MOC: Rail Clean Train with Vacuum Cleaner and Railbrush

[Haddock51]

The future 9V Extreme display with a planned track length of approx. 175 m, of which a significant amount of rails will be mounted on inclinations and at 2.2 m above floor level, calls for innovative maintenance solutions.

This MOC is therefore truely need-based and will hopefully help to keep the track free of dust.

The mini (?) vacuum cleaner with a total weight of 290 g is powered with 4 AA batteries. Max width: 7 studs.

The railbrush waggon (total weight 260 g) is loaded with inbuilt metal pieces to push the brush against the rail and to avoid derailing. The brush rotates through friction. Max width: 8 studs.

The locomotive is slightly modified compared to the original and equipped with two 9V engines. Total train weight is approx. 1.2 kg.

PS: I would like to enter this MOC in the Weird and Wacky Locomotive Building Challenge, category 3 "Rolling Stock"....

[toxicbananna]

woah, this is inovative.. how about cleaning the rail?

[bricks n bolts]

Wow, that's awesome, those minfigs better not get too close! Where did you find the vacuum cleaner?

[alainneke]

Nicely built! I might steal borrow this idea for my own layout... For a more complete clean, I would put a traditional cleaner car (with a cotton roll and a little methylated spirit) behind these cars.

[Haddock51]

woah, this is inovative.. how about cleaning the rail?

That´s a good question.

I intend to polish all rails prior to setting up the track (just the cleaning will probably take several weeks...).

The display will be permanently installed so I have to figure out new solutions for long term maintenance. If you have own ideas, please let me know!

Nicely built! I might steal borrow this idea for my own layout... For a more complete clean, I would put a traditional cleaner car (with a cotton roll and a little methylated spirit) behind these cars.

That´s a nice compliment, alainneke! Interesting idea with a traditional cleaner car - and the train gets longer and longer ....

Wow, that's awesome, those minfigs better not get too close! Where did you find the vacuum cleaner?

I got it through an auction on ebay.de

You can find quite some mini vacu cleaners on the intranet, but I haven't found this one (which is actually the only model among those I found that fits lego train from a size point of view. I had to extend the lower platform by 2 studs).

It's a "Batteriebetriebener Mini Staubsauger" imported by Georg Roth GmbH, Lebensmittelfilialbetrieb KG, Würzburgerstrasse 196/198, 90766 Fürth, Germany

Edited March 25, 2013 by Haddock51

[Werlu Ulcur]

Did you run it yet? I mean, over a section of dusty tracks as a test?

[Haddock51]

Did you run it yet? I mean, over a section of dusty tracks as a test?

Not yet. I need to fix a test display first - and also some dust ....

I tried the vacuum cleaner on a table and it works quite ok. Mounted on a lego train waggon, the VC reminds more of a mobile nuclear power station - and sounds like a heavy truck ....

Edited March 25, 2013 by Haddock51

[Electricsteam]

Woud you like to enter this in the weird and wacky locomotive building challenge?

[Haddock51]

Woud you like to enter this in the weird and wacky locomotive building challenge?

I just added a comment at the bottom of my post. Is that ok or do I need to do something else/more?

[Electricsteam]

I just added a comment at the bottom of my post. Is that ok or do I need to do something else/more?

HA Ha ha I'm sorry I totally missed that.

[Werlu Ulcur]

Not yet. I need to fix a test display first - and also some dust ....

I tried the vacuum cleaner on a table and it works quite ok. Mounted on a lego train waggon, the VC reminds more of a mobile nuclear power station - and sounds like a heavy truck ....

PLEASE film it and post it here! We would love to see a nuclear VC working on L gauge .

[Hrw-Amen]

It will indeed be interesting to see if the cleaner does manage to suck up the dust. Could be useful for many people I imagine to have such a device if it really works. Lets hope that when you give it a try out it actually does what you want it to do. Keep us up to date on the progress you are making with it. If possible with a video, although I appreciate a video of dust sucking may be a challenge.

