll continue to look into both A) making the switch stand be movable to either side; and B) changing it to be easily motorized.

Moved the switch stand to the straight side, and kept it to 4 studs: Question of the day though, is an 8-wide coming through the turnout going to clip the switch? Still waiting on the new official switches to arrive so I can modify the guards.