Fordson V8 cog experimental locomotive Propeller Snow mobile

Gareth · 2012-02-19 07:35

I present a novel locomotion system which comes into its own when there is snow around.

[video=youtube_share;75zj3w3OBkE]

I was inspired by a couple of videos of a Fordson tractor & Chevrolet car.... circa 1929 and it showed a spiral track system which could just be bolted onto virtual any chassis that had an engine......allowing the "Vehicle" to traverse snow/marsh/water with ease.
My original project started a year ago..... Swiss snows vanished (so patience ensued)... (during the wait ....youtubies made my original probe video my most Favorited Video ... i knew then that i could not drop the project)...
SNOW ARRIVES :- With already too many projects underway the Snows came again and -13°C temperatures .....YAY Priority Interrupt plan "C" was instigated.
So enough Ramble here is the system :-
Warning ....if you suffer from Cryo-phobia then close your eyes duing the snowman scenes.

Fordson 017_anotated_inscaped_parallax_s.jpg

System Breakdown (Priority first) :-

Fanta drink bottles 0.5 liters ....... can be scaled up to 2 litres if someone will sponsor me the bits
Coloured Spiral PolyMorph Tracks
GM yellow elbowed motors with unused (at momo) encoders
Parallax Propeller MCU (M44D40+)
Xbee RX & TX
Atmel MCU and hacked radio control for TX unit
L293D H-Bridge motor driver controlled with PWM signals
2 cell Lipo battery - regulated to 5V of motors and 3.3V for propeller and XBEE
2 cell Lipo battery as counter-balance (its all i had to hand for the video and photo shoot)
Various bits of wood and dowel rod
3 clothes pegs
5 velcro cable tidy_ers
1 Evil not to be trusted looking snowman
1 selfmade Igloo

The secret fastening devises revealed :-
Best to stay in Deep freeze Garage !!

@ -13°c i had a problem with the sealed bottles contracting with the cold (once even discombooberating the polymorph spiral off the plastic bottle wall)..... To run the system i have to bring the whole robot out into the cold with bottle tops open to atmosphere .... then when the temperature of the air inside and outside the bottles equalize ....seal the tops back on again......not your general run of the mill Omni-wheel problem..

Tracks are as-symmentrical :-

Attempt to climb the Matterhorn failed ....... not due to traction .... but pilot error (see out-takes in Video)

In conclusion :- Its real fun to drive on the Piste

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) · 2012-02-19 09:33

Congrats, Gareth! That's a truly inspired little snobot, and I like that it was made from recycled materials! The video was also well-done and fun to watch!

-Phil

SRLM · 2012-02-19 11:17

Fun. What is the long tail for?

Gareth · 2012-02-19 11:58

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) wrote: »

Congrats, Gareth! That's a truly inspired little snobot, and I like that it was made from recycled materials! The video was also well-done and fun to watch!

-Phil

With Recycle bottles its good to make many mistakes and get to drink Fanta until it comes out of your ears.....

Gareth · 2012-02-19 12:03

SRLM wrote: »

Fun. What is the long tail for?

Ah Yes the tail...the tail ...... 3 scenarios :-
[1] I forgot to saw it off.
[2] It acts as a grab device (as seen in video), its not easy to grab rotating bottles after programme failure.
[3] Its possible to replace the 0.5 litre bottles with 1.5 litre bottles , by sliding the wooden bar to accommodate size difference.
....in that order...

Humanoido · 2012-03-06 02:57

Gareth, great job and fantastic project! I like your creativity and clean efficient assembly and green design. I wonder what they will think when seeing the track left in the snow - what creature made those prints! It could usher in a new era of detective work in search of .... the spiral footed creature! This technique when slightly modified also works on a flotation device for across water transport and if the poly spiral is made into ultra light lofted large fins it could propel air or made to go through a pipe with sludge.

Gareth · 2012-03-11 11:59

Thanks Humanoido ,the sludge pipe idea intrigues me...
>>Reflect mode .....Yes as these things can be set up to sink or float and built to any size,weight (at low green cost) front end would need modification then it could drill its way through pipeline soft sludge releasing blockages (it would have to displace its own mass backwards not to get to stuck though....it would have its own empty bottles to contain some sludge though Hmmm) ideal for long pipe runs .... << End Reflect mode.
The water vehicle version is planned for summer .... however with bigger bottles in mind.

Ken Gracey · 2012-03-11 12:08

Gareth - a great project to show a totally different way to travel over a very difficult surface.

Also very interesting - have you seen the early Tucker Sno Cat videos that show a similar screw-drive system? These were used in the Sierra Nevadas around 1940/1950 as Mr. Tucker prototyped the early Sno Cat. Somewhere out there on YouTube are some really interesting Russian machines that use the same method of locomotion.

Thanks for sharing.

Ken Gracey

Martin_H · 2012-03-11 20:10

That is pretty neat.

Gareth · 2012-03-13 10:51

Ken Gracey wrote: »

Gareth - a great project to show a totally different way to travel over a very difficult surface.
Also very interesting - have you seen the early Tucker Sno Cat videos that show a similar screw-drive system? These were used in the Sierra Nevadas around 1940/1950 as Mr. Tucker prototyped the early Sno Cat. Somewhere out there on YouTube are some really interesting Russian machines that use the same method of locomotion.
Ken Gracey

I could only find videos of the Tucker "Wally" type sno cats (these are anyway outstanding climbers) - it seems the Russians indeed have used the compact design to go places where normal vehicles have no chance.

I went for "Lightweight" & "Floaty" design, the Propeller chip did me proud servicing the pwm for motors and serial XBee rf reception.

Fordson V8 cog experimental locomotive Propeller Snow mobile

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