Eggerbahn motor brushes

[tat2drod]

Any reference to motor will simply be a description of type with the assumption it will perform flawlessly forever
Peter Smith

Is that not merely a reflection of the fact that various manufacturers (cough Hornby cough) say these days that you can better replace the enclosed motor after (last example to hand) 150 hours as (a) there are no serviceable parts and (b) it's cheaper to produce a unit than to supply the spare parts?

[Graeme Dunbar]

I both agree and disagree here. Hopefully manufacturers today don't make products with the sort of fault that dogged models in the past: gears that split, perhaps even plastic that cracks or warps.

With motors, possibly the best thing that can be done is make them a sealed unit. I suspect a number of second hand models only need attention to their motors because the previous owner has squirted a liberal amount of oil (of an unsuitable type) all over the place, including the commutator. Some of the gear and other problems may have been due to application of the "3-in-1" and then dunking in unsuitable cleaning fluid.

I wonder how many "models" will spend at least part of their life running on the carpet. I bet the manufacturers factor that in. A sealed motor will fare far better than an open one.

[B.Meldon]

The Marx Microperm motor used by Egger-bahn between 1963 and 1965 was supposed to be a maintenance free motor. However the shaft bearings dry out and start to squeal. Lubricating the top bearing is easy, but the lower one requires the disassembly of the motor, and they are a complete pain to put back together again!

I do tend to agree that a lot of problems with motors are down to over oiling. (I use a tiny amount of PTFE oil on motor shaft bearings, that appears to stay where it is applied.)
However what I do not like are these sealed motors that have precious metal wipers that appear to becoming more common these days. At least with a set of brushes you can get out you have a chance at a repair but with many of these modern motors you do not.

Brian Meldon

[Sven]

I think you are Dutch, Sven. The Dutch word for commutator is 'collector'.

I am. ;D

[Graeme Dunbar]

I think locomotive maintenance could be a useful topic, so to prevent further thread drift (sorry, my fault) I've started another one:
http://www.009society.com/forum/index.php?topic=1103.0