I see it mentioned often that people 'run in' their new locos after they get them. Since I've only ever had cheap ass stuff up until my 2 P2K switchers arrived today, I've just thrown my old stuff on a loop and hammered em around flat out... NOT something I want to do with a P2K..... Whats the recommended way to run in one of these fine switchers? I only have an inglenook at the moment (but can rig up a loop pretty easy on my workbench in the shed with 60 inch diameter curves). Dont think and inglenook is going to be able to bed anything in... LOL
One way is to run it foreword at half throttle for a few minutes (5) then check to see if it is getting hot, or any signs of a dry bearing, sound of gears etc. If lubed and ok, run it in reverse for same time and check again. If still ok, run it one way for maybe 20/30 minutes, then reverse direction. Check amp draw, if it is not drawing excessive, run it at will and have fun.
umm...whats 'excessive' for a P2K switcher watash...thanks for the reply, btw. When you say 'run em for 20-30 minutes' do you mean at half throttle, or vary it around a bit? My locos, at this stage, probably will never see higher than 1/4 throttle anyway except during this bedding in stage.
disisme, "excessive" would be a couple to 5 amps over the posted rating on the paperwork that came with the engine should alarm you on an open frame motor, or .5 to 1.0 amp on a can motor. What you are watching for is jerky motion, or any sign that the gears are not meshing correctly, a wheel binding, side rods binding, a wheel not rotating, or wobbeling, anything unusual. If a driver rotates one full revolution with smooth action, it should be expected to continue to do so. See? Yes vary the throttle during the break-in, and even 3/4 full out should not hurt for a half an hour if all is well. But: If you see the plastic boiler start to drape down over the motor, it may be getting too hot. If you see smoke coming out from under the shell, it may be getting too hot. If the sparks coming out from under the shell are bright enough to see to run in the dark, it may be getting too hot. (Pullin' your leg. )
LOL...hokey dokey...lets not let the smoke out. These poor guys are going to be expected to lead their lives as, primarily, display models, but when they do have to work it will consist of going 3 feet backwards, 3 feet forwards, 3 feet backwards, 3 feet forwards....repeats 40 times.... Hmm, sounds like switching! Good thing their switchers I guess I guess what your trying to say is, if they dont looke Lifelike (sic) anymore then they are probably not well
So long as they aren't laying on their backs with their feet (wheels) up, they are probably not "dead" yet. After 40 cycles, I would suspect they should be OK. Hopefully broken in, but not "broke".
you think I could bed em in on the switching layout watash? Its an Inglenook, with 3 sidings and a lead track.... 2 sidings that are 3 cars long, 1 siding 5 cars long, and the lead track is 3 cars long (plus loco)...HO Scale. You think moving that far back and forth will bed them in?
Well, I used two sections of 3 foot long flex track to bed quite a few of my engines back during a time all the "layout" I had was on a 1x4 board. So if 6 feet of run worked, I think 5 feet is not that far off. I did a lot of "day dreaming" or "play-like" back then, just watching the engine run back and forth. Remember when we were kids and the only engine we had was an 0-4-0 or 2-4-0 Lionel? In our mind's "eye" we often watched that engine and pretended it was a huge articulated that we were going to own some day. Well, those some days finally came, and it is just as much fun watching all the valve gear and side rod motion working on the Big Boy as I had day dreamed it would be. It is even better on a layout where it can pull cars! So, do whatever you have to, but get that layout built! You wont regret it. You absolutely WILL regret it if you wait until you are too old! I promise, but then it is just too late!
I have the 'inglenook' problem too. It's almost impossible to really test and run-in a motor on these. I also wanted to be able to test my DCC installs before tidying up and fitting shells on, so I made a set of rollers - you can also buy them. Not the cheapest thing you can buy for a model RR, but they make testing and running-in a doddle
wow...how did you make those? Got detailed plans? Watash, I know EXACTLY where your coming from.... I cant build a layout at the moment because we're moving to California in a few months, but I AM nagging the wife to get a house big enough for me to 'steal' a room Or at least let me have TWO sheds
I don't have any plans but there are some pictures in the HO Miscellaneous section of my website. I built them myself because at the time I could only find a very expensive set to buy. But since doing so I have seen a couple of commercial makes for little more than what the parts cost me (a 6-axle diesel needs 24 little roller bearings at a couple of $ each ). These are usually the type that just sit on a length of track. I can't remember any names or links offhand, but if I find anything I'll post it.
hmm... Even though hthe cost would be similar, I like the idea of making one myself. I am assuming the bearing cages you are using are like those used in RC cars? If so, I've already got a squillion of those. Why did you use nylon for the axle? I think I'll go with steel rod, once again, because my RC cars have rods that fit those bearing cages perfectly. The thing I can see is, what part do the locos wheels actually run on? I'm guessing the bearing shell, right?
Yes, very much like RC car bearings. I got mine from a specialist bearing supplier as they were about half the price of RC car ones from the LHS, who were asking about £4 each . I'm sure they were very good bearings, but ... Yes, the loco wheels run on the outer bearing shell. The bearings are about 7.5mm o/diam and 1.5mm wide (I think they are 4mm i/s diam and I'll have used 4mm screws, etc). They can't be much bigger o/d or they will foul the ones on the next axle of short wheelbase trucks (eg. on 6 axle diesels) and/or the wheel will drop down between the two bearings enough for the sideframes, etc, to start getting fouled. I used nylon because it's a worse conductor than steel .
Hold on, the power is coming down your steel strips into the chassis of your 'dyno', then to the bearings where the loco is picking up the power, right? Since the bearing are running on that nylon shaft, the power has to be coming thru the nylon to get to the bearings, isnt it? Oh..... no...its passing through the frame of the dyno chassis to the bearings, so you want to insulate the bearing from the center bridge. OK..next question...why have the center bridge at all? Couldnt you just make the chassis of the dyno 2 seperate 'stand alone' sections or is there an inherent problem with squaring them up then?
On mine the center 'bridge' is what holds the two sides together (it is only metal because there wasn't a suitable plastic item available). This system is similar to one of the commercial units I saw and suited my 'bendy' design. The 'stand on a track' types are much as you suggest and resemble a U with the rollers bolted inside the top edges. Construction wise they are usually made from two metal Ls joined at the bottom with an insulating piece. The bottom of the Ls rest on the rails and get the power. The two sides can't really be stand alone as the rollers have to be held in gauge. Ah, I managed to find one of the commercial units here If you make your own work as accurately as possible. I was pretty careful, but my rollers still don't support all 6 wheels of a 'C' truck evenly - I think these models have less compliance/springing than the prototype. Not so much of a problem with 4 wheel 'B' trucks. [ 13. August 2004, 10:07: Message edited by: Mike Sheridan ]
Good grief.... $60 for a pack of 4. That means, on a 4 wheel Loco like my S3 I need 2 sets, and on a 6 wheel you need 3 sets. $180 to emulate $15 worth of track.....hmmm....
No, it's not that bad. Each unit does one axle, so one set of 4 will do your S3. You'd need 1.5 sets to do a 6 axle loco, so that would only be $90 . But the bearings and labour are the biggest cost of making these things, so if you already have the bearings you should be able to make them for almost nothing .
Oh yeah....duh...they are double sided. What a freaking goof. Hmm, I'm thinking 'time to make' versus 'dollars to buy'....... At my rate of pay, it might just be more expedient to buy em at $60. BTW mike...it cant cost you $90..... they come in sets of 4, so its $120 no matter whether you use em or not Ahh...honot restored...someone else looks silly too! LMAO
