[WIP] Lego monorails. [Custom Rail Systems (CRS)]

[Paperinik77pk]

11 hours ago, djm said:

Hmmm, I hadn't thought about the end of the pin remaining compressed before (and thus causing stress and therefore being "illegal") but you raise a valid point. So I reflected some on the possibility of a non-stressed solution and came up (digitally) with this:

which joins together thusly:

As I said, I've only built this digitally but I think the vertical friction pin should be adequate enough to both provide the flexibility for a curve while holding the shape of the curve.  The horizontal friction pin may provide an option to allow a slight bank in the curve.

(Edit)

And here is a digital bank-less (unbankable?) version:

David

Nice work!!! it seems very flexible! 

[Greenstar]

I actually did a suspended monorail myself witha special car design baised off of the safege system and it runs pretty well

I also built a moving model of the failed Skybus metro project that worked well

[Trekkie99]

5 minutes ago, Greenstar said:

I actually did a suspended monorail myself witha special car design baised off of the safege system and it runs pretty well

I also built a moving model of the failed Skybus metro project that worked well

Cool! I'd love to see some photos of your work. 

[bradaz11]

On 02/05/2018 at 11:09 PM, djm said:

Hmmm, I hadn't thought about the end of the pin remaining compressed before (and thus causing stress and therefore being "illegal") but you raise a valid point. So I reflected some on the possibility of a non-stressed solution and came up (digitally) with this:

which joins together thusly:

As I said, I've only built this digitally but I think the vertical friction pin should be adequate enough to both provide the flexibility for a curve while holding the shape of the curve.  The horizontal friction pin may provide an option to allow a slight bank in the curve.

David

Hi David,

 

Would the big gaps on the side of the rail snag the guide rollers?

but your version of @Mark Bellis design has nice sides with no sharp edges.

 

[djm]

2 hours ago, bradaz11 said:

Hi David,

 

Would the big gaps on the side of the rail snag the guide rollers?

but your version of @Mark Bellis design has nice sides with no sharp edges.

 

I've got some of the round tiles on the way in a BrickLink order and in two weeks my LUG has a public display in which I'll be displaying the monorail. I'll trial the curve in one spot (with a back-up of reverting to the the standard "stressed" curve) and see how well it performs.

I have dwelt on (a) the gap and (b) whether there will be sufficient rigidity for the curve to hold its shape. If it is inadequate, I'll may look into something built using

combined with

These would require a couple of plates on top but that may solve any issues that may arise from the "gap".

I'll post back here when I have something to share.

David

[Greenstar]

On 5/3/2018 at 9:21 AM, LegoMonorailFan said:

Cool! I'd love to see some photos of your work. 

I will try to get some after filming my animation 

I will need to rebuild it though

[djm]

17 hours ago, bradaz11 said:

Hi David,

 

Would the big gaps on the side of the rail snag the guide rollers?

but your version of @Mark Bellis design has nice sides with no sharp edges.

 

Having slept on it, this:

might alleviate the potential issue with the gap (twiddles thumbs waiting for BrickLink order).

David

[Greenstar]

On 5/10/2017 at 9:36 PM, LegoMonorailFan said:

LMF's Lego monorail system (#1)

Full album with video.

Motor assembly instructions (PDF). Courtesy of @djm 

 

LMF's Lego suspended monorail system (#1)

Full album with video.

 

LMF's Lego monorail system (#2)

Full album with video.

 

Masao Hidaka's Lego monorail system

His monorail design is what got me into Lego monorails in the first place! However, the design isn't perfect and can have some problems.

One of the biggest problems with it is the trouble it has taking curves. Even on very long stretches of cured track, the monorail will become very sluggish.

Over some time of experimenting, I've come to two options.

(#1), That the distance between guiders isn't the problem, but the distance between the drive wheels. Ideally the drive wheels should be as close together as possible. Like this for example.

 

This however can cause some obvious problems in itself. Most notably if to much weight is applied to the far front or far back, the monorail may "buck up" when starting.

Option (#2) is to remove one of the drive wheels, and replace it with a guider wheel. Like the example below. @FiliusRucilo uses this method in a similar way for his monorails.

 

Both these examples work very well IMO, and can even take fairly tight curves.

As for non motorized monorail cars, the same principal applies from the first example.

Keep the wheels as close together as possible without compromising stability.

 

LMF's Lego monorail switch track

Full album with videos.

 

 

Pretty cool design

[Brickthus]

Since my brick order arrived, I have added an update to my Space Monorail with completely stress-free curves of smaller radii in both permanent and movable varieties.

Mark

[FiliusRucilo]

Another Monorail for my System: "Sensai Wu's Emerald Dragon-Mono of Tassel Spinjitzu"
This is a funny Mod of LEGO Set 70612 - Green Ninja Mech Dragon based on my test vehicle no. 3

You can fin a little movie showing the "dragon" in action on flickr. 

[Trekkie99]

@FiliusRucilo, just saw this on Flickr. Absolute masterpiece!  

[Rijkvv]

Me noticing this topic only now is a clear indication that I should visit EB more often, or becoming more active with Lego in general. Nice to read all the progress. Years ago I was briefly interested in building a monorail myself, also based on Hidaka's work, but lack of parts prevented me from building and trying anything, and I lost my interest. But I'll keep an eye on this topic. 

