Laufstall/Milchviehstall

Hi! I am from Norway and I am building a barn in 1:32 scale. I hope it's alright that I write in English, but I do understand a little bit of German after studying this in school if you prefer commenting in German, just keep it simple.;) The barn is 1250x600 mm in base dimensions and can take maximum 60 animals (28 milking cows). I have made everything from scratch with wood, plastic strips and profiles, brass and some of the things are made in my 3D-printer. The barn has a DeLaval VMS milking robot and a TKS K2 FeedRobot for feeding. The FeedRobot is driven by a stepper motor controlled with Arduino.

I will start with some photos of the barn like it is now, and then I'll make a new post with some of the building pictures. If you want to see pictures from the whole building process you can check out this link. I have added a comment to many of the pictures, but unfortunately it is only in Norwegian.
https://plus.google.com/photos/1008033…CNjO_LDsqrLRkwE

Here you see the barn with the roof mounted. The box/table is made for easy transportion of the barn.

Here is the inside which is in constant development. I like adding small details, so I will probably never get finished with this project.

This is the area for sick and calving cows. To make the calving cow I have used the head and legs of a calf and glued to the back of the cow. I have also added some details to make it look realistic.

This DeLaval VMS is scratch built with plastic strips and profiles.

This TKS K2 FeedRobot is made out of plastic and parts printed on my 3D-printer.

Here is a video of the FeedRobot and how it drives back and forth.

Hope you like my building project. It is not finished yet, so I will keep you updated when I add new things to it.

Here are som building pictures. As I said in the previous post you can check all my pictures in this link.
https://plus.google.com/photos/1008033…CNjO_LDsqrLRkwE

The walls are cut and mounted.

I have started painting the floor and preparing the area where the cubicles will come.

The roof is in the making.

Picture of the VMS in the making.

The fences for the cows are made with brass rods of Ø2mm and Ø2,5mm.

The track for the FeedRobot is also made of brass.

Thanks, Raphael and Patrick! The FeedRobot is also my highlight. I have got a lot of help from the producer of it, TKS. They are also going to use this barn on some exhibitions, to show customers how the product works in a barn. It is probably what has taken most time to make as well, since I first had to make the robot itself, then the tracks for it. When the tracks were in place I could start with the "cable" that pulls it back and forth, and finally programming the Arduino, so that the robot travels correctly. At this point I am very pleased with it.

Vielen dank, Hermann und Tobias! Thanks also for reminding me about the first name. The next update might be coming this evening.

Here is a small update. I am almost finished with the sections for the door in to the feeding central. The rest of the track for the FeedRobot is also painted, which made a big difference. Apart from that I have changed a cow a little bit so that it looks like it is stretching it's neck for the cow brush. I am also going to change some other cows so that they are a little different from eachother.

Today it is very common here in Norway to have a bathroom in the barn. I don't remember the rules in my head, but I also think you have to insert a toilet and shower in every new barn that is built. I thought it could be fun to make a bathroom in my barn, so I am now in the making of one. The walls are still loose so that they are easy to remove while I am building the components inside and laying tiles on the walls. I have finished two walls and also a sink and shower. The toilet is missing a couple of details before it is finished. I am very pleased with the result of the bathroom so far.

The top and bottom parts of the shower are printed in my 3D-printer. The toilet and sink is also printed here. The rest is hand made of wood, styrene profiles and some steel rods (actually for TIG-welding).

Some pictures from the building of the shower.

The bathroom will be in the small room besides the motor.

There are more pictures in this album:
https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipP5…KlhiaPk2HZ_5f8T

Thank you, Daniel and Tobias! I have now made the lights for the bathroom and after a lot of work and many failures they finally work. At this point I haven't made any socket for two of them, so they are just hanging loose, but I will make a socket that holds them in place and directs the light downwards. Of course the best would be that the lights hang from the roof, but in these rooms that won't be a good solution, so I have mounted them along the walls instead. In the main room for the animals the lights will be hanging from the roof, but it's an open room, so it won't be a problem there. I have also made a mirror for the bathroom out of a card holder in blank steel. It made a great and clear mirror. Hope you like what you see in the pictures. The toilet, shower and sink have now been placed in the bathroom, although they are still loose. I have also added a couple of details.

The first two pictures were taken before the lights were set up. In these pictures the room is lit up by an external lamp.
http://googleusercontent.com/-x7wlpLpJSSA/V…20150618_175205

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-PcTM_0tEMlc/V…20150618_175301

http://googleusercontent.com/-DLLH410YpOo/V…20150618_215428

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-M3MkWzpbwJc/V…20150618_215436

Here is also a detail picture of the toilet paper holder and towel holder.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-rzSAE20pQ4I/V…20150617_180457

Thank you, Tobi. The comments from you guys are highly appreciated.

Thank you very much! I have been really busy with other things the last weeks, but I think I will be continuing on the building today or tomorrow. The plans now are to complete the walls that still are loose on the bathroom. I have also bought a new motor shield for my Arduino that I will test to see if it works better with less heat. If everything goes according to plan, I won't need a fan to cool it down. I'll keep you updated when something new happens.

Thank you very much. I have now had some help from my neighbor to picture the barn with a better camera. I think the photos turned out really great and they are taken by Steffan Stanes. The barn isn't finished yet, but I wanted some fresh pictures of it as it is now. Hope you like them. In this link you see all the pictures:
https://goo.gl/photos/Z9MZddE3XPiMJFby7

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