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This page last updated: December 21, 2012 as of April 2016
Coal Ship Conveyor (Self Unloader) Building instructions
Coal in train cars from mine floodloader
is transported up and delivered to be rotary dumped into conveyor into ship loader into ship. Ship sails to distant port. Then the ships conveyor unloads at dock into conveyor-flood loader that loads train cars for delivery to steel mill rotary dumper and from there the coal is conveyored-slides down into the mine flood loader.
When I saw this video of a conveyor ship loader loading coal at Superior Midwest Energy Terminal into a Self Unloader my head exploded.
- Coal Ship Conveyor
- Rotary dumper onloads coal from train - conveyor loads coal onto ship. Ship unloads using its built in conveyor system.
- Coal ship has numerous hoppers to hold coal that is conveyored out at the port.
- Coal Ship Conveyor runs along the bottom of the ship and moves the coal UP and into the conveyor on top of the ship. The top conveyor can swing out and dump the coal onto/into the dock flood coal loader.
- Materials
- 2 6x100" rolls of brass shim stock 0.010" thick (100/16 = 6 So use about one and a half and use the rest for the rotary dumper bin?
- 3 6x12x0.025 brass sheet (each 6x12 makes 3 gates)
- 9 ball links (1 or 6 per package) .. really only use the ball
- VEX parts
- 2 track kits ... use all 1 and 9" from second for the main conveyor. Use most of the rest for the Up tracked bin conveyor.
- large motor and servo link
- lots of other VEX stuff... all only available as part of another kit with parts you do not use :(
- 2 wheel collars to hold the VEX shafts in place
- Lifting conveyors TBD .. looks to be more Adafruit parts ordering as of Valentines day 2015.
- March 2015 a VEX track with brass bins glued on has become the UP conveyor.
- Adafruit parts (for the self unloading conveyor)
- GT2 timing belt 2mm pitch-6mm wide 1164mm long - makes about 22" loop
- GT2 timing pulley 20 tooth 8mm bore - use as idler at diverging end to keep belt centered
stepper motor
- GT2 timing pulley 20 tooth
5mm 8mm bore - use as gear on the stepper motor continuous rotation servo
stepper motor NEMA 17 size 200 stps/rev - has a 5mm drive shaft
- As of March 2015 a continuous rotation servo to be used rather than a stepper motor...
- 8mm shaft and 8mm inner id bearings from EBay to make idlers along the way and to hold the pulley on the idler end.
- Pan and Tilt with servos to rotate and lift the self unloading conveyor ... Robotshop is looking like it.
- hopper cover lifter and mover TBD... Idea is a pair of GT2 belts running on bars across the ship that motivate some kind of trolley that lifts and moves the covers
- 24" x 1 3/4" Angle iron and aluminum drawer slide 31 3/8 x 1 3/4 x 3/4 -from junk box - good luck finding one:)
48"x1" Aluminum angle to make 2 22" pieces and the parts to hold them together for the self unloading conveyor
- screws , nuts , bolts , ...
- Arduino, power supply, LEDs to make blinkies on the ship Red, Green, 3 white
9+1+3 servos, IR control: 14 of 15 pins /// Pan/Tilt conveyor is 3 more .. looks like it will be a MEGA Arduino
- Ship
- The ship will be hand made as the Sylvan model is out of stock As Of February 2015.
- The ship will be a 'shell' that can be lowered onto the conveyor mechanism (hopefully).
- Building the ship to be 6" wide and 53" length. Depth TBD: the inside of the ship will be 10" to the deck and the command castle will add 6 or more inches.
- Available commercial ships
- Bearco plastic : 56 and 71" boat 6" wide $398
- Sylvan 36 x 6" $300 with 10" extensions available $60
- Dumas 1/96 scale 45" x 6" $150
- Others and base shells... base shells are not usefull for this as what is needed is the top portion, not a functional RC boat ... could be used to bash a container ship.
- 'real' Ships 250' conveyor [35"] dunno what the height actually represents.
- Indiana Harbor 1000' x 105' 56'Height [138 x 14.5 x 7.7]
- St Clair 770' x 92' x 52' height [106 x 12.7 x 7"]
- Wilfred Sykes 671' x 70' x 37' height [93 x 9.7 x 5"]
- Nanny 382' x 62' x 33' high [wider than expected? dunno if it is a self unloader]
- Mine 435' x 43.5' x ~150' high [60" x 6" x 20"++] conveyor is about 145' = 20"
SO my built ship is about half real size, twice the height and yet is longer than the Sylvan which fits the Walthers dock... Actually the ship got longer. Started at 53" : 384' grew to 59" and not finished.. expected to be 60 to 62" Any longer and i will have to scab another layer on like i did to make it grow past 53".
