I have the possibility of picking up a benchtop CNC mill in a few years. I have not previously made any custom rolling stock but I'm sure that once the mill is tunning I will try that out, along with autos, fountains, and other scenery. Does anyone else here use a mill to create or modify model railroading equipment? Thank you.
I have not used one myself. But I know there's a demand to mill out locomotive chassis to install decoders.
I have a small bench top milling machine that I use all the time for various projects, whether milling chassis for DCC decoders or creating brass chassis for steam locomotives. I use it to modify chassis for kit bash projects and mill rail to create expanding joiner tracks for NTRAK setups.
Well I cheat and use the 6 axis CNC machine at work along with the Pro Engineer CAD software to develop a direct cutting from the CAD application. Right now I have it cutting the pieces to make my own steam locomotives from digitized drawings in N scale using stainless steel. The next step is to use the CNC Laser cutter to finish cut the boiler details. Being the owner of the company has to have a few perks!
Do you got any pics of these? I got a 4 module set, that I'm trying to figure out how to connect the modules to each other.
Here is an early image. I have since modified them by replacing the plastic ties, on the lower end in the image, with soldered on PC board ties to make them sturdier. The middle ends of the rail pieces are milled flat so they slide past each other. I have also since added a rail joiner at the slide zone to keep the pieces aligned better. They sure make set up and tear down a lot faster.
I'm jealous... :tb-biggrin: I've been wanting to do this for some time to make some turn-of-the-century locos from Southern Railways drawings.
Lucky devil... Probably one of the coolest tools/toys to have - if you can draw it, you can make it. Come to think of it, if one takes topographic data off a map one could use a CNC to mill foam blocks into scenery, complete with track paths - just slot it in and complete it with plaster cloth or other, then roadbed, track and ballast. Now to buy out a company with a CNC mill...
My next question was, "What is a milling machine?" For those of use who don't know, here is the Wikipedia answer. Nice picture of a "hobbyist" milling machine in this article.
It is a little more difficult that draw and make. One has to also understand the types of cuts that are and are not possible and well as accommodate for the tolerances. For example, the amount of work I did to make a boiler for a NP Z8 was about 3 weeks. In that time, not only was there the shape to think about, but also the cutters and the order in which they would be used. It gets pretty involved, and I do not go it alone, my head machinist and a couple of the mechanical engineers help an awful lot, because I am an electrical engineer and not a CNC operator. But I love to tinker in the shop!:thumbs_up: Actually, I have been thinking about doing that too, but one thing that stops me is that the metal shavings are easy to control, fly cutting on foam, well that could really mess up the machine. This is better left to a woodworker shop with a CNC router. We do not have anything like that because we do not do any wood work, only machining of metal and printed circuit board assemblies.
I've not programmed CNC, but I'd be thinking that too. I suspect that unless you will be making several, at least, of each item it will be quicker to mark and machine by hand than set it all up. If you want to make messing about with a CNC machine part of your hobby (and have the space for it), then that is fine - enjoy . But if you just want something to mill/turn the odd part on for your trains then a 'manual' hobby lathe will probably be the better tool.
It's a normal male instinct to slobber over the biggest, fastest, loudest, most complicated power tool around. Let us dream! :mbiggrin:
I am not just milling and turning a few parts, I am building an entire locomotive using stainless steel and titanium alloys. I am doing on the CNC and in the CAD system, because, if it works out good, I may make up a bunch and perhaps go into production on short run, ultra detailed steamers that will pull 200 cars up a 3% grade with no slipping. It is about time that a locomotive model could actually pull the prototype number of cars. It will have a 9 pole motor with 1.9 ft-lbs of torque, planetary reduction gears and be side-rod driven to boot. And last but not least, I hope to have O scale detail on an N scale locomotive. This could not be done using a hobby lathe. So since I own my company and it has a state of the art machine shop and a foundry (we make a lot of the alloys we need for our products), I have the all the room and equipment I need to give it a whirl. If it does work out, I may look at going into production and if that happens I would also look at other scales and other locomotives. But I will make that decision after I have built the first 10 units and see the costs and the effort needed in the assembly and testing phase. With the economy down, this is one way I keep my employees working on something instead of laying them off or having them sit and play cards all day. After all, it does no good to have capital assets sitting idle.
