BRUSHES WITH COPPER TAILS

[gottcent]

I am trying to repair a Lionel #18636 steam locomotive for a friend who said it "didn't run at all." It has a Type III Pulmor AC motor and was manufactured in 1994. I did the usual cleaning and lubricating of relevant parts and then disassembled and cleaned the motor (commutator, brush wells, brushes). It ran, but after a few days it quit again.

I noticed the brushes were of the "copper wire tail" type, which I've never worked with before. The tails are soldered to the brush holders. Do these need any special attention? I removed them from the brush wells without unsoldering the tails and cleaned them off as best I could, but I don't know if anything else is required.

I'd appreciate any advice on the purpose of this type of brush and any special maintenance it requires.

Thanks!

John

[cwburfle]

I don't know of anything special that has to be done with pigtailed brushes, so long as they are clean. IMHO, the biggest problem with any brush is oil / lubricant contaimination. When I encounter a set of contaiminated brushs, I replace them. As far as I know there is no way to clean off the contaimination.
Modern brushes are self lubricationing, and do not require any lubricant.

I guess I would look for any of the pigtail showing through the face of the brush. If you can see pigtail, then the brushes should be replaced.

[sir james I]

The pigtail is just an added electrical source for the brush. Nothing special about them other than that. Treat them all the same.

[rrlineman]

check the armature connections. there are some really bad solder joints on them. also if the communtator is the white plastic style they are prone to warping and melting from the heat of running. this loosens up the stamped copper segments and it plays hell with running.