Large Scale Central

Parameters

General Discussion
#1

Given the parameters we seem to have been able to decipher from the Ames Super Gearing threads, I concede, given said parameters, gearing does not matter, if:

Current draw is of absolutely no concern.
A) You have unlimited current available.
B) Your pickups will not melt out.
C) Your control system will handle the current.

Top speed is of no concern if:
You can eliminate voltages at the top end by computer-enhancing the control system of your choice to remove any possibility of applying higher voltages.

Low speed is of no concern if:
You can computer-enhance your control system to have all control squeezed in at the bottom end, thereby artificially expanding the control in that sector.

Current use is of no concern if:
You have enough cooling fans in place to keep the motor cool.
You can enhance this with large heat sinks as necessary.

Theoretically, one could eliminate gearing altogether.
If the proper custom-wound motor is available, and the proper computer-enhanced control system factory-installed, the armature could be the drive axle.

One would have to design in dynamic braking (see: cooling fans) to slow this sucker down on grades, and I am certain some means could be devised to allow a train to wait on a grade without rolling away totally out of control.

Of course, motors as drive axles isn’t new.
Tried before (and failed).

#2

Yeah, but…

Why not just build a locomotive with a drive train that doesn’t generate excessive quantities of heat, draw obnoxious quantities of current, operates in such a way that you have great low speed performance, smooth acceleration and deceleration, and a reasonable top end, and can pull a reasonable number of cars? Isn’t this what the small scale folks have been trying for all these years? Aren’t those phrases the ones that you want to see when you read the review of a new model locomotive?

If all you have to do is say “oops, we should have made the gear train 1:29 like the guy we asked in the first place suggested” to accomplish that, why reinvent the wheel, and make the whole thing so odious to most of the people who might actually use the damn thing that nobody wants to bother with it?

I’m quite sure in a laboratory you can make just about anything happen, given a large enough budget, and a calculator with enough buttons on it. But for Joe the Railroader, most just want it to work, and not cause agida in getting it to do so. I rather think Barry has the right idea with respect to real world testing, and real world results. And the best part is, if you have an engine that’s set up so that it’s solid with respect to powertrain like he’s talking about, if you want to add all the digital stuff to it afterwards, YOU CAN! It’ll work GREAT with anything you want to hook up to it.

And everyone goes home happy … unless there’s someone for whom that wasn’t the plan… then someone will be unhappy.

Matthew (OV)

#3

Wasn’t that what we thought all along?

Hey, with this quantum-shift in thinking on gearing, maybe the next thing is a motor as an integral part of the design of a specific, on-board, factory interface so you CANNOT do what you want to with it on DC or R/C.
Rather you MUST use DCC or it…

runs like crap?

You know, somewhere in the past, it seems I heard that exact scenario.

Nah.
Can’t be.

#4

Matthew,

Thank you for understanding. I am not an electrical engineer or a mechanical engineer, but I do have High aptitudes in the latter. Also I have invested much time into my self-education (not to mention the money).
But most gratifying is knowing that some of my customers have the backgrounds that I lack and my products perform to their satisfaction.

Barry - BBT