Smoking Steamer in N scale

[victor miranda]

the photos from that area can be quite impressive

at some point you will find you will need a gear puller
and you can try what rschaffter did.

the first few time can be a little scary and you will find it gets easier.

I won't promise any improvements past getting the motor installed.

right now I am hoping I can get the motor to chassis contacts to transfer
with minimal fuss.

PM with addr sent

victor

[TVRR]

I ordered the 2-8-0 motor from Bachmann, should be here next week. I know you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear, if it runs I'm happy. Since I will be adding DCC to this engine (if it runs well enough), is it possible to mount the motor and insulate it from the side frame with some thin plastic, leaving two motor wires out the back? The old tender will be replaced by an all wheel large Bachmann tender to hopefully improve pickup issues. I will isolate the front and rear engine trucks electrically with nylon screws and thin spacers between the frame and trucks. These are things that I can do myself. Thank you for your generous offer of assistance.

[mmagliaro]

I would say you should leave the pilot and trailing trucks "live".   Why isolate them?
Let them conduct to the frame halves, and just make sure the motor is isolated if you want to put a decoder in it.
Then you can pull track power from the engine frames and run it back to the tender, plus the tender pickup,  feed both of those
to the decoder, and run decoder outputs back to the engine, directly to the motor.   All-wheel tender pickup
will be a big improvement.  But I still wouldn't give up the pickups from the engine's trucks.

[victor miranda]

before I do anything else...
I have a recollection that Kato put springs from the trailing and lead trucks
on the oldest 4-6-4 to improve pick-up.

anyone got a picture of one?

[victor miranda]

loco arrived.

I put in the b-mann 2-8-0 motor.

motor installed:




cuts for wire attachment:


a shot for peteski.
Kato motor apart.


I could not glue the motor in there. (a personal thing...)
the hardest part was getting the Kato worm off the motor.

I made an anvil from a stainless washer.
the worm was glued so you may want to try some heat instead.
I used medium strength loctite to install the worm.
I had to cut the worm 1mm shouter to fit in proper position in the chassis.
The old kato motor is 10mm across the same as the b-mann.
so all I had to do was get the motor against the motor carrier.
the b-mall motor is about 1.4mm bigger in width. 
I carved the frame where the old motor is centered

I put a thick piece of paper around the motor-bearing boss to help it stay centered
and I made a clamp for the back of the motor.
keep in mind if you do this that the motor has to be lifted. it will short on the trailing truck wheel in corners
should it sag.

The motor install is pretty straight forward.

getting the loco to run well... that is a whole 'nother bag o tricks.

[peteski]

What a tease Victor - the only photo that doesn't show up is the Kato motor!    It would have also been nice to see the before and after install shots.

Great job on fabricating the rear mounting bracket. It looks like it was factory made.  Pretty clever.  I like it!  Nice to see that the motor can be easily removed for maintenance.  Also good job on the clean electrical connections - you even used the correct color wires (but you have them reversed): orange wire should be on the right side. 

Not that you need it, but this retrofit gets a Peteski seal of approval! 

[victor miranda]

my apologies there, Peteski.

the magic of browser cache.  the photo show up for me....

I have done my best to get it back up.

ETA:

the wires are that way because there is one less gear in the train.
so the motor is reversed.

one can flip the magnets or the motor or the wire.

a before shot:


I took an 'after' shot... it came out quite dark.

[peteski]

That's better - thanks Victor!

Was the armature winding of the Kato motor burned or it is just coated with dark enamel?

That motor's construction is similar to the Mehano motors but I see that it is different.  Some parts (like the screw-in brush holders) look similar.

[mmagliaro]

Super cool motor mounting bracket, Victor!  I like it!

[TVRR]

Wow, I'm impressed! The scratch built motor mount is really something not to mention the electrical connections. Was the old motor indeed fried or just too junked up to run?

[victor miranda]

TVRR,
check  for PM

guys,
I realized that you may not know the b-mann 2-8-0 motor comes with wires soldered to it
I didn't want to remove them.

I'll spend a bit more time on the old motor/arm tonight.
my initial test was ... small door knob.

I suspect one of the coils is burnt,
the kind that is deep inside from built up heat.
it looks ok.

every one I have met is that same dark purple color.
and this leads to what makes this motor better than the menhano...
it can take the heat the motor generates.
the bearings are sintered bronze and the larger size
allows heat to dissipate
and the plastic in the Kato does not sag under the heat.

the quality of the coils and the arm and the overall design... well...
we have better motors now.

victor

[victor miranda]

well there!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Con-Cor-MODEL-TRAIN-MOTOR-N-scale-original-part-for-Hudson-/231490516094?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35e5e8f47e

when the link goes stale...
99 bucks for a hudson motor as needed for the loco in this thread.
with free shipping.

I do wonder if it will sell at that price.

[Chris333]

US $99.98 or $17 for 6 months†

[victor miranda]

Wow, I'm impressed! The scratch built motor mount is really something not to mention the electrical connections. Was the old motor indeed fried or just too junked up to run?

to answer your's and peteski's question....

I tinkered a bit and got the motor assembled.

and I got it going.....!...

it rattles a bit and uses .270 ma and at 3 volts
is a kitten weak?
cause it is weaker than a new born kitten.
... and it got very warm in about a 15 second run.


yeah, that motor is well past toast...

victor

[rschaffter]

Nice work, Victor!