swiftbeam

The motor was opened up as I said in an earlier post, that's how I know it's a 5 pole skew wound :-) Nothing to see there. I raced RC cars for years and years when we had brushed motors (remember those days x racers!!) So I know what looks wrong inside a motor, it 'looked' all good, new infact! As I say, I have a Mashima 1628 on it's way. I'll make a new flywheel on my lathe and mill so I don't have to wreck the Dapol unit. The Dapol flywheel is locked on some how, bonded or press fit, but it doesn't want to come off. Also if I make a flywheel, it will be a different size and weight, so maybe a roll of the dice and it will give a different outcome? As you say, if not the motor it must be bad gearing, there is literally nothing else left! It can't be the wheels as the body is super still when running. I'm now hovering over the Black Beetle and Tenshodo spud power bogies. The size I'd need is 28mm centres with 11.6mm wheel (12mm will do I'm sure) So if anybody thought £125 was expensive, I'm in for a £30 motor and then a £50 Spud! It will run, I promise you!!! Poor DCC Supplies, they are going to have fun with this one ! At least when the new motor or Spud goes in, I can remodel the seats, so every cloud has a silver lining and she'll look beautiful in all her Banana'ness :-)

Yay, I just won a new GWR Hornby Railcar as a stablemate to my Dapol. I bet it will be a simple case of plug in the decoder and off we go!

Good point !!! The worm does have shims as standard by Dapol, but as you say, may need more. I'll check now, report back :-) P.S, There is a black removable 0.010" shim and a white shim that is trapped by the worm and drive cup on the opposite end. I was able to fit in two extra shims that total 0.007", so I have a total of 0.017". The worm is free to rotate and is not tight at all, but has no 'end float' at all. Still hunts at 30% DC and 50% DCC :-( I still think it maybe the motor, but the worm end float was a GOOD call, thank you for that suggestion :-) P.P.S I'VE JUST PUT A PP3 BATTERY ONTO MY RAILS, IT STILL HUNTS POWERED BY A BATTERY !!! :-0

I've just checked the drive shaft at 1/8th intervals, all nice a free, no tight spots. The bogie has undergone 3/4 of an hour at 80% speed in each direction. The bogie is built (rebuilt in my case) correctly and everything is as it should be and very lightly oiled (original heavy grease washed out). Still hunts.

90 degrees, If that is no good, I can cut it in half, turn up a close fitting brass tube and set it back up parallel.

Hi, I have the Gaugemaster D for DC, Sin-natrak for DCC. Both controllers work perfectly with every loco and decoder I own, so find it hard to think they are the problem. I have now disconnected to motor and bogies totally from the original wires and connected the trailer directly to the motor with much bigger wires (no suppressors). I have tested this setup on two different decoders, TCS, Zimo MX600 and DC, I can confirm the hunting still persists. It is most noticeable at 30% on DC, speed step 40 on DCC. Therefore the problem must be, motor, flywheel, drivetrain related on my model. I'm now running the basic hard wired system on full power. It will have about 3 hours in both directions, I think that should free up the drivetrain if that is the problem, and take it form there. I doubt it's a drivetrain issue as the problem would smooth its self out at higher speeds. The fact it finds a 'sweet spot' and hunts the most in that spot says to me it's an oscillation/frequency issue, a slight mismatch somewhere. That would explain why some have problems and some do not. It maybe a case of everything has a 'working tolerance' and if there are enough parts fitted together with the tolerances at either end of the working spectrum, stuff happens. This is a great model and Dapol have done it nicely, many others have good working loco's so I don't think Dapol have got it wrong, I will persist to fix mine. P.S. Thank you Longchap, it's good to hear your model runs well, it gives me hope :-)

Prometheus, You say it runs "without any drama", and I'm sure she does :-) Would you do me a small favour? Run her at about 40% on DC, or speed step 50 on DCC. If yours runs with no hunting at all, that rules out wires being to small and will save me the hassle of changing them :-) Thanks.

