Moving Boat on Lake 2.0 - Videos

Lee, just awesome

that looks great.

 

THANKS, ALEX

Great job !!!

Too cool for school!  Nicely done!

Awesome Lee

Awesome Work can you tell me what Motor and Drive System you used and Where I can get the magnets I would like to do something like this for my Christmas Display something like a large Ice Skating Pond

That is such a nice animation!

Lee.....totally fantastic.....love it!!

 

Alan

I think it would be a mistake to get a quieter motor.  I thought I was listening to the boat motor when I watched the videos.  Great job!!!

 

Earl

Lee ,

you are a genius, madman, and train nut!  Just awesome!

Thanks for sharing.Really get a kick out of it.

BRILLIANT!

 

Jon

Great Job Lee,

Thanks for sharing the behind the scenes info,

Great to see a new unique animation.

Jim Warren, Ohio

WOW!!! Thats Great. Happy Easter.

The motor a "Pellet Stove Auger Gear Motor" made by Merkle-Korff and bought from Amazon.  

http://www.amazon.com/Pellet-A...9&sr=1-2-catcorr

There are many models, all identical except for the gear ratio - they make versions with shaft RPM from 1 to 6 RPM.  They are very plentiful at around $130 but I found the two I have bought (this one and a 2 RPM one for another project) on Amazon for around $75.  

 

The V- belt is a standard 1/2 inch type as for a fan belt on a 1970s car, except it is long - 120 inches.  The industrial and scientific section of Amazon has V-belts in lengths up to 220 inches.  

 

A note: Amazon's search engine is a bit frustrating to deal with when you are looking for things like this - it sometimes hits on the gear or motor or belt or shaft set you want and other times not.  The key words when looking for this motor are "Merkle-Korff motor."  Similarly when looking for V-belts, you get nothing from it unless you add a manufacturer's name:  search for "120 inch V-belt" and you get belt sanders.  Search for "V-belt Goodyear" and you get pages of V-belts of all possible lengths. 

 

Note 2: My mechanism is all wood, including the shaft and bearings.  It was cheap to build and I could make gigantic (22" diameter) pulleys to give a wide sweepeing turn at each end of the boat's loop.  You could probably make a quieter and lower-friction mechanism using four small metal pulleys made for V-belts at the corners of a rounded rectangle.  (Metal pulleys in big diameters cost about what a Legacy locomotive does - why I made my own). I've also talked to people who have done vaguely similar things with sprockets and bicycle chains. 

 

Note 3 and recommendation: although only 1/12 HP, the motor, with its gearing, has unstoppable torque: if something goes wrong it has enough pull to hurt something/someone.  I built a "mechanical fuse" into the mechanism.  The motor has a round 3" disc/sprocket connected to its shaft and the pulley system itself another 3" round sprocket connected to it.  They meet, like a clutch and clutch plate: just 1/8 inch apart.  The sprocket's are drilled with 1/4 inch overlapping holes, and I insert a 1/4 inch wide wood dowel through both to connect motor to drive mechanism.  If something goes wrong, the wood dowel sheers first (I hope), and the mechanism stops even if the motor does not, nothing is seriously hurt.  This happened one time while building and testing the mechanism. 

 

Amazing Lee! I can't wait to see what you come up with next! On a side note I think your just scratching the surface with your invention. I'm thinkin' when your running your European steamer from Mth you could swap out the boat and waterskier for a 1:48 Loch Ness Monster!!!  Nice work!

Now that is cool!

Great job, can't wait to see version 3.0. Thanks for sharing.

 

Charlie

Very cool Lee. I love these animations. Anyone looking for parts to do this can find them on old printers, especially laser printers. Most have a number of large DC motors, gears, and toothed belts driving large pulleys.

 

Pete

Super cool Lee. Thanks for sharing.

Lee, absolutely spectacular.  Just a thought, when you get the longer belt, you could add idler discs between the drive discs to vary the path of the boats.

 

But most important, I want to hear the James Bond theme playing when his boat roars by!!

Lee, wonderful idea and thank you for sharing!!

 

I tried doing a search for more pictures of your layout, but I didn't locate any. I am very curious.

 

Any hints as to what that other project motor is for, as I am sure it will be spectacular!!

 

 

I posted a video of my downtown area and Superstreets vehciles running on it on March 25 titled something like "Videos of my Tractor Trailers, etc.  Here is the link

https://ogrforum.com/d...ent/4949358370519630

 

The other project motor is in something non-aillroading that my son (27) built with no help beyond one suggestion from me and my gift of a 2 rpm version of this motor: the motor winds up the spring in an automatic machine that throws a baseball as far as 90 yeards or a tennis ball about 50 yards any time it is dropped into a tray.  My son made it made it for one or his neighbors who has both a very big backyard and a particularly athletic and enthusiastic Golden Retriever that just never gives up bringing the ball back and wanting one more throw.  Now his neighbor can sit and drink bear and watch sports without being interrupted twice a minute.  You can buy commercial dog-ball throwing machines but this one throws the ball a long way.

