Mitsumi Motors from Cambridge Custom Transfers

[cctransuk]

As my stock of Mitsumi motors is getting a little low, I decided to restock. It is evident that supplies of the version with two equal shafts are diminishing, and the price is rising accordingly.

 

I have managed to secure 200 more, at a price which is only a little higher than last time that I ordered. However, I am not confident that this excellent motor will be readily available in the longer term.

 

If you've used it and like it - stock up now. If you haven't tried one yet - now is the time to do so.

 

John Isherwood.

https://www.cctrans.org.uk/products.htm

[truffy]

For the neophytes, John, is this a ‘jack of all trades’ or best suited to certain axle configurations?

[cctransuk]

1 minute ago, truffy said:

For the neophytes, John, is this a ‘jack of all trades’ or best suited to certain axle configurations?

 

These motors seem suited to most applications - if it'll fit, it should run OK.

 

Having said that, if you want to run full length, express passenger trains at scale speeds, I'd recommend looking for something a little 'beefier'.

 

Do note that these motors run slower than Mashimas - 8750 rpm at no load; take this into consideration when selecting a gearbox ratio. The speed calculator at  http://www.highlevelkits.co.uk/gearboxplanningpage.html   is very useful in this respect.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[great central]

3 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

These motors seem suited to most applications - if it'll fit, it should run OK.

 

Having said that, if you want to run full length, express passenger trains at scale speeds, I'd recommend looking for something a little 'beefier'.

 

Do note that these motors run slower than Mashimas - 8750 rpm at no load; take this into consideration when selecting a gearbox ratio. The speed calculator at  http://www.highlevelkits.co.uk/gearboxplanningpage.html   is very useful in this respect.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

 

Any idea what might fit the bill?

I have a part built ex LNER O1 2-8-0 bought from a certain duck of this parish.

Like most kits I've bought second hand it has a piddling little motor, Mashima 1220 I think. I can get up to a 14mm motor in the firebox but being rather mean and now, possibly, without a job as well could do with something cheaper than the remaining Mashimas if anything is available.

[cctransuk]

21 minutes ago, great central said:

 

Any idea what might fit the bill?

I have a part built ex LNER O1 2-8-0 bought from a certain duck of this parish.

Like most kits I've bought second hand it has a piddling little motor, Mashima 1220 I think. I can get up to a 14mm motor in the firebox but being rather mean and now, possibly, without a job as well could do with something cheaper than the remaining Mashimas if anything is available.

 

For £8.00, it's not a great investment to give it a try - it all depends what you expect of the loco. If it proves not to be up to your expectations, there's not much lost.

 

If you can make a bigger investment, I gather that High Level have some 'punchy' coreless motors.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[hayfield]

11 hours ago, great central said:

 

Any idea what might fit the bill?

I have a part built ex LNER O1 2-8-0 bought from a certain duck of this parish.

Like most kits I've bought second hand it has a piddling little motor, Mashima 1220 I think. I can get up to a 14mm motor in the firebox but being rather mean and now, possibly, without a job as well could do with something cheaper than the remaining Mashimas if anything is available.

 

In my opinion Mashima motors now are getting expensive and perhaps overpriced. On the other hand do be careful of the very cheap motors available on sites like eBay from China, most it seems are very high revving. 

 

I have not used one of John's motors, but others have and it seems they are happy with the product.  

[great central]

Thank you for the feedback both, it does seem that there's now a hole in availablity of suitable motors for large heavy models.

At the moment the loco is little more than a stalled project, I just asked in response to John's comment wondering if he did have something particular in mind.

It could be expected to work minimum of 20 wagon trains on a large layout with gentle inclines, although that is by no means certain and it may never work a train in anger at all.

Regarding the Chinese motors on eBay, I've long been very wary of anything produced in China and now would only use something direct from there as an absolute last resort, if it was something I couldn't live without. Toy trains do not fit into that category.

[hayfield]

15 minutes ago, great central said:

Thank you for the feedback both, it does seem that there's now a hole in availablity of suitable motors for large heavy models.

At the moment the loco is little more than a stalled project, I just asked in response to John's comment wondering if he did have something particular in mind.

It could be expected to work minimum of 20 wagon trains on a large layout with gentle inclines, although that is by no means certain and it may never work a train in anger at all.

Regarding the Chinese motors on eBay, I've long been very wary of anything produced in China and now would only use something direct from there as an absolute last resort, if it was something I couldn't live without. Toy trains do not fit into that category.

