Funicular goods railway - help!!

Funicular goods railway - help!!

Author
Discussion

Mrs Funicular

2 posts

113 months

Sunday 10th May 2015
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Mrs Funicular here again. The train has been working since Christmas (on and off due to a few snags) and it is absolutely fantastic. I no longer have to ration what I buy in the supermarket or feel guilty whilst my husband hauls bags of compost and cement up the steps. Children love it and the other day I opened the door to the Tesco delivery man ready to go out in the pouring rain and operate the train and he said not to worry, he'd been here before and already done it all. I still can't believe we have our own functioning train and the only problem is that I could now not be without it. It means such a lot. For example, if we have another child in the future I won't be confined to the house because I can't manage the steps with the baby and the pram/nappy bag/etc. It means if we come back from a trip late at night my husband doesn't have to carry multiple heavy bags up the stairs whilst I wrestle with a grumpy child. And don't even get me started on Christmas and invaluable it was. Next year I want to decorate it with fairy lights and stick a reindeer on the front.

I continue to be hugely grateful to the two piston heads who gave their time and expertise so generously. And each and every time there is a blip H8tax steps in and saves the day like some kind of funicular whisperer. My husband has also been amazing at maintaining momentum and sticking at it when I thought it was a pipe dream. Not to mention digging, lifting and carrying sleepers, adjoining roller chain, making an engine room roof and a hundred other fiddly or manual jobs.

I'm glad you've all enjoyed this thread. Thank goodness for piston heads.

roofer

5,136 posts

210 months

Sunday 10th May 2015
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Some proper people out there, I take my hat off to them. cool

To those two PH 'rs who have put the graft into this, you get a problem with your roofs, PM me.

Edited by roofer on Sunday 10th May 22:29

Bonefish Blues

26,444 posts

222 months

Sunday 10th May 2015
quotequote all
roofer said:
Some proper people out there, I take my hat off to them. cool
This smile

miniman

24,826 posts

261 months

Sunday 10th May 2015
quotequote all
Bonefish Blues said:
roofer said:
Some proper people out there, I take my hat off to them. cool
This smile
That biggrin

yorkieboy

1,845 posts

174 months

Sunday 10th May 2015
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Cracking thread biggrin I think it needs a V8 in it tho yes

Fer

7,707 posts

279 months

Sunday 10th May 2015
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yorkieboy said:
Cracking thread biggrin I think it needs a V8 in it tho yes
I agree.

Thank you for sharing, Mr & Mrs F.

kowalski655

14,599 posts

142 months

Sunday 10th May 2015
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yorkieboy said:
Cracking thread biggrin I think it needs a V8 in it tho yes
And a dirty great PH smiley!

hidetheelephants

23,745 posts

192 months

Sunday 10th May 2015
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Mrs Funicular said:
Next year I want to decorate it with fairy lights and stick a reindeer on the front.
I think this ought to be mandatory, also pictures. thumbup

Wacky Racer

38,099 posts

246 months

Monday 11th May 2015
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clap

To all concerned...well done.

rovermorris999

5,195 posts

188 months

Monday 11th May 2015
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A brilliant job. PH at its best.

Squiggs

1,520 posts

154 months

Monday 11th May 2015
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oliverhanmer said:
https://vimeo.com/127423255
https://vimeo.com/127422939
https://vimeo.com/127418089
https://vimeo.com/127423001
https://www.flickr.com/photos/127288954@N08/shares...

Ok. Here, I hope,are links to pictures and videos of the funicular. I've included a picture of the motor and you'll see the slightly makeshift approach to connecting up the capacitors. This is temporary whilst we solve the problem with the values. It works but if there is anything too heavy (me for example!) then it needs a push before the motor takes over and drives the carriage up hill. There are a few modifications to be made at some point - swing doors on the carriage to make it easier to get stuff in and maybe a rain cover too. We also need to tidy up around the track itself but we've had other priorities lately.

