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Locos > The Loco from a Drill
Locos > The Loco from a Drill
Introduction

This, as yet unnamed loco has been described as a cordless drill without the handle and chuck. That's about what it is! It is very powerful and very heavy!

Inspiration

The "Red Devil" as it is currently known came about because I was sick of small diesels that didn't have much pulling power! I happened across Detritus by Dave Watkins and was hooked! The colour scheme and layout is designed to be vaguely New Zealandish looking.

Plan

A plan doesn't really exist. However Dave Watkins Detritus plans provide a good start. The critical measurements of my loco are:

Construction

I made up the basic loco from thin metal for the cab, MDF & steel for the chassis and plastic & cardboard for the bonnet. The curved edges are from the bottom of an ice cream punnet, carefully cut and glued together, then filled with lots of filler (glue and talcum powder) and painted with gloss enamel. Wheels are from Binnie Engineering. Coupling rods are brass strip and the cranks are home cast from pewter.

Two small motors powered it. It was still quite weak though and my radio control system left a lot to be desired. So recently I completely remotored it. The guts of a cheap Chinese 18v cordless drill provided a new, super large motor, 15 1.2v rechargeable cells, a battery charger, and a high power MOSFET. Added to this was a PicAxe microcontroller to give it some intelligence and this was driven by a small radio control board from a cheap remote control car. An old buzzer I had lying round acts as a horn.

The finished result

The new loco is now incredibly powerful and heavy! It has been known to shunt items off my desk during testing and also came to grief on an unsupported bridge on my line!

It is however a good performer, especially at slow speeds. It is easy to control and fun drive!


The Future

Some small finished touches are, as always, still needed. Headlights being a notable exception. A bit more paint on the coupling rods would be good too, as would some weathering. Some panels on the side of the bonnet would be more realistic too. Train lighting connections also need to be added at the front, along with a coupling! Handrails for the cab are also on the menu.