# How to make a working winch?



## Cap'nBill (Dec 27, 2008)

I'm trying to think of ways to build a working winch that could haul logs back and forth, 'skyline' type rig, on a club layout. First, I guess it would have to be an RC controlled unit. I'm guessing mechanically it has to be a 2 drum type, one drum hauls in one direction, the other a haulback. It doesn't have to be scale. I'm thinking maybe small 12v motors, operated with a motorcycle type battery. I guess a real inventor could come up with micro switches where the logs would just move up and down. Any thoughts or ideas out there? Bill


----------



## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

Don Gage has made several winches which were part of the Door Hollow Shortline. You might search for articles in the Model Building forum for his contributions.

Another source of how to info is to find the thread Bob Baxter posted about two years ago regarding the building of his steam shovel. It has a two drum winch and it rotates. In that post, he explained how he built it. 


Or...just to into the Members section (upper left here)...find the name, and send em an email. 


Long ago, I bought a busted tower crane toy because it came with a dual drum, motor driven spool set that had a tethered remote control. Some day, I intend to fashion the guts of that toy crane into a two drum logging winch.


----------



## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

*One idea is look for a big hook and ladder fire truck . like one at Toys are us. Our boy found one in a yard pick up with broken wheels on it.. So i took the remote laddar unit off and now it mounded on my 4 foot Barge. 
Added a boom and a few part. It has one large drum and a small drum.. rest is geard.
It now has hook to go up and down, turn side to side and boom can be up and down also. 
Very powerful. Just an idea


*/1stclass/noelw/Barge/Mvc-824l.jpg


----------



## KYYADA (Mar 24, 2008)

Check this out it is really something to see. It is what you are looking for. 

http://wegmuller.org/logging/index.html 

Sorry you will have to cut and paste. 

Johnny


----------



## Eric M. (Jan 3, 2008)

Johnny, Capn Bill, others, 

I am one of the guys who worked on the live steam donkey engines. The URL that you posted is our old page. It does have the drawings but there is a gallery of more recent pictures like this:








It's funny, even this pic is pretty old but at least it shows more of our progress.


If you want to make an electric winch that is RC, you could try the 3 Racing Crawler Winch that is meant for scale RC rock crawlers. I have one mounted on the front of my 1:14 scale Mercedes military truck:















A close up of the winch. It can be operated by a standard RC reciever and battery or a manual push button. The only problem I could see for the 3R winch is that the spool is pretty small so you might not have enough rope for a sky line or crotch line setup. They would work good for a crane, shovel or loader though. They cost about 30 bucks and you can buy them from various RC rock crawler dealers online and on Ebay. Another option would be to look into the servo winches that they use on RC sailboats. Also any standard servo can be modified so you don't have travel limiters on it so you could use it as a winch motor. You could fabricate any size spool you want. If you are curious to see more recent pics of the steam donkey (winches) go to this gallery: http://wegmuller.org/v-web/gallery/EDH-Lumber-Co-1:20-3-scale-Donkey-Engines Sorry no link, you will have to cut and paste. Too much of a PITA to enter the code to make it a link. Best regards,


----------



## Cap'nBill (Dec 27, 2008)

It might be the simplest for me would be to 'fix' a sail winch! Just so happens I have an old one from one of my older sailboats. Long term, I hope to build a steam donkey. I have the boiler fairly near completion and a Graham Ind. single cylinder engine. 'Course I can't run live steam in the building of the Club layout ( in a Mall store). I guess the biggest problem is coming up with the gears and the mechanics. I've seen the pics but will revisit the site for a refresher.


----------

