Command Equipped Tie-Jector

To put it mildly, amazing. 

you have way to much time on your hands!!!!!!!!

Thanks guys, perhaps I do have too much time.  Being retired, the whole day is available.

Nice work.  Very cool.

Thanks.   I'm trying to beat a PRR Speeder into shape now, but there's a problem with the current production MiniCommander boards that causes issues in one motor direction.  I'm trying to get that sorted out with ERR now.  My little speeder is sitting there with everything wired, but I don't have a brain for it.

I have one of those cars. Did you get it to go in reverse?

Jim D.

Sure, it'll go both ways, it's full command/control, directional lights and all.  I have to say I didn't try ejecting ties in reverse, but since it's a simple oscillating motion, I suspect there would be no problem.  OTOH, why would you want to eject in reverse anyway.

AWESOME!  I added a Mini commander years ago to my Tie Jector car when I designed the Mini Commander board.  I tried to sort out a way to remotely control the ejecting of the ties, and never finished the task.

The On/OFF to PWM circuit for a servo would be a great design to share, I could run off some circuit boards for you - probably free.  LMK.

The Mini Commanders we tested in the office yesterday all worked well for motor control; I understand you have been working with Ken and he shipped you 2 new boards a few days back.  Hopefully this will fix your issue.

My PWM circuit was somewhat "simple", since I just needed bang-bang control of the servo to two different positions.  I used a 555 and the relay switches in a different time constant to generate the two frequencies to drive the servo to the two positions.  The resistor values were simply tuned to position the servo to the correct positions to activate and deactivate the ejection mechanism.  I also had to isolate the DC and track grounds as the DC doesn't share a common ground and couldn't be connected.  A little kludgy, but it all worked out.

The hard part was getting the mechanical stuff to cooperate in the effort, but it finally fell into place.

I'd be glad to share the schematic, here it is.  You may have to view the image in a separate window and then zoom, posting them here they don't come up with sufficient resolution to actually read them.

Edited to include readable schematic.

John, Thanks for sharing, let's connect off-line if there is a desire to offer these to others.

No problem, I'm around anytime.  This circuit is somewhat basic, I just used mostly common parts I had on hand to solve the problem.  I'm sure there are more elegant ways to do this task, but I was after cheap and expedient.  A similar circuit could most likely fit on a smaller board.  In my case, I cut my board to fit the available space and then made all the components fit onto the board.  I started with a TO-92 regulator, but I ended up needing more current than it would supply, so I changed to the TO220 package.

I'm guessing the airplane servo would solve a number of issues in accessories, because the little suckers have a lot of torque for their size, I was pretty impressed! Considering the cost of them in any quantity, they make an attractive option for all sort of custom motion modifications.  The interface is simplicity itself, the single PWM stream and power.

I would be interested.  I would love to fully automate my tie jector car.

I added a Mini to mine years ago and it works well but never could never come up with a solution for the trip.  Gunrunnerjohn - Excellent work.  I want to upgrade mine!

JIm

The schematic for the PWM generation is above, and the servo I used is a HiTEC HS-45HB.  You'll need the cable and sheath, also the swivel for the control arm that holds the cable.  A small amount of mechanical hacking is required on the actuating arm after you take the trip arm off. 

I don't know if you can make this out, it's kinda' fuzzy, but I took a screw and ground it flat and drilled a hole.  That was threaded into the stub of the arm for the ejector lever and the servo cable is connected to the other end.  Obviously for this picture, the support for the ejector cam is missing, I did put it back on before I closed it up!

John,

If you and Jon are going to move forward on this venture, I'm in too!!!!!!!!!

Second Option - sell me yours and begin construction on Revision 2 for yourself

Best,

Dave

Great inspiration, but no electro coupler.

Al

Uhh... I'm not building another one, but you can buy the little board and build one.

The Tie-Jector when it's ejecting ties has a pretty full load, I didn't see any sense in trying to drag extra cars around.  Besides, the little MiniCommander didn't have any outputs for couplers.

Truthfully, I'd like to see a product like the MiniCommander that had a few more output provisions.  The MiniCommander 2 comes close, but you're still short a couple...