[lightningtiger]

Interesting and funky idea 'Haddock51', you better get scrubbing those rails eh ?

Brick On !

[ronenson]

Wow, that's a really nice MOC.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

This is really cool!

It would be great see this machine in action!

[Haddock51]

It will indeed be interesting to see if the cleaner does manage to suck up the dust. Could be useful for many people I imagine to have such a device if it really works. Lets hope that when you give it a try out it actually does what you want it to do. Keep us up to date on the progress you are making with it. If possible with a video, although I appreciate a video of dust sucking may be a challenge.

I will set up a short test display and take some action pictures, probably with the High Speed Camera Waggon (even though I don´t believe that a Rail Clean Unit should be operated as a high speed train...)

Yes, I guess we are all eager to see how/if it works. But whatever the results will be, at least I have to keep in mind that the 2x25 m high speed track will be mounted on 25 cm wide (plexiglas) shelves which means that there will be dust left between and aside the tracks - and you will most likely see it through the plexiglas sooner or later ...

What maybe is most important is the fact that dustfree tracks will have a positive effect on rolling stock in general and engines in particular.

But this is about so much more! Think about the feeling to sit with a glass of (whatever...) and watch - and listen to! - a train sucking dust!!! :classic:

So maybe the ultimate dust solution might be a train equipped with an air compressor which simply blows all dust off the shelves and off the ramps ....?

And then it´s all back in your own hands again....

Edited March 25, 2013 by Haddock51

[zephyr1934]

woah, this is inovative.. how about cleaning the rail?

Even before reading the first response I was thinking roughly the same thing. That train needs a track cleaner car too, probably in front of the vacuum. Early on I experimented building track cleaner cars

These designs come from before I discovered strong technic building techniques and I would not recommend attempting to duplicate either design, e.g., the small wheels can be problematic. But the basic idea in the yellow one is probably worth considering- hold the eraser at an angle to the track to catch the corner with a spring to keep the pressure on. In this case I only did one rail at a time so you'd have to flip it around to do the other rail, which gave more flexibility in the building (remember no technic in this design) something that could probably be fixed with a little thought. If you are not against modifying bricks you could probably come up with a really slick solution that has the perfect angle.

I do have a few known downsides to my design,

1. at least some of the erasers I've tried have a softening agent in them that can melt lego over time. I have not had any problems with the eraser droppings, but the erasers themselves have melted a brick or two while in storage for months or years. And who knows, maybe the droppings are also caustic.
   
2. I have not built a solution that is strong enough to apply sufficient pressure at the rail AND thin enough to go through switch points/guard rails. I suspect you could make it work with a rectangular eraser at the proper angle though.
   

For my layouts, it is just simpler to do the erasing by hand, so I haven't pursued these track cleaner cars any further. If you do, just be careful to also do a controlled experiment with your eraser stock to make sure it does not melt ABS.

Now looking at your vacuum, pretty slick. I'd suggest finding some thin but rigid plastic, combined with the right kind of tape to build a nozzle on the bottom of the car to get the point of suction a little closer to the track, put it where you want it (e.g., including beyond the rails, e.g., a 10 wide band) and to potentially concentrate it even more. If you find the vacuum doesn't have enough suction you could also use the nozzle to focus on one side at a time (e.g., a 5 wide band that only covers one side of the track).

Good clean fun!

[splatman]

If possible with a video, although I appreciate a video of dust sucking may be a challenge.

For the test, sprinkle some baking flour on the track. Then, it will be obvious if the VacTrain is doing its job. It would also be very video-able.

[Haddock51]

Even before reading the first response I was thinking roughly the same thing. That train needs a track cleaner car too, probably in front of the vacuum. Early on I experimented building track cleaner cars

These designs come from before I discovered strong technic building techniques and I would not recommend attempting to duplicate either design, e.g., the small wheels can be problematic. But the basic idea in the yellow one is probably worth considering- hold the eraser at an angle to the track to catch the corner with a spring to keep the pressure on. In this case I only did one rail at a time so you'd have to flip it around to do the other rail, which gave more flexibility in the building (remember no technic in this design) something that could probably be fixed with a little thought. If you are not against modifying bricks you could probably come up with a really slick solution that has the perfect angle.

