Hello,
I'm new to model railroading after years of slot cars.
I recently bought the locomotive and cars for the championship train/trail (1970s) to integrate with my road racing theme.
Question - Do the motors in these locomotives have brushes? I took just enough of it appart to get it running again by cleaning commutator, wheels and a few drops of oil. She runs like a champ now!
But here is the stange thing...upon returning to my workbench I discovered a small square piece (with a small nub) that looks suspiciously like a motor brush.
I never took the armature out of the unit I only gently hand spun it to clean the commutator.
I'm reluctant to take it apart further as I can't find any expolded parts diagram or details on how to repair these units.
Like I said it runs fine but I wonder if there is a bare part now running against commutator?
I'd sure appreciate thoughts and help.
Thanks!
--Jake
If you knew to clean the commutator, you know where the brush holders would be located. It will probably be fairly obvious how the brush tensioning springs are arranged. If those springs are now at different heights -- you can tell where the brush 'ought to' go. One face of it will be worn concave; that's the side that would go against the comm when inserted; depending on what the 'lug' nub looks like, it might be keyed to show you which 'way' the curved face goes in.
Mel Perry has made some interesting points about some surprising materials to fabricate 'replacement' brushes for some of these motors out of...
Jake CutterBut here is the stange thing...upon returning to my workbench I discovered a small square piece (with a small nub) that looks suspiciously like a motor brush.
Hi, and
Does the small square piece have one end of it concave-shaped as if it had been contacting the commutator?
ATH_DC-motor-brush by Edmund, on Flickr
This is an Athearn motor, FYI
ATH_DC-motor4 by Edmund, on Flickr
Is yours an "open frame" motor where the brushes are usually mounted to a brass "arm" or does it have the type with the speing behind the brush? If the brush is missing the motor would probably run for a little while with just the spring but arcing and wear would quickly make both the spring and commutator damaged beyond repair.
Some of the older Athearn-type motors you could see the tips of the brushes and the commutators since that area of the motor was more open than in newer can motors or, like the one in my photo, more enclosed.
If your brush has worn down appreciably, it could certainly have slipped out of the retainer.
Good Luck, Ed
Some time ago, I had sold a re-motored (Mashima can) Athearn switcher to a fellow modeller, but later learned that it was not working at all. Since I was planning to be in his area anyways (a couple hundred miles away), I offered to drop in to see what could be done. All of the connections seemed to be good, and I couldn't find any other faults, so I bought it back for the same amount for which it had been sold.
Upon returning home several days later, I discovered that one of the motor brushes was missing. I don't know if the buyer had tampered with it or not, but there wasn't a great deal of run-time on it when it was sold, and the remaining brush appeared to be as good as new. I didn't have a Mashima replacement brush, so after inspecting the remaining brush as to its length and diameter, I simply used a piece of fairly hard lead from a mechanical draughting pencil. The loco now runs just as well as it ever did, although my layout is now set in a mostly pre-diesel era.
Wayne