MOVING SKIERS IN HO - Noch / Magnorail

[swisspeat]

One of this years new items from Noch is kit 66832 which is moving skiers with an Apres Kit cabin. The skiers move via the Magnorail system and all parts are supplied in the kit.

 

I was keen to build a small winter scene and the possibility of moving skiers caught my eye and I looked forward to posting a video here showing the moving skiers.

 

I have nearly finished assembling the kit but have hit a snag with the motor/power. I wired up all up and it all worked great for a few minutes.  Now nothing!

 

The supplied AC/DC Adapter had a two pin European plug on it which I replaced with a UK style 3 pin mains plug.

 

When I turned it on a second time the green light came on on the supplied "power box" then nothing. It also blew all the mains circuit on the downstairs of our house.

 

I am slightly out of my comfort zone with electrics so thought I would ask for any ideas as to what I have done wrong.

 

I attach a photo of the "under the baseboard" partially constructed skiing track.

 

Thanks for reading and any suggestions will be warmly welcomed.

 

Kind regards,

 

 

Peter

 

 

 

[JimFin]

Sounds for all the world as though something in the control box has melted down and shorted. Surprised it blew the house main fuse though, did the plug you fitted have a 3A fuse? I would have expected that to go first. I would just get in touch with your supplier to get it replaced.

[swisspeat]

Thanks very much Jim.

 

I think the fuse is a 13A. I will check tomorrow.

 

I must say I did not find the Magnorail instructions that clear. Totally pictorial. They did not alert me to not to chop off this bit and that bit. I did okish but it was a bit of a mystery tour.

 

I realise the instructions are for International use.

 

Again, thank you.

 

Pete

[swisspeat]

Quick update.

 

The system works well with a 9V battery. That does not give me speed control but at least the motor still works!

 

I am currently finessing the Magnorail chain by taking out a few links and changing them for different length ones. It is trial and error.

 

Do not intend to fix down the snow surface (supplied thin cardboard) until I am convinced the Magnorail system works perfectly. It is currently held down with Tacky Wax to provide on/off facility as I still work on it.

 

Pete

[chb2488]

Clearly the après-ski hut is to blame. They plugged in the deep-fryer and the stroboscope at the same time. Yokels!

 

Joking aside, as a last resort could you use a British controller from a trainset?

[BR60103]

Had a wicked idea. Could you set up a first aid station with a bottle of plastic glue in it?

 

[swisspeat]

Thanks for comments.

 

:-)

 

I have still to assemble the Apres Ski hut but I will make sure there are pots of glue and ketchup on the counter.

 

I am still running it from a 9V battery so at least I have some movement.

 

I have blended it into a test diorama this morning with some of the supplied trees with the kit. Sample photo attached.

 

I have a short video showing movement but I am still working out how to upload it onto this site because in its present format its just too many MBs!

 

Even looking at the picture makes me shiver....

[jchinuk]

On 22/11/2020 at 16:47, swisspeat said:

One of this years new items from Noch is kit 66832 which is moving skiers with an Apres Kit cabin. The skiers move via the Magnorail system and all parts are supplied in the kit.

 

I was keen to build a small winter scene and the possibility of moving skiers caught my eye and I looked forward to posting a video here showing the moving skiers.

 

I have nearly finished assembling the kit but have hit a snag with the motor/power. I wired up all up and it all worked great for a few minutes.  Now nothing!

 

The supplied AC/DC Adapter had a two pin European plug on it which I replaced with a UK style 3 pin mains plug.

 

When I turned it on a second time the green light came on on the supplied "power box" then nothing. It also blew all the mains circuit on the downstairs of our house.

 

I am slightly out of my comfort zone with electrics so thought I would ask for any ideas as to what I have done wrong.

 

I attach a photo of the "under the baseboard" partially constructed skiing track.

 

Thanks for reading and any suggestions will be warmly welcomed.

