Swivelling Trolley Head

[tramcar trev]

Onto the tramway, dewirements keep plaguing us so in an effort to keep the wheel on the wire I have decided to try swivelling trolley heads as per those used in Hong Kong where during my tram travels not once did a trolley pole leave the wire. One will be made as per the sketch and trialled to see if its any better. Should only take a short time to make, I found the 1mm x 3mm torx head screws in a dead hard drive. One modification I may make is to mill a slot and inlay a piece of graphite to act as a self lubricating contact....

 

[muns]

Hope it works for you Trevor

 

[bobg]

Would a small bobbin shaped wheel be too intricate, Trev?

 

[tramcar trev]

Would a small bobbin shaped wheel be too intricate, Trev?

I have wheels but they de wire. My overhead is in some places not directly over the centre of the track relative to the position of the wheel, if you get my driftand if the wire does not approach the wheel straight on....
I'm thinking of using a bit of lead pencil in a small slot, this would lubricate and coat the wire (he says trying to sound convincing)....

 

[tramcar trev]

The swivelling trolley heads had landed on the backburner. All was going swimmingly till I discovered the cute little socket head screws I had salvaged from the derelict hard drive were not 1mm but 2mm and too big for the job. I did think of rethreading them but they are just to small to even hold.... The chap at Speciality Fasteners just rolled his eyes when I asked for 1mm socket head screws..... There will be some somewhere – I just have to find them.... Or work out another method of doing it....

I rememebered in the middle of the night that I had a small vial filled with teensy screws so I made up one to see if it is worth the effort....

Intial trials suggest that it may be the way to go; it followed the wire nicely despite the pole being off centre. More work needed on the groove to get it to be wide enough to run along the wire and all its foibles yet narrow enough to fit through the overhead frogs (which I AM NOT remaking). Something to work on but the prototype definatley shows promise.
Sorry the pics are not quite in focus....




The pics are a bit out of focus but you can get the jist of the excercise....

 

[Madman]

Your machining and modeling skills always are an inspiration. But "trialled". LOL

 

[tramcar trev]

Your machining and modeling skills always are an inspiration. But "trialled". LOL

Perhaps I should have trailed it? I have a way to go on this, I want to get one that works properly then make up a batch.... Its the sequence of events that makes these a challenge, mark out the thickness of the collector, drill and tap the hole midway, machine in the groove then run past he slitting saw just deep enough to cut the width of the collector, then part it off and You get 2 collectors.... The other part is a 10mm length of 3/32 tube, squash one end in the vise and bend to the angle, then drill a hole for the screw.... Tapping the hole is the tricky bit.... I have already cornered the market in 1mm taps....

 

[trammayo]

Well you are on the right track Trev

You can always use a Hex head or slotted/Pillips/Pozi - or even drill the slider, solder a 1mm rod in, fit to trolley pole attachment, add washer, then lightly pein over. To prevent tightening, user a temporary spacer (Feeler Gauge?) and extract once rivetted.

 

[tramcar trev]

Well you are on the right track Trev

You can always use a Hex head or slotted/Pillips/Pozi - or even drill the slider, solder a 1mm rod in, fit to trolley pole attachment, add washer, then lightly pein over. To prevent tightening, user a temporary spacer (Feeler Gauge?) and extract once rivetted.

Screws are not the problem that I thought.... Picked up some extras today from the local optician, they come in bags of 500, the optician gave me a dozen to try... The ones I have are Torx head and look ok..... It will be all good when I can get the magnifier lamp over the lathe....

 

[trammayo]

That's good. Mind you, I'd need a bag of 500 so I'd have a few left after being unable to find all those had slipped through my fingers!

 

[bobg]

Well you are on the right track Trev

You can always use a Hex head or slotted/Pillips/Pozi - or even drill the slider, solder a 1mm rod in, fit to trolley pole attachment, add washer, then lightly pein over. To prevent tightening, user a temporary spacer (Feeler Gauge?) and extract once rivetted.

