CMX Track Cleaning Car: Insulating the Pad Weight?!

[NWP SWP]

Here's a conundrum for the forum...

My club has a CMX track cleaning car... THAT THEY DON'T USE!!!???

I inquired as to the reason they don't utilize this piece of equipment... the answer was the pad wears out and the brass weight shorts out the track...

How do you insulate the thing it being brass and all would a layer (or two or more!) Of electrical tape provide a proper barrier?

Would the alcohol and occasional acetone eat the tape?

Or is a dielectric paint in order?

[jrbernier]

 

  The pads gets dirty and needs to be cleaned or replaced.  CMX will sell you extra pads, or you can make them yourself.  They are just corduroy material.  Stop at a fabric store and by a yard(lifetime supply).  Cut it up into new pads, and replace the when they get dirty!

 

[RR_Mel]

The CMX comes with enough material to make at least 5 replacement pads, check and see if they used it up or if they just put it in a box somewhere.  A 12” strip of corduroy 36” wide from a fabric store would last for 10 to 15 years.  I’ve changed the pads on mine three times in five years and I still have a wad of new material left.

 

 

 

 

Mel

 

Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951

 

 

My Model Railroad   

http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

 

Bakersfield, California

 

I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

 

[ROBERT PETRICK]

If you're getting shorts, make sure that spring bar is seated in the groove and is not sagging and contacting the rails.

[NWP SWP]

The problem is the fabric covering the pad "wears out" and the weight that the pad attaches to shorts out the rails, that's the problem... maybe they just aren't swapping the pad enough?

[mbinsewi]

Just replace the pads when you should, and not wait until it's completely worn out.  Of all the track cleaning threads that have come and gone on here, shorting was never an issue, because those that have, and use,  this car replace the pads as needed.

Mike.

EDIT:  By the way, if your club isn't going to use it, put on Ebay, I'll be waiting.

[gmpullman]

NWP SWP

that's the problem... maybe they just aren't swapping the pad enough?

And herein lies your answer.

I've been using a CMX for at least fifteen years (They were $79 retail back then) and change the pad frequently. I found a nice, frayless corduroy and use one of those Olfa rotary cutters to make my pads. The "General" brand scale model rule is the exact width needed for HO, about 1.0625" or so.

If the pad gets so thin that it is shorting to the rails you'll do more damage than good plus you run the risk of snagging and bending a switch point!

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/CMX-Products-CMXHOPADS-Track-Cleaning-Pads-p/cmx-cmxhopads.htm

 

Good Luck, Ed

[peahrens]

One variable is how often it is run (and of course the size of the layout) that is getting pads to the breaking point.  An extreme would be to have one running all the time (with wet pad, of course) which would then require frequent pad changing.  Not just washing out, but changing due to wearing out.  That would mean really, really clean track all the time.

But there is a middle ground I have to suggest.  Run masonite pad car(s) routinely; i.e., at least one each operating session.  Then find out how often the CMX with solvent needs to be run around (a couple of rounds will do).  For example, would not running masonite cars all the time and CMX once a month do fine?  Wash the pads after one use, and replace well ahead of wearing through.  Of course the environment is a variable as well, which might call for a different cycle.  If DCC, the sound loco's hiccupping will indicate when tightening is needed.

I run a masonite car routinely and CMX maybe 3x per year and like the results.  Admittedly, a climate controlled environment.  I also gleamed my track, run metal wheels on most cars, etc., all of which I believe works together.

[rrinker]

 We have one on the club layout, never had a problem that I know of.

You don;t run it continuously. There's no need for that - if there is, you have some other problem making your track get dirty that fast, and I recommend figuring it out. We runt he cleaning train once immediately after a setup, and maybe once or twice a day during a show (which is STILL too much, as the problem isn;t dirty track, it's the older modules wwith short fitter pieces which have joiners that get worn out and no power feed). I've never had any of my locos ever stall anywhere else but on one of those fitter pieces, but some thing that means the track is dirty and the cleaning train is needed.

 Running a few circuits of the layout once a week shouldn't wear the pad out that fast.

                               --Randy

 

[zstripe]

If the pad holder is shorting out due to a worn pad.....They just Are Not changing the pad often enough. I have been using mine since the early 90's and have never, never had any problem's with the two I have. I also use what they recommend in the tank...lacquer thinner.. They used to give You plenty of pads in a roll, You had to cut them from...way more than just 5 times worth.....

Take Care, Grasshopper! 

Frank

 

[ricktrains4824]

I picked mine up a couple of years back, run it once every 4-5 months, and was still on the original pad...

If they are wearing out pads that badly, then one (or more) of a few things is occurring. 

They are not changing the pads when they should be.

They are snagging the pads on trackwork somewhere that is not quite up to par.

They are not using the right material for the pad.

They are running the CMX constantly, and should not be.

They are using the wrong chemical in the CMX car.

In all the time I have ran it, I have NEVER had that issue.

BTW, even though it retailed for a high amount, I found one cheaper than even the $79 example, and immediately snapped it up at that show. Best thing I got at it that year. (Can't believe it lasted for 45minutes from show open!)

[SouthPenn]

Change the pad.

Most solvents used in the CMX will trash any tape that you might install on it and leave the goo on the track.

 

[NWP SWP]

I talked to the club members they agreed that a Corderoy pad would work and that it needs to be kept after not just run to the point of the pad wearing out... I figure they'll be running it monthly after this complete, by complete I mean every locomotives wheels, every piece of rolling stocks wheels, every switch and every inch of track including yards industries, branches, mains, and tunnels have to be cleaned before ops will resume... it's about 50% to 75% done...

[hobo9941]

What everybody said. Change the pad. Corderoy works best, although Walmart doesn't seem to carry it. I'll try other fabric or craft shops. I use acetone in mine, and it works like a charm. Get it at Walmart in the nail polish/remover department. I push mine around the layout with two locos, which allows the locos to run on clean track, and saves me from crawling under the layour to nudge stalled locos. 

[zstripe]

Hobo9941,

Here's a source and there are many others.......the Wale size is what You are looking for:

https://www.fabric.com/buy/0294573/6-wale-corduroy-khaki?cm_vc=756b1813-cbc1-43b3-84bd-29889bf8fb7b

Joann Fabric carrys different Wale sizes. Look for one close to You.

Take Care! 

Frank