8-pin Bachmann 66 sounds like lawnmower and slow

[faa77]

I have an older Bachmann 66 analogue but 8-pin which sounds very unwell. In one direction it's a little loud and moves slow (I'd guess 40% of top speed) and in the other direction is is very loud and moves even slower (20%?). In the second direction it sounds like a lawnmower! Not a screech, but just a general loud..... grinding? noise.

 

As a layman my best guess would be some sort of cog/gear/something-with-teeth has blunt teeth and they are not interfacing with the other cog/gear as efficiently as they should, causing the loud noise, with little movement. However, this is just a guess.

 

I was wondering if people could give an idea what I could do/check?

Edited February 12, 2019 by faa77

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

 

In my experience the first place to look for this set of symptoms (slow, noisy, grinding sounds) on centre motor twin bogie drives is whether the drive couplers in the flywheels are slipping.

 

This does mean a strip down of the mechanism so worth first looking for the 'sign peculiar' that indicates that this may be the cause. Put single dots of marker pen ink on the driven wheel tyre sides to make it easier to assess rotational rate. If you can see that the wheels are turning at different rates when comparing one bogie to the other, most likely it is slipping drive couplers. (The shaft drive to both bogies means that all wheels must turn at the same rate if the mechanism is in good shape.)

 

There are other potential causes, but they are all going to be 'internal' so you lose little by stripping down the mechanism even if the drive couplers are not slipping. The other major possibility is if the model has stood out of use for some time (years) and the grease lubricant has set solid on the gears. Makes dreadful noises, corrected by a clean up and light relubrication: that only requires the bogies to come out..

[The Johnster]

As it's an 'older' model, can I ask if it has spent any time in storage?

 

This, as 34 suggests, can be sorted with a good clean out of the supplied lubricant, a rattlecan electronic cleaner spray is ideal as it'll blow most of the crud away, and subsequent application of fine machine oil with a syringe.  Leave it long enough after spraying for the cleaner to evaporate off, and try to get away with the minimum possible amount of oil when you re-apply.

 

I often find that a strip down and deep clean gets rid of problems even if you don't identify what they were; a re-assembly will have the loco running perfectly just because you've tidied up and re-assembled correctly!

 

Worth a try...

Edited February 12, 2019 by The Johnster

[faa77]

31 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

As it's an 'older' model, can I ask if it has spent any time in storage?

 

This, as 34 suggests, can be sorted with a good clean out of the supplied lubricant, a rattlecan electronic cleaner spray is ideal as it'll blow most of the crud away, and subsequent application of fine machine oil with a syringe.  Leave it long enough after spraying for the cleaner to evaporate off, and try to get away with the minimum possible amount of oil when you re-apply.

 

I often find that a strip down and deep clean gets rid of problems even if you don't identify what they were; a re-assembly will have the loco running perfectly just because you've tidied up and re-assembled correctly!

 

Worth a try...

 

Hi, Do you have a particularly spray in mind which is good?

 

Yes it is an old model (circa 2006 I think). What level of granularity of "re-assembly" are we talking? (I can't say I have ever stripped a loco before). As in, could you give an idea what components you would take apart? Just so I don't take apart too many!

 

Would you say this video (below) would help?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 13, 2019 by faa77

[faa77]

13 hours ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

 

In my experience the first place to look for this set of symptoms (slow, noisy, grinding sounds) on centre motor twin bogie drives is whether the drive couplers in the flywheels are slipping.

 

This does mean a strip down of the mechanism so worth first looking for the 'sign peculiar' that indicates that this may be the cause. Put single dots of marker pen ink on the driven wheel tyre sides to make it easier to assess rotational rate. If you can see that the wheels are turning at different rates when comparing one bogie to the other, most likely it is slipping drive couplers. (The shaft drive to both bogies means that all wheels must turn at the same rate if the mechanism is in good shape.)

 

There are other potential causes, but they are all going to be 'internal' so you lose little by stripping down the mechanism even if the drive couplers are not slipping. The other major possibility is if the model has stood out of use for some time (years) and the grease lubricant has set solid on the gears. Makes dreadful noises, corrected by a clean up and light relubrication: that only requires the bogies to come out..

 

Hi, thank you for your post. It has definitely not been ran for 3 years!

[faa77]

<deleted>

Edited February 13, 2019 by faa77

[brushman47544]

deleted not relevant

Edited February 13, 2019 by brushman47544
Misread OP.

[The Johnster]

14 hours ago, faa77 said:

 

Hi, Do you have a particularly spray in mind which is good?

 

Yes it is an old model (circa 2006 I think). What level of granularity of "re-assembly" are we talking? (I can't say I have ever stripped a loco before). As in, could you give an idea what components you would take apart? Just so I don't take apart too many!

 

Would you say this video (below) would help?

 

 

 

 

 

It's certainly a good visual guide to how to go about it faa.  If you've not done this sort of thing before it can be a bit intimidating, but the model is designed to be taken apart in this way for occasional servicing by owners, and as long as you work stage by stage you should not run into any problems; I can do it and I'm about as hamfisted as they come...  You need to expose the final drive gear train underneath the bogies as shown here, and the guy does an opportunistic bit of lubrication while he's got it apart, but doesn't do the cleaning part of the job.

 

There should be an 'exploded' diagram in the box the loco came in, and if you haven't got that you can download it from Baccy's website for free as a pdf.  For cleaning out gears you don't have to strip it any further than the guy in vid does.  I use a lump of blu tac to keep the various screws and bolts safe in; they are small, black, and eager to make a break for the border or sacrifice themselves to the carpet monster, either way never to be seen again.

 

For spray cleaning I have a rattlecan of Maplin's Electronic Switch Cleaner, which is of course not available anymore but something of the sort can probably be obtained easily enough.  As I said, the sheer force of this blows most of the gunge away, and the rest is dug out with cocktail sticks.   Do a final clean with an old toothbrush (a good modeller replaces his toothbrush regularly but doesn't throw the old one away!) before applying the new lube; get this from a proper model shop if you can and check it is plastic friendly.  At the risk of stating the obvious, if you use a syringe to apply it keep this with your modelling tools and well away from any other syringe used for medical or any other purpose in your household.  If you don't use a syringe, put it on a drop at a time on the end of a pin but a syringe is an ideal tool for this job, getting in to places otherwise unreachable and giving you control over the quantity of lube that goes on.  Get it in the same model shop you got the lube in; doesn't have to be a railway shop specifically as r/c ship, car, and aircraft modellers have similar needs.  You need as little as you can get away with, as excess only attracts more crud.

 

The reason the models are supplied with the (usually brightly coloured) grease lubrication are that it requires no skill to apply in the assembly plant and presents no issues with fire, leakage, contamination or other insurance as regards packaging and transport.  The problem is that it solidifies if not used for a long period of time, so it is possible to experience trouble with 'brand new never taken out of the box' locos which have been stored or on dealers' shelves for a while.  Even on brand new locos, I always clean it out and apply my own lube before the loco goes into service.

 

Take your time, be methodical, take full enjoyment of that lovely moment when you test run the re-assembled loco and it runs perfectly, and if you get stuck, ask us!