CullingworthGNR Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Hello all, I've got 2 Heljan locos, a 26 and a 27. After a bit of wheel cleaning and degreasing, they run smoothly. The 26 has brass wheels and the 27 the newer ones, but this appears to have little impact in terms of differentiating their performance. However, I've noticed that the motors are very noisy, particularly at speed, which seems to be caused by vibration of some kind. They also have a very high starting voltage. The 26 has also developed a slight 'knocking' noise as if there is a tiny man banging with a hammer in proportion to the speed. I've tried taking the hammer off this little man to no avail. Any ideas or help much appreciated - is this standard to Heljan locos or is there a fix I can do? Lubrication with white grease or perhaps oil? Are there any replacement motors that would solve the problem? Thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Running as DC units, (i.e. no DCC decoder installed) what are they like for coasting if power is switched off at full speed (nominal 12V) ? If the drive train is free running they should go past a metre before coming to a smooth stop. That's a quick and simple test for what I feel is the most likely source of the noise, excess friction in the drive train; that will be indicated by them stopping in a much shorter distance. I don't own much Heljan but have tinkered with a few 47s, and some of these had unnecessarily tight drive trains. They ran smoothly enough but needed a lot of current by OO standards to start, and gear type noise rose with speed; and that sounds much like what your post describes. The little man with a hammer could be some small damage to a gear tooth. Heljan use mostly Buhler motors I believe; good motors, very reliable, wouldn't be anywhere near the top of my list of l;ikely suspects as the source of the trouble. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnb Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 I've not had the noise problem, but then my 33s don't run at high speed, usually! As for your little man with a hammer, I suspect that it could be a tiny piece of grit caught in the gears somewhere, or possibly a hair. That's what I've found to be the cause in a number of cases on a variety of locos from all manufacturers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CullingworthGNR Posted July 24, 2011 Author Share Posted July 24, 2011 Thanks a lot for your suggestions guys. As suggested, damage to one of the gears was causing the hammering sound. To address the problems caused by the friction in the drive train, I've now removed the cogs connecting the centre wheels - so they are now driving by the two outermost driving axles only. Given that I only run short trains haulage won't be an issue, and the reduced friction has lowered the starting voltage and really smoothed out the acceleration. Thanks again for all your advice! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigwelsh Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 Heljan do use Buhler motors that do pull more amps than other makes. Bachmann used them at one time in Panniers and WDs too. Its always worth stripping down RTR if you can and checking out the moulding of the geartrain, Flash can always be an issue on them. I might try sticking a Cannon or Mashima in my Hymek eventually. When you said centre axles there I was thinking "hang on im sure these are bo-bo's"! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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