The width seems narrow by the numbers of 'real' ships, it might get fatter to allow for the cargo cover lifter having Room to Move.
Lines drawn, Tools used : sharp edged desk and metal bar, broad tip on a soldering iron that can heat to 800 degrees+
Cut and Bent, Inner, Outer
- Ship hoppers made from brass [The depth of the inside of the ship will be greater than the outside which will be waterlined on resin water.]
- Dimensions (Based on the Sylvan photo of the extension that is 10" and has 3 holds.)
- 5" wide and 2.5" long. 5" deep : 2" straight section with 3" funnelling to a 1" area. 1/2" of the 3" containing the gate and lower tube (so really a 2.5" funnel).
- Functionally similar to the hopper in the coal flood loader. Hint: mark and cut while the brass is flat and straight :) Bend on the edge of a table if it has a sharp edge, use a metal edged bar for the inner bends, go figure.
- Cut a 16" length and cut a 1.5" strip off of the 6" wide brass to make a piece 16" x 4.5". [5+2.5+5+2.5+1" overlap] Cut 2.5" off the end of the 1.5" strip and cut that into 3/4"x2.5" strips to use as connections on top of the hopper, and then make some smaller to use to hold the tube on the bottom of the gate... save all the scraps, they are usefull. Looks like that 1.5" strip will be cut in half lengthwise to make coal barriers <> conveyor belt wideners along the Ertl conveyor, and cut into pieces to make buckets for the Up conveyor.
- Mark 5, 2.5, 5. 2.5 vertical lines (to bend on) and a 2" horizontal line (to cut the corners 2.5" up so they can bend in and as a line to bend on)
- Cut corners. Trim off angles on 2.5 sides ONLY - leave the angles on the 5" sides to bend over to solder together. Cut the piece on the overlap off and cut it in half to extend the 2.5" sides up to the 5" sides... yeah it could be cut different and have it pretty - but o well.
- Bend corners and angled in portions.
Pieces, 2 top view, side view w/servo
- With 0.025" thick 6x12" brass : Cut a 2.5" strip : Cut 2 2.5" squares and 2 1/2 inch strips from it: All 2.5 inch on the other side. Cut a strip 1.5" wide to use as the closing gate.
Solder the 1/2" strips between the 2.5" squares (on the outside edges) to make the gate keeper... the closing gate slides between the square pieces - held in by the 1/2" strips on the sides.
Drill a 1" hole in the center of the 2.5" square with the gate inside - thus there is a hole through and through. Clean up the edges to ensure easy sliding. File the glitches, and run an x-acto knife inside the hole to clear away the shards.
Solder the gate to the hopper with small pieces of brass. Glue a 3/4" long 1"diameter piece of aluminum tube to the bottom of the gate -with those little pieces cut from angle shard scraps.
Cut 2" off the end of the gate and drill a 11/64 hole 3/32 from the end so the ball of a Dubros 2-56 ball link can fit through (once past the edge the ball is in free fall. The slop helps adjustments on the servo arm swing through its arc.). Drill a 3/32 hole in the last hole of the long servo arm of a Hitec HS-55 servo and mount the ball facing upwards. The servo will be mounted upside down. Use your Hitec HPP-21 to manually 'sweep' the servo for a while to loosen it up and spread the grease, then set to 1500 -center- and unplug and then mount the servo arm sticking out perpendicular to the servo facing right on the short hood end.
hopper , servo horn modification after finding out the original method failed.
- Each hopper gate will be servo controlled to open and close...
- The inside conveyor is 36" long and each hopper is 2.5" wide. There is an area at the front and back that will not have hoppers. Between this and that and the spacing between the hoppers the ship ends up with 9 hoppers.
- 900 Left Open .. 1500 centered half/half .. 2100 Right Closed...
- Many trees died to float this boat...
