Lux 9470 Track Cleaning Car - Any Experience?

[Rasputen]

There are some spare felt wheels on that auction site, but shipping from Germany is over $20.00.

[C855B]

There are some spare felt wheels on that auction site, but shipping from Germany is over $20.00.

Where/how are you searching for these? I'm coming up empty.

The question remains whether they can be shipped at all. Has the post embargo in/out of Germany been lifted? I can see committing to buy and being told they were unable to ship due to coronavirus-related restrictions.

[Rasputen]

It's one of those multiple item listings, so you have to use the pull-down menu (and translate it if desired)


https://www.ebay.com/itm/LUX-Spur-N-Auswahlartikel-9470-Schleifwagen-SSF-09-alle-Ersatzteile-Service/122273185295?hash=item1c780cbe0f:g:wIIAAOSwEzxYUvtC

[C855B]

Ah, much appreciated. I bookmarked the page. Bogies, too? I wouldn't consider those consumables, but glad to know they're available if I bung-up the originals with wheel mods.

The better explanation why it didn't hit on searching was the page in German, I was searching in English.    Additional "can't find" problem was - even in German - the actual manufacturer name, "Lux-Modellbau" wasn't in the heading. Evidently eBay's search engine doesn't look past the heading and top description. Even then, the full name "schienenschleifwagen" was nowhere in the listing, just "schleifwagen", which eBay transliterated into "schlafwagen", finding all sorts of nice passenger cars.

My high school German teacher always said "think in German" versus trying to spontaneously translate English phrases and idioms. I guess he was right.

[Rasputen]

I did some searching and I finally found this on the deutschepost site, although it can change daily:

https://www.deutschepost.de/en/c/coronavirus.html#usa

USA:
At this time, transport capacities to the USA are substantially reduced. As such, special measures are required to maintain the shipping of letters and parcels.

It is still possible to send letter mail items weighing up to 500 g and with a maximum thickness of 2 cm (documents) to the USA.
Warenpost and Päckchen products are no longer available for shipment to the USA until further notice.
Private customers: Until further notice, the only option available for sending parcels to the USA will be via the Premium service.
Business customers/contract customers: DHL Paket International items can still be sent until further notice. Please note that a crisis surcharge of EUR 2.20 per kilogram (or part thereof) will be applied to each parcel.
European business customers: Deutsche Post Packet products can still be sent until further notice. Please note that due to the current international crisis, the prices for all Packet products have been increased. Please contact your Account Manager in your European country office for further information.

[C855B]

OK, so it's somewhat possible for an online retailer to ship (business), but it's going to cost ya'. Thanks, useful to know.

[brill27mcb]

From my observations and experiences, it always "costs a ton" to get things shipped from a German retailer to the U.S.  By law, I believe commercial sellers there are held responsible for any losses in shipment, and so they use tracked and signed-for DHL $hipping. Private sellers do not face this responsibility, so on German Ebay sellers are identified as either a commercial retailer or a private seller. I have had very few cases where shipping costs from a commercial seller were reasonable. The commercial sellers also seem to differ on whether they feel the need to add VAT to the price for out-of-EU customers. Some add it, while others do not or even remove it from their price if it was built-in. Shipping costs from Austria seem to be even higher then from Germany.

Rich K.

[Simon D.]

Available from the UK here: https://www.dcctrainautomation.co.uk/track-clearning.html


Shipping from the UK to the US seems to be fine - works the other way round.

[C855B]

Available from the UK here: https://www.dcctrainautomation.co.uk/track-clearning.html

Shipping from the UK to the US seems to be fine - works the other way round.

A big "nope!"; been there, done that. What I need is not in stock, listed as "pre-order" just like everybody else. Whether it's postal service in/out of Germany or the small, non-essential company is shuttered due to virus restrictions, nothing is forthcoming and there is no ETA. I'm moving ahead with Plan B, and will shortly post results.

[C855B]

Home brew hubs worked!



The dirty felt wheels on the cleaner car are from running the entire 300 feet of the layout with nary a snag or a glitch. The main reason the dirt is blurred rather than a dark streak is I refreshed the IPA twice during the run. Bottom left to right are felt strips cut from Hobby Lobby craft felt, stock wheels, and then bare hubs sized for the craft felt from the Photon.

