Maiden Rescue

Since nobody has commented on this, I'll try to get things started. I had to open mine up last year, and it has several gears and a spring to make it operate. Is there a way to make one of the gears powered momentarily at a push of a button.

HI Michael

 

Thanks for the reply, can you provide anymore details?

I don't get what you mean by "fix", but it is a simple spring powered device triggered by a solenoid. There is not enough travel in the solenoid to pull back the Mounty and reset the device.

 

Here's a parts manual. It would take a lot of work to mod it with a motor or longer travel solenoid to automatically reset it. Even then, the maiden may not get rescued. The spring pulls her up quickly.

 

You could do it, but then the maiden would get body slammed to the track every time the solenoid retracted.

 

Seems like like a very complicated project. It would be nice to have an "auto-matic" reset.

Nice Snidely Whiplash, Turtle!

perhaps a model airplane servo connected to the officer shaft assembly

 Making things move

This is one of my favorite accessories and always a crowd pleaser.  Yes it would be great with an automatic reset....however after opening this accessory up awhile back, I found it very difficult to put back together......so if you do, do so with caution.  I agree with the above post that to mod it would be very complicated and not worth the effort.

 

-Pete

Thanks for the reply from everyone. I will open it up and see what I can do with it.

 

Take it apart slowly and take pictures/record it. Just trust me...

In looking at the drawing, here's my question.  If you remove the spring, is the mechanism such that you can slide the officer forward and back...and the maiden simultaneously swings up and down?

 

If so, eliminate the spring (and solenoid) and use a DC gearmotor to drive an accessible gear axle.  You could drive the gearmotor with more DC voltage in one direction (rescue) than the other direction (reset).  Like DC gearmotors that replaced solenoids in track-switches (think Tortoise), a suitably selected gearmotor can stall in either direction at the end-of-travel without consequence.  Or install limit switches to cut power to the gearmotor if excessive torque would break something at the end-of-travel.

 

Dear Michael R

 

With today cell phone tech I can take a picture of the part I need when I am doing a repair and go to the professional supply house and show what I need. This is how I take my pictures for this forum as well. Thanks for the advise anyway maybe some else will use this advise as well.

Dear Stan

 

I have read the other thread on solenoid. I like this idea it is out of the box. I do not have a working experience with solenoids but I understand the principal. What solenoid kit do you think would work with small modification or ready to install?

I guess I was unclear.  I don't think you can implement a reset with a solenoid.  I don't have this accessory and was just looking at the PDF that Moonman linked.  As I understand it you manually reset the mechanism by extending the spring.  The spring is then held in extension by the solenoid.  The maiden is now on the track and the officer is near the back.  When you trigger the mechanism, the solenoid release the spring and the spring yanks the officer forward and the maiden upwards and the two of them do a vigorous chest-bump.

 

But based on what the other guys who actually have this accessory are saying, it sounds like it's not worth the effort to modify.  It would take a reasonable effort to install a motor with companion electronics to replace the simple solenoid-spring mechanism.

+1

 

-Pete

Hi Stan

 

Since this sounds like a nightmare project I will take your advice and leave it alone for now. This is one of the products I wish Lionel would upgrade. Once I have more experience with solenoid I will revisit this issue.

I haven't seen that handcar before.....custom made?

Dear Stan and the electronics folks

 

Quick question on this again. I just got an Arduino board and I am about to start playing with it and seeing what it can do. This is a future project once I got the basic down. But could I build a circuit that limits the movement of the solenoid with the Arduino board or would servo work better? Could you point me in the right path to get this fixed once and for all.

Still would like to know about the handcar....

There's a 3" and 4.75' poseable (scroll down) figure from circa 1972 that you can get. His looks like one of those.

Look at  servos for RC airplanes. You can play with a linkage to get the proper amount of movement and they are small enough to fit with plenty of torque to move it.

From the drawing:

 

The selenoid (sic) does not move the mechanism.  It only triggers the mechanism.  From what I can tell from the drawing, you manually stretch the tension spring as you slide the officer backwards to reset the mechansim.  The spring then latches in the extended position.  When triggered, the solenoid unlatches the spring and the collapsing spring spins the gear mechanism sliding the officer forward.  From watching a youtube video, the officer slides to the front of the building before the sliding rack engages the gear on the maiden drive gear assembly which then flips her up 90 degrees.

 

Because of the complexity, this is not the best Arduino "starter project" but if you're determined to get this done, here are some thoughts.  I'd see if you can manually operate the mechanism with the top/building removed.  It may be that the top holds parts of the mechansim in place - in which case fasten something over the mechanism to allow you to see the various moving parts.  Remove the spring. I you should be able to slide the officer back and forth and have the maiden pop up as the officer approaches the front of the building.  You may need to remove the solenoid so the spring latch does not engage when resetting the mechanism.

 

Once you have unencumbered full-travel, watch the various gears to see if there's one that you can access from the inside of the building (so that you don't have to punch a hole in the side-wall.  If an accessible gear only spins about 1/2 a turn or so, then you can use a servo motor directly.  Unaltered servo motors only rotate about 1/2 a turn.  If you need to turn an axle/gear more than 1/2 turn you should probably go with a DC motor or gearmotor.

 

As to how to use the Arduino to generate the "magic" pulses that control or servo motor, or how to sense the end-of-travel if using a DC motor comes later.

Dear Stan and Moonman

 

Thanks for the reply. I will look into and get back to you on this.

 

 

I dismantled one of these on our Christmas layout thinking it would be easy to use servos and the Arduino to re-do it. 

Heh.  The thing is really hard to get back together.

The motion of the maiden is perfect for a micro rc servo.  The motion of the Mountie, however, is another matter.  Linear motion is either expensive or very space intensive.  The design of the platform in this accessory makes using my usual go-to linear option(a stepper with built-in worm gear) not workable.  There is another company, firgelli automations, that makes a beautifully engineered linear actuator which runs with an rc servo signal.  But it's too slow.  The Mountie would be totally geriatric and the maiden would perish long before he arrived.

So I've put it on the shelf for awhile.  The next option is to use the 2 figures and build a mechanism under the layout from scratch.  Item number 27 on my to-do list.

Nick C.

The Shaft Assembly Officer is the driver. The hook gets unlatched by the selenoid bump and the spring pulls it along the gears.

 

The distance that it travels on the hook end is what needs to be determined. The hook can be sanded off and the spring removed if a servo can move it far enough to save the maiden. or the 2 gear shaft assembly rotation that Stan suggested. Do step one like he said.

HI

 

Thank you all for the replies. I have a RC hobby shop not to far from my work. I know the owner and I will bring the suggestion that you have sent me and see what kind of mod will work with what servos.

I once thought I had rescued a Maiden, but,  alas, I was duped.  

Good one Bob.

Chuck,

The "snidely Whiplash" hand car is modified. I don't remember what the original car was. I removed one figure from the one side and left only one in place. I made a hat for him and painted it. Added the barrel at the other end. It has worked well in this theme. I have 6-18429 on my list of items for this handcar.

Ted