# Walking Beam Conveyor



## Brian Rupnow (Oct 14, 2016)

I am tired of building engines. I need another machine to drive with my engines, and this time I think I will try something "industrial" in nature. One of the more fascinating types of conveyors is a "walking beam" conveyor. These conveyors were, when first invented, used to convey a piece of material from one position to the next, to the next, thru a series of "stations", where the piece being conveyed had some type of automated function performed on it at each station. Newer "walking beam" conveyors are mostly driven by either hydraulics, rack and pinion gears, or a combination of both. Earlier walking beams were purely mechanical in their operation. I have been playing about with concepts this morning, and even went across town to the model R.C. hobby shop and purchased a couple of sets of metal miter gears to be used to transfer power from the blue disc seen at one end of the animation to the blue disc on the other end, utilizing a shaft drive like the older BSA motorcycles. This link takes you to a short video of the basic concept. I will be working on a fully developed 3D model of this machine over the next few weeks, and then hope to build it in my machine shop.----Brian

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak2eMgt7yLw&feature=youtu.be[/ame]


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## Herbiev (Oct 14, 2016)

Looking forward to this project


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## Barnbikes (Oct 15, 2016)

Saw this one a while back and it intrigued me but I like your ball ladder better. 

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=759kPVhJKvk"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=759kPVhJKvk[/ame]


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## Barnbikes (Oct 15, 2016)

More inspiration for you Brian.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv1CpJi60xQ"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv1CpJi60xQ[/ame]


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## t_ottoboni (Oct 15, 2016)

Another idea for this sort of mechanism. This linkage provides a near rectilinear motion


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 15, 2016)

Barnbikes--thank you for that wonderful bunch of animations.---Brian


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 15, 2016)

After looking at about a thousand different walking beam designs on the internet, I found one which is very interesting, driven by a rolling cam at each end. The trick part is that both cams have to rotate  together at the same speed of rotation. This could have been accomplished with a really small chain drive between the shafts, but I chose to use a couple of pairs of miter gears, simply because they were readily accessible at the local R.C. shop. I have shown the accumulating ramp at the discharge end, but I haven't shown the magazine feeder at the load end yet. as an indicator of size, the dark blue pieces being conveyed are 3/8" diameter x 3" long.


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 15, 2016)

And a few overall dimensions---


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 16, 2016)

Any time I buy a set of miter gears, and they come pre packaged with no engineering information, the formulae for calculating the centers and offsets of the shafts is a trick. It is partly math, partly experience, and partly luck. And then of course, when you have figured it out, you still aren't certain until you make up a test block with the holes for the shafts which the gears are mounted on to see whether you had it right or not. I must have got it right this time, because they mesh very nicely with no binding. And another bit of gear trivia---Miter gears are always used on shafts which are at 90 degrees to each other. If the shafts are at some other angle, then the gears are known as "bevel gears" and have an angular number attached to the part number.


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 17, 2016)

Having a rather crazy morning here. I haven't had any "real" work since June. Now two customers have called and both want me "right now"!!! I will try and work for both of them, just stagger my hours so they both get coverage. I phoned my metal supplier and ordered everything I would need to build the walking beam. That came to $80.00--far more than I anticipated. If I go in there and buy one piece of metal at a time, they don't charge any shop labour. If I order two or three things at once, then they charge me the shops labour rate for pulling and cutting the stock. It probably works out to be fairly inexpensive over a years time, but to swallow $80 all in one lump seems like a lot. I have decided to make this part first. There will be a right hand and a left hand version. Don't bother to copy or save this drawing, as there will probably be changes as the job progresses. I am making these pieces first, because it is much easier to make a cam on the lathe to fit the 2.000" diameter holes than it is to machine the cams first and then try to bore to an accurate enough size for a good rolling fit.


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 17, 2016)

I picked up my material, and decided that I would start work on this project today. This first piece is actually two pieces, the right and left hand side walking beams. Since the two pieces have to be identical, I cut a 36" length in half, which gives me an inch to be trimmed off both ends, as the finished walking beam is 16" long. I drilled and tapped one plate and drilled close fitting clearance holes in the other, for #8-32 shcs. This lets me bolt the two plates together, and all of the machining will be done (except counterboring for bolt heads) while the two plates are together. This should give me a better chance at having two identical finished plates than if I machined them separately. You can see that I have laid out the profile and all the holes in the plate. I will use the digital readouts on my mill when I go to drill the holes----the layout dye is cheap, and it lets me know if I'm drilling in the right place. I trust the readouts, but it is kind of like wearing a belt and suspenders too.


