I was thinking about an old doorbell my parents used to have with a solenoid and plunger to operate it (I was thinking of ways to simulate the engine room bells) and, having seen some 'solenoid' engines at Kew Bridge last month, came up with this......
....anyone ever made one? I don't know if it'd work or how much current it'd draw or how fast it 'd run...it's just a crazy idea for replacing a simple component with a complex one!

Quote from: mjt60a on November 10, 2008, 06:01:09 AM....having seen some 'solenoid' engines at Kew Bridge last month....

This is the sort of thing I mean - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1k9BXvGNOOA&feature=related - but that's like a 'single acting' engine, what I was thinking of was more like a 'double acting' version and with two coils and a magnet for them to push/pull can have a larger radius crank (longer stroke) - and with two 'cylinders' at 90 degrees it would be self starting and reversible - if it actually worked, that is...

It would be fascinating to give it a try Mick, and it would probably look good as a working tabletop display, but I doubt it would have enough power to be a practical method of powering a model.

I'd certainly like to see the results if you, or someone else, built one....

Regards
Eddy

I wonder if John (bogstandard), or any of the other model engineers on PD's, have tried making a solenoid motor like Mick describes?

If so, what where the results?

Regards
Eddy

At the one house I lived in there was a door chime that worked on solenoids. It was only 6Volts (AC I think) and had two solenoids that struck metal plates mounted on rubber, there were two buttons front and back door and would give ether a single or double chime. So look in the builders supplies they may have something similar.
Regards,
Gerald