Toastie

Hi JopieK, as far as I am concerned, we need to arrange all your wonderful(!) input and other "stuff" into a way more organized manner. We have sort of discussed the Arduino approach before here at EB, but the whole thing got more or less "swamped" (Teddy's well articulated terminology) by other interesting(!) forum entries. Is there any way that we can focus this whole thing a little? I'd be very happy to try out your ideas, I just don't know how to get a hands-on instruction (My world is restricted so far to Microchip's PICs and then NXT, Scout, Spybot, and RCX micro controllers - lets call them PBricks). Also, I guess I am pretty familiar with the PF protocol; but we need a "focused place" to discuss these issues, don't you agree? I guess Teddy, you are with me? All the best, Thorsten

Hi there, I just used backbone's reply for a reply ... Well, I don't get it. There are folks who use 100% original LEGO pieces, there are folks who modify LEGO pieces that are simply not available at time of creation (as for example a 11.X V LiPo) but work perfectly well with existing LEGO stuff, there are folks who just create what they judge as reasonable, there are folks who do what they want - that is all perfect! Hey, it's a free world, join the group that suits your needs most and all will be good. Some thoughts though before I leave ... To my opinion, TLC is sometimes simply bullshitting around with us. Oh, I know, that is almost - if not - blasphemy, but let me explain. The 10V LiPo charger got me all exited. That was bad, and it hurt. That is megablocks. You don't need that thing and the whole story was set-up by TLC to just make BIG money. Very clever indeed. Charging the LiPo works with the cheapest 12 V wall wart you can find - I have done it for one year now - it works perfectly well. So what is this? And then: With every new set a new nifty piece may come along. TLC makes what they need, what they see fit. Why shouldn't the non-purists do that as well? Should they wait until the Justified and Ancient give them another piece they desperately were waiting for but they were afraid that TLC will punish us as unbelievers? I have seen it so many time before; for one of my trains I needed a fractional height offset piece, so I cut one of the snot thingies into half and it worked perfectly well. I felt bad though. Man. It is a toy. A couple of months later that thingy was available in one of the new sets. Hmmm. Sit and wait? I don't know. For me 100% purists are very nice folks and the I-could-not-care-less folks as well. I admire both, particularly when they show off their wonderful creations and share them!!! All the best, and play well, Thorsten

Hi Teddy, well, got my PhD about two decades ago , found a decent job , and speak rather fluently LDraw or better MLCad . If you need any help here, I'd be happy to fill in. Furthermore, I believe that this model deserves more than "just" an LDraw mpd file to live in - a full instruction is what it deserves, similar to the BR23 instructions available on the RailBricks website. Will also be a couple of months for me but eventually ... the only thing I can't adjust to is charging for it Best wishes, Thorsten

Folks, don't worry about the LEGO PF LiPo 10 V charger. It is a rip-off. Get a 12 V DC cheap wall wart and it will do! Tested it many times now. It works perfectly well. Regards, Thorsten

Hi Teddy, I have been waiting for this - what a beauty! For me, this is one of the most impressive LEGO steam locomotives I have seen in the past. It does perfectly combine brilliant solutions to the most challenging issues when building LEGO steamers, particularly German pre- and post war varieties: All the detailing on the 7-wide scale (!) generating a perfect overall appearance. But much more impressive: All that wonderful technology to create a engine driven locomotive, the carefully adjusted pivot points, the PF motors in the boiler (!!!) - Wow. Congratulations on your MOC, Teddy, this is a nice X-Mas surprise!!! All the best, Thorsten

DaveE, I was born in Northern Germany, close to Denmark. A pretty much famous Viking Village called "Haitabu" near Schleswig has been found earlier the last century. It was inhabited until the year 1000 - and part of it has been restored with a lot of effort, time, and money. I love to go there and learn from the past. Your village is such a nice replicate of what they did in Haitabu, it is amazing! It feels like being there, in the year 1000. Wonderful. Thanks a lot for sharing!!! Best wishes, Thorsten