- Ship inside conveyor : Main and minor
- Main conveyor is a Vex track kit 1.5" wide and both tracks and some 9" from a second kit used to make a single conveyor 36" long. Covered with a sew-up bicycle tire turned inside out with the edges cut off. As of May 2015- the threads inside the tire made it 'run' off -depending on which way the tire was placed on the conveyor. Ordered a flexible tire to try... Nope. Went back to the sew up tire and made brackets on the other side of the servos to provide support and make for an even force.. seems to be working.
- Servo controlled : 1500 is stopped. 1800 is grinding start, 'Forward' from motor to other end 1900 to 2000 is running to 2100 is no apparent difference increase... 1100 is 'reverse'
- A motor driver will be used as several servos will be running at the same time and the amp draw is unknown and the Arduino capacity is limited... my other uses of the Arduino are normally 1 servo at a time and they are mini micro nano nana servos, not these big honking bonkers. OK well NO. Motor drivers do not really do anything for a servo. Power for the servos will be from the wall wart that powers the Arduino, which will control the servos on their third- control line. Capacitors needed to decrease the servo and surge noise.
- Minor conveyors are used to move the coal UP and INTO the ship top conveyor.
Thinking 6 to 8" would be about right. One going up at an out angle , the next going up at an in angle, the third going up and back to the center to dump into the collector for the outside conveyor.
Erector tracks are 2" height, 1" width and 4" length ... too short
Tomy ERTL conveyor is 2" height, 1" width and 19" long ... too long.
Bought an ERTL grain auger... the auger does not touch the inner walls by about 1/4" - it grinds the coal rather than lifting it. From the size of the input area where there is a cover with slots cut that let material through - there is nothing that would go through the slots and not become mangled against the side walls.
[and no, it is about 20"... for the 1 going Up and then 1 {TBD ~ 12"} going about flat to dump into the outside... as of march 2015 :) ]
- UP
- Made a bunch of brass buckets to glue to a VEX track...
Looks like that 1.5" strip will be cut into 2.5" pieces and then cut 1/2 x 1" off the sides of that, then fold and solder and cut the cut off pieces in half lengthwise to make brackets around the track to hold the buckets on.
- Added plastic paper over the tracks to try to keep coal from fouling the track and gears.
- June 2015 most the parts worked Except for the Up conveyor and its funnel to the out conveyor. Dis assembled the ship, redid the Up conveyor with a 24" piece of angle rather than the 18" original. Moved the motor to the end so it becomes 27". Will redo the funnel to the out conveyor, the added height will allow a steeper funnel to be closer-under the buckets.
- INTO
- GT2 pulley and belt with an inner tube glued to the belt. This and the offloading conveyor are similar - different lengths.
- Ship self unloading conveyor
- An Adafruit GT2 pulley and belt with an inner tube glued to the belt. A
stepper motor servo turns the gear. A robot rotate and pivot servo combination will be used to rotate and pivot- raise the conveyor. The motor will be on the other side of the fulcrum to help balance the weight.
- Two 24" Aluminum angles mounted face to face hold the gears and intermediate bearings.
ship coal conveyor Pan-Tilt , ship coal conveyor GT2 connection servo horn glued to 5to8mm shaft grabber
- Pan and Tilt with servos to rotate and lift the self unloading conveyor...
- Robotshop parts were used ... Pan/tilt mechanism and Hitec two servos: a HS-645MG for the pan and a HS-805BB for the tilt. The 805 is a mega quarter scale servo doing the heavy lifting.
- Getting the coal from the Up conveyor into the out conveyor is a problem as the out conveyor rotates and that makes its input bin rotate too :(
- maybe a cone shaped bin so the coal is dumped in at the top center and slides down... then the cone is reversed so the coal slides into the middle area input into the out conveyor... whatever makes for an awkward and impossible fit.
- ...Nope. a conveyor is mounted off to the side and when the off loading conveyor is in position it is under the spout of the other conveyor. Not real but it works, this ship does not rotate its off loader in either direction, just the one way.
- Operational build as of 2016 ... Many changes ...
- controller... 3 buttons added for the lower full pan
- overview ... looks better with the outside on - will be MUCH harder to control as the spills are no longer visible
- Pan-Tilt ... before the full pan was added
- Up Out ... finally modified enough to almost actually work
- conveyor funnel ... those vibrator motors really work here - everywhere else the metal is too stiff to actually vibrate enough to shake the coal
- Ship hopper cover lifter
- using an n scale loco as motive power looks kinda tight as the track is 1/2" wide and the ties make it 3/4" wide. The hoppers are 5" wide in a 6" ship
- ...Nope. More GT2 belts and gears and rods , hooked to a 'cart' that slides on -???- and thus pulled back and forth by the stepper motor ...YES... really planning to use it here. and as of 2016 March uhmm nope just a bunch of static wood a pieces from a crane kit.