I do have a few known downsides to my design,

1. at least some of the erasers I've tried have a softening agent in them that can melt lego over time. I have not had any problems with the eraser droppings, but the erasers themselves have melted a brick or two while in storage for months or years. And who knows, maybe the droppings are also caustic.
   
2. I have not built a solution that is strong enough to apply sufficient pressure at the rail AND thin enough to go through switch points/guard rails. I suspect you could make it work with a rectangular eraser at the proper angle though.
   

For my layouts, it is just simpler to do the erasing by hand, so I haven't pursued these track cleaner cars any further. If you do, just be careful to also do a controlled experiment with your eraser stock to make sure it does not melt ABS.

Now looking at your vacuum, pretty slick. I'd suggest finding some thin but rigid plastic, combined with the right kind of tape to build a nozzle on the bottom of the car to get the point of suction a little closer to the track, put it where you want it (e.g., including beyond the rails, e.g., a 10 wide band) and to potentially concentrate it even more. If you find the vacuum doesn't have enough suction you could also use the nozzle to focus on one side at a time (e.g., a 5 wide band that only covers one side of the track).

Good clean fun!

Thank you zephyr 1934 for sharing your experiences and your advice.

[Haddock51]

Even before reading the first response I was thinking roughly the same thing. That train needs a track cleaner car too, probably in front of the vacuum. Early on I experimented building track cleaner cars

These designs come from before I discovered strong technic building techniques and I would not recommend attempting to duplicate either design, e.g., the small wheels can be problematic. But the basic idea in the yellow one is probably worth considering- hold the eraser at an angle to the track to catch the corner with a spring to keep the pressure on. In this case I only did one rail at a time so you'd have to flip it around to do the other rail, which gave more flexibility in the building (remember no technic in this design) something that could probably be fixed with a little thought. If you are not against modifying bricks you could probably come up with a really slick solution that has the perfect angle.

I do have a few known downsides to my design,

1. at least some of the erasers I've tried have a softening agent in them that can melt lego over time. I have not had any problems with the eraser droppings, but the erasers themselves have melted a brick or two while in storage for months or years. And who knows, maybe the droppings are also caustic.
   
2. I have not built a solution that is strong enough to apply sufficient pressure at the rail AND thin enough to go through switch points/guard rails. I suspect you could make it work with a rectangular eraser at the proper angle though.
   

For my layouts, it is just simpler to do the erasing by hand, so I haven't pursued these track cleaner cars any further. If you do, just be careful to also do a controlled experiment with your eraser stock to make sure it does not melt ABS.

Now looking at your vacuum, pretty slick. I'd suggest finding some thin but rigid plastic, combined with the right kind of tape to build a nozzle on the bottom of the car to get the point of suction a little closer to the track, put it where you want it (e.g., including beyond the rails, e.g., a 10 wide band) and to potentially concentrate it even more. If you find the vacuum doesn't have enough suction you could also use the nozzle to focus on one side at a time (e.g., a 5 wide band that only covers one side of the track).

Good clean fun!

Having read several comments - including yours - has triggered a lot of thinking. It seems like I am stuck with the idea to build a track cleaner waggon ...

If I disregard the entire topic related to chemicals, there are a couple of technical challenges. The most difficult one is to combine the need to get the cleaner pushed to the rail and to make it vertically flexibel. This will be necessary to cope with the inclinations (approx. 8 percent), i.e. when the waggon reaches the end of the inclination and enters a plane level. At this point, the distance between the rail and the waggon platform decreases slightly - depending on the length of the waggon and the distance between the wheels. With a fix cleaner axle, the waggon will be pushed up and will derail.

