Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Motor & gearbox


Motor & gearbox
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker
I'm not sure why I decided to start construction of the coal tank locomotive. Perhaps it was because the parts were in a bag by themselves. Maybe it just seemed like a nice quick standalone project. I think though it was a combination of these plus the smell of quality.

Unpacking the parts I wasn't disappointed. The gears are lovely. Nice and chunky - well able to handle the sort of torque required of an O gauge model loco. The motor, a Mashima 1833, is as as big at the tank on the last engine !

The gear cradle etch folder up easily and only took a little reaming out of the bearing holes and some solder to prepare. The resulting gear mesh is excellent - easy to adjust too as the motor retaining screws are a doddle to get at being either side of the shaft.

I wonder why most 4mm cradles aren't as good as this. Normally I have to drill the mounting screws out and fiddle around to get things working. Not a difficult job but more than I needed to do here.

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