Thanks Peter for your post #15,
If I may make a comment - (not a rant "from down under"
but possibly a bit of a ramble
) :
In most of the past 37 years I have simply used a soft woven cotton cloth and elbow grease rubbing to clean the outer rails and this has worked well. One of the joys I found in Märklin when I discovered the brand in the early 1980's was the lack of required frequent cleaning that I remembered from my childhood 12V DC "Hornby double O" model train.
But in the past on my layout when I needed to clean electrical contacts other than the rails (noting the U Tube "rant" points out that the rails are electrical contacts) and electric motor parts I used this electronic contact cleaner from Jaycar - this is not a trainroom Skunk, David
:
I am fortunate to live in a temperate climate with low humidity and this reflects favourably on the amount of rail "cleaning" required.
My layout was designed to allow direct access to all rails but a few areas are harder than others and in due course when I came to experience older age reluctance I obtained a Märklin rail cleaning car particularly to adress the more awkward rail spots . I used the pads dry on the rails. This worked well :
And a big thanks to
Peter for his tip on how to clean a bunch of pads :
- works very well and they do come out quite clean (or as my grandmother used to say "like a bought one")
: what a wonderful forum this is !
Then later I saw that folk put isopropylalcohol (as the U Tube "rant" said, this does contain some water and other things - just like anything in a spray can contains other things) on the rail-cleaner wagon pads and I did this too but I thought that this did not enhance the rails' conductivity as well as running the pads dry.
This topic of rail "cleaning" (actually "conductivity", as the "rant" says) seems almost perennial (and interesting) in this forum and in more recent times I saw a series of posts including one that linked to a review which considered the molecular physical chemistry of the cleaning solvents germane to model rails and preferred "turps" = turpentine (aka white spirit) over isopropylalcohol. I am a sincere believer in scientific based method so I then used turps on the pads but thought it provided even poorer conductivity so only recently I have returned to just using the pads dry and remain very happy with this. I should emphasis that my need for "cleaning" the rails is occasional and only really needed in the less conveniently accessed rail areas.
I am also a believer in "horses for courses" and "when you're on a good thing stick to it" so I felt I would stay for the moment with the dry pads ... alternatively ... I could try ... using some of my electronic contact cleaner "
Servisol" on the pads ... (here we go again?
)
But, as always on this forum ... to each his own!
Regards,
PJ
P.S. I
have used the Australian product
"Inox" (as featured on the post #15 linked U Tube video) extensively in the past in the maintenance of our yacht for 30 years. It is fantastic in preserving electrical contact in the severe (salty and wet) marine environment. It will retain good electrical connection and prevent contact corrosion in such equipment as alternators, relays, circuit breakers, battery contacts, electric motors of anchor winch and pumps, electronic gear (log, autopilot, anemometer, wind direction gear, radio transmitter and receiver parts and connections, electronic controlled battery recharging system; sensors), engine starter motor, lighting connections and the many switches in a boat. Subsequent to using this product I experienced no problems in these areas - and there are plenty of problems to be had with maintenance in the marine environment! One marine electrician I knew referred to it as "a tool kit in a can". On the model railway however this may be a different kettle of fish
Edited by user 29 April 2020 23:52:51(UTC)
| Reason: Not specified