 

I think there is nothing wrong with quality products from China, however like all things if you want quality you have to pay for it. If you are willing to pay £29 Chris at High Level sells a 13mm coreless can motor he recons is very powerful, I have one of the 12mm coreless cans and it is excellent in a whitemetal tank loco but I was looking for quality slow running

 

John's N20 may well be better suited in pulling larger loads in a big loco, simply owing to the size and design

 

As for Chinese products, I bought a lighting unit with 3 bulbs, the shop sold us 3 LED bulbs for it, given these bulbs are rumored to last for years after 8 days one bulb stopped working, the shop reluctantly replaced it. 3 or 4 weeks later another bulb exploded (Its a feature ceiling light over a dining table). Took it back to the shop who said its the first time they had ever had an exploding bulb, this time they sent the bulb back stating they would replace it, I chased them up 2 weeks later and was told to go in and get a replacement. Than night a second bulb exploded (again showering the table with glass). On inspecting the light unit the explosion damaged the bulb holder.

 

I went in to the shop with the bits and photos of the damage, the shop owner stated both the bulb company and the lighting company were both blaming each other for the issues. The unit was replaced and a set of bulbs from a different company was supplied. Needless to say all has been OK since. My one regret was not going to trading standards as the bulbs are supposed to contain exploding glass 

 

Moral of the story, buy from reputable sources!!!

[cctransuk]

37 minutes ago, great central said:

 I've long been very wary of anything produced in China and now would only use something direct from there as an absolute last resort, if it was something I couldn't live without.

 

Well - what about a touch-sensitive, dimming bedside lamp, produced by a prestige lighting company in Germany.

 

We bought one for each bedroom - and every time there was a power cut or a nearby lightning strike, at least one - sometimes two - dimming units ceased to work. (Probably because the dimmers are activated by static electricity within the human body).

 

At first, I returned the lamps to the retailer for replacement - which was done without question - but we both got fed up of the procedure. So I contacted the manufacturer in Germany to ask if it was a known problem, and asking for replacement dimming units. No response whatsoever!

 

So I went onto the internet and identified what appeared to be identical dimming units, being offered from China, and ordered five - which cost me pence, with free postage.

 

After the usual two or three weeks wait for delivery, the dimming units arrived and proved to be identical to the ones fitted in the 'German' lamps. I duly replaced the dimmer units and - lo and behold - the lamps are now restored to full functionality. I do not expect them to be immune to the tendency to fail - but at least I can repair them with minimal cost and inconvenience.

 

So - the moral is, even if you studiously avoid anything made or sold in China, you will be buying Chinese components even though you don't know it.

 

John Isherwood.

[hayfield]

4 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

 

Well - what about a touch-sensitive, dimming bedside lamp, produced by a prestige lighting company in Germany.

 

We bought one for each bedroom - and every time there was a power cut or a nearby lightning strike, at least one - sometimes two - dimming units ceased to work. (Probably because the dimmers are activated by static electricity within the human body).

 

At first, I returned the lamps to the retailer for replacement - which was done without question - but we both got fed up of the procedure. So I contacted the manufacturer in Germany to ask if it was a known problem, and asking for replacement dimming units. No response whatsoever!

 

So I went onto the internet and identified what appeared to be identical dimming units, being offered from China, and ordered five - which cost me pence, with free postage.

 

After the usual two or three weeks wait for delivery, the dimming units arrived and proved to be identical to the ones fitted in the 'German' lamps. I duly replaced the dimmer units and - lo and behold - the lamps are now restored to full functionality. I do not expect them to be immune to the tendency to fail - but at least I can repair them with minimal cost and inconvenience.

 

So - the moral is, even if you studiously avoid anything made or sold in China, you will be buying Chinese components even though you don't know it.

 

John Isherwood.

 

John

 

I have plenty of Chinese products, but I would rather buy them from a reputable source so I have recourse. There are some excellent products from China, sadly in the minority of items especially when bought very cheaply on line. I am happy to let the likes of your good self and Chris to do the research.

[The Johnster]

Recently got new iPhone 11, with a much better camera than my previous 8.  Not expecting this to replace my 'proper' digital SLR Nikon, which is getting on a bit in years now but still giving me good results, but I decided that the phone camera might benefit from some add-ons, and ordered a mini-tripod with bendy grippy legs, a gorrilla pod clone with a spring loaded phone holder, and a small bird-spotting type 40-60x telescope with an attachment to enable it to be used with a smartphone, which also came with a small tripod and spring loaded phone holder.  These were not expensive, on Amazon, and the total was around £14, so I wasn't expecting anything miraculous!

 

The bendygrippy tripod is excellent, but the spring loaded phone holder that came with it was carp.  OTOH, the spring loaded phone holder that came with the telescope is a very nicely made thing, so I have an effective tripod/holder combination.  The tripod that came with the telescope is carp.

