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Re-motoring a Hornby Pacer, with questions.


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A big step forward tonight, but one more problem.  Today I tried fitting the motor units and trailing axle assemblies into the Hornby chassis.
 

The first job was to solder wires to the motors, no problem there. I checked they ran using a battery, all OK.  :rolleyes:  Then I tried fitting  the first power unit into the Hornby chassis.  Getting the self tapping screws in was difficult and despite drilling holes in the chassis, I had to resort to a bigger screwdriver from the household toolbox to get the screws in.  Later I discovered what was causing the problem; the holes in the Branchline frame were smaller than the screws. Openning them up with a reamer solved that.  
 

Next job was the trailing axle unit.  Test fitting it showed that it was too high, so two plasticard spacers were cut and superglued in position.  The pinpoints on the axles were catching on the inside of the moulded Hornby axleboxes, so I put a grinding disc in my minidrill and removed the pinpoints (I also removed the pinpoints off the driving axles to avoid and problems in the future).  The training axle unit was then screwed in place (this is when I discovered the screw holes were too small).  I’m using the Hornby pickups on the powered axle, plus the frame of the trailing unit for power collection, that’s three wheels out of four on each car. So I soldered the pick up wires to the motor wires and tried it on my test track - success, it moved when power was applied.  :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:.  One car works.  Big step forward.

 

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I then repeated the process on the second car.  Put it on the test track, the motor turns, but no movement.  Examining it revealed that the tiny grub screw on the gearwheel was missing, so the gear turns, but the axle doesn’t.  Much to my surprise I found the missing grub screw, but my smile didn’t last long,  one side of the slot where the screwdriver goes had broken off, so no way of refitting it. So where do I get a replacement from?

 

 

Edited by ColinK
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Grub screws can be hard if the original supplier isn't able to do spares. (First place is go).

 

Plan B is get a machine screw of the same thread, take the head off it then cut/file a slot in the top for your screwdriver. That assumes you can't get away with having a screw head in the space.

 

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Thanks to Branchlines - who have been a huge help as I blunder through this project - I have a replacement grub screw.  I’ve fitted it and now have both Pacer chassis working well. 
 

I’ve put a tiny drop of threadlock on the grub screws so they don’t come loose, and so I don’t need to tighten them too much.

 

I’m now waiting for the DCC bits to arrive so I can complete the chassis.  Meanwhile I’ll start painting the interior.  I’ve also got some figures to go inside, but the need painting which should take some time.

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On 23/01/2020 at 22:03, ColinK said:

Yup, seems to be some loctite has got into the motor bearings.  I've spent a while turning the motors by hand, but they  are still too stiff.  Does that mean I'll have to replace the motors?

 

Another lesson learnt, make sure one power unit works before starting on the second one and making the same mistake twice.

If you've used Loctite to fix the worms and flywheels you should find that flooding the bearings with meths and then spinning the shafts will wash the offending Loctite out of the way. Make sure you always liberally oil the bearings before re-fitting the gears and flywheels. It should prevent excess Loctite getting in the bearings.

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Another tip is to file a flat on the axle, so that you are doing the grub screw up against the flat, which helps to keep the worm follower concentric on the axle, by just doing it up on the round surface the grub tends to pull the follower out. The flat allows the grub to sit on a recess, which means that it doesn't have to be so tight, and therefore doesn't push the follower out.

 

Well done for persevering, its all down hill from here!

 

Andy G 

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A bit more progress, much easier for me than the mechanical stuff.

 

Interior painted.

 

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A start made on painting passengers - 120 Preiser figures, enough for more than the Pacer -  flesh colour first.

 

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I’m still working at the moment so modelling time is limited.  However I’ve been painting the people whenever I’ve had the chance. Only hair, hats and touching up left to do.

 

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43 minutes ago, ColinK said:

Passengers all painted, only one problem when painting the hair, what colour is ‘blonde’?

 

Just needs all the DCC sound gubbins to arrive.

Depends if its natural blonde! :-)

 

I would use a straw coloured paint, or whiten a brown down

 

 

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  • 5 months later...
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Over 5 months since I last posted due to working through lockdown and awaiting all the electrical  bits needed.  I’ve got all these thanks to DC Kits and Coastal DCC and a wet day with no paid work has allowed me to make a start on the electrics.