Nope, I feel exactly the same. I am voting for the MOC = my own creation / MOD = my own modification version, as many others have already done. It would be nice though to see right away whether the MOC/MOD is vitual/digital or real (particularly in topic titles/subjects). To keep is as simple as possible, as the Brickster wishes: I'd just add a "D" for the digital and nothing for the real version: MOC = my own creation (bricks) MOD = my own modification (bricks) MOCD = my own creation (bits) MODD = my own modification (bits) @Teddy: Big difference to your suggestion, huh? I just swapped the last two letters Best regards, Thorsten

I completely second that: What is the limit of "PF"? Well, I guess better phrased: What are the limits of the PF LiPO, the PF receiver, the PF lights, and the PF motors? I tried to charge the LiPo battery with ++10V DC: No problem at all. Charging was a charm up-to 18 V. I frequently charge my LiPo at 15 V; solely for the reason that it charges faster and I happen to have such a power supply. This has been done for at least 50 times. This does NOT mean that motors run at +10V DC, BUT honestly: 9 V -> 11.X V is next to nothing for a decently designed DC motor. Lifetime MAY go down, but do people have experienced that at all? The PF receiver is fine with running on power close to 5V; and it runs very well on 15 V. Motors are different, but is there any damage evidence? Regards, Thorsten

Is that a trick question ? Of course, I ber many are interested!!! Regards, Thorsten

Hi Gioppa, yes, that may very well be the case (I never checked, just started charging ). LiPo's have a very low leak-rate, so once they are charged, they more or less stay charged. Maybe others have experienced pre-charged LiPo's as well? I would not be surprised. Now four hours or just one hour run time simply depends very much on the model. Friction forces may dramatically impact on run time since fully loaded motors draw much more current than free running motors - see Philo's measurements. Regards, Thorsten

Was exactly the same with my LEGO LiPo. As far as I remember I left it charging for about 24h (@10V that is) - I did not stop flashing. Then I just used it, charged it and everything was ok. My LiPo survived a lot of nasty things, so I guess you should just go and use it. You can't do anything wrong here - even after 12 h the battery should be charged to the extent that everything is on the safe side. Are you using the 10V LEGO charger? Regards, Thorsten

Man, it goes down like - fill in what you want but - Lütt und ... hey, it's a small world. Well with respect to the "load" takig care of your issues (never thought about that, but nothing is wrong with what you are doing) there is a LEGO compatible "Train Weight" (2x6x2) on sale on BrickLink - would that be an option? Hau rein und - Tschüs Thorsten

I could not agree more!!! Every other year, I am teaching a summer class at UC Irvine/CA. Dowtown Disney, 'round the corner, has a LEGO store - well I'd say THE LEGO store in the area. You can get EVERYTHING there, millions of mini figs and what not - but no train stuff. And no PF stuff. Can you imagine that? A LEGO store NOT featuring train or PF? I was going to write them about that - but then we have all learned the hard way that TLC has turned into JUST that: A multi billion dollar enterprise living on it's past . And Downtown Disney is the world of whatever, but not the world of TrainTechs. Rock on, Thorsten

Well, that is something - just put the big black sticker on and then a Christmas tree or Rudolph or Santa sticker on top of that - did TLC think about this already? Multiple layer stickers? Cool! Like the idea very much - may do something like this for my models as well Have a nice Winter Train Time! Thorsten

Actually, I >just< got it! Me too, I never realized the coning to be that important - well actually I did not think about the coning of the train wheel treads to be of any particular value at all! Just wondered why BBB wheels have such a steep "coning". Thanks Duq that you pointed expressively to "coning" - I completely missed that in locoworks post. And thanks to locoworks that you showed the coning to be such a crucial thing (in real world that is, not with respect to the way too tight LEGO track curves)! Well, I have learned a lot in this thread. Eurobricks rocks! I don't know whether this is of any particular value, but here's a link on "coning" that I found really helpful. Regards and thanks again to all, Thorsten Learning, learning, learning ... never even thought about that. Well, I don't have any 4,5/12V tracks now (@ age 48) but used to have a couple then (@ age < 14 years). Back then I guess I wouldn't have realized that at all, now it seems to be the obvious ... and so brilliant! Thanks for the inspiring post! Thorsten

