I have a small investment in N-scale track, mostly Bachman EZ-track, and a Bachman Split-Chassis loco, made in China. Loco runs seemingly pretty well, then slows and begins to smoke. Removing the body shell, smoke seems to come from approximately the front of the motor. Motor spins freely. Loco has black truck gears, which I understand is better than white truck gears. Very little run time on it. Maybe ten years old? Any suggestions? I've searched elsewhere, and everything seems to be focused on converting these to DCC.
If you have let the smoke out of the motor it is probably done. That usually means that the windings have burnt up. Time for a new motor.
Remove the body, get out a magnifying glass and have a look.
New motors are relatively cheap. Look at coreless ones. If you desire more finesse at slower speed, look at motor with gearheads already attached. Gearhead is just another word for planetary reduction gears. I've seen them as low as 72:1. Be very careful when pulling the worm gear off the old motor. I'd soak it in hot water to soften it
The motor seems pretty unavailable. No worm gear on the motor itself--worm gear sits atop each truck. The motor is of a type with a little universal driveshaft on each end. It pulls power from two contacts that touch one half of the split housing. Can't seem to find one at any price.
The motor isn't cooked, at least not totally. It will run, but seems a tad slow and a tad hot. I will try cleaning the armature one more time. I'm getting some sparking from the brushes, and that is also the area where the smoke is coming from as the engine speed drops. There's a lot of grease in this thing from the factory, and I think that's what is smoking.
Have you tried Bachmann directly? They have parts for sale. Knowing the model numberwill help.
It's an F-9. Website shows a few plastic bits. No motors. Some model railroaders have re-powered them with motors from an old CD-ROM drive. Not sure I'm up for that.
ddavidv
UltimaDork
11/27/22 7:54 a.m.
Old Bachmann (which is what that is) are hot garbage. The new stuff is much better. You either have a nice shelf display item or you need to find another chassis on Ebay.
Buying a newer, better locomotive would be my suggestion.
ddavidv said:
Old Bachmann (which is what that is) are hot garbage. The new stuff is much better. You either have a nice shelf display item or you need to find another chassis on Ebay.
Buying a newer, better locomotive would be my suggestion.
I hear ya!
Given that my budget is about $30 and a new N-scale loco starts at around $300, I was hoping to get this one running.
Can you post a pic of said motor? If you are thinking of upgrading anyway, why not try a motor swap? Don't be afraid about size too much. You can grind away chassis, etc...
In reply to 1988RedT2 :
This should work. 10mm coreless
Its 20mm long, so you'd have to grind away some of the chassis to get it to fit. The output cups should hopefully fit the shaft, or be smaller so they can be drilled out. Epoxy the can in place once your happy. Then, solder wire (not sure what gauge the wire should be, but you can guess how thin) to the original pickup feeds on either side. Less than $10-20 depending on how much peripherals you already have.