3D-printed RhB Track Plow

Loco

Loco

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Here's a picture and a video of a Rhätische Bahn track plow I've modeled and which has been printed by Shapeways.

The plow features are:
- Working spring suspension
- Working center plow
- Working brakes (well at least brakes on one of the two axles)

The video below demonstrates the working center plow and brake on an indoor test track with slightely less than 2% incline.

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thats brilliant.. how much, no just take my money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Probably the coolest 3D-printed project I've seen. Very impressive... though I suspect with Shapeways new prices, it wasn't inexpensive :)
 
Impressive!

Lot of talent there..
The soundcard was impressive as well..
 
Wow! It may have been printed by Shapeways but it's all down to your skills in the first place.

I guess there was some midnight oil burnt in designing the individual components (so that they could be printed off). My hat off to you sir - extremely well executed!
 
Thanks! The cost for the 3D-printed parts is more than €400, so it's not a cheap build. And that's without the power pickup/ball bearing wheels, servos, decoder, paint etc. It also requires a lot of work (putty+sanding) to get the frame and main plows smooth. The rest of the parts are mainly printed in more expensive material and require less sanding. In the video, the plow doesn't have all the details fitted yet and almost all the parts on top of the frame are just assembled temporarily. The light is not yet connected to the decoder. The plow weighs in at about 1 kg, the two cabinets on top of the frame contains about 630 grams (that's 0,63 kg) of lead to give the plow some desperately needed weight.

You can also see another 3D-print in the video, the modern RhB buffer stop. I'll make a separate thread with a few 3D-models of RhB accessories I've made including the buffer stop and provide links to Shapeways where the parts are available without any mark-up. I'm also going to make this model available at Shapeways for those of you crazy enough to try to build it, in addition to the high price tag it is not an easy build!

The sound in the Gm 4/4 241 locomotive is the original LGB-sound for this model.
 
Thanks for the comprehensive reply, and being prepared to reveal how much your 'addiction' costs.. ;)

My interest in peeked enough to try to hunt out some video of that type of plow in action..
 
See the links below for videos of the Xk 9143. RhB have 7 of these plows in total (9141 to 9147) and there are a few differences in design between them although the general design is the same: a main plow at either end of the plow and a center plow designed to remove snow below top of the rail.

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Thanks for the links..

So, very much a 'day to day' service item it would appear, to keep on top of fresh snowfall?

Interesting to see nothing but common sense between the road and railway for such long sections! - I doubt it would be allowed in the UK! ::)

There having been a discussion about pantographs, and power supplies, in another thread. It was interesting to see an Allegra unit running.. I am now wondering about a modified 'arc welder' random flash with blue-white micro LED's as an addition to the pantographs??
 
Loco said:
RhB have 7 of these plows in total (9141 to 9147) and there are a few differences in design between them although the general design is the same: a main plow at either end of the plow and a center plow designed to remove snow below top of the rail.
Click to expand...

:o How can you remove snow below rail height, what happens at turnouts?
 
The operator raises the plough, or else he will get told off by his boss for causing expensive repairs. ::)
 
That may be the case, but it does sounds rather 'hit-an-miss' for a Swiss system. ???

Ooh er Missus!
 
As far as I know RhB will try to clear most of the snow during the night (with rotary snow blowers type 'X rot' if required). The track plow maximum snow clearing height is only 1 meter, so I guess they are used for light duties as shown in the video with regular trains or with maintenance vehicles as shown in the picture below. I don't know how they manage to avoid damaging the center plow, but it might be that only the maintenance crew will utilize this feature as they would travel at slower speeds and have far better control and experience with this.

As for the battle between road and rail I guess the rotary snow blowers will throw most of the snow away from the rail/road, leaving just a fraction to be tossed back and forth between rail and road.

6932662479_296713a6ea_b.jpg
 
PhilP said:
There having been a discussion about pantographs, and power supplies, in another thread. It was interesting to see an Allegra unit running.. I am now wondering about a modified 'arc welder' random flash with blue-white micro LED's as an addition to the pantographs??
Click to expand...

Or put the LED inside the loco cab and use the smallest fibre optic cable to get the "sparks" to the top of the pantograph. It seems like that would be less visible than the actual LED on the panto.
 
riderdan said:
Or put the LED inside the loco cab and use the smallest fibre optic cable to get the "sparks" to the top of the pantograph. It seems like that would be less visible than the actual LED on the panto.
Click to expand...
An idea.. Might need a bead of clear epoxy to 'spread' the light.. I have offcuts of fibre from running fibre links..
 
I am really interested in the look of this, but I can't see any links to videos or pictures of the model. Just a 3d render. Is anyone else having difficulty viewing these?

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This is very impressive, I'm very jealous, although I've got far too much going on at the moment to take on a project like this as well.

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