moving a gantry crane

Here's one way

https://ogrforum.com/d...ent/2415514336649297

Bob, thanks for the video.  Just watching it is fun.

Hi Bob, I'm at work and your video is being blocked so I will have to watch it at home.

As for the Gantry crane project it must be one of the most popular projects in the hobby.

I am doing one also and it is coming along very well but I had a couple of issues to deal with like the seven volt gear motor assembly that I tried to use to drive it. It turned out to be far to weak to do the job. I started to hunt around for an 18 VDC motor and they where all over sevnty five bucks. I went to BJ's, that's one of those club stores and they had an 18VDC battery hand drill for twenty dollars. To me it was a no brainer so I brought it home. After taking it apart to get at the motor the chuck came out with it so I used it to drive my 1/4-20 rod. An MTH building was on sale to club members and it worked perfectly to cover the motor and chuck assembly.

I am almost at the point where I too can do a little video of it but you know how these projects go, everytime we are close to being done another great idea pops into our heads and off we go.

But I did print out your post so to keep it for future reference, I never know when I have to borrow an idea.

Didn't one of the guys at TAS (earnie?) develop a kit for this and for TMCC control?

There are scores of suitable motors on the bay that can be had for a few bucks. Just search on DC gearmotor. You will probably want to look for one that has an output speed of 100-300 RPMs. You can vary the applied motor voltage by +/- 50% in most cases without harm to adjust the speed. Most DC motors used in our trains are actually 12 volt motors and withstand 20 volts.

Example:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-Gea...;hash=item2a1ef2b6b0

Knowing the the drive RPM and the thread pitch of the threaded rod you use for a lead screw will allow you to calculate how fast the crane will move.

TAS offered a chain drive system to move the crane. They were also working on a TMCC system that fit in the crane cab but I don't believe that was ever offered to the public.

Pete