Bogie rail cars for wooden railway and Plarail etc.

thingiverse

Instructions for bogie wagons for wooden railways. These are bogie wagons for Brio/Ikea etc. wooden railways. They also run on Plarail plastic track. Unlike other train parts in this series, these do not have flanged rail wheels and are intended to fit within the width of typical wooden track. Provided that the track is straight your child can build structures without having to worry about line-side clearance. The Duplo spine will also accept Lego and Megablocks etc. All parts can be printed on a small printer with a 100mm bed size. All parts can be printed without support except where indicated. My printer (UP mini 2 ES) always needs rafts, yours might not. For each wagon you need: • 2 x bogie bodies • 8 x wheels • 8 x wheel pins • 2 x couplers (support required) • 4 x M3x15mm machine screws • 2 x ferrite magnets, 10mm diameter x 8mm high • 1 x wagon top to suit. Wagon tops Duplo - The Duplo top can be printed in one piece without support. After printing glue each of the two posts into the holes in the main plate. The tops of the posts should be flush with the top surface of the plate (ignoring the studs). Hopper - The hopper top must be assembled using two prints of the hopper end. These parts must be printed with support. The two parts fit together with locating tabs but must be glued for a permanent job. Open wagon - The open wagon top can be printed in one piece without support. After printing glue each of the two posts into the holes in the main plate. The tops of the posts should be flush with the top surface of the floor. More wagon tops to come, please check back later. Assembly Put each wheel on a wheel pin with the hub facing the points and the smooth side under the head. Hold the points and spin the wheel. It should spin very freely, if not carefully check for extraneous threads of plastic on the pin or roughness on the wheel. Clean up with a file if necessary. Check that the axle holes in the bogie body are clean and free of plastic debris, then press each pin into a hole until it snaps into place. Check that the wheel still spins. Assemble the couplers by carefully removing all support material so that the rotor can spin freely. Push one of the two bushes (small circular rings) into the hole in the shank. Carefully squeeze a magnet into the rotor. For this a vice can be useful to ensure that the rotor and magnet faces are parallel. Start a screw on the slot-end hole in the bogie, screwing from below. Stop when about 1mm of thread is visible in the slot. Turn the bogie over and place the coupler hole over the screw (check by looking through the hole). The rotating magnet is offset from the centre of the shank. For most wooden trains the magnet should be lower than the shank. Then continue screwing until the head is just in the cavity in the bottom. Check that the coupler can move easily. Start a screw in each post on your chosen wagon top. Screw from below. Remove the screws. Drop the wagon top onto the bogies so that the posts are in the holes. Turn the wagon over and insert the screws though the small holes in the centre of the bottom of the bogies. Screw until the head is just in the cavity in the bottom, do not overtighten. Check that the bogies swing freely, if not back off the centre screw about half a turn. Notes Practice starting a screw into each of the four locations above before assembly. This way you can cut a thread with less chance of breaking something. The wheel shape, gauge and under-body clearance are all compatible with Plarail. If desired you could substitute a magnet coupler with a spare Plarail female link or a small paper clip. For a male connecter choose a small cuphook (small so that if the train is dropped the hook will pull through the slot in the female link without breaking it). There is a pilot hole in both end of the bogies to help start a hook at about the correct height. A higher pair of pilot holes is there in case you need to connect to some other toy. The extra vertical holes in the bogie are for non-standard coupling systems and may be ignored. Safety. Before assembly the magnets are dangerous if swallowed by young children. Keep them secure until they are safely squeezed into the couplers. Note re the SCAD file. The source for most of the parts is provided for those who wish to play with it. We do not claim that it is an ideal piece of code. It is not suitable to use in the Thingiverse customiser because so many different parts are in the one file. However almost everything can be adjusted if you try. You will also find flanged wheels that would allow you to run trains on real rails as well as wood. For this you might have to adjust the variable “iww” (inside wheel well) to achieve correct gauge and back-to-back dimensions for scale points etc. Related models: Track connectors for wooden railway to Plarail (and other systems) https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5024058 Various other items of rolling stock: https://www.thingiverse.com/densha/designs Note that many 0-gauge (O-gauge, 32mm gauge, OS railway etc.) trains will also run on wooden railway, but long locomotives will not get around the tight curves found on wooden track. Alternative coupling systems can be found among the items above. If you do not care about connecting to Brio etc. then you can do without magnets. Acknowledgements The Duplo top was inspired by https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:746760 The snap-in wheel pins and axle holes are copied from https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5454591