Looks great! Nice job Lee.

Lee, love it. Have you experimented with silicon spray on the surface?

I also like your treatment of the Fastrack, looks nice.

Lee, That is just so awesome. Thanks for posting. Mike R

Lee, I has similar noise issues with my moving Gantry Crane. The original setup used magnets, metal gears, and the assembly was screwed to the table top. I ended up deleting the gears and using direct drive though a vinyl plastic coupling. Also mounted the mechanism through rubber mounts to decouple it. This on a portable module. You might be able to get away with a floor mounted mechanism not directly attached to the layout.

 

Pete

That is so cool!

I loved version 1.0 and 2.0 is even better!  Congrats! 

 

As far as noise and vibrations are concerned I have a wood shop and I have converted all of my belt driven machins to link belts, they are very quiet and generate very little vibration even on the ones that go very fast.  Russ

 

 

Very cool!

That looks great! Have you ever thought of adding 1/4" of water to the lake bed to create a wake for the skier. Then drain the water through a drain hole with a plug after each use? Keep up the great work

Great job, much appreciated by a boater.

Well, yes, I thought about it some, and its a good suggestion, but:

a) I'm not sure it would look good or that the skier would stay upright if there was water around her skis - she actually barely touches the surface of the water - the "rope" pulling her is a tiny styrene bar that actually holds 90% of her weight so she really floats above the surface with only the cotton tufts for her wake touching the lake surface.  (If/when she touches hard it tends to turn her to one side or completely on her head).

 

b) I don't worry about all that water around all that electricity and my trains, but I do worry about the water - the lake is 8 feet by 3 feet - at 1/4 inch deep it would be nearly 4 gallons, I think - something like that.  A lot of water.  I think it would collect dirt and mold?

 

c) Biggest problem though, is that my lake surface actually is not perfectly level.  My benchwork was good, but over the eight feet of its length, one end is actually about 1/2 inch higher than the other.  You don't notice this with all the terrain around it and all, but the water would . . . 

 

d) If I had it all to do over again, so I could build a benchtop that is level and capable of holding the weight, I'd love to try for a lake that is about four inches deep, and paint the bottom dark blue to add depth.  I'm confident I could get magnets to pull boats through water from below that depth.  (I've never had a train de-rail on that overpass across the lake, but this much water would add drama to my running trains, wondering about ruining a perfectly good loco if it now plunges into the water!)

I apologize if I missed this - but what is the top of your lake made of? 
 

It is cut from a singlesheet of 5mm thin luann plywood - finish side up, lightly primed and sanded to smooth out the grain just a bit, then painted three coats with a 4" foam roller, using Rustoleum oil-based paint, a mixture of 1 part royal blue, one part dark green, 1.5 parts gray, and 2 parts white.   

Thank you, Lee. That careful preparation shows. It looks magnificent.

Loved this- I am going to figure out a way to use this on our seasonal layout, but making a farmers field & a 1950's tractor pulling a combine. Thanks for posting & sharing the knowledge.

 

I don't no how I missed this old post, because I always pay attention to Lee's ability to be so clever with his work. This is above being a train, model enthusiast. You really do follow your motto:

"If no one as ever done it that way, it might be fun to try."

Thanks, guys.  I run this every day and it has been bulletproof and dependable ever since.  I do need to repaint the lake surface (an easy job once I do the really difficult, day-long job of removing the bridge and lifting up the lake surface) as the boat's felt pads that it rides on have polished a very visible shiny path around the course it takes. 

how did you mount the magnet to the belt?

 

Nice Job Lee

 

I hope to add nice moving things to my layout when I get that far.

 

Actually, upon reflection I realize: this is very old - v e r y  old - moving-boat-on-lake 2.0. I worked okay but constantly needed fiddling.  The bulletproof version I have today is 3.0

 

2.0 worked okay, but eventually I replaced it with version 3.0 which is amazingly simple in concept but detailed in little things that make it work well: I have an 0-27 track that runs 5 inches below the lake surface (which is 5mm Luann plywood).  On this O-27 loop runs a BEEP with a big neodymium magnet attached to the roof that runs 1 mm - just a silly mm - below the plywood.  This pulls on a small magnet in the bow of each boat.  Version 3.0 has worked reliably for many years.  Simple, but the details matter.  The key is a honking big magnet below, a very small magnet in a light boat above, with felt pads to minimize friction.