You're the first I've ever seen rewind an armature. How tedious was that??? You can always use mineral oil as smoke oil or caster oil, etc. I don't do DCC either. My last layout was DC and my next (soon, I hope) will be DC only also. Sound may be okay for G scale, but anything smaller sounds fake and shrill because of tine speakers. For me, I prefer DC. Cheers from eastern TN
Rewinding can be a tedious process, partly because you have to take great care and not lose count! If done right though, it’s possible to repair an expensive motor with about $1 of wire!
I lke all the repairs except for the super glueing the motor, clear silicone would have beem better or even a touch of hot glue.. otherwise all very solid repairs .👍
I decided on super-glue for the motor since it was already on a foam pad. I have used silicon before to mount motors to metal surfaces with good results, but I usually use glue when it's on a soft surface.
I have found that cleaning the back of the AHM brush fingers and adding liquid flux solder will flow holding the oblong carbon brush in its recess providing stability and electrical contact.
Currently working on, and almost finished with a tyco 638 Chattanooga that will use an Athearn powered tender drive. It's the chassis from sw1500, with a tender shell I got off ebay. It will soon be DCC powered.
Thanks for the video! I have found, other than one of the pins breaking on “Power” Torque motor the hardest thing is to get the brushes and screws all line up to put it back together! Take care and all the best!! Sorry the rewind did not work out!!!
If i owned those two locomotives,The first one that was in poor condition i would have scraped it and use it for spear parts for the second one that's in good shape.
Another master class by a master technician. Should be child's play for you to install a Rail Pro battery powered decoder in a large scale locomotive, right?
This what I love.....the repair knowledge .... Man this guy just has that overall view about what its suppose to look like .... This kind of know how is special ....Wouldnt you love to have a neighbor like this ...I would
What is the difference between the tire and the wheel? Or is there a difference? You seem to use the nomenclature indiscriminately. Or am I missing something? Thanks.
One definition of a tire is "a strengthening band of metal fitted around the rim of a wheel." The wheels on diesels are typically one piece, so for them I'll usually be referring to a rubber traction tire, but for steam engines, there's typically a metal piece fit around the outer rim of the main center wheel, so I'll usually call that the tire if I'm talking specifically about it.
There need to be more Rock Island decorated models, even if they’re not all prototypical. I think my favorite is the initial maroon and silver they used on the ALCO DL-109.
Hello,Been watching your work . Well done . Like to see what you would do to a HO Gilbert ALCO DL600b drive mechanism? They have a very interesting set up from the gear case to the trucks in how they accomplish it without bushings rather use the nylon/plastic cups for the drive shafts in the holes rather then having a shaft in the bearing/bushing. Would like to figure out how to improve them with bushings .Sort of an upgrade to the engineering that would make them silent running and I believe the right way it should had been done . What do you think ?.
I actually have one of those and am planning to do a video eventually! I picked it up a while back from someone who said it survived a flooded basement, so we’ll see how it all turns out once I can get to work on it.
@@DarthSantaFe Thanks for the quick reply..Besides fixing the deficiency's in the drive if possible .If not maybe a Athearn style frame with old Stewart 616 truck with tri mount side frames would be a reliable drive as a alternative possibly
I worked in tobacco as a kid to buy my first blue box Athearn, it was a grey Southern Pacific FMH 24-66 Trainmaster and costed me $42 dollars at the Hobby Store in 1986. It cost more than the entire Rock Island shark nose Bachman trainset I received from Santa the previous year. We were dirt poor with holes in the floor of our trailer that snakes would climb through so White privilege my ass. It was my first _real_ train engine that wasn't by Tyco or Bachman. _I secretly hated Bachman and still dislike it to this day because how cheap and weak they made the engines_
Putting a shaft into a blind hole, if drilled by hand the hole will be oversized even though you picked the proper drill bit size. The only way to insure a hole size for a press fit is to ream the hole and reaming a blind hole I have never had to do. So, I would opt for a dad of JB Weld 2 part epoxy. It would probably be a permanent repair if the grease and oil is cleaned off. The easiest way to do that is with brake clean in an aerosol can or acetone from a can. Both evaporate quickly but since it is a chemical that dissolves grease some care must be taken around painted surfaces (it can strip or ruin paint) and some plastics. It is fine on metal. Just keep some paper towels or something similar handy to wipe up excess quickly. Hope this is a helpful suggestion.
I recently found a Chattanooga locomotive at a flea market. It didn't look that bad when I purchased it. But it had a considerable amount of rust, after a good amount of cleaning with a rotary tool. I think I got a good deal because I got it in a lot.
Strange how the Soundtraxx decoder needs its CV changed for Analog (dual mode) operation. Most of the decoders that I've dealt with have the CV set for Analog (dual mode) operation by default. I'll have to note this for the future even though I have a DCC system to program it.
Wherever I can, really. Sometimes NWSL has replacements, sometimes I can adapt gears from Athearn and others, and sometimes I pull them from broken motors and junk models.
Hi, I have really enjoyed your instructional videos. In one of your videos, you replaced a split gear in a Bachmann Union Pacific loco with a pancake motor. I have a bunch of Bachmann locomotives that need that gear. Do you know of a source where I could purchase some? Thanks for great and informative videos. Dave
Darth, could you explain the process of balancing the flywheels and how to notice it? It never quite made sense when you first mentioned it videos ago.
The easiest way to notice it is if you feel a lot of vibration from the motor. It can also cause a noticeable humming noise. The unbalanced side is sometimes far enough off center that you can see a sort of wobble motion of the flywheel when it’s turning slowly, and holding a Sharpie just barely close enough to touch while the flywheel is spinning will show you exactly where the imbalance is at. To fix it, drill a hole a little at a time into the unbalanced side until the vibration is either minimized or completely gone.
Been a mechanic for decades and found opinion of worth attitude to get in the way in the mind for repairing something. Shouldn't be if your the man. So either throw it away in front of the kid that wants it fixed so he can play because he has nothing else or be the man and just fix it! We don't always like what we have to fix ,but it is us that have the gift to do so without prejudice. That is one of the things repair men have to have to do repairs for a living. If not they will not be any good or do it very long .
Interesting video, although with the amount of time spent on each loco, given their age/value, the owner would be better off just throwing the locomotives in the garbage. Even repaired, those locos are worth next to nothing on the secondary market. I guess it was something to do and content for the channel, in which case worth it for you so well done. Thanks for sharing.
It is easier to replace old and cheap models with new and high quality models, but whether some will do that or not depends on how much you can afford and if the models hold personal value or not. If all of the train-set level models were replaced with better ones from let’s say Kato, Atlas and IHC at typical going prices in used/very good condition, the total could easily get up to over $500. There are also plenty of people out there who grew up with these train set models and want to have them working again, and that can sometimes put the personal value of the cheap one as high as the new one, in that case making the repair efforts worth it.
