Bridge and Boat Diorama

G'day Peter
Is this for the ship that will go through the bridge and the span lifts up?
Could you put a high powered magnets that will move the ship instead of having to cut a grove in the waterways?
You can put a very smooth nylon plate under the ship so it can slide over the water.
Just a thought!
Havagooday
Greg
 
Hi Greg.
Your suggestions may be good ideas for another build, but this build has gone too far to reinvent the wheel.
Glad to see your mind is on the ball.

Peter.
 
Worked on making the boat transport tracks.

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G'day Peter
I'm sure when I say this 'glad that you ate back working on the diorama', as I'm speaking for all your loyal readers.
Happymodeling
Greg
 
G'day Peter
I'm fine thanks for asking. I'm on plank 10 on both sides and I'm trying something different and hopefully unique on the RC ship's boat build.
Happymodeling
Greg
 
Unpacked the rollers and found them well greased. However the viscosity was too high for free flow, so I added a drop of road bike chain lube to free it up.

Note: Never use a degreaser, like WD40, on bearing surfaces such as chain links, etc. It washes the grease out and before you know it, the bearing has worn out. Bearings need grease/oil, not degreaser.

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This rolls down the track so easily.
 
To stop the boat at either end of traveled distance, an optical-switch is being incorporated. The switch is triggered when the boat vane cuts the light beam between its 'U' structure. Two sets of brackets are needed for both ends. The switch needs to be positional to compensate for any vane drift after switch-off. In other words, I can position it to have the vane stop before crash into end of travel (slot in display table).

Changed design of track supports. It already is supported at both ends, so it does not need to be also screwed to slot braces (as in original drawings). Instead, another track support will be placed half way along the track. This will stiffen the track and eliminate any sagging.

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You will notice two slots per side bracket. Originally it was to be one long slot. I realized that the centre portion was not really required, so I left it in.

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Last edited:
Thanks fellows for your 'likes'.
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Trimmed quite a few bolts to minimize future hassles of restricted space problems.
Drilled two holes which used would have the bracket upside down. Added centre support bracket.

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After assembling brackets, it was time to test to see if the vane will align in between the optical switch.
Though it looks all well and aligned, I may still incorporate a simple tin plate funnel, and file edges of vane to a bow point.

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Nothing much to show. Today was mainly spending time on other volunteer work. However, was as able to figure out where and how to attach two microswitches to both ends of the transport frame. These are emergency limit switches, in case an optic switch fails. If this happens, the microswitch will switch motor power off, but the boat vane will hit the end of travel. The Perspex bracket will take up the brunt of the impact, and save the switch from being smashed. Besides, the springs will take up the 1/2 inch drift of the pulley cable.

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The boat has its own power source, a 9V rechargeable battery. However, it needs to be recharged. A docking connector has been made.

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Upon assembly, I discovered that the connectors are misaligned. Will have to make a new wooden terminal block for the battery side of the connector. Will do this tomorrow.

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BOAT NAV LIGHTS CHANGEOVER TRIGGER
Had difficulty figuring how to switch the boats navigational lights from downstream to upstream travel. Mechanical switching proved troublesome to arranged when boat reverses direction. Decided to use an "old party trick" using a light beam to trigger a change in nav lights.

The idea is that the LED light beam is ON whenever the pulley motor is in clockwise (CW) rotation (boat to travel upstream). This light is fixed at on one end of the tracks. On the boat vane is the light beam sensor, known as a Light Dependent Resistor (LDR). While the vane moves back and forth, the LDR is always facing the LED light source.

When the light is OFF, the LDR resistance becomes high (135,000 ohms). This keeps a transistor in OFF mode. When the pulley motor is switched to CW operation, the LED light turns ON, and shines on the LDR. Its resistance instantly drops to 62,000 ohms. This low resistance allows a transistor to be in ON mode, tripping a relay. The relay switches the boats nav lights over from downstream to upstream configuration.

Here, I am experimenting with the LDR.
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A favourite LED holder is a pen tube. However, this pen had a strange bore shape. Not only was it square, it was also way off centre. But I quickly put it to my advantage. Upon rotating the tube, one can shift both LED and LDR longitudinal axis to align better, to each other, over a long distance.

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