- Outside of ship (mostly made from scrap plywood) photos :
Overview of ship going into darkness. The imaginary bottom of the ship is mostly hidden by the 'water'. These ships are very long, narrow and shallow.
front : light and radar on a post, people on the life boats, the static cover lifter and covers. The blue wire thing is electroluminescent wire - big name for glowy when fed electricity.
above : side view of a box that is many times too big for scale
above deck : swimming pool and office space
right side : the dumping conveyor is barely visible and the motors for the off ship conveyor are visible - have yet to figure out how to enclose-cover-camoflage that area as the conveyor swings and tilts...
back - there is a back panel that can be put on after all that stuff is stuffed inside. The 3 buttons added for the full pan are visible, the red button with the red around it is the Reset button... Emergency.
Operational HO Great Lakes Bulk Freighter (self unloader) Build Part 0 of many 2015-2-06
Vex track as a conveyor 2-06-2015
- Videos
- Building : Operational 384' HO scale 53" Great Lakes Bulk Freighter (self unloader)
- Changed-Replaced the tire (and that did not work, so back to original sew up tire, adjusted the position of the wheels to maintain 'correct' stress-position- that seems to keep the tire from rotating off the track), cleaned and greased the hoppers, glued bucket fabric and changed servos-to a larger servo on the bucket conveyor, made dumping chutes for the other conveyors.
- The conveyor that lifts the coal dumps most of it into the inner depths instead of onto the ramp down to the conveyor. Most of the other changes seem to work kind of.
- June 2015 most the parts worked Except for the Up conveyor and its funnel to the out conveyor. Dis assembled the ship, redid the Up conveyor with a 24" piece of angle rather than the 18" original. Moved the motor to the end so it becomes 27". Will redo the funnel to the out conveyor, the added height will allow a steeper funnel to be closer-under the buckets.
Coal Load: 3/4 cup to overfill 1 car
30 fl oz plastic Miracle whip jar holds 4 cups = 5 cars [When did a quart become 30 oz?]
20 cars = 4 jars
100 cars = 20 jars
As it turns out the ship will be built - not a kit. Based on a 36" conveyor that will be 9 hopper holds. Each hopper hold of the ship can hold less than 1 jar. Estimate about 8 jars so that would be 40 cars ... make it 2 20 car sections.
As of May 2015 the inventory is 24 Coalgon hopper in 4 6car sets, 36 flat bottom coal hoppers in 6 1 car boxes and 5 six car sets. ... need some more to make 2 40 car unit trains. As of Mar 2016 : 42 flat bottom.
The rotary dumper takes about 30 seconds to dump a car, it takes a lot less time to flood load the cars, this will require a LARGE holding bin between the dumper and the flood loader. A large bin will allow dumping the cars and flood loading at a later time as doing a concurrent operation would be crazy on the flood loader side.
Even going with 20 car train sections, a 4 jar bin that is sloped and has a gate will take up a lot of room between the dumper and the flood loader - there is already a height crunch due to the dumper extending below the track level and the flood loader being about a foot tall - of the 18" distance between the 30" lower and the 48" upper tables. The conveyor between the bin and the flood loader has to angle a little and the coal does not disperse like water - it will mound up and not flow back down without some kind of applied force, thus the need for a sloped bin.
as of early 2015 it looks like NSmodeler24 has started a functional rotary dumper with a large bin into a completed functional flood loader. See NSmodeler24 videos for examples.
Have built a large flood loader for the ship unloading port. The idea would be to start unloading the ship to get a good load in the flood loader and then start the train through, dumping the ships hoppers as needed to keep coal in the flood loader. Plans are waiting for Murphy to appear. And they did, tried IR detector Emitter pairs and it seems 4" is too great a distance for them to work reliably. Tried a IR pair on a board and they do NOT see black so they do not work at sensing the end of the car to raise the funnel.
Then the ships conveyor unloads at dock into conveyor-flood loader that loads train cars for delivery to steel mill. EOL
Copyright © 1991..2016 by Ivan Lee Herring