 

Kind regards,

 

 

Peter

 

 

 

 

I appreciate it's not much help, but for low power items like this, I usually use a 'two pin' adaptor rather than changing to a three pin plug. 

 

I would also advise that a 3amp fuse is a good idea, either in the plug or a fused adaptor.  It's beyond me that plugs are supplied with 13amp fuses as a default, I'd rather deal with a blow 3amp fuse than risk the fuse not blowing because it's a 13amp one.

 

jch 

[JimFin]

Was he on the slopes then?

[swisspeat]

All comments gratefully received.

 

I did try the two pin plug initially in an adaptor. That did not work either! Maybe the unit I received a faulty from the start.

 

Good spot of the broken leg!  :-)

 

I must confess I am have some slight challenges getting the system to run reliably. When I am running it without the "road" surface on it is is fine. It can run round and round without any problems. But once I gently put the road surface on (held with Tacky Wax) and run a couple of skiers on they only do about one loop before the blue chain disengages itself up through the two rubber O rings. I have noticed on some videos that some modellers have screwed a piece of clear acetate over this part of the running track which might have the effect of keeping the chain in place. At the moment every few minutes its like riding a real bicycle and the chain comes off again!

 

Still doing research on this.

 

I thought this might be a quick win skiing course but it ain't worked out that way so far!

 

I have an MP4 short video of the skier moving but I see that I cannot upload an MP4 to this forum. I need to figure out what to convert it too! Any ideas please.

 

Thanks for listening....

 

Pete

 

 

[DGO]

Hi Pete set up an account on youtube and upload it to their then copy the link to here that should work and give you an embedded video

 

David

[swisspeat]

Thanks David. Much appreciated.

 

I have now written to Magnorail asking "what am I doing wrong?".

 

Here are two pictures showing the plastic chain as it disengages itself from the O rings.

 

The white blobs are Tacky Wax used to hold the road surface temporarily.

 

I will pass on Magnorail's comments when received. 

 

There seems to be no dealer in the UK.

 

Kind regards,

 

Peter

 

 

 

[DGO]

Looks to me like the pressure from the rubber traction wheels is pushing the links out the groove, now if the traction wheels are adjustable then all you need to do is spread them a tiny bit, if not you have problems, I am going to assume that since the track lies over the top that you can secure something (say thin sheet plastic) over the top to act on the links pushing them back in, the only other thing I could thing of would be to very slowly shave some of the rubber off each friction wheel, a tiny amount at a time the problem with that is if you go to far it will stop moving the links

[swisspeat]

Those are interesting comments. Thank you.

 

On trawling through You Tube etc I see that a number of modellers do indeed put a sheet of thin plastic over the mechanism. The instructions supplied with my kit and those on the manufacturers website make no mention of this. And if you look at the pictures above there are indeed 4 holes to take screws. I confirm I have already used all the supplied screws in the set.

 

The gap between the rubber rings is non-alterable. 

 

I will wait to see what the manufacturer comes back with comments but your suggestions of shaving ever so tiny amount of the rubber off might be the way forward.

 

Peter

[JimFin]

IF you use Facebook, there is a group for Faller Car System which I belong to and Magnorail gets discussed there from time to time. One of the links was to - https://www.magnorailoz.com.au/faqs.html

 

I saw this comment which seems similar you your issue - 

 

"Gary from the UK writes: Hi been watching your builds with the magnorail they are very informative but my problem is the chain when it gets to the motor it rises out of the chain when testing it before road goes down it also happens when a temp road surface is laid any suggestions?
My only thoughts are that 
1. You haven’t completely pushed the white plastic plug into the cog tightly enough giving two differing heights between the drive wheels.
2. refit the O rings ensuring they are level with each other
3. make sure you screw down a cover over the drive section - I use a very thin piece of acetate and then put the roadbed over that ensuring that there is a constant pressure over the drive gear  -Screws are supplied by Magnorail to either hold down your roadbed or .the acetate.
4. Your chain might be too tight and working against itself - there is a fine line between tight and sloppy but like anything it is just a matter of fine tuning the system."

