3D printing levers and switches

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gazz
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3D printing levers and switches

#1 Beitrag von gazz »

Does anyone know where i can download some .stl files to 3D print things like the switches and power and brake levers?

I want to try and get back into building my train simulator drivers desk, but all my real controls are in storage and i can't get to them for a long time,

This will just be a home project for my self, and i actually want to make first a mini controller with half sized controls, but not having access yo the real switches and levers, i can't get the measurments to try and model them,
plus i am not sure how people handle the levers detents and switches electrical connections, i see some photo's of a moving pie slice shape that moves with the lever disc, but i can't figure out the rest.

I have found some openscad scripts for parts of the switches by searching there forums, but it's just the switch part you move, not the housing and parts that make the switch work.

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gazz
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Re: 3D printing levers and switches

#2 Beitrag von gazz »

What i mean is things like this:

viewtopic.php?p=235940#p235940

I've printed out those 2 switch levers and they feel similar to the real things (from what i can remember)

But has anyone made any for the power and brake levers, plus the rest of the mechanics that the switch levers mount in etc.

BenniS.
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Re: 3D printing levers and switches

#3 Beitrag von BenniS. »

hi,
I haven't printed them yet, but I've designed them. If you give me your mail adress I will send the files to you so that you can have a look.

greetings
Ben
beste Grüße
Benni

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Timo
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Re: 3D printing levers and switches

#4 Beitrag von Timo »

Some mesurements of the switches:
Bild
Bild
Bild
Schalter und Leuchtmelder für deinen Eisenbahnsimulator: www.RailSwitch.de

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gazz
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Re: 3D printing levers and switches

#5 Beitrag von gazz »

Those switch measurements are extremely helpful, thankyou,

and they show the method used to make the switch snap open then closed again... spring loaded cam followers / levers riding in an indented plate,
i can copy that i think, but i know with 3D printing they wont be that strong... so i may have to go for laser cut plastic sheet for the switch frame and intent mechanism.

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Timo
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Re: 3D printing levers and switches

#6 Beitrag von Timo »

I think it will take a lot of effort to make these switches with a CNC router.
There are some strong PLA filaments which can do the job - sure not useable for real lokomotives - but more than useable for home application.
It is the easyer way to get them :)
Schalter und Leuchtmelder für deinen Eisenbahnsimulator: www.RailSwitch.de

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gazz
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Re: 3D printing levers and switches

#7 Beitrag von gazz »

BenniS very kindly sent me some .stl files for a lever and mounting frame he had designed,
I printed it out at 50% size, and it's the lever on the left in the photo below,

I then played about in fusion 360, and basically copied the lever Ben sent me for dimensions, made a few little changes and then halved it's size in F360, and that's the lever on the right... notice they are slightly different in size, i guess the 3D printers slicing software doing a 50% reduction in size does it slightly wrong.. full size lever's disc is 120mm diameter, and it prints out at 60mm diameter with the one i resized in F360, but it's ~55mm diameter when resized in prusa slicer ?(
Bild
The levers shaft i think is too long in the one i 'made' but that can be changed easily.

i have since chopped the bottom half off the lever to allow it to sit a little further down in the control panel when i make that bit, and i am now working on the mounting frame which will hold the lever under the desk, and gears will drive a potentiometer or rotary encoder at about a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio,

Then on the other side will be the notch mechanism, that bit i have to figure out yet.

The lever i am 'designing'

Bild

As this project will take a little while, and my dad wants to play the train driving 'game' right now.. i made a 'train driving keyboard' up for him.

Confession time... the train sim he's using is TrainSimWorld 2... on the playstation 5!
It plays with either the controller or a (Bluetooth or USB) keyboard, but simple things like key remapping does not exist... so my plan is to have the levers send key strokes as they are moved...using an arduino most likely, and switches will send the relevant keystrokes.. like H for headlight switch position up, and Shift + H for headlight switch position down etc.

So i bought a bluetooth keyboard that has round keys, and 3D printed a bunch of new keys in different colours and heights, then using my label printer made the labels for the key tops (i tried 3D printing the text, but i cant get the resolution i need with the 0.4mm nozzle i use)

Bild Bild

The red keys are the most used driving controls... power and brakes.. they all sit higher than the stock keys to help find their location.

