Advice on building a compensated chassis

[ikcdab]

20 minutes ago, WM183 said:

Re: single beam compensation

 

So the axles make contact with the beam. Does this lead to wear on the beam at all, or to noise or squeaks due to the rubbing of the axle on the beam?

I've never experienced that. I suspect because the mass of the components is so small.

[Guest WM183]

1 hour ago, ikcdab said:

I've never experienced that. I suspect because the mass of the components is so small.

I often use a piece of brass rod to compensate one axle of Parkside wagon kits in 0 scale. Some of them squeak.... a lot.

[MarkC]

10 minutes ago, WM183 said:

I often use a piece of brass rod to compensate one axle of Parkside wagon kits in 0 scale. Some of them squeak.... a lot.

Sound effects without DCC - I like it! 

[Barclay]

I always make sure there is a dab of oil on the axle, but, no, I've never detected any wear even in high mileage engines. If it did wear a little it would be easy to bend the brass beam slightly to get it level again. This is actually one of the principles of flexi-chas I believe, in that the beam bears the load and the hornblocks are only there to locate the axle - not having the weight on them allows them to move more freely, or something...  I too have experimented with moving the beam pivot forward to put more weight onto the front axle at the expense of the middle one, something I first saw in Scalefour News. Potentially perhaps it allows the front axle to track better on tight curves or dodgy crossings, but despite having several of the latter I have never had any problems with the central pivot type, so it's it's hard for me to say if it is better or not.