Anton's Live Diesel

That's sad Anton...

From the pics though it looks as if just the shaft at the end is broken. Unless I'm mistaken this is normally only a spigot (for the clutch bellhousing) threaded on to the main (crankshaft) usually an M5 thread on smaller engines up about .18 and often M6 on larger.

You should just be able to unscrew (often tight) and replace that part quite easily or dispense with it altogether.
Also do you really need the flywheel as that may add unecessary forces?

I don't run with one.

....Just another observation. Those couplings look great and well machined but with those surface screws sticking out they will not be very balanced. Flusher fitting grubs screws would be smoother I reckon.

ahhhh thank you very much Carl you have made me realise that I dont have to take the engine apart to fix this....i still cant see how it comes off though I thought the crankshaft at this shaft were one..my bad.

Do you really think that would make a difference? and how does the flywheel come off as i cant seem to figure it out...

This is the principal assembly and parts with many engines although there must be variations.

These pics are from a cheap .18 engine I bought recently.






The spigot nut is often tight on the flywheel but it is a normal clockwise thread and should undo. You might need to grip the flywheel carefully in a soft jaw vice.



Then you can put your sleeve directly on the (threaded) crankshaft. The best would be to get your girlfriend's dad to make a sleeve (or two.... ...) with the crankshaft (M5 thread probably...mine is) half way along with the other half smooth (my motor shaft that I am going to use is also 5mm) and a grub screw fixing to the electric motor.



...the flywheels these days are just so girly....

Try this one from about 40 years ago....

Carl you are so so so so so so so so helpfull cheers

From those pictures I have managed to remove both the flywheels on both engine and removed the spigots etc. On the force engine, I know have more of the shaft to work with which mean i can reattach the DC motor to it without having to buy a new one

Thanks...

All back together again...I am now using the smaller motor DC motor pictured above but i haven't actually started it up again yet so I do not know how much power the motor will give out...I will post in due course.

How are you going to start it?

Is the smaller (550 ?) electric motor powerful enough to turn over your glo plug engine?

Carl you were right...
the smaller 550 wont even turn the motor over....could you suggest a reasonably small in physical size DC motor (smaller then the 850 as this is a bit large for a single motor) out of the MFA range perhaps or give me some other info about what motors to use as the 850 will be perfect for powering the hymek

This is why I suggested the 850 series motor in the first place.
I tried various motors and none were powerful enough.

To turn a glo plug engine requires a lot of torque.

With a smaller motor you will need gearing to start the engine.

You could always use an external source such as an electric drill.

I see....
well im guesing an 800 would be ok?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MFA-Torpedo-800-Electric-motor-radio-control-boats-/220725893157?pt=UK_ToysGames_RadioControlled_JN&hash=item336449d825#ht_1728wt_698

what about something like a 700?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/12V-DC-electric-motor-Speed-700-size-new-surplus-/300498488066?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f71b0b02#ht_2518wt_932

do you think this would work?

Because my ASP15 nitro is now pretty much run in I removed my MBB900 yesterday and retro fitted a Mabuchi 755 to see if this would turn the ASP15 over but there was nowhere near enough torque to do this.

Presumably the model number is an indication of power/size or something. Please let me know if you know.

Therefore my conclusions are that the MBB900, or something close in size, is necessary to start this ABC engine, but whether less torque would required to start an engine with piston rings I don't know.

antonr91 wrote:

My name is Anton Richards:
I am 18 years old and have just started to get into the whole railway lark:

I am going to apologize in advance for any terminology I use which I wrong as I do not know much about this yet; I am just a model boat, car and plane enthusiast who wanted to try something new.

Thank you for looking

Anton Richards

Anton, I know I am late to this thread but....do NOT apologize....

It is people that are "outside of the railway hobby" who come in later that bring new ideas, concepts, technology, etc. to the hobby instead of being biased of how things should (or always have been done). Some of the best railway modellers for fine detail work are military modellers. And your airplane and RC car skills show in this project.

Great work, keep it up. I have some old small (25-50cc) two stroke petrol motors I should dig out and do something with...maybe to a slightly bigger scale?

Hi Garrett

Thank you for this...it means allot. I was worried when i first joined as from experience, I know some certain kinds of modellers can get touchy when certain people say certain things.

Thank you, I really enjoyed researching and building this loco and their is still lots more to do, even though ive already started on my next project.

People like Carl, David and yourself have made me very welcome on here and have helped me out tremendously. So a BIG thank you to them.

Yes definitely try and have a go at building one, and yes your engine are a bit large for a 32mm or 45mm machine I think. I do not know what the gauge is called as i do not know much about it but what is the smallest size of track for ride on loco? I remember that their is a small club in a woods near me that i once looked at that use very small ride on locomotives, im sure tha track was no more then 20CM apart? but im not sure on that. I am sure you could do something their. Let me know how you get on

David or Carl or anyone else who knows anything about nitro engines...

could anyone tell me if it is safe for the engine and ok to run with the carb on the engine facing 180 degrees so that the throttle lever and the mixture screw are on the opposite side. i want to do this on the shunter as the servo is on one side and the throttle lever is on the other side and linking the two and having smooth operation is difficult at the moment.

