Rotary unloader


Wow Steve. Fantastic pc. of equipment. Watched that video 3 times. Looks like you've worked your butt off. Got any orders yet?
 
Larry - I told individuals that the unloaders were very pricey and that I had built this to unload the trains I load with my loaders which are for sale. When I would mention the price I got all the reactions including the scarious - the individual continued to maintain eye contact, was smiling and asked how long to take delivery. There were 2 requests for the dumper at $2500. If I could get enough interest to make a run of 25 I could do this for much less. The dumper unloaded 400 cars of anthracite in the 2 days without a hitch. After a total of 600 cycles the loader rotates farther because of breakend. I will tweek the program and correct this. Might need a program for the first 500 cycles, than an additional program after the gearbox gets broke in.
Steve
 
Steve,

Absolutely beautiful work and engineering with that rotary dumper!!

I hope you could get enough orders to do a run of 25 of them. I would have a serious interest in purchasing one if you did. How much would they be?

Also, what size cars could they handle? I will be doing a modern steel mill layout sometime in the future, and i think this would be sweet to add somewhere near the bulk storage facility to unload strings of Walthers/Athearn Coal Porters and Walthers RD4 Coal Hoppers, but i would have to make sure your dumper could handle those cars lol. I noticed you used 3-Bay 100-Ton Hoppers, and it looks like only those cars will work for the dumper?
 
loco size

As long as the locos are not to wide, no problem. The lean board is only .030" from the side of the car. The other side has more clearance. If the locos aren't wider than the rolling stock, you shouldn't have a problem. As far as weight, the brass track beams should handle your larger heavier engines. If you watch the video, the second car bumps the edge of the leanboard and since I know this I increase the speed slightly so it can bump around it.

I can make these in the bathtub gons also. Since the sides are taller than the 3-bay cars, the leanboard and the holddown beams are located higher in the brass wheels - everything else stays the same. I will try to get some pictures of the unit out of the layout.

I am in cleanup mode around here and that will continue for the next month. If you have serious interest in the dumper send contact info and I will create a file to keep interested parties up to date.
Steve Paul
 
That. Is. Awesome.

Unfortunately, I can't afford one, unless of course you put the price around $100 (which I doubt will happen). But believe me, if I could, I'd build an entire layout centered around that baby.
 
Steve, both the rotary dumper and the flood loader are amazing pieces of miniature engineering. How did you make the rotary couplers? It's hard to imagine you could ever mass produce those and maintain your quality control. Stil, if I had the space and money, I'd buy one in a heartbeat.
 
rotary dumper

Your unloader puts my Walthers automated unloader to shame. Great work.

A couple of ideas to help cut cost.
1: Only make one size of wheels and make screw on adapters to the clamping and side frames to accommodate other rolling stock.
2: See if having the wheels made with investment casting. the wheels are made in a form and liquid aluminum or other metals poured into a mold.
Also offer the unloader in kit form and/or with and with out electronics and sound.

My 2 cents

Joe
Chicopee, Ma
 
I forgot to add
At The Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby show in W Springfield Ma in 2010 I asked Kadee couplers if they have a design for a rotary coupler and they said they do but will not produce them until a working rotary dumper is mass produced. So maybe this will get Kadee to start producing in the future.

Joe
Chicopee, Ma
 
I am returning to this project. I never sold the dumpers since I was relying on a plastic transmission to control the unit. I determined the possibility of a broken plastic transmission would not go well with the expensive dumper. I'm waiting on the gear box to arrive from Designatronics. I actually have 2 of the gearboxes coming ( S9111A-T6017-49 ). Go to SDP/SI.com to view. These units are are made for long life and have 12 ball bearings. That will make a total of 30 ball bearings used in the model. A friend of mine still works at the power plant and I'm having him make a digital stereo recording to use for this project.
 
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I've looked around for your project occasionally in the last 10 years but never found anything. I'm glad to see you progressing but a $500 motor!? To quote my friend Wade, "There's no kill like overkill."

Mine uses a gearmotor out of a discarded Billy Bass and four $2 gear motors from ebay in the indexer and car brake. I only have 8 ball bearings, found in a different dumpster.

Here is the build thread at MRH. It long and boring but looks at some of the challenges to be overcome.

I just looked at Sergent's website and couldn't find the Glatz couplers, are they still made? I know they discontinued some of their line and made the drawings available as public domain. Eastern modelers with TopGons will be happy though, they don't need an indexer or rotary couplers.
 
I've looked around for your project occasionally in the last 10 years but never found anything. I'm glad to see you progressing but a $500 motor!? To quote my friend Wade, "There's no kill like overkill."

Mine uses a gearmotor out of a discarded Billy Bass and four $2 gear motors from ebay in the indexer and car brake. I only have 8 ball bearings, found in a different dumpster.

Here is the build thread at MRH. It long and boring but looks at some of the challenges to be overcome.

I just looked at Sergent's website and couldn't find the Glatz couplers, are they still made? I know they discontinued some of their line and made the drawings available as public domain. Eastern modelers with TopGons will be happy though, they don't need an indexer or rotary couplers.
Hi Paul, I'm in too deep to stop. I need something that won't fail. I may only sell a couple of these but this is where I'm headed. I need thousands of repetitions before failure. I plan to cycle a complete unit to see how far it goes before having a problem. Working on a swivel rotary coupler at the moment.
Thanks for the reply.
 
Hi Paul, I'm in too deep to stop. I need something that won't fail. I may only sell a couple of these but this is where I'm headed. I need thousands of repetitions before failure. I plan to cycle a complete unit to see how far it goes before having a problem. Working on a swivel rotary coupler at the moment.
Thanks for the reply.
I like your swivel rotary coupler. Nice!
 
Your original photos are gone but if you still have the same design, there isn't much to fail. I would imagine 25,000 cycles easily. Maybe then the springs would start to be fatigued. I don't remember what you use for limit switches, maybe a fail point eventually.

My dumper has probably done close to 1000 cycles and the paint is wearing off the end rings even though they ride on ball bearings. I have Kevlar string to hold the clamps and figure that will be the failure. I've actually had more problems with the indexer and the different manufacturer's different length Bethgons than any mechanical issues. Originally, I had a lot of dust but ran my dyed walnut shells over a screen and it is a lot better now.

I'm looking forward to it being done.
 



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