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[inobu]

Nx,

 

It looks like you may be able to use a Nitinol spring to act as an actuator. to shift your magnet. 

 

 

This is the only image of the stop/go mechanism

 

Nitinol

 

 

After looking at this just imagine it you put this just before the Bus Stop. You can either have the bus to bypass the bus stop or pull the wire to lead the bus into the station. It is virtually a turnout

 

Turn Table

 

 

the turn table need to be a dual action device.

 

1 turn the table

2 pull the magnet.

 

 

Inobu

 

 

kvp,

 

After a while you can white board things in your head.

Edited August 4, 2016 by inobu

[kvp]

Or you can just use a Tomix turnout motor to actuate it (along with the official stop light pieces), but Nxcale's plan is imho using micro stepper motors for the turntable.

[inobu]

Or you can just use a Tomix turnout motor to actuate it (along with the official stop light pieces), but Nxcale's plan is imho using micro stepper motors for the turntable.

It appears the he is designing his own. Which I commend him for doing. In order to achieve the goal one need to document, plan and execute. If not it can lead you in circles or thread posting in circles. 

 

Inobu

[inobu]

Nxscale,

 

I wish I didn't dig into this post so much as it has inspired me to add bus systems to layouts now. I never pay much attention to them before but your project makes perfect sense.  I'm ordering one today.

 

Thanks a lot!

 

Inobu

 

Hopefully I can be a bit more creative from an engineering standpoint in my advice in the future. Good luck and keep pressing on!

Edited August 4, 2016 by inobu

[inobu]

Nxscale,

 

I don't want to hi jack your project thread so I won't post anymore but here is something that I found that might give some insight.

 

This guy posted some good info.

 

Here is the inter working of the bus. It helps to show what the bus is doing in relation to the magnet placement.

 

Here is his description

 

Motorised Dandruff

From left to right we have:
- The control chip with a detector unit attached. This picks up magnets in the roadway which can be used to start and stop the bus and change its speed. The square plastic piece holds the detector in place in the chassis.
-The motor bit. Not much that could be changed here.
-The battery holder. It is part of the chassis so would be hard to do away with.
-The steering mechanism. The top piece is the rocking part, and the bottom piece is the steering part.

 

 

 

Best of Luck

 

Inobu

[NXCALE]

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Edited January 29, 2017 by nxcale

[NXCALE]

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Edited January 29, 2017 by nxcale

[NXCALE]

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Edited January 29, 2017 by nxcale

[NXCALE]

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Edited January 29, 2017 by nxcale

[JR 500系]

WOW!

 

Can I double-like this post! Truly amazing! I would LOVE To buy this if it is available for sale....   :)

[beakaboy]

Wow! Nice work! Very cool. The speed of the bus and the turntable are spot on.

[NXCALE]

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Edited January 7, 2017 by nxcale

[katoftw]

Awesome!  Sell to Tomix before they make their own. haha

[JR 500系]

Truly amazing stuff! Still the question is will it be available for sale to us?  :)

[Sascha]

This is very cool. I was wondering if someone will make one.

[NXCALE]

.

Edited January 29, 2017 by nxcale

[kvp]

Your project is a great success!

 

Imho if Tomix ever wants to sell a motorised bus turntable, then a few changes have to be done:

-above surface DC drive motor mechanical end switches (like on the turntable) to remain desk/tatami friendly (a small shack is needed to hide it)

-probably a mechanical stop/go system based on a curved groove guided stop magnet (magnet is in position at most of the time, except in release position

-it would only need a single DC motor, a 2 position 'turn cw/ccw' switch (Tomix track polarity switch), two limiting switches with diodes and a single sliding stop magnet in a radial channel guided by an injection moulded groove in the static base

 

On the other hand, motorised traversers do exist. Most european brands operate on the basis of DC motor, two diode and limit switches on the end and a position stop sensor (like on turntables), consisting of a single limit switch in the traverser bridge catching on grooves at every valid position. You set the direction with a switch and keep pushing the move button (connected parallel with the stop switch) until just before the desired location, where you release the button and the bridge stops automatically at the next groove.

 

If you want to make a good traverser, i would suggest building your own. It's just a square hole in the ground, with some rails and a steel bridge moving over it. You could glue down 4 rails in the pit (without sleepers), get two bogies, glue them under the bridge and add some short pieces of rail (cut to be flush, like joinerless Tomix Finetrack) to the sides. You could move it with a DC motor and a position switch in the bridge (powered from the tracks and turning the axles on the bugies or a 5th friction wheel in the middle) or under the table with a stepper and a screw drive.

[cteno4]

Nxscale,

 

Excellent! Kudos! This is really a well done project! It is a,aging what can be done with the bus system and ardunio! I have to get the time here to sit down and learn the ardunio system and start doing projects like this!

 

The points work week. I did them manually just sliding the end of a wire between two other wires. I was thinking of just using rc servos or even tortoise motors, but the mini steppers with the worm drive are perfect and uber cheap ands easy to control with your ardunio circuit it looks like!

