Hi all,
A few months ago I acquired a locomotive I knew would be a project, an Oriental Limited PRR M1b Mountain from about 1985. The motor and gearbox seem to run solidly, so I'll retain those, but I wish to upgrade from DC to DCC and sound. First step will be to add additional electrical pickups to the locomotive. I'd read somewhere online about doing so using PC-Board ties, so I ordered a set of N-scale ones from Clover House, and I'll solder one to the bottom plate, after I strip the paint off of it, and use some wire and I'm thinking of using cut up Kadee phosphor coupler centering springs cut to fit and soldering those on to the PC-board with a wire going to the negative electrical lead on the motor. Any thoughts on this scenario? I already replaced the metal drawbar with a plastic one from American Scale Models. I put the bottom plate into some lacquer thinner thinking it would dissolve right away and much to my surprise, the old paint is tough! It was a custom job and I may repaint in time, but I'm going to get the mechanical and electrical work done first.
Alvie
I've done the pick-ups using the Kadee springs, and they work okay... (click on the photos for a larger view)
...and I also added them to the tender, too...
On subsequent rebuilds, I switched to using Tichy's phosphor-bronze wire, and I now prefer it, as it's easier to alter the pressure against the wheels...
For brass locos, I usually use double-sided copper-clad board, either soldering it to the coverplate, or, when clearances are tight, replace the coverplate with the copper-clad board.To isolate the wipers, I use either an X-Acto knife or a utility knife to cut a strip of the copper cladding from both the centre of the board and from around any screw heads if the board is held in place by the coverplate screws.
The tender can be fitted with similar wipers, too, with single-sided board affixed to the truck bolsters with contact cement, or double-sided board, soldered to the truck bolsters.
Wayne
I run a bunch of brass steam that I've put DCC into, and honestly I've never been tempted to add electrical pick up wipers to any of them. Instead, I add a capacitor pack like a Power Extender or something similar.I would buy phosphor bronze wire for adding wipers rather than Kadee box springs. I don't trust that sheet metal to last or not get messed up from handling. The wire would be stronger.
Why did you replace the metal drawbar with a plastic one? Where are you going to install the decoder & speaker, in the boiler or the tender?
These are an option, too. I've used them on an 0-6-0.
Good Luck, Ed
In my personal experience - and I've added a lot of those extra wipers in the past - if you are going DCC, forget all the extra wipers and just add a stay alive unit to your decoder. I found it to be a whole lot less labor intensive to install and the results were as good if not better than getting more pick up points installed.
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
cats think well of meI'm thinking of using cut up Kadee phosphor coupler centering springs cut to fit and soldering those on to the PC-board with a wire going to the negative electrical lead on the motor.
If you are installing DCC the power from all wheels will be routed to the decoder, not directly to the motor.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
There are some benefits to having all-wheel pickup inbstead of split pickup, when crossing between booster districts or when crossing gapes for autoreversers.
Plus if the loco AND tender both pick up from both rails, there is no reason for a keep alive capacitor.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I am only going to address the power pick up since I do not use DCC.
Long before I ever owned a brass locomotive, I was a young member of Scale Rails of Southwest Florida. One of the older members, Roger, ran a lot of brass locomotives, and my electrical strategy came from his experience.
He did not use the locomotive for electrical pick up. The thought was that a good four axle diesel only uses eight wheels for electrical pick-up, so a steam locomotive using all of the tender wheels for pick up should run just fine, and his certainly did.
NWSL makes wipers for this. I use them and replace the brass tender trucks with plastic trucks and high quality metal wheels. The trucks that come with BLI NYC boxcars are my favorites.
I also replace the drawbar with plastic, and make a hardwire connection from the tender to the motor. The drawbar is not as good a connection as wire and a mini-plug. A plastic drawbar also moves more freely from side to side.
Adding some extra weight in the tender is a big help.
I only have one locomotive set up like this so far, my Tenshodo 0-8-0, and it runs just fine with zero electrical problems.
Sorry, no pictures.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
gmpullman These are an option, too. I've used them on an 0-6-0. Good Luck, Ed
I looked at the video. Two things: 1) While ESU should be congratulated for producing an off-the-shelf product for which there is a true need, the solution proposed really only adds one wheel of power for each truck. My hand made ones covers all four wheels... and 2) the "fix" proposed by the author to the product is not that easy to do. I think I will continue making my own pickups from phospor-bronze sheets as it is just as much trouble going from scratch than doing the fix proposed by the guy on the video... Anyway, that's my two-cents worth on that.
Simon
rrinker There are some benefits to having all-wheel pickup inbstead of split pickup, when crossing between booster districts or when crossing gapes for autoreversers. Plus if the loco AND tender both pick up from both rails, there is no reason for a keep alive capacitor. --Randy
For me it was a time factor. I'd much rather solder three wires from a power pack to the decoder as opposed to spending two or three evenings fabricating / installing / wiring pick ups to all the non-powered wheels.
I only have 3 steam locos that I run, and 2 of them alreayd pick up from both sides of the tender and the loco fromt he factory. The other picks up from all wheels, but is just a little 0-6-0, I will probably add track wipers to it. It's mostly going to sit around for looks anyway, as it's actual task is not really possible with models, unless I build up some dummy locos for it to move around. Models with the typical worm drive don't easily go in to a "dead in tow" mode to be shoved around by other locos.
Hi there. You could add a small tender to the 0-6-0. It did happen in real life...
Not on my prototype, always was, and still is, an 0-6-0T. Well, not totally true - it was actually built from a 2-8-0 camelback! But after conversion, no more tender. No tender during its days pulling a tourist train, and no tender now stuffed and mounted on display.