Yes indeed. My comment was aimed at the OP or other 'casual' modellers, like me. Sounds excellent. Good luck with that. Any feeling for the likely cost per unit yet? Clearly they aren't going to be cheap It's good to hear someone isn't putting profit before all (unlike the company I work for (but not much longer)). I hope you can ride this dip out.
Hi Mike, Not a clear idea yet on the costs, will have to wait and see. I am now working on the lightboard/DCC interface. I do have a projected weight of about 22 ounces in N scale and 60 ounces for HO. We have never had a layoff, and we never will. If needed, the whole executive staff will go on $1 per year salaries. Then again, we never paid ourselves like the the CEO's who have been all over the news. I expect, if a real production volume can be reached, 5,000 units, then the locomotive could fall into the $500-$700 range
David, where did you find a nine-pole 12 volt (assumed) motor that can fit into an N-Scale steam locomotive? Also, I realize that titanium and stainless will give the locomotive significant weight, but will the coefficient of friction between wheel and rail be high enough to allow it to be used? Wait a minute, with the capabilities of your company, I'm confident the loco will have sanders.....:tb-cool:
The 9 pole motor comes from a company that makes ultra miniature motors for satellite and space applications. I have made a pretty good deal on the ones that fell short of space qualified hardware. They work just fine, it is just they may not have worked to specs in the hot and cold soak testing. At room temperature they are fine. Think micro dimples on the edge of the drivers, will be like ultra fine sand paper. No traction tires will be needed. Can not really do the sanders because of the grain would be too large, and proper size sand grains are hard to get and, well it would be very messy. I am opting for a different kind of DCC decoder that will have capacity CV's that will count down coal or other fuel consumption, water etc. So if you run out of fuel, the train will stop dead in its tracks until the fueling CV is reset. I am thinking to have imbeded sensors at water and coal towers or fueling docks that will auto update the decoder CV's. I may just get really carried away and design a full DCC system that will do 10x more that any of the systems today can do. In my opinion, DCC is still using 1980 technology, and it is time it was updated to 2009 technology. The electronics is, after all, my bread and butter.
Now this is getting seriously cool... You're getting me dreaming of a Train Master in that line... I'll have to stop drooling before my keyboard shorts out. I agree with you that DCC, though still quite sophisticated, could benefit a lot from the progress in electronic technology that has occurred in the past decade. As an example, at work, we've graduated from PICs to FPGAs in some applications (like replacing dozens of logic ICs) and the possibilities are endless - FPGAs are like modeling clay and you can do whatever you want with them. Just an example. There might be chips with other acronyms out there that might be better suited. I like your thinking, DCESharkman!
Hi Mike, Well thanks for the compliments. In my plan, while I am starting with steamers, I am also looking at doing drive unit replacements for existing diesel units. Right now I am working on a replacement drive unit for the Atlas N scale SD-35. This way you can just move the shell over to the new drive. Because of the size difference, I will be using a 7 pole motor with 1.1 foot pounds of torque and it looks like the new drive unit will weigh in at 15 ounces. The Atlas locomotives are the worst pullers in my collection, so they will be replaced first and the Kato locomotives, hands down my best puller, will be last if at all. I am still looking into the financial vaibility of the diesel replacements as well. Philosophical Question----- It the replacement drive set could pull at the same rating as the prototype, is that enough to make an investment in a replacement drive unit? Say the price is $60 - $120 In my opinion, while that would be a very fair price range for the technology improvements, I do not believe that market would support moving into production. I may be wrong, let me know......