A little trick for this is, rather than the feeler-gauge spacer, just include a paper washer in the settup and then waft the finished item through a flame to burn out the paper. If you need more clearance use two pieces.

 

[tramcar trev]

That's good. Mind you, I'd need a bag of 500 so I'd have a few left after being unable to find all those had slipped through my fingers!

Here Ya go Cobber all in a box that you can drop and then s[pend days sorting out;
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1000Pcs-Micro-Eyeglass-Sunglass-Spectacles-Tiny-Screws-Nut-Set-Repair-Kit-Tools-/271603444823?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item3f3cd3ac57

 

[PhilP]

Saw the thread title, and thought Ross was having a go at Trev!!

 

[tramcar trev]

A little trick for this is, rather than the feeler-gauge spacer, just include a paper washer in the settup and then waft the finished item through a flame to burn out the paper. If you need more clearance use two pieces.

Good idea.... But I now have screws and will have to decide on a method of locking them, I could use a microdrop of locktite or squeeze the sides together to grip the screw which would be preferable to loctite which may act as an insulator..... A drop of contact lube should keep it running smoothly.... Another point with this is burrs, the smallest burr can grab the wire and cause a dewirement so it will be out with the micro deburring disc in the dremel under the maggy lamp. I've modified the collector now so its more a D shape rather than semicircular. I'll post more pics ( hopefully in focus) as work progresses...

 

[tramcar trev]

Saw the thread title, and thought Ross was having a go at Trev!!

No Ross is a mate of mine, he would only have a go if I was going to weld the head to the pole by shorting a LiPo across it.... Now that I think of it that is not such a bad idea......

 

[PhilP]

As long as you are not going to do it on an international flight!

 

[trammayo]

Here Ya go Cobber all in a box that you can drop and then s[pend days sorting out;
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1000Pcs-Micro-Eyeglass-Sunglass-Spectacles-Tiny-Screws-Nut-Set-Repair-Kit-Tools-/271603444823?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item3f3cd3ac57

Unusual for our former "on loan" territory, they don't post to Ireland or the UK!

 

[Beddhist]

Screws are not the problem that I thought.... Picked up some extras today from the local optician, they come in bags of 500, the optician gave me a dozen to try... The ones I have are Torx head and look ok..... It will be all good when I can get the magnifier lamp over the lathe....

Note to modellers: always salvage the screws from broken (sun) glasses before throwing them out!

 

[tramcar trev]

I needed a distraction, my wife was watching a young couple on Big Brother trying to have a nookie unobserved and it was just all to much so I had another go at these. This version came out a lot better BUT there are going to be other problems. These will work brilliantly on trailing overhead frogs but what about facing frogs??? Fortunatley I only have one facing frog and thats above the 3 way points leading into the car sidings so cars could exit the yards with reasonable certainty but the pole could go any way on entry....
Fortutitously when I was in HK I spotted a 3 way frog at the depot in Fung Mat rd and took numerous pictures. All the frogs in HK are switchable as they use swivelling heads (for the same reason Im going to use them).... There will now be a brief delay while I manufacture what will probably be the a world first, a 3 way switching over head frog in G. It will be manual unfortunatley unless I get into nano point motors.... Its not going to be that exciting really just a bent bit of brass wire that can swing on an axis and line up with the other 3 wires as desired.... Maybe use the mechanism out of a sub miniture center off switch....
I`ll get back to youse...

 

[tramcar trev]

Here are a few shots of the latest version after careful de-burring with the Dremel.... Can I just say these are the  absolute ducks gutz, I am so impressed with how they follow the wire. The side clearance ensures they can run through the frogs while having enough "meat" for the screw. I cant understand why I did not do this years ago, I hope its not an "age" thing. To celebrate how about another chorus of "Riding on top of the car". Sing along with me?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc9gtJndKE4