More on driving doors

A couple of weeks ago, when introducing my clinic on the Cricut, my friend Mark Dance claimed that if there is a more complicated way to do something, I will surely attempt to do it. Apparently he knows me pretty well. I don’t know if that is altogether my choice, but the philosophy behind Pembroke […]

Roundhouse doors may be too close for magnets

It’s been a rainy weekend here in Vancouver – at last! The kids and I spent a lazy afternoon raking through the Lego. They’re working on some very inventive cars, and I’m plugging away at mocking up the mechanism for the roundhouse doors. I foolishly went out into yesterday’s storm to get some magnets at Lee […]

Driving roundhouse doors magnetically takes more metal than expected

I arrived home this evening to find the Boy had taken a stab at working up the roundhouse door mechanism in Lego. Like all the people on my team at work, he had very high-level instructions, and as with them, he exceeded my expectations. I’m sure there are more bevel gears in his collection, and […]

Another Idea for Roundhouse Doors

My friend Mark Dance has been coming up with all sorts of ideas for mechanisms for Pembroke lately. This week, he sketched an alternative mechanism for opening and closing the roundhouse doors. I’ve reproduced his sketch here, along with my usual ruminations. Mark’s idea is to use Lego bevel gears on a shaft that can […]

More Thoughts on Roundhouse Doors

I’ve been pondering the roundhouse doors for a couple of days. Earlier this year, I came up with the idea to drive the doors with magnets beneath the layout. However, the tangle of rods and levers beneath the baseboard was hard to visualize. So today, I thought I would sketch it out. It still […]

Roundhouse Door Mechanism Design

I’m on a sea cruise to Nanaimo today to visit some family. Not much will happen on the turntable, but the enforced downtime gives me an opportunity to refine and explore my thoughts on making the roundhouse doors operate. The plan is to drive them with magnets beneath the layout; operating doors that need to […]

Engine house doors

Part of my vision is that an operating session starts with the engines shut in the engine house. The first thing the crews must do is open the doors and bring their engines out; and the last thing they do when retiring is to close the doors behind them. Now, I could just make the […]