 

Hope something there helps.

[Joseph_Pestell]

I like the idea of moving skiers on a layout but surely it could be done much better as downhill skiing rather than a small loop not even the size of a skating rink. Cross-country skiing involves a lot of leg movement except when sliding downhill.

 

Should be easy enough to have the skiers appear from behind a view blocker (chalet/hotel, etc) and then disappear behind another view blocker (trees, etc).

[swisspeat]

Jim - thanks. Does increasingly look to be a common problem sadly.

 

joseph - I share your enthusiasm for downhill skiers on a layout but at the moment I am having enough problems with reliable cross country skiers on the level! 

 

I will share comments from Magnorail when they arrive.

 

Here is the Noch display model as seen at Nuremberg 2020 Toy Fair.

[swisspeat]

Magnorail have just sent a comprehensive reply. Good customer service.

 

Basically many of their comments are similar to Jim's message comments above.

 

It seems that I am not the only person to have problems with the power supply and a replacement unit and connector is on its way.

 

They have asked me to recheck tightness of the chain etc which seems ok.

 

They have recommended installing a plate over the motor housing. I have asked them for the material and screws to do this.

 

I will come back to this topic once the new parts arrived. 

 

Your interest and help on this matter has been much appreciated.

 

Kind regards,

 

Peter

[DGO]

I have seen a very neat downhill skier setup with magnorail and a chairlift, the skier starts at the top of the chairlift and skis down via magnorail skiing into the bottom station of the chairlift, there the magnorail goes under the layout taking him up to the top where he appears from the rear of the chairlift, apparently difficult to achieve due to the height difference but possible

 

 

 

[Red Devil]

Unless there is something pushing down on the gear wheels they do tend to disengage, I built one of the very early red link ones and found this to be the case then. 

[swisspeat]

I only started this topic because of some power supply problems but I am really grateful for all of your helpful comments.

 

i just love those videos!

 

i tested my system again today on battery power and it runs beautifully for ages without the road surface on. Immediately I put the skier on top of the road surface when it comes to the motor drive area the magnet on the chain below the skier pulls up the chain so by the time it leaves the motor gears it has come out of the U channel and forward motion stops.

 

So it does look like a sheet of clear acetate or similar needs to be screwed into those four posts to prevent the chain rising up too far to the point of no return as mentioned in the post above. I am perplexed as to why this is not mentioned in the instructions.

 

More when the replacement parts arrive....

[BR60103]

I recall a video of a bicycle automation that used a similar mechanism. Possibly on one of the BRM DVDs?

I think they also had a chain problem.

 

[Joseph_Pestell]

Everard Junction has a good  YouTube video about installing Magnorail.

[swisspeat]

Thanks Joseph. I did watch that and his system is about 100 times longer than mine! And it works well.

 

I have just come across another You Tube video showing bikes going up and down hills so your idea to downhill skiers is a good one.

 

interesting to see that the chain links have changed in design over the years. The current blue ones seem to run better than the original red ones.

 

While the system is apparently a Dutch design the supplier is in France.

 

Odd how no UK model shop sells it. Or have I missed something?

 

Peter

[swisspeat]

I have some good news to report.

 

Three skiers move around and around the cross country trail!

 

the remedy was to position a piece of clear acetate above the drive mechanism held in position with screws into the four plastic posts visible in the pictures in the post of Wednesday at 17.11. The acetate prevents the chain from being raised out of the U channel track. 

 

Your posts above and the company suggested this but why oh why did this recommendation not appear in the supplied instructions? And why did it not come with the 4 extra screws and a small piece of clear acetate?

 

thank you for watching this topic and for your helpful comments.

 

i am still running on battery power awaiting the mains adaptor to arrive from the manufacturer. When I acknowledge these I will suggest that their instructions need expanding to cover this essential feature.

 

kind regards,

 

Peter