I'm a retired Mechanical Engineer. (Wife says I'm still recovering...) I love both form and function. Your unit has both AND it is beautiful. The sounds are also a great addition. I 'm working on a similar project, and could only hope to do nearly as well. Thanks for the inspiration.
I am currently designing and building a rotary dumper for my S scale layout. I have the cage built and was going with bands to turn it. I have found small plastic chain that I may change to drive the cage. I too am looking for ways to drive the hold down clamps. I would love to see pictures or drawings that have worked for you. Thanks for sharing.
Great!! And nice video too! 1) How do you move the coal that's been dumped to the coal feeder to fill up the goons again? 2) Could you please show us your coal goon loader (link to video)? Thanks tons. Enjoyed muchly Cheers
Thanks Ricardo. 1)Coal is pushed out of the tippler by a rotating spring/coil. Works like a charm on flat gradients. However can't do steep gradients needed for model applications (limited space means you need very steep gradients) so coal is manually transported to my loader for now. Working on a vertical coal lift as we speak but early days still and min time to progress quickly. 2)Coal loader 99% finished - just sorting out the signals and then will be 100%. Will post video when I get a chance to (hopefully in 2019. It took me 2.5 years to get the final 10% of the loader done - two small kids and my work took all my time).
Nice work! It'd be interesting to see more of your layout as we so seldom see African based layouts in the UK. There was an article in the 1970s Airfix magazine on modelling the Benguela railway and the Chinese are now rebuilding that line but it's a bit 'jungly' and the Savannah would be an interesting project.
Thanks Mike. Yes, my layout has "significant" grasslands (I'm modelling Waterval Boven and Waterval Onder area). Time allowing I would also love to share more of my layout, but unfortunately I'm currently relegated to quick TH-cam posts. Will change as the kids get older and realise dad is not so cool.
Hi John. See my response to Marteltrains below for another version of what I'm about to write. It's a plate with the 4 locking arms attached to the corners of the plate. The arms are made from stiff steel wire, bent to the correct shape. The plate sits below the tippler. The arms can move in the plate to allow for imperfections in the manufacturing (it's all hand made). The arms go through guides (styrene tubes) that you can see right next to the track. The plate is pushed up from below with a lever. The plate has a round styrene tube as a guide through the middle of the plate. A compression spring pushes the plate downwards creating the downward force needed to lock the wagons. The compression spring sits around the guide. You can see it all best at 3:05. You can see the lever (looks like two levers) at 3:08 and 3:02 sitting just above the coal. You can see the plate dropping at 2:46. Hope this helps as it's difficult to describe in words. Having said all this I'm not convinced it's the best plan. It works extremely well and is super reliable, but it looks like crap when the tippler turns over. I'm working on a new tippler as we speak (when work, kids and wife allow) and will experiment with other ideas.
Excellent model that works well, I see that you have used the typically noisy Tamiya motors. Suggest looking at the GA12 sized gear motors on Ebay. these are quiet and cheaper than Tamiya Search for geared motor GA12
CMD wagons. There are a few TH-cam videos of the Walthers one mechanised. It's not a bad option and is probably the easiest way to get one in. Not wild about the locking mechanism though. I printed (laser sintering) my improved tippler a few years back but with 2 small kids and a demanding job, that project has stalled. The arduino software is close to being done and the hardware is about 70% done. It looks infinitely better than this first attempt shown here. When my kids no longer think I'm cool and want to have nothing to do with me, I'll finish it.
@@brucerandell3771 yes I understand, life gets in the way of a great model railway. Your skills are above mine so will probably just enjoy your hard work via TH-cam
Brian Suter I scratch built this mainly from 5mm thick perspex, but there are also aluminium, steel and styrene bits too - basically what I had in my workshop that would do the trick. I used Tamiya motors and gearboxes because they were cheap, but they are very loud as well - doesn't come through in the video. When I build my next tippler I will buy more expensive gearboxes that are quiet.
Like! I see you uncouple each car before dumping, this can be avoided by using rotary couplers. These *_were_* available from www.sergentengineering.com/ but regrettably I can't find them anymore now. Hopefully they'll return these couplers to their product line once their 3D printer gets going. I do recommend buying a simple non-rotary version first to get to grips with the proto:scale format (it's smaller then a Kadee coupler and thus incompatible, as explained on the Sergent pages) with an EC87K pack. The earlier rotary couplers are non-operating in that they don't have working knuckles, but an EC87K on the other car/loco will do the trick for uncoupling. I have converted part of my fleet to proto:scale couplers but can't show it as images are not allowed in these comments. Alternatively, ask Andy Reichert of the Proto:87 Stores if he has some suitable couplers left in stock. HTH!
