I am currently building Walthers’s Engine Service Facility and would like to make the roll up door operational (motorized). Have any of you done this or have some helpful hints?
Thanks in advance,
Peter
How about making the door by gluing the horizontal door panels to a piece of paper and fitting it in a track built out of styrene strips? Operate it with a linkage to a Tortoise switch machine?
That’s a start. The major impediments are 1) it is a single story structure so the door needs to roll up at a 90 degree angle (as opposed to straight up). 2) Hinging the individual panels (like in a garage door). That is where I am hung up. The paper is a pretty good idea. They have I frame styrene strips that would perfectly as the guides.
I have a really nice mirco motor to roll the door up… just need to figure out how to attach it.
Lego makes nice roll up doors. They don’t operate on their own, but they shouldn’t be hard to convert. The doors I’m thinking came with an old Firestation set. I can’t remember the name of the set that I’ve got, but a google search of “lego fire station” comes up with a good example of a set with clear doors. The garage doors are framed with lego bricks that have a groove cut into the side, and the door is made up of narrow interlocking pieces that operate like a normal automatic garage door. If you paint the clear window pieces and add some weathering, I think they might do the trick. I know they’d be too large for N scale, but I think they might be wide enough for HO. You can make them as tall as you’d like. If you were to do it this way, I bet if you had a nearby Lego store you might be able to pick up the parts without having to buy an expensive kit.
If you add a wire to the highest piece that connects to a switch machine, throwing the switch would probably pull the door right up.
EDIT: Also check out MR Dec 2006, the last page has an example of an operating door.
There was a drawing some time ago in Model Railroader.
If there’s enough space above the door you can keep the whole door at one piece and lift it.
I would do it this way too. But mechanical without Tortoise. I would make some push-pull-device. [:)]
Wolfgang
Hmmm…[C=:-)]
I would start by attaching a tube or rod to the motor shaft to make a drum that the door can roll around (obviously make it the length of the door, longer would be better). Whatever door backing you use attach that to the drum. I would try using the back side of waxpaper, I think it might hold up better then regular paper. Or you could try some thin music wire, it would try to hold its shape and might help the unrolling process (would also look more like hinges through the cracks of the door [:-^]). Make sure your door panels are thin enough to wrap around the drum nicely (or make sure the drum is large enough). Use ‘C’ channels for the door guides. And dont forget the most important part, add some weight to the bottom of the door (you could replace the bottom panel with a metal one painted to match) to help the door pull down and unroll.
Good luck!
Perhaps this little clinic will be helpful… If he can make it work in N(ice) scale, it should be a snap in H(orribly) O(versized)
Check out his other N scale animations as well… pretty impressive stuff! Talk about Micro Engineering!
Lee
Instead of paper, use some very thin fabric that will handle plastic cement without disintegrating. For positive opening and closure, I would use a loop of fine thread on each side of the door and wrap it one turn around the shaft of a small motor, with limit switches operated by the door to stop the movement.
An alternative solution might be to have the door pulled up and back by a couple of Spandex threads, and pulled down by the aforementioned motor (which would be buried below the layout surface directly under the door.)
Sounds like a fun animation that could also be applied to loading dock doors - something the mundane layout visitor could operate with a pushbutton on the fascia.
(I’m always looking for realistic, un-toylike ways to add animation to the static layout scene)
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Alright, getting some good ideas here. I did have the Dec 06 issue but in that instance, they had multilple stories in the building to lift the door up into. Not in my case.
I was also hoping not to roll the door up on a shaft but rather have the panels follow the rails (90 degree) and remain flat, but whatever works out.
This is acutally a need more than for the animation as I will be using this building to store my locomotives while not in use. The mechanism will need to be robust as it will likely be used every session.
I will probably model my garage door system as best I can. Will also try to remember to take photos along the way.
Thanks for the ideas and keep the thought perking in the mind,
Peter
The Spandex thread idea is a really good one. Whether you pull the door up from the top or down from the bottom, I think it will need to be under tension to make it go back the other way. It’s just not going to be heavy enough to do that on its own, but if you “spring load” it with Spandex, I think it would add just enough force to help it return.
C channels horizontal at top of door. Wider than the door. Top edge of top panel has wider strip fastened to it to ride in channels. Same for the bottom edge of the door with vertical tracks. Pull straight back or straight down. Use a spring or two to move to other end.
the top of door moves only horizontally, the bottom moves only vertically. It may look a bit funny when half open or closed but some “real” doors did work in a similar fashion.
Good luck.
That is exactly how the lift up door on my fathers garage worked when I was a kid. I think it pre-dated rollups.
Wolfgang,
I saw your post on operating chain link fence gates. They were really neat. They were the first thing I thought of when I read this post.
Bob
I have seen these in the lower 48s. I wouldn’t mind that kind of operation. Could you send me some information on the C-Channel you are talking about?
Thanks,
Peter
Something like this:
See the Walthers index: http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?category=SBS&scale=&manu=&item=&keywords=c+channel&words=restrict&instock=Q&split=30&Submit=Search
(clickable for your convenience [:D] )
Evergreen and plastruct are two manufacturers to check into.
Karl