Engine Wood

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I decided to give it a spell on the rolling road, but that made matters significantly worse.

 

I've had the same experience with rolling roads a couple of times in the past. I've wondered if rolling roads somehow accentuate any problems that a loco my have, but I suppose it's just because the loco gets a long run on there, and so the problem develops further.

 

Good luck with the repair.

My experience of Ultrascales is limited, but the problem is familiar and - in my case - is material based rather than, necessarily, any question of lubrication. I'm reasonably confident about that because these were conversion sets (for a 66xx as it happens) and came ready assembled. The driven axle was prone to slipping out of quarter at the slightest provocation, well, until I pinned it through the axle, anyway. I recall somewhere in an MRJ piece - possibly by Guy Williams - that the author faced similar problems with Ultrascales and drilled between the spokes with a 0.5mm drill and epoxied a pin in. My 08 may have suffered from shifting cranks, too (as the real things do!) and dad may have got fed up with that and pinned the driven axle, too - the loco lives in Somerset rather than with me in Kent.

Mark Humphrys suggested something closer to prototype practise in MRJ 229: https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/mrji/issue.php?s=229 and that's worth a look.

 

Adam

Edited March 7, 2021 by Adam

It’s another strong argument for never, ever, under any circumstances, supergluing crankpin nuts on.  A drop of varnish, or uhu, or glue’ glaze, but cyaNO!

57 minutes ago, Simond said:

It’s another strong argument for never, ever, under any circumstances, supergluing crankpin nuts on.  A drop of varnish, or uhu, or glue’ glaze, but cyaNO!

I made that mistake with a Hornby 08, then the wheel slipped messing up the quartering (and snapping a con rod in the process)  Because I had superglued the crank pins on (and didnt know any better) I resorted to brute force to remove them (promptly snapping the crank pins).  Still havent gotten around to fixing it (and this must have happened around 2008/9

I use Alan Gibson pins (due to extreme poverty) and they have the habit of unscrewing so they have to be glued in but I agee, no superglue on the crank pin nuts - just a smear of locktite on the end before the nut goes on for hopefully the last time in the build.

Duncan

One quick and easy way of securing Ultrascale wheels is to knurl the axle ends - you can do this by rolling them across the bench with a fairly coarse file. I agree about the crankpin nuts - never superglue or solder them on.

I've taken to cutting a angled slot in the end of the axle, and using that as a guide to drill the wheel and pin it in place (once happy with quartering).  I have a set near my workbench part way through the process at the moment so can take a couple of photos later if my words don't make it clear.

2 hours ago, Jub45565 said:

I've taken to cutting a angled slot in the end of the axle, and using that as a guide to drill the wheel and pin it in place (once happy with quartering).  I have a set near my workbench part way through the process at the moment so can take a couple of photos later if my words don't make it clear.

A photo or two of that process would be very helpful, many thanks!

 

I don't know what the original builder had used to secure the crankpin nuts, but the problem was down to the crankpin bolts themselves becoming loose and rotating in their holes. Once I was able to secure the inside ends of the bolts, the nuts came free readily enough.

 

1 hour ago, Captain Kernow said:

A photo or two of that process would be very helpful, many thanks!

 

No problem!

 

So I cut a slot with a fret saw, not all the way across but enough to be a guide. Then assemble the wheelset as normal, and use the slot as a guide for a drill and drill through the plastic wheel - and then insert a bit of brass/NS rod and epoxy it in (or varnish/paint if the wheelsets can't be dropped out - though the epoxy option fills the slot).

 

This is a variation on drilling the axle too, but drilling at an angle is much more difficult for most mortals and I don't think makes much of a difference to the finished article.