I was upgrading one of my old Arnold (70s/80s) locomotive motor to the new coreless motor from Tramfabriek . I got the worm off with my mini gear puller with no issue. The damage occured when i was inserting the bushing into the worm to reduce its size. Needless to say my little tool (a small nail head) slipped and damaged the worm spiral thread.
I know my stupid mistake.
Do i have any options besides looking for a used loco? Any ideas or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Robin.
Depending on how damaged it is you may be able to reshape the thread using small needle files.
The other thought is that the 'important' bit of the worm is the centre section that is engaging with the gear, so if the damage to the thread is at one end it may not be a problem as the gear may not be engaging with the damage, or the worm could be moved so that the damaged section is clear of the 'meshing area'.
That may need the damaged part of the worm to be cut away, which I would do using a jeweller's piercing saw. It sounds drastic but I managed to save a pair of motorised bogies - a total of 4 worms in the design - where due to a very tight gear train the worms managed to strip their threads, but being quite long I was able to cut them in half through the stripped bit, slide them along the motor shaft (one worm at each end of the motor) so that an undamaged bit could engage with the gears and managed to get things running again once I'd adjusted the mesh gear train.
At the end of the day you've got nothing to loose if the worm is already damaged.
It may also be possible to replace just the worm rather then try to get a 'new' 40/50 year old chassis. You could try the 009 Society's spares service from Alan Harmer (I don't have his email but I think it's been posted on the forum) for a dead Arnold motor or chassis to act as a donor, but if you calculate the pitch of the worm - you'll need to measure the first gear in the train and count the teeth to do that and also measure the diameter of the worm - finding a replacement should be possible.
Note that the 'imperial' system is DP (diametrical pitch) whereas the 'metric' version is MOD (module), and I suspect the Arnold set up will be MOD, and the info needed to work out the numbers from your measurements (and what you need to measure) can be found via your favourite internet search engine.
I had to do this when some Ibertren-powered 009 Locos bought as non-runners on eBay turned out to not have motors (!) and whilst new motors were easy to source (Tramfaberik) the worms to go with them needed a bit of thought. Once I worked out what pitch they were in the end managed to get new ones from Eastern Europe, but I note that Tramfaberik also sell plastic worms so one of those might be suitable.
Hope that helps.
Just to clarify Julien's posting above. the Society Sales Team spares officer is Alan Hamer and his email address is published with the Sales contact details in 009 News.
Mick
Thank you gentlem.
I will follow your recommendations Julian. Intresting surgery you did on your worms.
Quote from: MickT on February 02, 2021, 10:16
Just to clarify Julien's posting above. the Society Sales Team spares officer is Alan Hamer and his email address is published with the Sales contact details in 009 News.
Mick
Thanks for that Mick - I'm getting dreadful at remembering names!
Quote from: Robin Webster on February 02, 2021, 12:11
Thank you gentlem.
I will follow your recommendations Julian. Intresting surgery you did on your worms.
I think it was a case of the worms were b@§§€rd anyway I had nothing to loose as I couldn't make things worse!
Juli
en (Not to be confused with our august Chairman Julian)
Quote from: Robin Webster on February 02, 2021, 12:11
Thank you gentlem.
I will follow your recommendations Julian. Intresting surgery you did on your worms.
Well that second sentence gave me a good laugh. :)
Surgery on worms sounds messy! ;D
Quote from: Peter Boulter on February 02, 2021, 16:25
Quote from: Robin Webster on February 02, 2021, 12:11
Thank you gentlem.
I will follow your recommendations Julian. Intresting surgery you did on your worms.
Well that second sentence gave me a good laugh. :)
Surgery on worms sounds messy! ;D
It used to be said that if you cut them in half they grow back into two new ones. That would solve the problem of spares. ;D