I’m working on automating a coal loading station. The item I’m slightly stuck on is bringing the coal to above the train. I’m currently thinking of an Archimedes’ screw type of a mechanism with a wood boring drill bit in a tube with a close fit, but I’m looking for other alterntatives that might work better.
Anyone got any ideas?
-mike
I think a conveyor belt would be better and if it doesn’t have much incline you won’t need paddles on the belt. The conveyor body would probably need to be sealed with a trough under the belt that dumps with gravity feed to a collection bin. Since something will fall inbetween the belt and chute. The real issue in this case is to get a good belt. I’ll have to give that some thought, but rubber would help hold the material as it went up the incline. I have a very large wide rubber band that would work, but I don’t think I’ll be able to let it go.
Richard
I would put the back of the flood loader up against a backdrop or other scenery, and then fill it from behind the backdrop using a simple gravity-only angled tube, with the main supply hidden from view. While mechanical systems may look nice and be appealing from a modeling point of view, actually making them work reliably is another matter.
This is my operating coal loader, an ancient Vollmer kit from the 1960s:
The hoppers are old Mantual operating “clamshell” cars, and I’ve got a corresponding track on another corner of the layout where they may be dumped into a waiting bin. The Vollmer loader has two solenoid-operated chutes. It loads by removing the roof and manually adding more coal. The building only holds enough coal for 2 cars without refilling. I spent a reasonable amount of time refurbishing this relic and getting it to work reliably.
And you know what? It’s a gimmick. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve loaded a hopper of coal in two years. Think about whether you would really use something like this before you put too much effort into it.
I have done this using a brass tube and a 5/8" auger bit in a Walther coal mine kit. I ground down the “flange” on the end of the bit so it will slip completely inside the tube, using the tube end as the exit point. The other end, just where the drill starts I cut a slot in the top about 3/4" long and half the tube wide. Inside the coal mine I used thin plywood to make the funnel to this slot. It works, as for now, but as I have not completed the section of layout where it will go it has not gone thru many tests or a long test period. The motor is a 12v dayton gear drive #2L008, but running on 24v supply thru a speed controller. http://www.servocity.com/html/dayton_gear_motors__12v_.html turning at about 18-20 rpm. I had tried a 3/8" bit, but it will jam if you use the larger coal size (HO). Also, if you try the drill bit route, make sure you use an auger type bit, the kind that really does not have a center shank to it. Some wood bits do.
Good luck!
RF&PRR
I presume you are referring to a mine tipple or loadout, not a locomotive coaling station.
There was an article in MR some years back, reprinted in the Kalmbach book Realistic Animation, Lighting and Sound, that described a system that used a wood boring bit as an Archiedes screw to move the coal from the in-building bunker to the chute over the car. The bunker was loaded by opening the roof and pouring in a can of coal between operating sessions.
When I build my big colliery, I intend to use this system on track 3, with a working conveyor from the working skip station to the top-of-the-tipple crusher site (I am modeling a real colliery which had those features.) Track 1 will be a pass-thru for empties in/loads out, while track 2 will just be there and will probably end up as storage for excess hoppers. One trick I will use is to have the rails under the live loadout run across an opening - coal that misses the car will (mostly) end up in a catch can under the roadbed, not all over the ground under the tipple. The fun part will be arranging some system that will fill each skip to the proper level from a hopper in the netherworld. And, of course, loading that hopper…
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with a geographically displaced Kyushu colliery)
There was an article back in like 1998’ish in MR that used a 1" auger drill bit, a 1" ID PVC Tee and windshield wiper motor to power it. The idea is you put a slip cap on one of the tee and run a the auger bit shaft through a small hole in the cap. The auger is inside the tee and moves the coal. The Coal comes in from storage on the top and out the uncapped end of the tee as the bit turns slowly. A small controller from Rat Shack is used to control the speed of the wiper motor.
The article then built a tipple around everything. It really came out nice. I’m not sure how you would search for it though
ratled
EDIT: I checked another post on this subject i commented on and it’s July 1999 issue of MR
Build a working coal tipple By Jim Ferenc PVC pipe, an auger bit, and a windshield wiper motor are key ingredients |
|---|
http://mrr.trains.com/sitecore/content/Magazine%20Issues/1999/July%201999.aspx
Build a working coal tipple By Jim Ferenc PVC pipe, an auger bit, and a windshield wiper motor are key ingredients |
|---|
Hi Mike,
I just noticed your post and would like to offer the following…
I scratch built this coal tipple on a wall that leads to my furnace room, so I have a large “2 gal.” funnel for dispensing coal into the mechanism in my train room. The delivery mechanism consists of 1.5" PVC pipe. I took 2 Ts and coupled them together with very short straights and set them at an angle that leads to the funnel in the back room and points down toward the track running into my tipple. I capped them with PVC caps and embedded brass bushings from Ace Hardware in the ends [centered of course].
The auger I’m using is a 7" bulb planting auger from Menards. As others have posted, the small shaft lends itself to delivering coal rather than grinding it up. I use a small amount of silicone grease on the bearing before [important!] tacking it together with small amounts of hot glue [so I can service it if need be].
I drive the mechanism with a $20 reversible drill from Harbor Freight that I cut that handle off. I wired it permanently in reverse at 30RPMS. It runs off AC current and is actuated by a Radio Shack push button switch at the front of my layout. It works great especially with the coal I developed with the help of a local manufacturer - true “O” scale coal that looks great in “O” or as mine run coal for “HO”. I am developing a plan to market it on the web.
working link dayton_gear_motors__12v_.html