The yellow keys sit at normal height, and are controls not used so often but related to driving, except the yellow door keys that are raised.

The round black keys are as can be seen... SIFA, horn and PZB, SIFA is the tallest key of all as it is used the most, and PZB Wachsam is taller than the other PZB keys as again it's a key you need to press a lot.

Then white keys for other things set once at the beginning of the journey usually.

The blue squares are for keys that are not used at all.. but can be pressed if ever needed, and the blue 'key' to the left of 'Fahrschalter Vor' was the caps lock key, that is not used at all, so it is a blank key top that does not operate, and is a finger rest now.


Please note, i know very little German, i lived in Germany for about 7 years when i was a child (aged 5 to 12) and know the absolute basics from middle school German lessons.. and that was 33 years ago! :( (i last visited Germany in 2012 when i collected a BR 111 driving desk)
But my love for Germany will never leave me, and that's why i have no interest in english trains, and only pretend to drive German ones, thankfully my dad is the same, he loved his time stationed in Germany (was in the RAF) and the train simulator driving German trains brings back so many memories.

But i am sure i have got some of the words on the keys wrong... please can someone tell me what words should be used on the ones i got wrong... i am thinking the ones for the brakes... i wanted to use the words 'apply' and 'release'
I know that Lösen is release, but i thinking the word 'Anlegen' is wrong for a train simulator's meaning 'release' ??

F. Lehmann
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Re: 3D printing levers and switches

#8 Beitrag von F. Lehmann »

To release brakes means Bremsen lösen.
To apply brakes means Bremsen anlegen.

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gazz
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Re: 3D printing levers and switches

#9 Beitrag von gazz »

So i got them right... thank you.

Now on to model the half size driving lever more.

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gazz
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Re: 3D printing levers and switches

#10 Beitrag von gazz »

Just a little update on my progress.

Designed a half size lever almost from scratch, using BenniS's lever dimensions.

This lever will be just a little bigger than a raildriver controllers levers, so definitely a 'toy', but it could be scaled up to 100% pretty easily.

Bild

I'm enjoying learning to better myself at 3D design, Fusion 360 is frustrating at times, but once i figure out how they do things it's getting easier.

And i'm learning more 3D printing things too, like positioning of features for easy printing, i originally had the nut mounts to hold the whole thing together on the side plates... with with all the features on the other side of those plates it'd have meant lots of support material, i moved the nut mounts to the top and bottom plates, and now all 4 plates can be printed face down with just a few supports in the bearing holes.

Bild

I'm using both a potentiometer and an encoder to see which is best, i think i'm turning the pot and encoder at 2:1... the gear on the levers disc is 40 teeth, the gear on the pot and encoder are both 20 teeth. but i get about 170 degrees of lever rotation between the potentiometers end stops...which is way more than the 90 degrees of movement i need, It is 45 degrees each side of straight up i think??

Bild

I still have the notch wheel / gear to make up, the lever/cam that drops in the notches, and the mounting for all that, but hopefully once this has finished printing (5 hour print for all parts at 20% infill) i will have an operational very basic lever to test, and final print i will bump upto a much greater infill level for some parts.

Everything will be 3D printed except for the obvious... bearings, potentiometer / encoder, and nuts and bolts.

Even the axle is printed (at 90% infill) but i can switch to some steel rod easily if needed.

BenniS.
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Re: 3D printing levers and switches

#11 Beitrag von BenniS. »

Looks promising Keep it up!
beste Grüße
Benni

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gazz
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Re: 3D printing levers and switches

#12 Beitrag von gazz »

Printed the parts out last night:

Bild

i need to make some adjustments, the holes i made for the nuts to sit in pockets are too small, teach me to go off measurements on the internet and not measure the nuts i will be using.

It's blue as thats a cheap filament i have to make 'prototypes' out of and not worry about cost, i will print the final version in black.

