A customer has five coal storage tanks (see photo below) already placed on his layout. He asked for an elevator system which would conveyor the coal from his open pit area to the top of the tanks for distribution.
The first few photos show the customer's layout. He used 6 inch PVC pipe to make the storage bins.
We decided on a design, a little unique, consisting of octagonal head houses with an enclosed conveyor going to a shed in the pit area.
To make the octagonal 'head houses' I cut setup units out of wood - one size as support for the walls and a slightly bigger one for the roof structure. I also cut five 6 1/4 inch wood circles (hardboard with white tops) to represent the tops of the bins to help in making measurements.
Using the wood setup units I cut two octagonal 40 mil plastic supports for each head house, then the walls. The taller house on the back left of the photo above is where the conveyor will enter. I used the wood piece to trace out the pattern on a sheet of styrene, cut the first plastic piece then used that plastic piece as a setup for the rest of the plastic pieces.
After building the first 'head house' I found that gluing in the top support would be a lot easier if I left one wall out, glued the top then glued in the last wall.
I am leaving out one wall on the tall head house until I know where the conveyor will enter. Eventually 'corrugated metal siding' will be glued to the walls. Right now I am not sure whether I will 'tar' the roofs or use corrugated metal.
Next up are the connecting conveyor houses. They form an 'I' shape connecting all four head houses. I don't plan on placing windows on the head houses - only on the conveyor houses connecting them.
Joe