Yup, I'm building a much improved tippler as we speak and I will need rotary couplers. Thanks for the links. I will try Andy. If not I will make my own (he says nervously). I've seen a youtube video I think where some bright guy was making his own so will have to get that video up when I get there.
+Marteltrains It's difficult to document the 8 months of trial and error to get to this point (the first two tipplers/rotary dumpers I made were utter failures but they got better with each revision), but here is a summary of what is here, that might guide you in hopefully the right direction: It is mainly made from 5mm perspex but there are other bits and pieces in there too - styrene, aluminium, springs, bearings etc. The dumper is held down against roller bearings by two rubber bands (from old tape decks) that run in grooves in the main round end sections of the dumper. These bands go around a shaft under the unit that provides the the rotation. In hindsight these bands eventually stretch so I will replace these with small belt drives and use the shaft to pull the loader onto the bearings either by a spring or by a weight. The locking arms were the complicated bit and are attached to a sprung plate that gets lifted from below by a lever arm that retracts into the base. The locking arms can swivel at the point where they are attached to the plate, but are kept vertical by styrene tubes. These are the tubes that you see the arms sliding in and out of next to the wagon when it is in position. That way, all four arms will evenly press down on the wagon even though I'm not working to tolerances achieved by machines, as the plate will change its angle to take up any slack in one of the arms. Also the arms don't stick even if the plate wobbles a bit as it is being lifted and lowered. A spring around a styrene tube pushes the plate downwards, while the styrene tube acts as the guide to keep the plate moving in one plane. You can see the plate when the loader is in the fully tipped position. This is a complicated and clumsy approach and I'm still thinking about a better plan for my next tippler, but I have not come up with a better plan yet - my tipplers must accommodate various types of wagons that have different side wall heights. There are "locking hooks" (angle styrene) that the dumper base swivels into that hold the dumper down as the lever arm lifts the whole dumper when it tries to lift the locking arms. You can see these right at the ends of the dumper base, nearest the camera. DPDT switches provide the forward and reverse polarity to the two motors. One motor for rotation and one motor to lift the locking arms. Limit switches control the extent of movement for all moving parts and cut/give power to the various circuits controlled by the DPDT switches. Next time I take the unit out to do any work/improvements on it, I'll make a bit of a "behind the scenes" video to give a better idea of how it works as it difficult to describe without pictures. I'll then post that. I'm currently building a loader and plan to link that to a tippler and will document the construction of the new improved tippler. The main improvement will be the replacement of the rubber bands with belt drives and using more expensive motors and gearboxes. The Tamiya ones are too loud. I hope this helps. It's difficult to describe in words. Hopefully my new loader and tippler will be up and running within the next 12-18 months and I'll post how-to videos as soon as I know everything works. I'm taking videos as I go, but can only post them at the end once I know it all works. These things are trial and error and never work first, second, third... time. I'm afraid I don't have enough time to work on my own projects so cannot take on your tippler as well, unless you pay me my rate as an Engineer and I replace consulting work with your tippler :) ... but it will not be cost effective. Good luck! I hope you get yours working.
I salute your ambition. Let me know how it turns out. My rev 2 (in progress) is way better than the one in the video but I cannot fathom how you could build it in N scale. I hope you come right.
@@4gauge10 I'm already using 1.5mm bolts and micro motors. Can't get smaller stuff easily unless I go cellphone technology small - I can't get it in my part of the world unless I sell my kidneys.
Yup they do. Here in South Africa there are a few at our main coal export terminal and some of our power stations have them too as two examples. Many of them tip two cars at a time. I'm currently building another one that tips two cars. Will post video when done - probably in ten years at the current rate :(
You're joking right? You're gonna say you've grown up in coal country but haven't seen a gondola rotator?? This is how they empty mine carts in the mine for Christ sakes 😂
@@brucerandell3771 Not sure about how South African trains are, but American coal trains have rotary couplers on them so that the car can be rotated and dumped without the consist being broken up. Pretty neat stuff really, there are a few car rotators modeled here that acually work with rotating couplers like the real deal :)
@@awashbowler Yup, ours also have rotary couplers. I just can't get them in HO scale (sergeant no longer stocks). I'm building an improved tippler that will need rotaries so will probably need to make my own, unless you know where to get kadee rotaries. I'm dreading the thought of making reliable ones.