It is though a huge success - if you look back at the first photos I posted you'll see what a sorry state everything was in. When we first moved in you couldn't even see the track there was so much ivy and weeds! But thanks to hard work and the expertise of PHers Phil and Mark it's up and running and proving invaluable. The supermarket delivery men now know how to work it and ask to get the delivery so they can play with the train! As Phil kept saying throughout the work - 'nothing is impossible'. And that's certainly true if you are a piston head member! Thanks again everyone. Next up is getting the pond and waterfall up and running and terracing the slope by the side of the railway tracks. Onwards and upwards - pun intended.
Great to see it working.
Sorry to here about Mrs Funicular (hope she's on the mend) - but surely having the project working (in some shape or form) must be a great help.

(If she's not been capable of getting the beer kegs up the hill what other option did you have laugh )

netherfield

2,668 posts

183 months

Wednesday 20th May 2015
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Brilliant thread.

BlackZeD

772 posts

207 months

Wednesday 20th May 2015
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Excellent work by all involved well done.
All it needs now is to be the first HYBRID funicular railway and a gearbox for more SPEEEEED wink

oliverhanmer

Original Poster:

42 posts

115 months

Wednesday 30th September 2015
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Hi All. So we have a problem with the funicular and I'm returning therefore to piston heads for advice. The two original PHers who helped so much with it are swamped with work so I'm after a big more guidance.

The motor is the problem. It's a single phase brake motor which has a gearbox attached to drive the cogs that move the chain and therefore the carriage up and down the track. The motor has two capacitors both of which have blown. They were run capacitors with 16uf and 40uf ratings. I've replaced them and it worked for a bit - although it needed a push to get it going if it had any weight in it- but it's now stopped working altogether. The motor hums but just won't start. I've wondered whether I need a start capacitor and a run capacitor rathern than two runs but I'm not sure if that would help or what rating I should get.

I'm increasingly coming to the view that a new motor and gearbox is the best option. It would require a bit of engineering to get the shaft holding the chain cogs attached to the gearbox but I've assumed that's not too tricky - correct me if I'm wrong.... The motor just seems a bit unreliable - you might remember it was the original one that I had rewound - and given that it's what does the leg work I need something I can rely upon. I'm not sure if I need another brake motor - I'm told they are rare in single phase and expensive, or whether I can get away with a standard one and rely on the tension in the chain to hold the carriage in place. It sits quite happily in the middle of the slope without the motor working. I think I would need a motor and gearbox as the current system has a bespoke fitting on the shaft connecting the motor to the inner workings of the gearbox.

I'd be grateful for any advice/thoughts. Having had it working we (and tescos delivery men) really miss it!

Let me know if you need any more info/pictures etc.

oliverhanmer

Original Poster:

42 posts

115 months

Wednesday 30th September 2015
quotequote all
Oh one other point. A motor seller I spoke to said something about checking the power supply to the motor because if that's dropping when the motor starts it often can cause the humming but not starting symptoms I've mentioned. I've not done that - not sure I know how - but does that sound like that could be the cause of the problem?

minivanman

262 posts

189 months

Wednesday 30th September 2015
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I'm not a motor expert so I can't answer most of your question - but if a 3 phase motor is significantly cheaper and easier to get hold of, you could use a digital inverter to run one on single phase. It's witchcraft, but pretty simple - even I managed to get one running.

woodypup59

612 posts

151 months

Wednesday 30th September 2015
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It sounds like the start switch in the motor is toasted.

Its a centrifugal device to switch between start and run caps as the motor spins up from rest.

hidetheelephants

23,745 posts

192 months

Sunday 4th October 2015
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minivanman said:
I'm not a motor expert so I can't answer most of your question - but if a 3 phase motor is significantly cheaper and easier to get hold of, you could use a digital inverter to run one on single phase. It's witchcraft, but pretty simple - even I managed to get one running.
That would be my inclination, as it gets rid of the capacitors completely, 3 phase motors develop more grunt for a given size and inverters give you soft start which eases the loads on components.

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 1st April 2020
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What a great thread and a wonderful thing to have! Any recent updates?

Growing up on our farm, we had one of these, a British Lely "Anylevel" Elevator - great for stacking e.g. old-style small hay bales as high as you liked - I still have it in a shed:





littlebasher

3,767 posts

170 months

Wednesday 1st April 2020
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Wow, was this really 4.5 years ago!