I am, very frankly, amazed by what this little gadget has done for operability. After two laps there are simply no dirty track stutters even with four-axle switchers. If there was to be an improvement, I'd like a drip system to add IPA as it's doing its job, though the problem there is the potential of too much alcohol messing with track paint. We'll see how it does as-is for the time being.

[peteski]

That's pretty good Mike!  What did you use as adhesive to bond the felt to those hubs?  I'm also pleasantly surprised that the seam does not snag on track joints, points and frogs.  That's good!

As far as the black streak on felt goes, I still think that a lot of it is nickel-silver particles.  Well, on really dirty track, the nickel-silver particles are mixed with dirt and some grease or oil, but I bet that even after few cleanings, you will still see a dark streak if you ran a fresh roller.  Felt fibers are likely slightly abrasive, and will abrade even freshly cleaned track

[C855B]

Thanks! The cleaning wheel drive is on a fulcrum, so the pressure is pretty low. I was also surprised/pleased the homemade wheels didn't snag. I used gelled CA to hold at the joint and 180° across, and that apparently was the trick. Rotation speed is in the 500-600 rpm range, so the light touch and moderate but not-too-slow seems to work.

Yes, I knew the felt was oh-so-slightly abrasive, which in this case is "just right". As far as the truly abrasive wheel set is concerned, I guess I could use that for converting Code 80 into Code 55. 

[Maletrain]

...
As far as the black streak on felt goes, I still think that a lot of it is nickel-silver particles.  Well, on really dirty track, the nickel-silver particles are mixed with dirt and some grease or oil, but I bet that even after few cleanings, you will still see a dark streak if you ran a fresh roller.  Felt fibers are likely slightly abrasive, and will abrade even freshly cleaned track

That post gave me the inspiration to do a test.  I had cleaned some Kato Unitrack about 2 months ago, and had not been able to run any trains on it thereafter.  So I just put some IPA on a paper towel and ran it over the rails with good pressure from my fingers.  No black came off onto the towel at all. And, that is consistent with my experience (limited to Unitrack) that a thorough cleaning does get rid of all the black stuff.  It also seems to me that it is a good indication that running the trains has something to do with generating the black stuff.  The track I just did my test on was sitting out on a layout, exposed to household air.  (I can smell what's for dinner when running trains, even though the kitchen is on the other end of the  house.)  So, it should have received deposition of whatver gunk is in household air.

One caveat to this test is that I don't remember for sure what I cleaned that track with two months ago.  It was probably with "WD-40 Electrical Contact Cleaner", rather than IPA.  But, I seem to remember similar results with IPA from the time before I switched to using the contact cleaner.

[Cajonpassfan]

Mike, I’m following this with great interest, as I too have a long mainline to keep clean. Very promising...how much track can one set of wheels clean? (Obviously depends on how dirty it is).

Over the years I’ve tried all kinds of things and fluids and keep coming back to the old IPA 91 and soft white cotton T-shirt strips wrapped tightly around small wood blocks, pushed around by hand. I can clean a lot of track in 20 minutes but there are areas not easy to get to, and bridges, tunnels and yards full of cars, so this would be very useful. The thing sure is ugly though
And expensive!
Otto

[C855B]

I really have no idea yet about the useful life of the cleaning wheels. It appears the alcohol dilutes the dirt on the home brew wheels, but doesn't do the same thing with the OEM scrubbers. I would hazard the factory wheels are good for ~1000 feet before the crud takes over and renders them ineffective, then X2 from flipping the tires around on the hubs.

Mentioned upstream, aside from reach issues, my primary interest is protecting scenic bits. I have little to nothing in the way of trackside scenery on the layout at the moment, yet the few pieces I had managed to be "found" by my fist during manual cleaning. Something effective that is hands-free is worth the money and time saved in not having to replace or repair.

Besides, it's cool to just set the throttle to a low number (14 in yesterday's operation) and sit back as the train creeps around the layout doing its "dirty" work. As good a job as it does in hands-off operation? I'll take it.

As to "ugly", I am tossing about the idea of 3D-printing a top detail platform to Americanize it. The top half of the shell is just a cover, and there's plenty of room for something that looks like a walkway and equipment fittings such as you'd find on a Loram rail grinder.