That is a very clever solution! I guess the entire train runs smoothly when pushed from the end, right? At least that was my experience when the cars in front are not too heavy. Nice! Regards, Thorsten

Hi Cecille, absolutely, lets have a look! Regards, Thorsten

Moin Space, wish I would be in Northern Germany, that is where I was born and lived for 35 years ... I love that part of the world the most. Where I live now they believe that moin means "Morgen" - au weia. Now focus, or the Brickster will kick this post out ... First of all, very nice job! I like the LED solution as well as the way your are "hiding" the PF receiver very much. That's the way to do it. With respect to the cables: PF cables are nasty in this regard. They are way too stiff - here flexibility is needed. Yeah, the good old 9V cables were exactly that: Flexible. So whenever I have the chance, I use the PF extension cable to go to a short 9V cable (BrickLink) and then possibly back to PF (for lights and motors that works well. Just the intelligent stuff wants all 4 wires ... I have struggled with this problem for a long time. My solution is shown below: I don't go with the cable directly from one car/train to the other, but rather in a relatively long "loop". The pictures show that for a BR23 engine/tender coupling, 7938 engine/passenger car coupling and GP40/GP38 train coupling. It doesn't look great, but it works very well, on larger S-curves as well. You could further hide the cable, see 7938 - here the cable is barely noticeable, but can still freely jiggle around. This works also for PF cables when you "tilt" the wire 90° for the loop and then back on th other side. Good luck with you project! Regards, Thorsten

Hi locoworks, that sounds brilliant to me. I was thinking about this before but never tried it out. So now that you brought this up, I need to check. Will report back ... Thanks a lot! Regards, Thorsten

Would you allow yourself to put colored adhesive film (it could be viewed as a large "sticker" ) on the sides/back/front of the PF battery box? This is what did on the tender of my motorized BR23 copy: Top left is the original 4 wide coal box, below is the hollow version to be filled with the battery box ... That way, the battery box "fits" into the tender - well it becomes the coal box I am aware that the BR23 tender is probably much larger than what you are thinking of; my point is coloring the 4 studs wide battery box and leave it exposed. Good luck with your project! Thorsten

I am pretty sure that the "rubber idea" (I pretty much like that phrasing ) will do. What I experienced was that one 9V motor simply could not provide enough torque to handle the grip ... but one PF XL or two PF M motors, and even two 9V mini-motors will simply carry you away ... Rock on, Thorsten