Yes, she’s a beautiful looking model and one needs to stay on my railway :-)

As long as you don’t mind losing the warrenty, keep hold of it for a bit. The motor is on its way, I’ll fit it as soon as it gets here. I’ll test at all speeds in DC and DCC and report back the same day. If it turns out to be the motor and you guys need a hand to mount it, I have an option at my disposal that will easily help you out ;-) I don’t think it’s the :- PCB as I hard wired it without the board, Powered bogie as I’ve stripped it and washed it out, runs smooth, Pickups as I’ve cleaned them, Drive shaft or UJ as they are free, I really can’t see much left other than the motor or flywheel missmatch in some way???? Maybe it could run better in DCC if the CV’s were adjusted, but how do you explain why it hunts in DC?? I did think that maybe the wires are too small and not passing enough current? I’ll swap the wires today and run it on DC and report back. I’m not giving up on the one I’m keeping until I’ve tried everything. If it comes to it l’ll Black Beetle’ it !!!!!!!!!!!!

Awesome, now looking forward to the conversion again :-) Thank you.

OK, I have now stripped out the driven bogie back down to component parts and scrubbed it all in white spirit with a tooth brush. I put a spot of light clock oil on the cogs and worm bearings only. YES IT DOES HAVE WHEEL BEARING PICKUPS, but the trailer is wiper on the wheel back. The bogie was put back and ran smoothly. I've also pulled the motor apart, it's a 5 pole skew wound! NOTHING, still exactly the same, hunting! I did however remove my hard wired decoder so we are back on the Dapol PCB. I hope that doesn't prove to be a problem :-/ There is only so much I can take of cutting and re cutting tiny wires! Still, on the plus side, this will be one model Dapol will never warranty for me, so that's a plus for them !!!!!! 1628 Mashima ordered !

As a total last resort, maybe I should buy a 1628 Mashima? I know they work! I really like my Railcar, so it would be sad to get rid of all of them. Two are definitely going back for a refund! At £125 for a basic loco with no real detail, it shouldn’t be this hard to just make it run smooth. Don’t forget I have 3 and they are all the same, DC and DCC!

EDIT !!!!!! If you read the post that was here, forget it !!! I'm still getting the hunting, just at a lower speed !!! I'm now giving up, I'm going to put it all back together as it was and get rid !! Fedup now! I'll have no Railcars in the new few days, so I'm out of here. Sorry

I will check that as well :-) It’ll be interesting to see what a simple hard wire does when I get back home in a mo.

On the model I have chosen to keep, I have cut the pickup and motor wires (bye bye guarantee) and will be fitting an Zimo MX600 decoder directly. I will have no lighting at all, but it will prove the basic drive train devoid of Dapol electrics! The Zimo 21 pin I have been using is perfect as it has been swapped in and out of a few locos this week and performs 100%. The model I chose to keep actually ran very well on DC with no hunting that I could see, but in DCC it does hunt a little. The other two hunt in DC and even more so in DCC. In all models the drive shaft and UJ’s are free to move. I will post my findings with hard wired MX600 in a hour or so.

I do, but I now move forward with caution as I was told the Grainge chassis will fit the Manor. I'll keep you posted as to what I find! The Chassis is here waiting, but the Manor is with the postman.

I have the Fairburn 2MT, it is TOTALLY awesome:-)

All three of mine do it on DC and DCC! I check all my models on DC first as a matter of course. If anybody read my post, I even say what controllers I use.

I've been saying mine "Hunts" since page 16, I have 3, they all do it !! It may well stop once it's had a few hours of freeing up. I'll be sending 2 back on Monday as I can't be bothered to fight with 3 models, I'll just deal with the one keeper, see how it goes long term.

DCC Suplies my have it all sewn up if nobody knows how to get into these models.

Thank you, the tender coupling has a pin and two brass wipers either side of the pin. I'm actually only wanting the chassis as a transplant into a Manor with split chassis.

Hi, I have just got a Hornby Grainge, it has the DCC 8 pin PCB. If the model is DCC ready like mine, is that the newest chassis or has it been 'improved' since the 8 pin was fitted, making a Mk1 and Mk2 (even Mk3) chassis? I'm just trying to work out if I can get better, or this is the best you can get? It does run well, but maybe there is 5 pole version etc? I have no box, so no 'R' number. Thanks.

Thank you :-)

The Wizard GWR ones look about right for the Hornby Railcar. Thanks,