Friday, July 14, 2006

How do you skin a Tomkat ?


Tomkat inards
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.
Yet again the Tomkat is a bad moggie. Down at the waters edge everything checks out so I lift it onto the water.

And Nothing.

Back out on the table and more nothing. Steering yes, but no drive. Not even an attempt.

Back to the workbench and I poke around inside. As there is no drive I chase the electricity with a multimeter. It’s coming out of the speed control OK. If the motor isn’t plugged in it even comes out of the plug attached to the speed control. Put the motor on and there is nothing again.

So I try the motor on the end of the battery directly. It roars into life for about a second and then nothing. Repeated tries result in sparks at the battery but no life. From years of railway modelling I know this means a short circuit. Something metal has got in there or the motor has started to disintegrate.

But how do I get to motor out to check it ? As far as I can tell the drive system is assembled into the bottom of the boat and the top is heat-sealed in place. Taking screws out doesn’t seem to free anything. I can’t even get the ones out of the front of the motor thanks to the angle they are at. Even if I could the water jacket can’t be loose or it wouldn’t work which means dismantling the cooling system.

Is the motor removable ? Any suggestions ?

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