It shouldn't make any difference to running that I can see.

Thank you very much...hows your project going? Any luck with finding a GX12 carb?

My project has stalled for the moment while I awaiting another new engine and find that elusive 8mm carb; for the existing engine.

I'm also short on time at the moment with 150 students to deal with at a crucial time (conseil de classe) in the pedagogic calendar. It will get better at Easter.

After a trip to maplins a managed in the hope that I could buy a circuit or parts to build one that would not only start and stop the power going to the motor but would let me regulate it and control how much goes in at any one time. I spent £20 on two items, a start, stop, reverse switch and a circuit board with a control knob on it which would control the speed (forgot the name). The board was rated at 6-18 volts and the minute it was attached it blew up in a massive cloud of smoke. I have taken it back and they have refunded me the money but now I am left with just a directional switch and no control over speed of the locomotive. Could anyone help with circuits or devices I could incorporate into this loco to control the amount of volts going through to the motor at any one time?

Anton, would it not be easier to use a standard Electronic Speed Controller controlled by a RC receiver. I only have experience of 2 types

One type is the Macfive and is about £55 although the Brian Jones site below does a Chimp manual controller at £39.

http://www.brianjones.free-online.co.uk/


The other type is the type I am using for my Live Diesel and is from the following site

http://www.electronize.co.uk/model_electronics_frames.htm

I cannot comment yet on this ESC because I have not yet observed its performance but it is a respected make and can be purchased for around £30.

The other company I have dealt with who provide a great service is Action Electronics

http://www.action-electronics.co.uk/home.html

I have not used their ESC but I think they do do one. Also on this site are some very good wiring diagrams that along with a great deal of willing advice from Carl has got me to the stage where I can just about bumble through. Also Action Electronics will provide/build you a RC controlled relay for about £25 that will allow you to start the engine remotely or switch from battery power to generator ( providing you a have an on board battery).

Carl has far more knowledge than I but I hope the above is of some use.

If you have a brushed motor, the $5 ESC from Hobby King
http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=9090
works well on my battery powered locos. It's rated for 5-12 volts and 20 amps. I use mine with 12 1.2 volt NiMH batteries (14.4V) with no problem. They also have a 30 amp version for $8. (It's single direction only, but a reversing switch can be easily rigged using a standard servo and a DPDT switch.) There's a good explaination here : http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/satr/2point4GHz.htm

Hobby King's transmitters and receivers also work well and are relatively cheap. They have some stock at a warehouse in Germany, so that could save some money on shipping charges.

That is a good reference site Bill.

Anton, There are past articles on here too and you can make a simple transistor controller or multi-diode that could be manually operated by hand or from a servo if you want to go that way but an ESC is the best solution. I have used Electronize because they were cheap at the time and incredibly robust.

Also the RCS Eco series from Australia are good with added features.

Bill's Hobbyking one is certainly worth trying as I will do soon.

Thank you for all the speedy replies. I must admit i completely overlooked the fact that i could use a simple speed controller instead of making a circuit board that i was going to inevitably be operating by a servo anyway. David has recently kindly donated a 700 seres motor to me which was considerably smaller in size the the mfa 850, so i have fitted it to shunter in the hope to have more room and a little less current to play with. ohh no, this smaller engine produces way more voltage then the bgger one but this is not to much of a problem. i am going to use a voltametre this weekend to find out exactly how much volts it produces. do you know what the limit is on some of the speed controller listed above as i know for a fact this is producing way more then 12v. Is there anything i could put between the dc motor and speed controller to lower the voltage if needed? or would the ESC be ok with perhaps 18/19v going through it?

The smaller motor may produce more voltage but probably less current.
There are a number of components and devices you could buy or make to limit the voltage if absolutely necessary.

Most of the commercial speed controllers will handle voltage above 12v.
The Electronize quotes 'motor battery operation 6-24volts'.

I do like the sound of the link that bill sent as well as they are so cheap you cant really go wrong...but perhaps the Electronize would be best suited as it could handle a larger amount of volts.

Thank you all very much

David, just out of interest was there any particular reason why you chose the electronize ESC instead of the others you listed?

Anton, the only reason I am using the Electronize ESC is that it is about the only useful component from a previous abortive ebay purchase. (lesson : dont buy anything complex on Ebay)

However it does seem happy with the power and voltages that could be generated by my 11? pole motor rated at 12-24v so I think it is emminently suitable for my project. Tests have shown that my 900 series DC will adequately generate power to the traction motors.

I have decided to build my live diesel as a three stage project. Stage 1 which is nearly complete will be battery powered and will test the feasibilty of the electrical systems like relays, fusing, ESC and receiver. If this works satisfactorily I will insert the ic power generation module using a cheap 2 stroke ic engine. If this works OK I maybe will splash out on a 4 stroke capable of idling at about 2k rpm.

If everything goes pear shaped after stage 1 I will still have a loco capable of hauling heavy trains up the 1 in 40 to the stock shed.