I am not so familiar with all the Lego parts, particularly not with Lego Technique, but are there parts with springs?

I also believe that the cleaner has to be horizontal, i.e. with a 90 degree angle to the rails. Why should I bother to clean the inside of the rails? For a 9V engine, it is critical that the top of the rail is clean and polished.

Edited March 27, 2013 by Haddock51

[Selander]

Sweet..!!

The only spring brick I consider feasible is a 2605c01.

Check it on BL.

[zephyr1934]

Having read several comments - including yours - has triggered a lot of thinking. It seems like I am stuck with the idea to build a track cleaner waggon ...

If I disregard the entire topic related to chemicals, there are a couple of technical challenges. The most difficult one is to combine the need to get the cleaner pushed to the rail and to make it vertically flexibel. This will be necessary to cope with the inclinations (approx. 8 percent), i.e. when the waggon reaches the end of the inclination and enters a plane level. At this point, the distance between the rail and the waggon platform decreases slightly. With a fix cleaner axle, the waggon will be pushed up and will derail.

I am not so familiar with all the Lego parts, particularly not with Lego Technique, but are there parts with springs?

I also believe that the cleaner has to be horizontal, i.e. with a 90 degree angle to the rails. Why should I bother to clean the inside of the rails? For a 9V engine, it is critical that the top of the rail is clean and polished.

It might not be as daunting as you first think, though you will probably have to build a small test track to make sure your track cleaner design can handle whatever geometries you plan to throw at it.

If you are using just straight and curved track (at least in the hard to reach places) you do not have to worry about clearing the switch frogs and guard rails with your eraser. If you are just using bare track (no plates or anything on top of the ties) there should be enough room to mount the erasers so that they can handle the vertical changes without hitting the ties (especially if the transition into and out of the grades occur gradually, over a few track segments).

So a few more features you might want to borrow from my designs- keep the length of the car as short as possible (w/o sacrificing functionality- a few extra studs shouldn't break the bank). Probably just use two axles, no boggies (so you do not have to worry about accommodating the swing of the boggies). You will also want to mount the eraser as close as possible to one of the axles, to minimize the vertical change as the grade changes.

Thinking about it, perhaps a 7 long technic beam running parallel with the track, with an axle on either end for the wheels and longer axle in the middle with a spring around it to hold the eraser (it does not have to be a lego spring, but the technic shock absorber springs MIGHT have the right sized hole). The spring would push against a rectangular eraser with a hole drilled through it at an angle to slip it on the axle at your desired angle, and then block the end of the axle at the extreme point with a bushing. This could be a fairly compact design (if this paragraph doesn't make sense, I can try to ldraw it for you later in the week). You would still have to figure out some way to keep the eraser oriented upright, e.g., perhaps using a second axle above the first.

Here's a quick and dirty ascii diagram of how I think you'd want the eraser/rail contact. The "V" shaped bit on the left is the eraser and the rectangle on the right is the rail. The eraser is pushing against the top inside corner of the rail, where the 9v motor wheels make electrical contact.

/+++/

\++/__

.\/| |

You do not have to use a spring, my designs used a rubber band. Here are all of the lego parts with springs and there are countless lego rubber bands if you want to keep it pure.

You will probably want some weight on the car too, to keep the spring from popping it off the track (as you can see, I used coins).

You might even be able to devise a purely gravity based approach, e.g., do away with one wheel all together, instead having the weight of one end of the car rest on a pair of eraser pads (but still have pins or a thin panel or ??? to take over the guide function that the flanges would normally do).

Of course at this point, it still might not be worth the hassle of taking the time to build/rebuild the design until you finally have something that is sufficiently robust. It might be easier to use a stepladder and clean the track by hand, or figure out some way of mounting an eraser on a pole and doing it from the ground (perhaps incorporating a train wheel based guide to help you keep the eraser where you want it, or using the "pair of eraser pads" idea from the gravity based approach, only now mounted on a pole that you push along).