Lux 9470 Track Cleaning Car - Any Experience?

[Lemosteam]

I would affix some of your favorite grit on top of the 1500 grit.  i would think that the mechanism is sprung or uses gravity to rest atop the rails so the added thickness should not be an issue.

[C855B]

That's one solution I had in mind, but need to see it live, obviously. OTOH, my current polishing paper "clogs" very fast. It works well but I think it's intended for wet sanding in auto body work where you basically rinse it. Because of this, when I was imagineering my own cleaner/polisher a concept being considered was a weighted shoe that was "fed" by a reel-to-reel system with the polishing paper. Very Rube Goldberg-ish, obviously, but addressed the issue that the abrasive was consumed very quickly.

First tests will be with the polishing wheel, anyway. It appears to be a rubberized type similar to what I mentioned above from Cratex or Dedeco. That's technically still an abrasive, albeit very mild. Rubberized polishing wheels refresh their working surface naturally like a pencil eraser, which solves the clogging issue. So what I need to do there is put a vacuum car behind the polisher, and that we already have.

[Cajonpassfan]

Following with interest, I’m always in search of the holy grail of N scale.
Thank you for taking this on Mike...not an inexpensive experiment.
Otto

[learmoia]

I assume you only ordered the cleaning car and accessories.. not the vaccum car?

They also have a magnet accessory as well.. but not sure how that is supposed to function.

~Ian

[C855B]

No, I have two Tomix cars. They've been good as vacuums. The Lux car probably has more suction (Faulhaber motor, after all), but I'm not altogether sure it wouldn't get me into trouble. 

[C855B]

An Update

I ordered the Lux-Modellbau track polisher just in time to be totally hosed by the pandemic lockdowns. The original order was placed on February 11; the Canadian importer was business as usual, holding it while they accumulated orders for their periodic shipments from the Eurozone. Then the pandemic crushed everything, and there is still a no-ship order in place for anything out of Germany via post. I corresponded with the dealer last week, and they confirmed the embargo, with no information on when it would be released. They were perfectly understanding if I wanted to cancel after waiting >3 months.

Casting a wider net, I found one at a dealer in the UK, and received shipping confirmation this morning. They estimate a week in transit. Fingers crossed.

[C855B]

It's a Miracle!

In a couple of respects. First, it arrived from the UK this morning, a mere two weeks after ordering. I was cautioned in a separate inquiry about shipping times that due to COVID-19, international post was taking up to six weeks depending on destination country. There was othing specific about US addresses, but I was bracing for an extended wait.

Executive summary: it works very well, but the polishing felts may be an issue.









The marks on the polishing pads are from putting it on unpowered rails to check for flange interference.

Here it is in action, a before, during and after video:

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Crappy handheld video, but you get the idea.

A view of the polishing pads after one pass of 300 feet of track. The pads were lightly moistened with 91% IPA:



That NW2 in the video followed the cleaning train the entire way and didn't stutter even once. That's a first. I had deliberately not cleaned most of the track for several weeks in anticipation of this test.

I am surprised - no, amazed - it was this effective with just the felt polishing wheels and a little IPA. You'll notice in the picture of the box the container of accessory wheels, which are the felt wheels covered in 1500-grit polishing paper. Not sure at the moment that I will ever need those. What troubles me, however, is the felt wheels appear to be a consumable and I do not have a US source for them. I will be exploring my idea of Cratex or Dedeco polishing wheels.

The polishing wheels are attached with 4.0mm locknuts. They didn't include a nut driver, which is a bother since they are recessed into the wheel; there is simply no other way to get them off. I have a miniature metric nut driver set on its way.

The automatic start/stop feature works as advertised, although I would prefer it stop after one or two seconds versus the five it sits there grinding before it senses the train has stopped. Could be an issue with abrasive wheels. Dropping power with E-stop doesn't do a thing since it has a keep-alive function to power past really dirty track.

The flanges are NOT nearly the problem I was expecting them to be. They were fine on ME Code 55, rattling a little on Atlas turnouts. Not impossible on C40, but I will want to check compatibility with FVM wheelsets. I'm debating whether the wheelset with the axle magnets (to detect movement) is worth replacing, grinding down, or just ignoring and let it rattle on C40.