That is awesome! I love it.

On an inspiration seen here, I'm currently working on a command controlled Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.   Soon I'll have a whole fleet of unusual motorized units.

John,

Nice job. Good thinking with the servo motor! I can appreciate the "thinking outside the box" you applied to this conversion. I really like it!

Again, kudos!

Mike

Thanks Mike.   It sat on my bench for more than a week while I tried to think of a slick way to activate that mechanical lever with command control.  A conversation with my brother who is heavily into model planes yielded the answer, and it all came together.

Once I get the servo working, I realized that there are probably other uses for similar mechanical units.  It's got lots of torque and is totally position controllable.  I just need to figure out how to get position data down the pipe from TMCC.

TOPIC RE-OPENED per Gunrunnerjohn's request.

Thanks Rich, just wanted to fix a missing picture.

The Burro Crane is a bit problematic as it has an AC motor and there really is no space in there.  The Ballast Tamper could be done, I don't currently have one of those.  Obviously, I'd pick the remake with the DC motor.  I haven't looked to see how they drive the tampers, it sounds like just a switch.  I don't know about the outer ones that they say are "manual", those might be a problem.

Guns,

   John way cool remote control tie car, nice going!

PCRR/Dave

Thanks, this is an old thread, I just wanted it opened to fix a missing picture in case someone was looking for the information.

Works great, John.  Joshua Lionel would be amazed.

What .......no sound? 

Great job John. Now you need to start on the balast tamper.

No sound?  Well, the new ERR sound modules might fit...

HAHA that's cool.  You seem to be able to make anything CC.  Since I'm not an electronics genius like you I'll have to stick with buying the new one about to be released by Lionel.

Lionel stole my thunder with their release of the CC version, here I thought I had one of a kind.   I think I still have better lighting than the upcoming model.

I'm trying to figure how I could use it to fill my pellet stove??

Great job GUNRUNNER!!!!  You da MAN!!!

Here I have a one of a kind.  The PE Lionel would not produce.  It is factory TMCC and RS 4.0 with Cruise.

I blundered into a JR Berkshire that already had TMCC and RS.  I guess Lionel made a few TMCC versions in some of the upper end sets.

So I went about looking at transplant surgery.  The JR berk with TMCC was a series 1 engine so it had the smaller engine.

My Conventional PE is a series 2 with larger motor.  I wanted to keep the larger motor, so I reviewed how the TMCC brackets were mounted and drilled and tapped for mounting the new TMCC brackets in place of the old.  I also had to modify the series I weight (which is lower profile to handle the DCDR).  I had to open it to fit around the wider Series II motor.  I replaced the DCDR with Cruise board which is an easy fit in the Berk.

The tender frames are very similar, I just had to elongate the RS tender mount holes to match up to the PE shell.  I also drilled a centerline hole an slotted with a file to handle the tether.  You need to use the RS tender because of the remote coupler.  The truck is different than the conventional PE tender truck.

Turns out I like the black truck frame look better so I transplanted the black pilot and trailing truck to the engine.

I was going to transplant the wheels for the black drive, and this is were I ran into a subtle difference between series 1 and series 2 engine blocks.  The bearings are slightly different and did not fit right.  So in the end I kept the gray drivers.

The  PRR engine I transplanted from has gray trim, so it actually look great with the PE gray trucks even though the drivers are black.

Last item was installing the antenna wire.  The PE Conventional berk comes with the same insulated hand rails.  All I need to do was solder the antenna wires to the handrails and it was done.  The Berk shells transplant without mod.

I kept the original smoke since it actually smokes and puffs well, and I am not a big smoke user.  My TMCC PW style smokers work well in command with a very nostalgic look.

The cast PRR tender fit on to the PE whistle tender frame with some small mods.  Elongate the holes, and also trim the corners of the tender frame as there is a slight difference at the front end of the shells internally.

Now a TMCC/RS Cruise PE Berk, and a Conventional/Whistle PRR Berk.  

WHen I did this I only desoldered the motor leads and the trail truck ground wire.  I removed the electronics and switches etc it total and moved over.  Even kept the tie wrap attached.  G