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 18, 2016)

And that my friends, is a lot of holes!! I finally have a bit of "real" engineering work, so progress will slow a bit. I have bored the holes to about .005" undersize. The finish I get on bored holes is not spectacular, so by the time I get the inside of the two 2" holes smoothed out a bit, I will be very close to the finished diameter. Now I see a lot of 'sawing and milling' in my immediate future.


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 18, 2016)

I may go a bit "steampunk" on the drive for this walking beam. I have a beautiful pulley and a set of gears that I made a few years ago for the marble automation machine that never really got finished. Walking beams, by their very nature should run at a slow pace, and they will benefit from the gear reduction torque multiplier as well.


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 19, 2016)

This was a big job. Thank the Lord for bandsaws and belt sanders. I think this is going to become very interesting---


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## Herbiev (Oct 19, 2016)

Looking great Brian. I like the idea of the reduction gear.


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 19, 2016)

Herbie--I am always amazed that after more than half a century of mechanical design, that I can still get so damned excited about new projects like this. I have been in love with mechanical things all my life, and it's wonderful to see these things come to life right before my eyes!!!


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 20, 2016)

This morning I put all of the half round slots in the stationary part of the walking beam. I first gashed all the cuts 0.188" deep with a 45 degree chamfering tool. Each slot took 3 passes, one at .062" deep, then one at 0.122" deep, and a final at full 0.188" deep. Then I put in my 3/8" ball nosed cutter and took full depth 0.188" cuts in two passes , one pass for roughing and the second just to bring the table back and give a bit of a finishing "burnish" to the newly cut half round. I did it this way because ball nosed cutters really don't like to move a lot of material during a cut.


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 20, 2016)

That went well!! I think that the pieces in the picture are the pieces with the most work in them. From here on in, I think most of the stuff is fairly simple.


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 21, 2016)

I couldn't buy 5/16" cold rolled flatbar, so I bought a piece of 3/8" instead. This is destined to become four 2 3/16" diameter  "cams" that fit into the big holes in the side of the walking beam. I have a 2" diameter carbide face mill that I have used very few times, so tonight was the time to try it on the steel flatbar. This was a new experience for me. Someone suggested that I take a full 1/16" deep cut, but I just couldn't bring myself to do that. My mill is a fairly big tabletop model, but it's not a Bridgeport. I took three .016" depth cuts and one .014" deep cut, all at 500 rpm with lots of 'squirt on" cutting oil. The mill handled it alright, but it groaned a bit when I took the cut at the "shoulder" at each end of the bar. I expect that the flatbar will "banana" a bit when I take the toe clamps off, but that doesn't really matter for what I'm going to do with it.


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 22, 2016)

Here you see the bar which was machined to 5/16" thick, drilled and bandsawed into 4 separate pieces. I don't need that 5/8" hole in the center for any purpose on the walking beam, but I needed to drill and ream it so I could mount each plate on a shouldered arbor, to finish turn the outer diameter and to turn the "step" which allows the cam to fit nicely into the hole in the side of the walking beam. The 1/16" flange keeps the cams and the walking beam assembly in place after everything is put together. The 3/8" reamed holes which are offset from the center actually are for the axle. That offset is what gives the walking beam its orbital travel. In the second picture, two of the cams are in place in the side of the walking beam, and two are laying on the table with the shouldered arbor.


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 23, 2016)

Things are changing and evolving as this build progresses. I have come to the conclusion that the miter gears I purchased from the hobby shop simply aren't going to have what it takes for this operation. I had to go across town this morning to Princess Auto to buy a piece of 5/8" cold rolled round stock, and while I was there I checked out their inventory of chains and sprockets.  They had a pair of "weld on hub" 12 tooth sprockets for #35 pitch chain, which look to be just about perfect for the walking beam model, scale-wise. This will save me some headaches, and still guarantee that the head and tail-shafts turn at the same rpm. I will update the model this afternoon. I woke up to what is probably bad news. My lathe is DEAD!!! I checked the fuse, and checked the prox. switch which prevents the lathe from running if the gear cover on the end is removed. Nothing wrong there. I checked the electrical wall outlet, and I have power there. And there simply isn't much else I can check. I see a trip to BusyBee in Toronto in my immediate future. The trip doesn't bother me, it's less than an hour away. The problem comes in getting that big bastard of a lathe out of my shop, thru my office, into the garage and into my pickup truck. I paid some local machinery movers the outrageous sum of $400 for 30 minutes of work to put it in there from my truck when I bought it. This time it will be me and a helper that moves it.