@@brucerandell3771 Unfortunately, I don't know if Kadee or anyone makes rotary couplers. I've never searched for them and everyone I know with a rotary dumper has custom made their own couplers. I believe that they all used kadee #5's and modified them from there to rotate but don't quote me on that. But that was years ago so I wouldn't be at all surprised if a manufacturer makes them now since rotary dumper kits are available. Nothing a quick google search cant answer!! Best of luck!
Hi David. I would love to but the time required to make these means that I would have to give up some of my day job to do this - which I certainly don't mind. However, to pay consulting engineering rates for this would make it rediculously expensive. In addition to this, this model had some flaws that I'm fixing in version 2. I'd hate you to pay some ludicrous amount of money for something eventually stops working. Maybe when V2 is done and reliable, I'll make a TH-cam how-to video. V2 is taking a while to make though (due to the arrival of 2 kids :) ), so don't hold your breath.
Thank you soo much for responding (Soo Quickly) and I do understand. I also recognize these contraptions ca fail and often require re-touching. I figured I'd inquire anyway. I'll keep looking out for the video and should you have a reconsideration, please reach out.
I'm a retired Mechanical Engineer. (Wife says I'm still recovering...) I love both form and function. Your unit has both AND it is beautiful. The sounds are also a great addition. I 'm working on a similar project, and could only hope to do nearly as well. Thanks for the inspiration.
what an excellent tippler
What a fantastic layout. Subtle with a stunning backdrop.We need more pictures.
Thanks Bill. One day when time allows I'll get back in there and start posting stuff.
I am currently designing and building a rotary dumper for my S scale layout. I have the cage built and was going with bands to turn it. I have found small plastic chain that I may change to drive the cage. I too am looking for ways to drive the hold down clamps. I would love to see pictures or drawings that have worked for you. Thanks for sharing.
Cool! I might grind some of my coal into some coal hoppers now...
Great!! And nice video too!
1) How do you move the coal that's been dumped to the coal feeder to fill up the goons again?
2) Could you please show us your coal goon loader (link to video)?
Thanks tons.
Enjoyed muchly
Cheers
Thanks Ricardo.
1)Coal is pushed out of the tippler by a rotating spring/coil. Works like a charm on flat gradients. However can't do steep gradients needed for model applications (limited space means you need very steep gradients) so coal is manually transported to my loader for now. Working on a vertical coal lift as we speak but early days still and min time to progress quickly.
2)Coal loader 99% finished - just sorting out the signals and then will be 100%. Will post video when I get a chance to (hopefully in 2019. It took me 2.5 years to get the final 10% of the loader done - two small kids and my work took all my time).
Nice work! It'd be interesting to see more of your layout as we so seldom see African based layouts in the UK. There was an article in the 1970s Airfix magazine on modelling the Benguela railway and the Chinese are now rebuilding that line but it's a bit 'jungly' and the Savannah would be an interesting project.
Thanks Mike. Yes, my layout has "significant" grasslands (I'm modelling Waterval Boven and Waterval Onder area). Time allowing I would also love to share more of my layout, but unfortunately I'm currently relegated to quick TH-cam posts. Will change as the kids get older and realise dad is not so cool.
Very nice! Almost had a safety event.
Thanks, yes it was.
Hi can you please in detail how you got your clamps to work on your rotary? Thanks John
Hi John. See my response to Marteltrains below for another version of what I'm about to write. It's a plate with the 4 locking arms attached to the corners of the plate. The arms are made from stiff steel wire, bent to the correct shape. The plate sits below the tippler. The arms can move in the plate to allow for imperfections in the manufacturing (it's all hand made). The arms go through guides (styrene tubes) that you can see right next to the track. The plate is pushed up from below with a lever. The plate has a round styrene tube as a guide through the middle of the plate. A compression spring pushes the plate downwards creating the downward force needed to lock the wagons. The compression spring sits around the guide. You can see it all best at 3:05. You can see the lever (looks like two levers) at 3:08 and 3:02 sitting just above the coal. You can see the plate dropping at 2:46. Hope this helps as it's difficult to describe in words.