 

Transfer tables are not horrid to build yourself as kvp notes just a box in the ground. I scratch built one as a kid along with a turntable. I just used a geared down motor and a slot in the center of the pit that had a finger that attached to a belt that went the length of the pit and looped the gearing shaft. Worked well and the one Bennie is if it got bound up at all (and it did till I worked out all the table wheels rails etc just right) the belt would slip on the shaft some and nothing got torn up at all. I was working on little notch switch on the finger to make stops but it was getting fiddly (I was like 12-13) and I found that I could hit the mark with the power button like 97% of the time with both the transfer and turn tables so I dropped it eventually. With a long stepper it would be easy to program yours up like this.

 

The walthers Ho kit uses a long worm drive just like the stepper sliders to move the table down the slot. Commercial transfer tables are very expensive! From what you have done here rolling your own would be easy. The pit is just a box and a slot and two-four rails (also used to convey track power if you want but with the slot you can dangle a wire with the table moving finger). The table is just a low girder bridge really. Just a flat girder box with rails on top and wheels under to move on the rails. The wheels were the most fiddly parts and I almost just used small blocks of Teflon plastic with a slot to slide and cheat as you could not see the wheels. I used some small z wheels and it finally worked well.

[NXCALE]

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Edited January 29, 2017 by nxcale

[inobu]

Ok, Here is my problem. I was PM'ed to tone down my non technical advice "Project managing advice" so I took that advice for its face value and I guess I can understand the position. Here is my problem....I'm going to explode. I cannot watch someone take a route when I know another option is available and may serve them better. 

 

I created project documents that helps to gather data, technology and such in order to eliminate rework. It works out pretty good even in the hobby. I worked in a lab and we used the quality assurance model. So that's where I get this "non sense".

 

Here is an example wheel that explains it a bit.

 

 

You can see some of these elements in this thread.

 

 

Here is my point. 

 

I traveled down the Ardino road and based on the model train feature baseline there is something that proves to be better and faster than the Ardinuo. DCC Decoders.

 

Running everything on a central system aid in inter-operatability. The stepper motor only need on/off control. You can program that into the decoders. When you run DCC and JMRI you can control everything via the script function. It also has the logic table that can activate different decoders based on the designated logic. It has pointer, links and everything already. This is the same logic used in the occupancy sensors and signal lights. It is easier and quicker in the long run.

 

In any case both will work but all of the programming is done in JMRI for you just need to configure it. 1 decoder can control the turntable, lights at the turntable itself. If you use a sound decoder it will add ever more to the operation.

 

So based on my project doc's the best choice I found was DCC and JMRI.

 

Now that I said it, I feel like I contributed based on my findings.

Great job and I only wish for the best.

 

Inobu

 

 

Trouble starts when you have no choices.

 

P.S.

 

I got the bus system and both the 1/150 amd 1/160. The 1/160 comes with a rechargeable battery with USB connections and cable. I started the project doc for this one wait till you see the first feature set. 

Edited August 13, 2016 by inobu

[kvp]

Imho a bit more engineering knowledge always helps. A stepper motor needs direction and clock pulses or in case of a native driver, a number of specific pulse patterns. The controller also has to count the steps if position feedback is missing. DCC doesn't even support this, not to mention the lack of decoders. It could be hacked, but that would be like using a hammer as a screwdriver.

 

Inobu, i don't really want to say anything about your project management skills, but if they are as good as your engineering knowledge...

[inobu]

Imho a bit more engineering knowledge always helps. A stepper motor needs direction and clock pulses or in case of a native driver, a number of specific pulse patterns. The controller also has to count the steps if position feedback is missing. DCC doesn't even support this, not to mention the lack of decoders. It could be hacked, but that would be like using a hammer as a screwdriver.

 

Inobu, i don't really want to say anything about your project management skills, but if they are as good as your engineering knowledge...

This is a comment worth quoting. LOL

 

Inobu

[NXCALE]

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Edited January 29, 2017 by nxcale

[inobu]

Nx,

 

You hit the nail on the head as many get caught in the endless planning loop and some form of Process flow will bring that into light. The Design thinking model is another means.

 

Even though it is a hobby the process is no different than any other product development. In any case it is hard to see what happening in the background and I just wanted to bring to light that the PM aspect will help. I wasn't sure if that was what you were doing but the only way to bring attention to it is to point it out.

 

In any case your skill sets are great and documentation is the way to manage it. Because it is a hobby people have the tendency to leave out the business elements but you are just proving that that element is required in most cases.

 

Thanks for posting

 

Inobu

 

I had an idea you were doing in but though I would throw it out there to start the dialog and make sure.

 

I got both of the buses 1/150 and 1/160. I took them apart already lol. So I'm building my scope of work and feature list.

 

Ohhh here's what I found  Flat wire for guide wire. The mistake I made was not checking the ferro level in the material

The 304 stainless steel in non ferrous/magnetic we need 301 or 316  also it should be "bend and stay"

 

 

   

Edited August 15, 2016 by inobu

[NXCALE]

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Edited January 29, 2017 by nxcale