One British YouTube review noted that a layout with limited clearances may have an issue. Not here, it's well within the NMRA template - not even close.

Biggest downside is the cost, $180 from Hatton Model Trains in the UK, about the same from Euro-Rail in Vancouver, BC. Either is momentarily moot as nothing is being shipped out of Germany due to virus lockdowns; what I received was the remaining stock at Hatton.

Bottom line is it will get regular use once I solve the polishing wheel availability issue.

[C855B]

Something else worth mentioning: you'll notice the polishing marks on the wheels are well off-center. That's great, 2X the use! Uhhhh... not. The wheels are dished and one-sided. You can't turn them around on the axle. If there was a simple design change they could do, making it possible to turn the wheels around for double use would be a real winner.

[Rasputen]

Thanks for sharing!

How about the ends of rails like frogs, points, and guard rails, or rail joints?  Do the felt wheels catch on these edges or leave any fibers there that need further attention???

[C855B]

I was watching and listening for snags especially around turnouts - roughly 60 in the whole-layout route - and all was good. Probably ought to double-check facing-points, however.

[MK]

What's the diameter of the wheels?  Maybe you can mod some of the felt polishing wheels for Dremel.  They come in different sizes.

[C855B]

After a few hours measuring, test fitting and online research...

The situation with the polishing wheels is turning into a challenge on a couple of fronts. First, nobody has the Lux felt wheels, they're on backorder everywhere with no ETA.

The second problem is the dimensions. They are entirely custom and obviously made in-house, 15mm in diameter by 6mm wide, and the hubs are dished 3mm off center. The closest imperial size would be 5/8" by 1/4"; so far I'm unable to find polishing felts nor rubberized polishing wheels in 5/8". The mechanism doesn't appear to have enough "drop" for 1/2" diameter wheels to work but maybe it could be modded; 1/2" is available from Cratex, minimum purchase 100 for $77. Oops.

There are other dimension complications from the offset hub. Even on finding felt polishing "bobs" - cylinders - 5/8" x 1" that I could possibly slice into wheels, the axle will only accommodate the 1/8" thickness of the hub, and cutting slices into 1/8" thick wheels won't stay on top of the rails.

Do you know there are three different grades of polishing felt? I didn't until this afternoon. This is important, evidently. From what I can determine from this sudden education, Dremel polishing felts are "soft" and would be unsuitable, this being the grade most likely to catch on points, etc.

Solution I am entertaining right now is making my own wheel hubs (Photon) to which I glue craft store felt. Worth a try, and by far the least expensive option. Maybe I can 3D-print a set of baby moons to go with 'em. 

As to replacing wheelsets, FVM is off the table. Axle point-to-point is ~0.540 - yay! - but the measured wheel diameter is 0.245", or roughly the equivalent of 39". It has to be locomotive wheels. With some work I could adapt Kato wheelsets, but the magnet axle will either have the flanges ground or be left to chatter on C40.

For something not intended to be a project, it's become a project.

[C855B]

Corrections:

The nuts holding the cleaning wheels on are 4.0mm, not 3.5 as originally measured. I corrected this in the initial review.

While the cleaning wheels can't be turned around on the axles, the felt "tires" are not glued and can be turned around on the hubs. The question is whether doing this loosens the tire too much and it slips. A tiny spot of CA would fix that, anyway.

[eric220]

While the cleaning wheels can't be turned around on the axles, the felt "tires" are not glued and can be turned around on the hubs. The question is whether doing this loosens the tire too much and it slips. A tiny spot of CA would fix that, anyway.

That would also seem to open up a possibility for replacing the felt other than sourcing OEM parts.

[C855B]

That would also seem to open up a possibility for replacing the felt other than sourcing OEM parts.

Yes, that's where I'm going with it at the moment. Yesterday I picked-up three grades of polyester felt from Hobby Lobby for testing. I mentioned printing hubs on the Photon, so that's the plan. The momentary challenge is gathering thoughts, hubs and measuring tools in front of the computer all at the same time.