Heljan Deltic Bogie Power Train

[DaveGala]

A colleague has a 7mm Heljan Deltic which runs every week on my garden railway. The railway is a loop about 50m long and locos can and do run for long periods...as has the Deltic.

 

To prevent drive issues he has replaced the plastic spur wheels with brass ones. However, after a sustained run, the loco stopped. Further investigation revealed this damage:

 

 

 

Both bogies had identical evidence of serious wear and tear. There was no indication that this was about to fail as it was running....no noise or excessive current drain. Of course if he had looked underneath, the brass dust would have been obvious....but who looks underneath their models on a routine basis?

 

The bogie was taken out and the motor and worm removed. This is how it looks:

 

 

The damage appears to be on the worm only. Superficial examination of the wheels reveals little or no damage. The worm is brass as the original plastic would be the sacrificial element but clearly, a brass worm with brass wheels doesn't (in this instance) work.

 

I understand that Heljan don't stock worms as spares and even if they did, it would probably be brass which wouldn't be suitable.

 

There are several questions:

 

a) Has anyone ever come across this before?

 

b) Has anyone checked their worm drives as a maintenance matter?

 

c) Does anyone know how to turn a steel worm?

 

 

 

Dave

[cctransuk]

9 minutes ago, DaveGala said:

A colleague has a 7mm Heljan Deltic which runs every week on my garden railway. The railway is a loop about 50m long and locos can and do run for long periods...as has the Deltic.

 

To prevent drive issues he has replaced the plastic spur wheels with brass ones. However, after a sustained run, the loco stopped. Further investigation revealed this damage:

 

 

 

Both bogies had identical evidence of serious wear and tear. There was no indication that this was about to fail as it was running....no noise or excessive current drain. Of course if he had looked underneath, the brass dust would have been obvious....but who looks underneath their models on a routine basis?

 

The bogie was taken out and the motor and worm removed. This is how it looks:

 

 

The damage appears to be on the worm only. Superficial examination of the wheels reveals little or no damage. The worm is brass as the original plastic would be the sacrificial element but clearly, a brass worm with brass wheels doesn't (in this instance) work.

 

I understand that Heljan don't stock worms as spares and even if they did, it would probably be brass which wouldn't be suitable.

 

There are several questions:

 

a) Has anyone ever come across this before?

 

b) Has anyone checked their worm drives as a maintenance matter?

 

c) Does anyone know how to turn a steel worm?

 

 

 

Dave

 

Given that the worm will almost certainly be a standard component, it should be possible to identify the correct size and source a replacement - perhaps via Ultrascale?

 

CJI.

[DaveGala]

2 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

Given that the worm will almost certainly be a standard component, it should be possible to identify the correct size and source a replacement - perhaps via Ultrascale?

 

CJI.

Thanks

 

Ultrascale don't do the worms as they haven't got the right patterns or whatever. He might get one elsewhere when it's off the shaft and can be double checked for dimensions.