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 23, 2016)

Here we are with a roller chain drive. It doesn't look quite as funky as it did with the miter gears, but it has a better chance of operating successfully.


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 23, 2016)

Aha!!!---Maybe the baby Jesus loves me afterall!! Closer inspection shows that the black plastic 15 amp fuse holder for the little glass tube style fuse right beside the on/off switch is broken. If I wiggle it a bit with my finger, the lathe runs fine. Of course the stupid thing is broken in a manner that can't be crazy-glued, but at least it is a repair that I can make here without having to move the lathe. I will contact BusyBee tomorrow and get a new fuse holder sent up to me.


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## Herbiev (Oct 23, 2016)

I heard that sigh of relief from here Rof}Rof}


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## RonGinger (Oct 24, 2016)

Forget the silly little fuse, just hook those two wires together. Your power line is already well protected by a fuse or circuit breaker.


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 24, 2016)

I got up this morning and made a quick dash to BusyBee headquarters, an hour south (50 miles) from my place, where they assured me they would have the part I required waiting for me. They did have a part waiting for me, but certainly not the part for my lathe. (There has to be some kind of natural law that governs this kind of thing.) Fortunately, I had the broken part with me, and after I dragged the salesman out onto the showroom floor and showed him the same lathe as mine with the same part as my broken one, he rooted around and found the RIGHT part that matched my lathe.--(That was the head of their technical sales division!!) No charge of course, as my lathe is still under warrantee. Then an hour back to Barrie, 5 minutes with a soldering gun, and Voila!!--I'm back in business. Lathe is running again just like it should.


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 24, 2016)

In this shot you get to see the ugly side of the walking beam. Ordinarily, I NEVER recommend welding on machined parts. However, as in all things, there are exceptions to the rule. When assembled, this side with the welds will be totally hidden. There is nothing particularly high precision about this, and welding the axles and spacers to the discs saves me a ton of machining work. The flanges on the outside of the wheels and the welded spacer on the inside keeps the walking beam centered.  I can plainly see, based on tests that I have made this afternoon, that this thing is going to run at a low speed, or it will flail itself right to death. That's okay though----walking beams are supposed to run at a slow pace. If they ran fast, I suppose they might be called "running beams"----


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## bazmak (Oct 24, 2016)

Hi Brian,instead of chain and sprocket have you thought of using a 
timing pulley belt.Im thinking of the ones I used on my bandsaw mod
The one I used was 9mm wide and 5mm pitch.I found it easy to machine the sprockets with a home made single point cutter and indexer.Just a thought
it might look better and quieter


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 25, 2016)

A good idea Bazmak, but the chain and sprockets were cheap, and better yet, they were available here in town.---Brian


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 25, 2016)

I have a very interesting mock-up of the walking beam, but I'm having a problem with Photobucket right now. As soon as the site will open up for me, I will post a picture. Things are getting really exciting!!!!


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 26, 2016)

Well, give or take a bushing or two, I have almost reached the "Piggy point" of this build. the "Piggy point" of any build occurs after all of the parts are made, but you have to get everything freed up and working in concert with every other part. sometimes that can get, well,---Piggy!!!


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 26, 2016)

I actually test drove this thing tonight. I haven't put the chain drive on yet, but used two pair of vice grips to turn the shafts in tandem. Ha!! I knew it was going to work. I just had to see it to believe it. The only fly in the ointment right now is that my lumpy welds on the spacer between the flanged discs is hitting the underside of the center portion, preventing a full rotation. I thought that might happen, but I had to try it and see. If I have time tomorrow, I will get  my pneumatic grinder with a 3" cut-off wheel fired up and clean a lot of the weld off. I have no idea at the moment whether this thing is going to run slow enough with the current gear reduction set up or not. I have room for another set of gears on that drive end if I have to.


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 28, 2016)

I'm hung up with this project right now. I have quite a bit of "real work" coming in, which of course takes precedence over "play work". I have the chain drive on and hooked up, but there seems to be a lot of stiffness in the mechanism and I haven't had time to really figure out if it is a matter of clearances or a matter of timing between the two shafts. I did power it up with my variable speed drill, but there is so much resistance and so much moving mass that by the time the drill overcome the initial resistance to turning, it tried to turn 500 rpm and just about self destructed. Hopefully, I will get some time to work on it more this weekend.