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gazz
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Re: 3D printing levers and switches

#13 Beitrag von gazz »

I've made a little progress,

Printed out 2 lever assemblies, and used my Hackspace's laser cutter to make a small box to house them in:

Bild

Also made a very simple 'reversing switch' it's just a knob for a potentiometer... no notch/detent mechanism in it,

Bild

it is all working, the potentiometers are wired up and so is the SIFA / Knob press switch in them, they are connected to a STM32F 'blue pill' board, programmed with 'FreeJoy' https://github.com/FreeJoy-Team/FreeJoy to be a HID joystick in windows.

However, i quickly found out that half / 50% sized levers are a little too small for people with big hands, they are about the size of 'RailDriver' levers, and both me and my dad always found the RailDriver too small,
i had made the German train levers lever shafts a bit longer than they should be to try and make them easier to use, but it really was not working out well.

And when i was trying to make the reversing switch mechanism with detents, it was all getting too small to comfortably work with... i was already using bearings in the levers notch bar which are 3mm outside diameter, 1mm inside diameter! needing some piano wire to make the bearings shaft.

So that's as far as i'm going with the half sized lever box.


I decided that 75% scale would be better all round, and here is a 50% lever next to a 75% one,

Bild

I am also moving away from using potentiometers and trying out hall effect sensors, as using cheap potentiometers i needed a lot of filtering to stop the output jumping about, and for less than quarter of the price of a single good quality potentiometer i can get 6 x OH49E hall effect sensors and 10 x 10mm magnets.

This will mean there will be zero resistance on the lever when moving it without a notch / detent wheel in place, but like i did with the 50% levers, i will be building in a 'brake band' that turning a knob/screw will tighten a band around the axle of the lever, giving it variable resistance.



Got a question about sizes now,

i have found out from this forum that the full sized levers dimensions are :

Disc diameter: 120
Disc width driving switch: 20
Disc width AFB: 25
Pipe diameter 16
Pipe length to lower edge of knob: 48
Knob height: 43


But i can not find the other dimensions of the knob, i.e. the top and bottom diameters,
so for now i have just guessed, but it feels a little large to me.

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gazz
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Re: 3D printing levers and switches

#14 Beitrag von gazz »

oh yes, more dimensions needed,

how far apart do the levers sit in the desk,

as in the distance between the levers from the AFB and Power lever, and the Air Brake and Electric Brake lever:

Bild

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Re: 3D printing levers and switches

#15 Beitrag von Carsten Hölscher »

130 mm from center to center.
But it's possible that the value differs because there are many different devices.

Carsten

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nonesense
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Re: 3D printing levers and switches

#16 Beitrag von nonesense »

In this special case it is 140mm

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Arne aus dem Norden
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Re: 3D printing levers and switches

#17 Beitrag von Arne aus dem Norden »

Yes, that's right. The original picture shows my desk from a Wittenberger, the distance there is 140mm

Bild
Mein Baubericht von der echten Bahn zum Schönberger Strand:
https://www.facebook.com/Hein-Sch%C3%B6 ... 601976323/

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gazz
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Re: 3D printing levers and switches

#18 Beitrag von gazz »

Thankyou for the dimensions of the levers spacing,

i've made a simple box to house my latest levers:

Bild

The 'AFB' lever is an early version, before i figured out to make the white line a separate printed part i glue in place.

i use my 'local' hackspace's laser cutter for making the box and the black insert plates, i could probably make most of the lever components from laser cut parts if i wanted, but i'm sticking with 3D printed parts where i can, as more people will have a 3D printer at home than a laser cutter.

Do the knobs look about to scale? i don't know the sizes of the knobs top and bottom dimensions, i know the 1:1 scale item is 43mm tall, and i guessed at 30mm for the top diameter and 20mm for the bottom diameter.

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gazz
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Re: 3D printing levers and switches

#19 Beitrag von gazz »

Sorry for all the questions,

Does anyone know the colour code for the blue that German train drivers desks are (i know some are green, but i like the steuerwagen blue look)

I used to have some laminate that was very close to the real colour of my wittenberger drivers desk in storage, but i have to leave that behind in a house move ;(
and i do not know the colour that was as i found it in a skip!

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Re: 3D printing levers and switches

#20 Beitrag von nonesense »

Wittenberger Kopf: RAL 5014
BR120 & BR111: RAL 6011

regards
Jens

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