Great Eastern Blues - Bec J17 rebuild

[Barclay]

I was able to establish that under load the motor shaft moved down somewhat - more end float than I would like so I have added a washer and a very short piece of tube to limit the movement and presumably prevent bad things happening at the other end of the motor.

 

I was pleasantly surprised to find that it appears to work! early days but more testing will be carried out this week. To me this is the smoking gun - it was the motor, no question (probably). I add that because there's been very little logic to the way this loco. has behaved....

 

The real test is whether it will work long term of course. It is disappointing because I have championed these motors to some extent and there isn't much out there in the 12/20 size format at present. Of course when buying  direct from ebay you have no real knowledge of whether your purchase is the genuine article or not. Minebea/Mitsumi do appear to be a proper business and I wouldn't want to criticise them on the basis of this experience. 

 

[Barclay]

I was optimistic, even enthusiastic last time I posted, but of course that was not to last, and I soon realised that the problem, whilst improved, had not been eradicated altogether. I therefore made the decision to replace the suspect motor with one of the new High Level ones, and it's now running very well. A little small perhaps, but we'll find out when I'm able to test it (My own layout is EM, so I only have a yard of track to play with at the moment).

 

 

Edited January 10, 2023 by Barclay

[Pebbles]

Sorry to intrude, but having thought about the problem I am coming to the view that any end float should be addressed at the non commutator end. Think Hornby X04, where the front bearing took both fore and aft thrusts, but with these smaller motors  we are dealing with far less robust commutators, so the non commutator/ brushes end. At present I'm tied up with NER 4-4-0s, but time permitting I will try to fit one of the small ball races that Bertie Dog suggested. 

[Barclay]

12 hours ago, Pebbles said:

Sorry to intrude, but having thought about the problem I am coming to the view that any end float should be addressed at the non commutator end. Think Hornby X04, where the front bearing took both fore and aft thrusts, but with these smaller motors  we are dealing with far less robust commutators, so the non commutator/ brushes end. At present I'm tied up with NER 4-4-0s, but time permitting I will try to fit one of the small ball races that Bertie Dog suggested. 

I'd be very interested to see how you get on, and if it works you will have a superb motor, so I hope you will describe your endeavours in due course.

[Barclay]

Finally a chance to visit Roy and run the re-motored loco. around Grimsby. It worked - It ran smoothly; it didn't judder; it managed the curves; it pulled 20 wagons. Job done at last ! Many thanks to @Izzy for the suggestion regarding the faulty motor which finally set me on the right track.

 

This weekend the loco. has received paint on the chassis, my usual mix of matt black, tan, and grey, plus some AK Interactive 'Aircraft Engine Oil' on the rods, which gives a nice greasy look. Balance weights, real coal in the tender and that front handrail (don't look too closely) has it done.

 

So much for a simple job !

 

 

 

 

Edited April 6, 2022 by Barclay

[Izzy]

Pleased to see you got there eventually and my thoughts helped. Never easy with these kind of issues, knowing where to even start sometimes. Well worth the effort I think, looks great.

 

Izzy