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 29, 2016)

So, my friends--Here we have the maiden voyage of the walking beam conveyor.  My variable speed drill runs it too fast of course, but it does work, as the movie shows. I think perhaps I need some more gearing to slow it down to a more sedate pace. It is an interesting thing to see working, and will be ran by one of my small gasoline engines when I have completed it.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6Yb9etbXNg&feature=youtu.be[/ame]


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## Herbiev (Oct 29, 2016)

Great machine Brian. Where was the stiffness issue. Was it in the chain?


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 29, 2016)

Herbie--whenever you have two cams in different locations driving  a single "solid' entity, the timing or "phasing" of the cams to each other becomes critically important. If they are the slightest bit out of Phase with one and other, they tend to lock up and not want to rotate. The chain drive is intended to keep both cams rotating in synchronization, but it isn't easy to get the sprockets timed to exactly the rotation of the cams. Add into that the fact that there is always a bit of slack in a roller chain, and it compounds the locking cam effect.


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## Dalee (Oct 29, 2016)

Hi,

What final "step" speed are you looking to get? That might be the most difficult thing to attain of this build.

Dale


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 29, 2016)

Dalee--I'm going to mount another set of reduction gears at the end where the current gear set is. Probably a 3:1 ratio.  The speed I want to achieve is more of a visual thing than concrete numbers. Fast enough to see it working, slow enough to last for a 1 minute film clip.


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## james_III (Oct 30, 2016)

I can´t help myself, but clearly this thing needs something extra. Let´s say maybe turntable and other type conveyor and different type cornering and maybe sawmill log type separator and and and.... oopps


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 30, 2016)

When your machine goes too darn fast--Make more gears and make them fast!!! Okay, I wasn't cut out to be a poet----I made up the gear blanks and hubs today for a second set of gearing. This will make things run 3 times slower. The dark blue gear is a 20 tooth and the redish brown coloured one is a 60 tooth.


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## Brian Rupnow (Oct 31, 2016)

My old grandma used to say "The word is as good as the deed!!"--and today it was. I worked four hours at a factory across town, then came home and turned yesterdays gear blanks into todays gears!!


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 1, 2016)

Installing the second set of gears has made a remarkable difference in the operation of the walking beam. There are two major benefits from this. The beam operates 3 times slower than it did before, and is 3 times easier to turn. With only the first set of gears, it was so stiff that I feared that one of my little engines wouldn't be able to run it. Now it is quite easy to turn by hand. I will probably post a video of it being driven by one of my small engines, and then my next phase will be to design and build a "load magazine" and an escapement mechanism to load material onto the end of the walking beam.


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 1, 2016)

This video shows the walking beam running at a more sedate pace, with the added set of gears on it, powered by hand.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASnkO08sT5Y&feature=youtu.be[/ame]


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 2, 2016)

No real work tomorrow and no "at home" machining lined up either. Good wife is off to Orangeville to babysit a grandson. So--I think I will work on the design of a "magazine" feeder which I can load up with 3/8" diameter x 3 1/2" steel "blanks" to feed the walking beam. The magazine itself presents no challenges. The trick will be in the escapement mechanism which will dispense one part at a time onto the walking beam at the correct time. The escapement will have to be triggered by the movement of the walking beam as it cycles, and it will have to be totally mechanical in nature.


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 3, 2016)

This shows the load magazine with 10 parts in it. There is a little red pivoting rocker in the magazine, and in the first drawing it is in a position to block all of the parts in the magazine from rolling down into the walking beam. In the second picture, it is rotated into position to release one part to roll down onto the walking beam, but block all the other parts and prevent them from rolling down the ramp. this rocker rocks back and forth to release one part at a time to the walking beam.


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 3, 2016)

So here we have it---Full on, rock and roll, old style mechanical automation!! There is a small lever with a ball bearing (in red) on the end of it and that lever is attached to the pivot shaft on the red pivoting rocker. The purple cam is bolted solidly to the side of the walking beam. You don't see it here, but there is a tension spring on the far end of that red pivoting rocker which holds the pivoting rocker in the position which does not allow any of the parts to roll down the ramp onto the walking beam. As the walking beam comes around, that purple cam hits the red bearing and swings the lever just enough to swing the pivoting rocker to let one "part" escape and roll down the ramp into the first trough in the stationary center section of the walking beam. It is only a very brief contact, and then the cam is past the bearing and the spring pulls the pivoting rocker back into the "stop" position to prevent any more parts rolling down the ramp until the walking beam comes around again.