 

So, how's the telescope, under £10 and intended to be used as both a birding scope and ultra powerful zoom (40-60) lens for taking photos with?  Well, obviously for that price I wan't expecting much in the way of field of view, and I didn't get much.  Setting up, aligning the camera lens with the eyepiece, is faffy, but I'm practicing and it's not as bad as it was.  The lenses are glass, not plastic, and the optical quality is excellent for the price, though there are minor distortions and spectrum artifacts at the edges, and it sucks a lot of light.  But it works; sharp, crisp images in good light, and the ability to watch the action on the phone screen rather than squinting with my bad eye (I can't close it and use the good one, but can close the good one and use the bad one, of course).  The bendygrippy tripod can be wrapped around fences, branches, handrails, anything to hand to provide a the steady platform needed for high power telephoto work and long exposures; in other words, I can take a lot more photos than I could previously.

 

The whole ensemble fits into the top pocket of my usual daily carry around rucsack, and doesn't weigh much.  The phone has a wide-angle/macro, optical, and electronic zoom, so I have most bases covered.  These addons all came from China, post free and in about 5 weeks; I am very happy with my purchases.  I am sure there is a lot of unadulterated rubbish out there, and that some of it costs quite a bit.  I was willing to take a punt on this stuff and write it off if it was junk, and a tripod and one of the spring phone holders are, but I have decent quality useable items and have not spent a lot of money; perhaps this is more down to luck than judgement but my opinion of low-cost Chinese products, as well as Chinese RTR, is high.

 

For the best results I would always use my Nikon, lenses, and big tripod but this is lumpy to cart around everywhere and the phone camera setup, though faffy, is good enough to be used for serious photographs.  It has limitations, especially in windy conditions when the lightweight 'scope pulls the camera all over the place even on the bendygrippy, and I haven't really gone into low light work with it yet.  But Kudos China, and Amazon!

[melmerby]

Mashima motors are not yet extinct.

Some places had large stocks and still have some availability, you need to search around a bit though..

I bought some from Branchlines stand at Warley in 2019.

[hayfield]

2 hours ago, melmerby said:

Mashima motors are not yet extinct.

Some places had large stocks and still have some availability, you need to search around a bit though..

I bought some from Branchlines stand at Warley in 2019.

 

 

There are some eye watering prices for them on eBay 

[MarkC]

On 25/07/2020 at 23:09, hayfield said:

 

 

There are some eye watering prices for them on eBay 

Agreed - but I have managed to nab 3 new Mashima motors of different sizes at good prices during the last 3 months. I fancy that they may be the last ones I get though

[hayfield]

2 hours ago, MarkC said:

Agreed - but I have managed to nab 3 new Mashima motors of different sizes at good prices during the last 3 months. I fancy that they may be the last ones I get though

 

Marc

 

That is one thing I look out for in both mixed lots, or second hand complete kits, which I farm for wheels, motors and gearboxes (sadly the latter are quite rare) and resell the kit or parts I don't need. (telling all my secrets)

 

I will not pay £30+ for a Mashima. They are good reliable motors, but not in my opinion as good as a similar coreless motors which are slightly less that £30.  But if they can be sourced at decent prices

 

My latest 2 being an Mashima open frame 1024 and what I thought was either a Hanazono/Kato 9.3 x 20 though many are now claiming they are Mashima (mine has a black case) will be useful for small industrial tanks in a mixed lot which yielded 3 small whitemetal industrial locos and a 7mm Peco narrow-gauge loco.

[cctransuk]

On 19/07/2020 at 11:08, cctransuk said:

As my stock of Mitsumi motors is getting a little low, I decided to restock. It is evident that supplies of the version with two equal shafts are diminishing, and the price is rising accordingly.

 

I have managed to secure 200 more, at a price which is only a little higher than last time that I ordered. However, I am not confident that this excellent motor will be readily available in the longer term.

 

If you've used it and like it - stock up now. If you haven't tried one yet - now is the time to do so.

 

John Isherwood.

https://www.cctrans.org.uk/products.htm

 

I have now taken delivery of the new batch of Mitsumi motors, and have been able to keep the price the same as previously - £8.00 including UK P&P.

 

As I said in my previous posting, these motors do not seem to be as plentiful as they once were, and I was obliged to purchase motors fitted with worms, and remove the worms myself.

 

Anyway, I am now able to fulfil orders for these motors, but I am not confident of their long term availability - buy whilst you can!

 

Regards,

John Isherwood,

https://www.cctrans.org.uk/products.htm