Dan!
I'm impressed! I love building small switchers. In the past I have been using Bull Ant drives from Hollywood Foundry in Australia, but they are pricey. I suspect your Kato based drive was rather cheap to build.
Nice creative work.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Oh. Here's another "pancake" conversion; a Bachmann 4-4-0 tender drive, upgraded to a better motor, and a flywheel too, while I'm in there . Dan
Hosted on Fotki
Dave, A guy was selling Kato drive trucks on eBay about a year and a half ago, at first for very decent prices, (I bought some) then cheap, (I bought a few more) then SUPER DIRT CHEAP, and I had the good sense to HOARD!!!! (more than pictured here!)
I've seen your work, Dave and some of it is even beyond my patience limits!
If anybody is still following, most imported power trucks these days, like these Katos, have a 2 mm shaft in the worm gears. There are a lot of little motors available on the 'bay, (as pictured below, note the twin shafts) as well as some in small locos like Bachmann 44 and 70 tonners, with 1.5 mm shafts.
An easy way to convert shaft size is to use this tubing I found at long last after much searching, at Slot Car Corner:
Note that one motor shaft appears to be smaller than the other. It's sleeved. And either end is begging for a flywheel yet to be turned, depending on whatever body this finds it's way into.
Google slot car corner, call the shop on the number listed on the website, and when you finally get a hold of the gent, he's quite friendly and pleasurable to work with.
Southgate A nine year old thread can be made interesting! Great work, Bernd, on that Tyco truck conversion, and other little critter.
A nine year old thread can be made interesting!
Great work, Bernd, on that Tyco truck conversion, and other little critter.
Hi Dan,
Yes it can. Thanks for the kind words.
Seeing your projects makes me see I've got some tough competition. Great work on that daul flywheel drive.
Bernd
New York, Vermont & Northern Rwy. - Route of the Black Diamonds
protolancer(at)kingstonemodelworks(dot)com
Dan,
Another great build. I like your thinking outside the "model railroad box" of looking at other hobbies to solve model railroad problems.
Didn't the Lifelike models have pancake motors?
Anything Life like made and put in train sets had pancake motors. I learned here that early on, Life like made some pretty substantial drives.
Well then, it's no wonder why Lifelike Trains were so cheap, they aren't built to last!
Man, at 73 I still learn something most everyday.......
I always thought a "pancake motor" was pretty much the same as a "waffle motor", but with a lot less oil.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
A quick update here: I mentioned the 1.5 mm i.d x 2 mm o.d. tubing and it's source in my last post.
I went to use some from my recent order to find that what I received this time is 1.6 mm i.d, rendering it useless for sleeving motor shafts.
I'll get a hold of the supplier and see what gives, maybe his supplier goofed.(You can get 1.6 mm i.d. cheap by the yards all day long. 1.5 is REALLY hard to find. 'Least for me it has been.)
I hope nobody here ordered some and got the wrong size. Dan