 

After much thought I’ve worked out how to get the 6 wires between the two cars and done some work on the chassis to make room for the DCC chip and speakers.

 

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The photo above shows the chassis of one car.  I’ve divided the space formerly filled by a ballast weight into two.  One section is filled with liquid lead fixed in place with superglue.  The other section is for the speaker and I’ve cut a hole to let the sound out.  My plan was to have the speaker projecting the sound through the hole but this doesn’t seem to work once the speaker is fitted into the ESU sound chamber (black box at bottom of the photo) as the speaker membrane would be pointing up towards the seat mounding.

 

One option would be to glue the bottom of the speaker box to a piece of plasticard and fit that into the hole with the speaker membrane point downwards.

 

Any advice appreciated.

 

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I’ve now completed the wiring except for the speakers, but have a short.  I’ve found what the problem is, but don’t know how to resolve it.

 

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The unpowered axles can rotate vertically to provide compensation.  The axle has one insulated wheel and one non-insulated wheel which is used for electrical pick up with the current flowing through the compensating mechanism.

 

However, when the axle moves, the back of the insulated wheel touches the metal axle unit, creating a short between the two wheels.   To prevent it I need to limit the sideplay in the axle, but how?  Or is there another solution?

 

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I’ve done a bit more on the Pacer tonight.  First I’ve eliminated the short by putting some brass washers between the two parts of the compensating mechanism.  That has pushed the axle away from the fixed part of the compensating mechanism so it no longer can touch it.  It might not be the best solution but it seems to work.

 

Then I  checked the wiring to the best of my limited ability (using a multimeter set on ohms)  to check parts that should be connected are and parts that should not be connected are not.  Everything seemed OK.

 

But will it work?  Instead of risking putting a decoder in, I fitted a blanking plate to the decoder socket and put it on the track with my controller set to DC.  Yippee, it works.  I then attached the second coach using the plugs and sockets I installed today, yes it works with both cars going in the same direction.

 

Next I removed the blanking plate and fitted the DCC chip (with speaker wired in but not installed), set the controller to programming track. A low buzz, but no sound or movement.  There are plenty of potential reasons for this (chip not set to loco 3, I’ve installed it incorrectly, faulty chip etc) .  I’m not sure what to do next, especially as I only have access to my ZTC controller on the workbench (it can produce either a DC or DCC output) at the moment.  I have a NCE Power Pro too, but that is all packed away with my layout.

 

So, the position at bedtime is that I need to establish how to install the speakers and why it doesn’t work on DCC.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
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I’ve had enough - time to throw it all in the bin.

 

Finally a day off work with some time for myself, just a few hours in the afternoon. Dug out my NCE Power Pro and set up my programming/testing track in the conservatory.  Got the sound decoder working, success.

 

Fitted it to the Pacer (the half with the decoder socket, it didn’t run.  Established that one of the pick ups wasn’t working properly. Got that adjusted and it started to run, but only erratically despite being able to turn the motor easily by hand. Connected the two chassis together electrically, the half without the chip runs well, the half with the chip doesn’t run and smoke starts coming out of the motor.  I’ve no idea how to sort it, no exhibitions to go to for advice. Broke one of the jumper cable plugs too.  Spent a fortune and just got a box of useless bits.

 

I was hoping to exhibit my layout one more time before it has to be dismantled, no exhibitions, tempted to throw the layout in the bin too.

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Finally, some good news. One of my friends said he was looking for a project to keep him busy (or more probably accurately, he knew how disappointed I was with not being able to get it working) and offered to try and finished it. I posted it down to him a few weeks ago.  Today it arrived back home, completed with everything fully working as originally planned. So nice to have such good mates.

 

Its already had a run on my test track.


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With all the bits I’ve had to buy as a result of my mistakes, it has probably cost more than the forthcoming Realtrack Pacer.  But I’ve learnt a lot from it, much by trial, error plus all the help on here, but I did eventually manage to get the mechanisms working which in itself is an achievement. So partial success for me, and a huge thanks to my friend for finishing it.

 

Thanks for all your help everyone.

 

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