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## Herbiev (Nov 3, 2016)

This is getting very interesting. Looking forward to following the construction phase.


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 3, 2016)

Can anybody see the videos I have posted in this thread? All I am seeing now is a black rectangle. It's not at my end, because the two other forums I post on show the videos with no problem.---Brian


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## mjonkman (Nov 3, 2016)

They work for me.    Cool machine!

Congrats on getting onto the cover of Home Shop Machinist!


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 4, 2016)

Thank you mark. This walking beam is very interesting, and it certainly is something different. I'm not getting many responses to this thread, so I guess most people don't find it very interesting. I will probably finish it, or at least get very close to finishing it today.----Brian


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## stragenmitsuko (Nov 4, 2016)

I think its a great little project . 
And I can see the video , no worries  there 


Pat


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## joco-nz (Nov 4, 2016)

Lovely project and nice to see something that is not an engine.   I can see the videos but some of the recent pics are cominig up blank for some odd reason.


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 4, 2016)

Photobucket is down right now


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 4, 2016)

I had a good news/bad news kind of day. The magazine turned out great. If Photobucket ever gets it's act together I will post a picture. The escapement rocker---not so much. First version didn't work. Tomorrow will work on second version.


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## Cogsy (Nov 4, 2016)

I'm following along Brian, just keeping quiet for a change...


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## 10K Pete (Nov 4, 2016)

Cogsy said:


> I'm following along Brian, just keeping quiet for a change...



Me too! Don't give up just 'cause some of us are quiet. We're still reading. But then how would you know that???

Pete


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 5, 2016)

Hey!!--I feel just like Steve Earl in Copperhead Road. I woke up with a brand new plan.--and it works fabulously. I just made a new escapement rocker, and it does the job quite nicely, to dispense one "part" at a time while holding the other parts back in the magazine. My first escapement rocker would release a part okay, but the next part uphill from it would roll under the uphill side of the rocker and jam it. My new design has a round lip on the uphill side to prevent that happening. I have built it and tried it out already, and what I've done will not be visible in photographs, but this is what the new Improved escapement rocker looks like.


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 5, 2016)

So---There we have it. I'm pleased as can be!! The walking beam and the automatic feeder work just as I had hoped. I guess all that is left is a video of it being driven by one of my engines.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCyr3SeLI2k&feature=youtu.be[/ame]


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## Herbiev (Nov 5, 2016)

Turned out great Brian. Glad YouTube works at this end. Hope your YouTube issue gets sorted soon.


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 6, 2016)

I would call this a complete success This is the final video, showing the walking beam being driven by my vertical I.C. engine.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2uPyXMaA4o&feature=youtu.be[/ame]


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## Cogsy (Nov 6, 2016)

Really cool Brian. You always make such interesting machines :thumbup:.


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## tms6401 (Nov 7, 2016)

Another success Brian. It is amazing to be part of the thought process as you work your way through a project.

Thank You for all the time you put into the words and music, not to mention the neat machines and well running engines.

Tom


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## RonGinger (Nov 7, 2016)

Seems to me to be a  lot of work to drop parts on the floor. I can do that with out any kind of machine. 

Brian, how about putting the NAMES show on your schedule next year? I would sure like to meet you and see some of your projects up close. I bet if you did one of the seminar talks it would be standing room only. Its not far from Barrie to Detroit.


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 7, 2016)

Thank you for the compliments fellows. Ron, I have thought about going to one of the major shows, but I don't know if my stuff matches the quality of the exhibits that are displayed there.---Brian


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## RonGinger (Nov 7, 2016)

Brian, I assure you, your models would be great at either NAMES or Cabin Fever. We show our models to share with others, and you have been one of the greats at sharing. There are models displayed from the simplest of the Elmer designs to the most complicated radials. Give some serious thought to coming- I know NAMES is closer to you, but Cabin Fever is about 4 times the size. Let me know if you plan to be there, I will happily buy you a beverage of your choice. I will be at both, "if the creek don't rise"


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## nel2lar (Nov 16, 2016)

Brian
As usual very, very nice. I don't know how you come up with the ideas but do not stop. They are the best of the best.
Congrads
Nelson Collar


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