[fred67]

8 hours ago, FiliusRucilo said:

Another Monorail for my System: "Sensai Wu's Emerald Dragon-Mono of Tassel Spinjitzu"

That's just plain awesome!   Thanks for sharing. 

[Greenstar]

On 5/3/2018 at 9:21 AM, LegoMonorailFan said:

Cool! I'd love to see some photos of your work. 

I will take some soon as well as put it up on Lego ideas

[FiliusRucilo]

I have just published some new photos of my signal box and the monorail switchpoints on Flickr. There is also a new movie showing the switchpoints in action.

 

 

Edited May 31, 2018 by FiliusRucilo

[coaster]

@FiliusRucilo That's outstanding work.  Well done!

[djm]

Here's the first public display of my CRS, shown at a display run by my LUG.

The points/switches are being controlled by using LEGO NXTs. There are "trigger" tracks associated with each point/switch. The NXT program detects the trigger and moves the track where appropriate. The train contains an SBrick and is being driven using a very simple SBrick profile. The points/switches are a reverse engineer of Masao Hidaka's design. The train is in the style of Masao Hidaka but is built using a combination of @LegoMonorailFan and @FiliusRucilo approach.

As this was the first time I was displaying this, I elected for a simple layout sufficient to stress test the single and crossover points/switches. My LUG has another display in a couple of weeks where I will be displaying the layout. I intend to expand it a little so the crossover incorporates an inner loop.

I'm part way through writing a user guide for the NXT program. I plan to make the user guide and program available for anyone to download in a few weeks time.

Regards,

David

[Trekkie99]

Awesome layout @djm!  

[FiliusRucilo]

Yiiiihaaaaa - i was out for playing at the weekend!

Snottingen Monorail at RHEIN-MAIN-STEIN, Rüsselsheim, 10th June 2018

[Trekkie99]

11 hours ago, FiliusRucilo said:

Yiiiihaaaaa - i was out for playing at the weekend!

Snottingen Monorail at RHEIN-MAIN-STEIN, Rüsselsheim, 10th June 2018

  Epic layout!!!  

[FiliusRucilo]

I've just finished the little movie showing the track layout in action. 

You can find it on flickr.

Link to my Monorail album (you can find the movie at the very last end)

 

Edited June 12, 2018 by FiliusRucilo

[djm]

16 hours ago, FiliusRucilo said:

I've just finished the little movie showing the track layout in action. 

You can find it on flickr.

Link to my Monorail album (you can find the movie at the very last end)

 

Wow. That raises the bar a lot. The layout I'm going to be displaying this weekend pales by comparison. Nice work. 

David

[TJJohn12]

OK, so is the smallest motorized chassis width that folks have accomplished 6-wide (riding on the typical 2-wide rails)?

I'm working on a CRS monorail train right now (not ready for prime time until August at Brickfair VA ). The build envelope inside the shell I've designed and built is 3-wide centered over the rails. I know - that's a crazy dream. Right now, it's a push-train I guess. But I'm just probing the waters to see if anyone has successfully miniaturized some running gear for CRS, or if I'm going to be the crazy one to do it...

-John

Edited June 21, 2018 by TJJohn12

[Trekkie99]

1 hour ago, TJJohn12 said:

OK, so is the smallest motorized chassis width that folks have accomplished 6-wide (riding on the typical 2-wide rails)?

I'm working on a CRS monorail train right now (not ready for prime time until August at Brickfair VA ). The build envelope inside the shell I've designed and built is 3-wide centered over the rails. I know - that's a crazy dream. Right now, it's a push-train I guess. But I'm just probing the waters to see if anyone has successfully miniaturized some running gear for CRS, or if I'm going to be the crazy one to do it...

-John

I've fiddled around with four wide CRS designs a little bit, but didn't get any results. Gearing is definitely the issue when trying to make such a small train. But just because I and maybe others couldn't accomplish such a task doesn't mean no one else can!  So I encourage you to experiment. A three wide monorail may be possible, but you have to consider the fact that Lego battery boxes are four wide. You could however maybe use a usb battery such as one like this.

 

[djm]

Over the last few weeks, @FiliusRucilo and I have been collaborating to create some building instructions for his design for monorail switches. He was gracious enough to provide me with his design and I have turned them into building instructions. So I am now providing you with pictures and the details of where you may download the instructions from.

Snottingen Track, Left Switch

• Building Instructions (PDF)
• LDraw MPD file

Snottingen Track, Right Switch

• Building Instructions (PDF)
• LDraw MPD file

A parts list is available for download as a BrickStock (bsx) file. There is only one parts list file as the parts are identical in both switches.

Comments/Observations

• I have written a NXT program which, when coupled with "trigger" tracks I have designed, enables the monorail switches to operate automatically. I was using Masao Hidaka's switch design, which I had reverse engineered and created some building instructions for. However, my attempts to contact him were unsuccessful and I am unwilling to publish someone else's work without their approval. I am therefore extremely thankful to @FiliusRucilo who was willing to allow me to publish instructions for his design. By doing so, I will now be in the position in the next couple of weeks to make my monorail "trigger" track and NXT switch control program available for people to download.
• You may wish to reflect on using a different colour than yellow for the Technic, Brick 4 x 6 Open Center part. There is not a large supply of that part in yellow available on Bricklink.

Regards,

David