Dear All, I don’t know whether this makes much sense or not; I know at least two people (including me) who were interested in how to get “grooves” into Ben Fleskes’ BigBenBricks (BBB) train wheels so that they can be equipped with rubber O-rings. The purpose of running the wheels with O-rings is to (strongly) enhance adhesive forces of engine-powered steam locomotives. This is supposed to be a brief “tutorial” on how to make grooves into BBB train wheels. TLC has its own new version of large flanged train wheels and they have already such a groove. The Emerald Night (#10194) and the Toy Story Train (#7597) feature these wheels. Now, if you’d ask me, BBB L-wheels are actually nicer in their appearance and color as compared to TLC’s version. And at BBB you can choose many different sizes and colors! But: BBB wheels (L or XL) don’t have grooves … so for now, we need to make them on our own. Before we begin, here is a figure to explain things more easily: For BBB L wheels and new LEGO wheels DW = 31 mm. The red LEGO O-ring (shown in black in the figure) has DO = 25 mm and WO = 1.5 mm. The entire machining process is rather straight forward. All you need is: An O-ring which goes into the machined groove. Make your O-ring choice first and then continue. A tool to carefully “grind” the groove into the BBB wheel. Some sort of machinery to continuously spin the BBB train wheel for the grinding process. Here are some details: 1) O-ring choice O-ring width: I’d suggest using an O-ring width ("WO" in Figure 1) of about 1.5 mm. This is more or less matching the red LEGO O-ring width. The Toy Story Train for example comes with red LEGO O-rings. But you can make your own choices! There are tons of different kinds of O-rings out there; just follow the guidelines below and it’ll work. I further suggest that you choose an O-ring with a smooth circular circumference (well, I guess if that is not the case it wouldn't be an O-ring after all ...). O-ring diameter: The O-ring diameter should be “slightly” smaller than the wheel diameter. Example: The large LEGO train wheel diameter at the inner running surface close to the flange (see Figure 1, “DW”) is 31 mm. This is the same for BBB L wheels. The “relaxed” red LEGO O-ring diameter ("DO" in Figure 1) is roughly 25 mm. Summary: A 1.5 mm thick, 25 mm diameter O-ring works perfectly well for large LEGO Train wheels and BBB L wheels. 2) Grinding tool = hand file To actually make the groove you need a hand file. The shape should be rectangular with fine teeth on the short side. Here as an example of a relatively cheap file set (< 10 Euro) I purchased for this purpose: The width of the file should not be larger than the diameter of the O-ring you are going to use. I’d suggest that you use a slightly smaller width than the width of the relaxed O-ring, since it will loose thickness when stretched onto the wheel. For the red LEGO O-ring, a 1.2 mm file works perfectly well - that was by coincidence the width of my cheap file. 3) Machining the wheel There are many ways to more or less constantly spin the wheel; you could use a drill press or an M or XL PF motor bed to spin the wheel: All that is required is a smoothly spinning wheel. Now we need to make the groove. Switch on the power and … … slightly press the file against the wheel flange. You don’t want to grind the flange - just feel its resistance. Once you are there, press the file towars the wheel center, but not to the extent that the wheel stops spinning. Making the groove may take some time but you will see the file eventually going into the material. Be patient(!!!) - don’t melt the plastic due to excessive heating caused by going too fast into the material. From time to time stop and try to get the O-ring into the groove; don’t wrap it all the way around though, it will be rather tough to get the O-ring off again without damage to both, wheel or O-ring: Once the O-ring is “almost entirely” disappearing in the groove you are done. That is a trial and error procedure. With the 1.5 mm thick red LEGO O rings, my groove is about 1.2 mm “deep”. And finally, you should remove any ridges by tilting the file about 45 degrees (the angle doesn’t really matter) and let it “run” carefully over the groove. This should be the ideal result: I guess this is about it. Once you have the O-rings on the wheels, your engine will have strongly increased pulling power – provided the motors are capable of delivering enough torque of course. Maybe this is worth another thread, maybe not: On my BR23, I needed only two O-rings to get full tractive power although there are six driving wheels. In fact putting O-rings on all six wheels made things worse when negotiating curves; I guess this has to do with increased friction forces. On curves, the inner wheels have to travel far less than the outer wheels, but they are mounted onto rigid axles … but I have also heard that four O-rings worked better than two. Oh well, just try it out. There is absolutely no problem at all running BBB wheels with a groove but without an O-ring – so absolutely no harm is done here. After all, TLC’s large train wheels have this groove as well ... Good luck and Play Well, Thorsten

Very nice find! I tried to find it in the manual, but at first glance no success Does the sensor work inside a house? Probably not, but who knows what these guys are coming up with nowadays ... And what is the resolution? I guess "train track resolution" is not realistic or is it? In that case, I could dream up a million things ... Thanks again for sharing, Thorsten

Hi Noam, maybe you guys know all this already, just want to point out: The NXT PBricks 1.0 and 2.0 are harware-wise identical - at least to the extent when they are running the same firmware. The same holds true for RCX PBricks. If you have an RCX 1.0 - congratulations - this one has the AC/DC power in plug. But the 1.5 and 2.0 RCX types do behave exactly the same as 1.0 when you are running the same firmware on all of them. The same holds true for the NXT PBricks. If another sensor is allowed then either the firmware was supporting this sensor in the first place or maybe the firmware version needed to be changed as well, I don't know anything about FLL. Good luck + best wishes, Thorsten

To be honest, I don't have the faintest idea. But I doubt it; it would need to be flashed via the IR port - sounds not very favorable to me. But maybe others have more info? Regards, Thorsten