in the other thread i mentioned that I have a boxcab and Gem Rdg B8 0-6-0 with vertically mounted open frame motors and metal gear and worms. The boxcab is very quiet while the 0-6-0 growls.
however, i noticed that if I prevents the 0-6-0 from moving, wheels spinning, it is quiet.
i'll guess this loads up the motor mounts preventing them from moving/vibrating.
is the the cause of motor noise vibration between the motor and frame and any slop between the gear/worm?
would a plastic work or gear prevent this?
is there any trick to determine how tight the worm/gear should be?
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
Old Athearn belt drive engines were very quiet, while their geared engines were known as "grinders" for the noise. From this I conclude that it's the gear towers making all the noise, even when the gears are plastic.
I tried running an engine with Pearl Drops to quiet it down, but it didn't make much difference.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
RR_Mel All of my open frame motor locomotives have screws to adjust the worm to gear clearance. I normally adjust the worm so that it just clears the gear by maybe .008” to .01”.
If'n you don't have adjusting screws, you might try shims.
Ed
Some cheaper motors of the open frame sort did "chatter" if the commutators were not properly turned on a lathe to be even. But we are talking really cheap/bad motors here. And some squeaked a bit if bearings were not lubricated.
The growl on the die cast steam locomotives I had was almost always a result of the motor mount causing the worm to not mesh ideally with the gear on the wheel due to distance or angle. Removing the motor and letting it run "solo" proved this.
Sometimes all it took was a sheet of bond paper between the worm and gear, then tightening the motor to the frame, and slowly/carefully removing the paper by hand turning the worm to free up the tight mesh of the gears, but this took tinkering.
Dave Nelson
There's a difference between causes of noises and where they are actually emitted. For example, while a shaft bearing or gear alignment might be off enough to cause chatter and vibrations, it might actually be their tower or mounting, or nearby surfaces, that actually emit the sound we're capable of hearing. Doesn't really matter, though, in the cure; you have to fix the problem, and the noise will take care of itself.