Comments for Track Hacker

Comment on Arduino Model Railroad Scale Speedometer Hack by jnealand

jnealand — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 21:08:34 +0000

Any progress on this train speed hack? I am very interested in this project. Looks like it has been dead for a year. I only purchased my first Arduino board this month so I am looking for a project that could be useful.

Comment on Quick update by No One

No One — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:46:35 +0000

Hey, sorry about your problems. Good to hear from you though. I stopped checking regularly after that latest script-kiddie attack.

I’m still really interested in a CNC router kit!

Good luck!

Comment on CNC Router: Mantis Build 1 by JSC

JSC — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 01:46:22 +0000

Hello and thanks for your blog-

I am also building a M9.1 from scratch and I am wondering what you did to attach the leadscrews to the steppers. Dave’s site shows the ends of the leadscrews bored out to accept the 5mm shafts of the steppers, but that would seem to require a lathe. Not a big deal if you’re using a kit, but…

How did you attach yours?

JSC

Comment on CNC Router: Mantis Build 1 by Softy Squirrel

Softy Squirrel — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:31:32 +0000

It is probably just me, but I can’t get the DXF file to load into a DXF file viewer, I’v tried several progams but they all report an error and refuse to load it.

Does anyone have any ideas I could try?

Comment on Arduino Controlled Model Railroad Turntable Hack by Bob Thomason

Bob Thomason — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 06:31:54 +0000

I would remind you of the need for the elimination of as much “loose movement” between the driven part and the bridge. The bridge must ALWAYS stop at the same position when approaching from a direction and as small a difference from the other direction. My project starts with the Teton Short Lines design and then some MM Logic to remember it is seeking the next position. This is all discrete logic, converted from TTL to CMOS, but would be a great project for a Micro. My mechanism works with the breadboarded circuit. The opto locating is done with a vane ending up between two IR transistors (2 leads). At that point both IR diodes are seeing the IR. Wayne Rodericks explanation of the circuit is not in depth, so some of it was “build it and see”. You are heading in that direction of using 2 detectors but only one vane is needed to accurately position the tracks.

I did some experimenting with Hall effect and it works with refrigerator strength magnets close by. Each Hall device requires a ground, so “totem pole ” arrangements don’t seem to be useful.

I am currently working on the bridge. BTW. I started with a Walthers 90′ model. Scrapped the drive and built something similar to Teton Short line idea. I can’t get under the layout so easy now, so I have the vanes on top of the drive wheel. where I hope to adjust for the final lineup by removing the pit and mounting the bridge only.Getting the slop minimized is not so easy with a plastic kit as a starting point. That’s my cross to bear.

Lets hear more when you have time.
Bob T

Comment on CNC Router: Mantis Build Update 3 – Movement! by Fadi

Fadi — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 03:18:13 +0000

Hi Craig,

Great work. Thanks
Just wondering will there be a kit available for sale? or
should I just start doing it based on your designs from scratch

Thanks

Comment on Introducing the FabricationStation – A New & Improved Mantis CNC Engraver by Jess

Jess — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 05:20:16 +0000

Any update on when these might be available? Thanks!

Comment on CNC Router: Mantis Build 1 by KeithP

KeithP — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 01:01:47 +0000

Okay, got it. The popup was key. Turning off all my filters (and yet still requiring a reboot) got me your files. Many thanks from me, and for the community of makers/hackers.

Comment on CNC Router: Mantis Build 1 by Craig Bickford

Craig Bickford — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 13:11:32 +0000

@Keith P, When you click on the download links above, a little popup window should appear with a button to click to download the file. If you have popups blocked, it wouldn’t work and would just link back to this page. The reason for that is I have to use a plugin for WordPress to protect the file location for TrackHacker downloads to prevent people from linking directly to them (leeching) and so I can track how many people have downloaded each file etc… Sorry for the inconvenience. Let me know if you are still having trouble downloading the DXF and I will email it to you. Thanks for checking us out!

Comment on CNC Router: Mantis Build 1 by Keith P

Keith P — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 21:42:24 +0000

Great work, and thanks for a fine resource for building the Mantis.

Only I have a problem – am I missing something or does the DXF file link just refer to this same page? Is the link messed up or am I?

Thanks for any help…