Having said all this I'm not convinced it's the best plan. It works extremely well and is super reliable, but it looks like crap when the tippler turns over. I'm working on a new tippler as we speak (when work, kids and wife allow) and will experiment with other ideas.
That is one cool video, I have never seen anything like it. HO scale i presume.
+MWRR R Yes, HO scale. Thanks for the compliment.
Excellent model that works well,
I see that you have used the typically noisy Tamiya motors.
Suggest looking at the GA12 sized gear motors on Ebay. these are quiet and cheaper than Tamiya
Search for geared motor GA12
+Westimation Thanks I will do so.
This is something I've always wanted to do, Walters do a model of one and I'm thinking of using it as a start point. The wagons are Lima? or CMD?
CMD wagons. There are a few TH-cam videos of the Walthers one mechanised. It's not a bad option and is probably the easiest way to get one in. Not wild about the locking mechanism though. I printed (laser sintering) my improved tippler a few years back but with 2 small kids and a demanding job, that project has stalled. The arduino software is close to being done and the hardware is about 70% done. It looks infinitely better than this first attempt shown here. When my kids no longer think I'm cool and want to have nothing to do with me, I'll finish it.
@@brucerandell3771 yes I understand, life gets in the way of a great model railway. Your skills are above mine so will probably just enjoy your hard work via TH-cam
Wow it's look very nice and real. Thumbs up and sub from Denmark.
Thanks Christian. Appreciate the compliments.
Can you please tell what brand of rotary coal tipper you went with. I saw a video of a Walthers and it sounded real loud.
Brian Suter I scratch built this mainly from 5mm thick perspex, but there are also aluminium, steel and styrene bits too - basically what I had in my workshop that would do the trick. I used Tamiya motors and gearboxes because they were cheap, but they are very loud as well - doesn't come through in the video. When I build my next tippler I will buy more expensive gearboxes that are quiet.
Like! I see you uncouple each car before dumping, this can be avoided by using rotary couplers. These *_were_* available from www.sergentengineering.com/ but regrettably I can't find them anymore now. Hopefully they'll return these couplers to their product line once their 3D printer gets going. I do recommend buying a simple non-rotary version first to get to grips with the proto:scale format (it's smaller then a Kadee coupler and thus incompatible, as explained on the Sergent pages) with an EC87K pack. The earlier rotary couplers are non-operating in that they don't have working knuckles, but an EC87K on the other car/loco will do the trick for uncoupling. I have converted part of my fleet to proto:scale couplers but can't show it as images are not allowed in these comments. Alternatively, ask Andy Reichert of the Proto:87 Stores if he has some suitable couplers left in stock. HTH!
Yup, I'm building a much improved tippler as we speak and I will need rotary couplers. Thanks for the links. I will try Andy. If not I will make my own (he says nervously). I've seen a youtube video I think where some bright guy was making his own so will have to get that video up when I get there.
Hi Bruce could you please tell me how you got your Rotary Dumper to work , or can I pay you to make mines work please
+Marteltrains It's difficult to document the 8 months of trial and error to get to this point (the first two tipplers/rotary dumpers I made were utter failures but they got better with each revision), but here is a summary of what is here, that might guide you in hopefully the right direction:
It is mainly made from 5mm perspex but there are other bits and pieces in there too - styrene, aluminium, springs, bearings etc. The dumper is held down against roller bearings by two rubber bands (from old tape decks) that run in grooves in the main round end sections of the dumper. These bands go around a shaft under the unit that provides the the rotation. In hindsight these bands eventually stretch so I will replace these with small belt drives and use the shaft to pull the loader onto the bearings either by a spring or by a weight.
The locking arms were the complicated bit and are attached to a sprung plate that gets lifted from below by a lever arm that retracts into the base. The locking arms can swivel at the point where they are attached to the plate, but are kept vertical by styrene tubes. These are the tubes that you see the arms sliding in and out of next to the wagon when it is in position. That way, all four arms will evenly press down on the wagon even though I'm not working to tolerances achieved by machines, as the plate will change its angle to take up any slack in one of the arms. Also the arms don't stick even if the plate wobbles a bit as it is being lifted and lowered. A spring around a styrene tube pushes the plate downwards, while the styrene tube acts as the guide to keep the plate moving in one plane. You can see the plate when the loader is in the fully tipped position. This is a complicated and clumsy approach and I'm still thinking about a better plan for my next tippler, but I have not come up with a better plan yet - my tipplers must accommodate various types of wagons that have different side wall heights.
