Several months ago I purchased two first generation Atlas C-630s languishing in our local hobby shop for an old price. I had a few extra M-630 and Dofasco truck kits lying around, and Jeff had just released his long awaited M-630W kit along with a new version of the Dofasco trucks. The new version features 3D printed gearboxes and sideframes, and universal joints.
I noticed that out of the box, the models did not run well, often losing contact, which I chalked up to those pesky contact strips. Unfortunately, after the truck conversion, the models would not run very well at all. After much investigation and discussion we were able to determine that the models were losing contact right at the axles. The gearboxes and sideframes were not able to keep the axle points hard against the contact strips inside the trucks. I believe this was going on even prior to the conversion. Perhaps this is why Atlas changed to wire pick-up for their latest run of the C-30s.
Jeff devised a solution whereby the contact strip is now inside the wheels and held captive on the axles, thus guaranteeing contact at all times. When the models came back to me, a test run confirmed that the problem was solved and these units now run very well. 729 has a different problem with the motor mount contacts at the top of the frame, but those will be bypassed during the DCC conversion. The results are good enough that I may retrofit one of my previous M-630s with the new trucks as it has contact issues.
The video link below illustrates the mechanism for M-630 722 on a test run usng an old Tech II power pack:
I should mention that in addition to the truck and universal joint conversion, Jeff has converted the drives to wire pick-up directly to the trucks. 722 and 729 are now ready for conversion to DCC!
Tim
