Screwy Nick

Jan, you are the inspiration for the cars I built, thank you, Nick & Bug

First: Happy Easter to all. (if I have offended anyone, please add your name to the list, when I reach 25K, I get a free toaster). thank you. Ever need just ONE more clamp??? Post what you have done or used>.

Chuck, my first thought looking down the inside of the car was USAT, but don't think they made any 1:32?? Nice stuff for sure.

For those of us, myself included who have never seen a full sized one:

Sean, thank you. Here's just one of the things that make me scratch my head! Three increasing pressure, RPM's but the power output remains the same??? Fiddling with the pot on the pulse circuit will release the stall and allow power to increase which also starts the wheels. Can then adjust pressure/rpm to vary voltage and wheel speed. But starting again from dead stop, same results. Any thoughts???

Jan, thank you. I don't know about WISE, but can tell you a whole lot of what doesn't work. These are just the gear/generator notes, another whole folder just for the boiler mods and other stuff. Not counting the countless videos on the lap top. Still havin' fun.

Said I was stubborn. Was loosing as much as I was using, AIR. Very bright light and mag glass brought to light oblong holes holding shafts, fixed and realign gears for better tooth contact and less drag. Found an adjustable pulse wave circuit that didn't use a lot of V. Lastly a different generator that produces more V at less RPM. Still a ways to go to get what I want.

Jan, glad the little girl is doing better, getting the best of care I'm sure. Nasty looking insect, will attempt to look it up. Stay Well Chuck, got some eye, had to play it slow to see it.

Jan, a beautiful model, and looks like it runs well. Speaking of beautiful:::: Moritz doesn't have a care in the world. We wish you the best.

Jerry, beautiful train, and really puts out the smoke.

Chuck, thank you for the encouragement, more testing today. Stay Well

Sean, thank you for the encouragement. Haven't put it up, but not devoting a lot of time to it, right now. The weather eased up some so several small not involved projects will be underway on the deck and fresh air. Stay Well and keep STEAMING.

Chuck, is a nice car, do like the roller pick ups, wonder if Bachmann has any intention of using them on all their stuff moving forward??

Jan, thank you, this is very relevant to what I am doing. Had this type of motor been in the model I would be much further along, and not have additional electronic board to deal with. I unfortunately am working with the motors the manufacturers provided, brushed and can I say not of the best quality. Any further information you have or can direct me to is greatly appreciated. Bug sends his best to Max and Moritz

Pulse Wave appears to address cogging, which allows the truck motor to start at 2V and smoother than direct DC from the generators which started with a surge. Stumbled on a replacement circuit for a Childs ride in/on battery powered toy. Has a higher threshold and is also protected to re-set if over loaded. Couldn't possibly build it with the safety at twice the price, and no burned fingers.

Stoker, never tried the screen inside the poker, but think by time flame reached the surface would be just one line blue flame again, instead of as many blue points as possible. Screen held In place by pulling one wire from side of the screen and using that around the screen & poker then just twisted.

Jerry, thank you for the compliment, more like STUBBORN man. Chuck, you pegged it: What is cogging torque? "Cogging torque is the torque needed to overcome the opposing torque created by the magnetic attractive force between magnets on the rotor and the iron teeth of the stator. There are multiple rotor positions within a revolution where the cogging torque is high. Cogging torque can be minimized by adjusting the pole and slot count of the motor, by skewing the magnets on the rotor, or by skewing the lamination stack. By design, slotless motors have zero cogging torque as they have no iron teeth in the stator". Since I don't have the ability to do any of the suggestions decided to try 'pulse wave' to kind of kick start it, and to my surprise it worked. Till I got carried away, wasn't watching meters and fried the test circuit. Parts in transit.

I THINK found the reason for inconstant results: depended where the motor stopped, if it would start on low voltage on next run, or if I tapped the brick. Realized what I may need is a pulse wave to kind of kick start it. And yes it worked every time, till I over loaded it. Have parts on order for a more robust unit. One more up swing on the roller coaster named Turbine.

PAZGRR, thank you for your kind words. Have had fun over the years. Really haven't fully given up on the Turbine 'thing'. When I pass that hobby bench and do a little something in hopes of stumbling onto something. Did some testing with the Tach as far as the turbine itself, again inconsistant results. On the + side finally installed a filter/water remover on the compressor discharge. Removing the moisture doesn't make much sense as when I use steam!!!!!!

Something has changed, but don't know what. I can't seem to reproduce past results. Frustration level is way over the top. Stay Well.

I stained the track decking and used a spackle screen to clean rail head. Usually send the Gallo Brothers for a run to make sure all is still connected properly. Kept stopping at the frog on 1 particular turnout, only in the divergent position. Last year had to replace the micro switch/relay (call it what you wish) on another one so figured this one now needed it, they have been down and inservice since 07. Removed and put it on work bench, all underside connections tested good??? Flipped it over and plain as day, the Aristocraft frog 'bump' accessory, is lifted and not making proper contact with the frog. Removed that, reinstalled the turnout and all is fine. On another note: removed the turnout yesterday afternoon, attempted to re-install it this morning, only difference is this morning the sun is shining. Big difference. Yes I do have an expander maybe 50' down line.

Have not given up: found it has a rotational preference, CCW seems to give less drag. The RPM's no matter what direction it is turning produce the same power. Now that I have a working one also realize the torque required to move is more, so going back to square 1 with the gears, not thrilled, still determined.

Jerry, thank you, break in period taking longer than I thought, torque required to spin it is still dropping. Also reassembling some of the gear arrangements.

Chuck, AND hoping for much better results, break-in period satisfactory, now on to the gears-------.

quick update: connected new generator to turbine. Turbine produces so little torque was struggling to even get to minimum output. I connected so it is driven by the Pittman to break it in some. Seems to be working, keeping power pack stable, the RPM's and output are slowly rising. Couple hours in both directions should do the trick.