Dapol B800 Track cleaner - mystery component

[Guest Jack Benson]

Hi,

The Dapol track cleaner has 'rattled' since purchase and this small turned metal component simply just fell out when removing the dust from the vacuum. There is no mention in the Dapol instructions - does anyone know of its purpose, any help is appreciated.

 

 

Thank you and Stay Safe

[Bill Radford]

Is it the bung for the liquid reservoir? I haven't got mine at hand but I think that it what it is.

[Dominion]

Mine had one of those too. I think it fits in the liquid reservoir vertical tube shaped space.

[Guest Jack Benson]

Hi,

 

That seems to logical because the fluid reservoir plastic top fell off at the same time but the metal thingy seems to serve no purpose........

 

The vacuum really does it job and I used a Roco wagon coupled with the Dapol cleaner to clean rail tops. The train really needs two grunty shunters to do the work.

 

Thanks

[Butler Henderson]

38 minutes ago, Jack Benson said:

The vacuum really does it job

until IME the whole thing dies. The one big design flaw with it is the body joint which allows dust to sneak into the rest of the body, in my case it clogged up the motor slowly meaning it needed to draw increasing more current until that resulted in the current exceeding that which the pick ups could cope with. Suggest you run some sealant along the body joint in the dust compartment.

[Guest Jack Benson]

4 hours ago, Dominion said:

Mine had one of those too. I think it fits in the liquid reservoir vertical tube shaped space.

I forgot to ask, does the metal thingy hold a rubber seal fit inside the plastic bung that seals the liquid reservoir? 
 

Cheers

Edited November 7, 2020 by Jack Benson
revised question

[Theakerr]

7 hours ago, Jack Benson said:

I forgot to ask, does the metal thingy hold a rubber seal fit inside the plastic bung that seals the liquid reservoir? 
 

Cheers

I have assumed that it is some sort of mechanical sealing device to stop the cleaning fluid from coming out to quickly.  This assumption is based on tests with it in place and without it.

[Bill Radford]

I don't recall any seal for the bung - I turned it upside down and have never found it since!!

 

I only used it once with fluid - I think the track has dried now - 7 years later. I only use it for vacuuming nowadays.

[Guest Jack Benson]

On 07/11/2020 at 09:07, Jack Benson said:

Hi,

The Dapol track cleaner has 'rattled' since purchase and this small turned metal component simply just fell out when removing the dust from the vacuum. There is no mention in the Dapol instructions - does anyone know of its purpose, any help is appreciated.

 

 

Thank you and Stay Safe

Hi,

An answer has arrived from Dapol, the odd turned device in an anti-splash back weight that is normally located inside the cleaning reservoir tube - the wider part should be at the bottom.  And a welcome bits of news for allergy sufferers , the Dapol cleaning fluid does not contain IPA.

 

That is it, the Dapol cleaning wagon works really well attached to a Roco cleaning wagon, the vacuum seems to collect the crud shifted by the Roco device but the train certainly needs some serious grunt to circumnavigate the layout. The combined effort has made Sunday running sessions a pleasure rather than a chore.

 

Cheers and Stay Safe