There are "locking hooks" (angle styrene) that the dumper base swivels into that hold the dumper down as the lever arm lifts the whole dumper when it tries to lift the locking arms. You can see these right at the ends of the dumper base, nearest the camera.
DPDT switches provide the forward and reverse polarity to the two motors. One motor for rotation and one motor to lift the locking arms. Limit switches control the extent of movement for all moving parts and cut/give power to the various circuits controlled by the DPDT switches.
Next time I take the unit out to do any work/improvements on it, I'll make a bit of a "behind the scenes" video to give a better idea of how it works as it difficult to describe without pictures. I'll then post that. I'm currently building a loader and plan to link that to a tippler and will document the construction of the new improved tippler. The main improvement will be the replacement of the rubber bands with belt drives and using more expensive motors and gearboxes. The Tamiya ones are too loud.
I hope this helps. It's difficult to describe in words. Hopefully my new loader and tippler will be up and running within the next 12-18 months and I'll post how-to videos as soon as I know everything works. I'm taking videos as I go, but can only post them at the end once I know it all works. These things are trial and error and never work first, second, third... time.
I'm afraid I don't have enough time to work on my own projects so cannot take on your tippler as well, unless you pay me my rate as an Engineer and I replace consulting work with your tippler :) ... but it will not be cost effective. Good luck! I hope you get yours working.
I'd like to build a"N"scale version of this.
I salute your ambition. Let me know how it turns out. My rev 2 (in progress) is way better than the one in the video but I cannot fathom how you could build it in N scale. I hope you come right.
@@brucerandell3771 Scale it down.
@@4gauge10 I'm already using 1.5mm bolts and micro motors. Can't get smaller stuff easily unless I go cellphone technology small - I can't get it in my part of the world unless I sell my kidneys.
@@brucerandell3771 That's why I like 3-D printers,it makes the impossible,possible.
rotary dumper made in 3d printer
@
I have never seen anything like this before. Born and raised in coal country did these things really exist in the real world?
Yup they do. Here in South Africa there are a few at our main coal export terminal and some of our power stations have them too as two examples. Many of them tip two cars at a time. I'm currently building another one that tips two cars. Will post video when done - probably in ten years at the current rate :(
You're joking right? You're gonna say you've grown up in coal country but haven't seen a gondola rotator?? This is how they empty mine carts in the mine for Christ sakes 😂
@@brucerandell3771 Not sure about how South African trains are, but American coal trains have rotary couplers on them so that the car can be rotated and dumped without the consist being broken up. Pretty neat stuff really, there are a few car rotators modeled here that acually work with rotating couplers like the real deal :)
@@awashbowler Yup, ours also have rotary couplers. I just can't get them in HO scale (sergeant no longer stocks). I'm building an improved tippler that will need rotaries so will probably need to make my own, unless you know where to get kadee rotaries. I'm dreading the thought of making reliable ones.
@@brucerandell3771 Unfortunately, I don't know if Kadee or anyone makes rotary couplers. I've never searched for them and everyone I know with a rotary dumper has custom made their own couplers. I believe that they all used kadee #5's and modified them from there to rotate but don't quote me on that. But that was years ago so I wouldn't be at all surprised if a manufacturer makes them now since rotary dumper kits are available. Nothing a quick google search cant answer!! Best of luck!
Would you be interested in creating this type of device for a fellow enthusiast? I'd gladly pay.....
Hi David. I would love to but the time required to make these means that I would have to give up some of my day job to do this - which I certainly don't mind. However, to pay consulting engineering rates for this would make it rediculously expensive. In addition to this, this model had some flaws that I'm fixing in version 2. I'd hate you to pay some ludicrous amount of money for something eventually stops working. Maybe when V2 is done and reliable, I'll make a TH-cam how-to video. V2 is taking a while to make though (due to the arrival of 2 kids :) ), so don't hold your breath.
Thank you soo much for responding (Soo Quickly) and I do understand. I also recognize these contraptions ca fail and often require re-touching. I figured I'd inquire anyway. I'll keep looking out for the video and should you have a reconsideration, please reach out.
Thanks David, I will do.
@1:16 wake me up when it's over.