Graham Farish Class

[Ilambie]

Hi All,

 

I'm a relative novice to the hobby, however i'm keen to teach myself the key skills required to continue without reliance on the many specialists out their.

 

To that end, i have a Graham Farish class 66 that i recently acquired that will not budge at all. The lights come on but there is no-one at home.

 

I've found how to strip the loco down and clean the contacts, worms etc, just wondering if there is anything else i should be looking at.

 

Anyone had a similar experience?

 

Thanks,

 

Iain 

[jpendle]

Hi,

 

Which specific model is it, is it DCC or DC?

Did you buy it new or secondhand?

Does the PCB inside have solder tabs for DCC or a 6 pin socket?

 

Regards,

 

John P

Edited April 8, 2020 by jpendle
More questions

[Izzy]

if the pcb is the type that has 'fingers' pressing on the motor tags to power it make sure these are actually touching/working. Quite often these can loose contact so the lights work but the motor doesn't.

 

Izzy

[jpendle]

The 'fingers' should be outside the motor contacts and should have enough 'springiness' to push against the contacts.

 

Regards,

 

John P

[Kris]

Check the gears very carefully. If you can take the bogie's off see if you can turn the wheels by hand, if you can not you are very likely to have a split gear that it jamming up the drive. 

[Ilambie]

16 hours ago, jpendle said:

Hi,

 

Which specific model is it, is it DCC or DC?

Did you buy it new or secondhand?

Does the PCB inside have solder tabs for DCC or a 6 pin socket?

 

Regards,

 

John P

Hi John,

 

Its the DCC reasy version with the 6 pin slot.

 

It was a gift from a friend in exchange for some work i did for him on his webpage.

 

I've made sure there is a blank chip in place.

 

Regards,

 

Iain

[Ilambie]

15 hours ago, Kris said:

Check the gears very carefully. If you can take the bogie's off see if you can turn the wheels by hand, if you can not you are very likely to have a split gear that it jamming up the drive. 

Thanks Kris,

 

I'm planning on stripping the boggies down and cleaning them, the contacts and the gearing over the ext few nights so i should be able to check that at the time.

 

Thanks for your response.

[jpendle]

Hi,

 

I think the blanking panel for DC operation is handed, if it's in upside down you might gets lights but no movement.

For sure, 6 pin DCC decoders do exactly that when they are plugged in upside down.

 

Regards,

 

John P

[Ilambie]

Hi Folks,

 

Firstly, thanks for the suggestions.

 

I have made sure the blanking chip is in the right way round, still i get lights but zero movement.

 

I have taken the bogies apart and all the wheels move freely without any catching or siezing.

 

Any other suggestions or am i sending it to a pro once this lockdown over and done, whenever that may be.

 

Regards,

 

Iain

[Izzy]

If you can, removing the pcb - they are generally held in place with two or three screws which also link them to the chassis halves for power - would then make it possible to put wires from a power source to the motor tags and make sure that it works, just in case that has failed. Just eliminates that possibility.
 

Izzy 

[jpendle]

Hi,

 

Do you have a multimeter to check for continuity between wheels and motor.

On the 66 Left Hand side wheels connect to pickus and to the LHS Chassis Block

LHS Chassis block connects to PCB via a screw at one end of the PCB.

Right side is the same.

If the lights are on then the PCB connected to the wheels/track.

The PCB uses the two downwards pointing metal fingers to connect to the motor contacts, these should be bent slightly inwards and are meant to touch the OUTSIDE of the motor contacts.

As you are testing with DC you can just hook up your power source to the tops of the motor contacts on the PCB and see if the motor moves, its best to remove the bogies when doing this as you don't want the loco running away if its on a bench rather than on the track.

 

Regards,

 

John P

[Ilambie]

On 11/04/2020 at 22:43, jpendle said:

Hi,

 

Do you have a multimeter to check for continuity between wheels and motor.

On the 66 Left Hand side wheels connect to pickus and to the LHS Chassis Block

LHS Chassis block connects to PCB via a screw at one end of the PCB.

Right side is the same.

If the lights are on then the PCB connected to the wheels/track.

The PCB uses the two downwards pointing metal fingers to connect to the motor contacts, these should be bent slightly inwards and are meant to touch the OUTSIDE of the motor contacts.

As you are testing with DC you can just hook up your power source to the tops of the motor contacts on the PCB and see if the motor moves, its best to remove the bogies when doing this as you don't want the loco running away if its on a bench rather than on the track.

 

Regards,

 

John P

Thanks John,

 

I'll need to get into the office later this week to collect some things so can pick up the multimeter then to test it.

 

Many thanks,

 

Iain