Dear all,

I was reading a topic posted by Lennart who had overoiled his locomotive and that has rang a bell.<img src=icon_smile_sad.gif border=0 align=middle>
Well, I have destroyed a loco with overoiling when I was new to the hobby<img src=icon_smile_clown.gif border=0 align=middle>. Still, I haven't figured out the "minimality within reason",as Juhan suggests, yet!
Moving further I don't even know when I have to change the motor brushes, the traction tires even the pickup shoe! My oldest locomotives are almost a year old and I thought that it would be good to change all the consumables within the next weeks. I don't operate them all the time and I thought that the one "maintenance per year" rule is applicable to my case. However, I am not so sure that this is correct and I think that replacing the parts is more operationally related and more of a "reading the signs" rule! Therefore:
<ul>
<li>When do we have to lubricate the mechanical parts of a locomotive? Approximately every 40 hours of operation as Marklin suggests? And is one drop of oil enough?</li>
<li>When should we replace the motor brushes? Is there a rule? How much they have to be worn out to replace them? </li>
<li>Traction Tires! When should we change them?</li>
<li>Last but surely not least the pickup shoe! When should we change that? </li>
</ul>

Well too many questions, necessary though, to keep those locomotives in the best condition possible for my children! <img src=icon_smile_cool.gif border=0 align=middle>

Thanos

tell me something kevin
if i do not run my loco for a long time(months,years) should i put her some oil
even if she was not running for 40 hrs
alonso

Hi Juhan, Thanos, Kevin, all,
What should be the right way to clean the motor and wheels if it´s overoiled and what sort of product to use? Would you use any kind of alcohol like in tracks?
Wouldn´t like to be where Thanos was, and I think I have at least one loco I bought in Ebay under that condition.<img src=icon_smile_shock.gif border=0 align=middle>

Juan Carlos

Hi all,
There is an old saying in the plumbing business "If it ain't broke,don't fix."<img src=icon_smile.gif border=0 align=middle>

As our esteemed Webmaster pointed out,if you have a "shelf-warmer",then it is best to clean it thoughtly.Very true of an eBay or ,old model,you don't know how long its been waiting for you!<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>
Oil,especially Märklin oil,dries out way too fast and has low viscosity.


<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote> I really don't like the "When she starts to get noisy and cranky!" rule! We never let our cars go noisy and cranky why should we let our locomotives? <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana" size=1 id=quote>

Because you won't get hurt if a lok gets cranky!<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>
When one of my loks gets like this,it is a sign that she needs a 'drink' of oil.Once that's done she is much happier.A mechanical machine will make a noise to let you know something is amiss.


<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>Is it OK to inspect them every, let's say, three months or so? And if I would take the brush out for inspection when is a good time to change it? <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana" size=1 id=quote>

If you want,some loks run for years and years and never need these changed.Again,don't fix something that is working just fine.<img src=icon_smile_cool.gif border=0 align=middle>

If you can,set up a small oval and after cleaning,oiling,'break-in' your loks,run them 10 minutes forward,10 minutes backwards at a medium speed,the 20m,30,1 hour.Märklin loks run better,the MORE you run them.This is also a good way to keep all those "shelf-warmers" ready_to_go!

Kevin!

Moderator,Märklin Bar&Grill

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MarklinBandG/

Hi Kevin, all,
Maybe I haven´t understood, what do you clean motors with? And now the tip, which oil do you prefer instead of Märklin´s?<img src=icon_smile_cool.gif border=0 align=middle>

Juan Carlos

Juan,

When I clean the motor parts, motor compartment and cogwheels, I normally use a very low-aromatic oil based thinner for oil paints called "Lacknafta" here in Sweden. Kind of like diluted "White Spirit". The main thing is that it is oil based, so it will easily also clean out carbon residues as well as the oil without harming the paint. Generally a lot of Q-tips (ear-cleaning cotton pins)have to be used. Before you use any solvent, try do get as much gunk as possible out with dry Q-tips - saves some time.

The red paint on a steam loco underframe is dissolved by alcohol, so don't use that.

True story:
We all make our little mistakes and when I came back into the hobby around 1994, I had bought a very gunky secondhand loco. Ok, I thought, let's do some *serious* cleanup here - so I dismounted the motor, relay and such and was left with the frame with gears and wheels. After some thinking I thought I should do it rationally and soak the whole underframe in alcohol instead of spending time with Q-tips and such... So I did that.... And was standing there with a jar of red alcohol and a pink BR 78 underframe after a few seconds.... Ouch... <img src=icon_smile_blackeye.gif border=0 align=middle>

Learning from that episode I later did another experiment with my old gunky 3029... I drenched the frame in "Ajax", and then rinsed it thorougly with warm water and dried it up with compressed air. This actually worked perfectly and the 3029 was clean as a whistle without any ill effects...

Nowadays I try to be more patient and use a lot of Q-tips... <img src=icon_smile.gif border=0 align=middle>

Dear all,
Juhan don´t worry, I´ll buy lots of q-tips boxes. I thankyou guys for your advise.

Juan Carlos

Hi 7gauges and welcome to the forum,

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote> My question: what exactly is "white spirit" - or the north american equivalent? Is it Varsol? or Turpentine? Paint Thinner? <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana" size=1 id=quote>

White spirit (stoddard solvent) is a mixture of saturated aliphatic and alicyclic C7 to C12 hydrocarbons with a maximum content of 25% of C7 to C12 alkyl aromatic hydrocarbons.

White spirit is known as Lacknafta in Sweden ; Lakkibensiini (Finland); Mineral Spirit; Mineral Turpentine; Mineralsk Terpentin (Denmark); Mineralterpentin (Sweden); Petroleum Spirits; Solvent Naphtha; Stoddard solvent; Terpentin (Denmark); Testbenzin (Germany); Turpentine Substitute.

Common trade names are : B.A.S.; C.A.S.; Clairsol; Dilutine; Exxsol; Halpasol; Hydrosol; Indusol; Sane; Kristalloel; Laws; Ragia; Sangajol; Shellsol; Solfina; Solnap; Solvesso; Spezialbenzin; Spirdane; Spraysol; Stoddard Solvent; Supersol; Terpentina; Tetrasol; Thersol; Varnolene; Varsol; W.S.; White Spirit.



Thanos