Noisy F

[Mike Sheridan]

I have a Marklin start set with a Mikado and an F unit. The Mike runs nicely, but the F unit is really growly, even after running for a while.

So I partly disassembled the F and carefully lubed the whole gear train with Labelle gear oil. Plopped the chassis back on the track and it was lovely - smooth and pretty quiet.

But then I put the body back on and it instantly became a growler again. I couldn't believe it - the darned thing is too small to make that much noise :eek: . I played around a bit to see if there was anything rubbing or whatever, but it does seem to be a purely acoustic effect.

There must be loads of these units around - does anyone have a fix for this?

[pray59]

I don't have any of the Marklin units, but the Micro Trains F7 makes a lot of noise too. It runs OK so I did not mess with it. From what you describe it sounds like the shell may be squeezing the motor to the frame? maybe you can try restricting the motor movement with some shims?

Good luck,
-Robert

[BoxcabE50]

I'm not familiar with Marklin. Just wondering- Is the motor, or any portion of the gear train touching the shell? If it runs well, perhaps it's something that can be tolerated?

:D

Boxcab E50

[Mike Sheridan]

The motor and gears are pretty buried in the chassis, but of course at this size nothing is far from the outside. The noise is apparent even when the body is set lightly on the chassis and not clipped on - it sits about halfway down. I will try putting some soft shims in between the sides and the chassis to see if that dampens the sound. It is tolerable, but a shame when the chassis itself is capable of quiet running.

Interesting that the MT is noisy too - maybe it is the F7 shape that is the problem smile.gif

[Gats]

Mike, it sounds like the shell is squeezing the chassis. Is it a split frame affair like most of the current N Scale offerings?
If so, best to put a plastic shim between the chassis halves to prevent the squeezing when the shell is placed on.

[HemiAdda2d]

Good idea, as my MT F is a bit growly, as well. Any ideas what size of shim to use?

[Gats]

ummm.... thin? :D

[Mike Sheridan]

Well, I've had a fiddle with this problem and really got nowhere :(

It is not a split frame chassis. It is a plastic molding with the motor sat fairly low in the middle - partly in the fuel tank. The motor case is the same width as the chassis.

I tried a bit of kitchen roll wrapped round the chassis (round the top and sides; not underneath graemlins/shakehead.gif ) with cut-outs to make sure the motor didn't touch the sides, but that seemed to have no effect at all.

Then I got some 'blutack' (UK name; its sort of stickyish playdoh you can use to hold pictures on walls, etc. Usually light blue, but I've seen green as well) and tried sticking that around between the ends of the chassis and body and on top, and then I tried it between the chassis and the sides, again avoiding the motor area, to hold the sides out a touch and dampen any vibration. I think there may have been a slight improvement in these two cases, but it was hard to tell. Certainly nothing near the improvement of leaving the shell off :mad: .

I'm quite baffled. If I (or anyone else) has any other ideas graemlins/088.gif (non-destructive) I'll try them out.

[Mike C]

try lining the shell with a very thin foam. It sounds like an acoustical problem to me, and you need to stop the shell from resonating.....Mike

[Comet]

What has worked for me in the past is using cotton balls to absorb some of the noise from gear sets. Just break them apart into the size needed and line the shell with them in the appropriate areas. Use a small dab of glue to hold them in place. Has worked pretty well so far.
Good luck,
Bill

[Mike Sheridan]

Thanks for those thoughts. I've just bought a second F unit and it is just the same, so I'll try those ideas out when I get back to modelling (I'm remodelling the heating system (again) at the moment).

[Chessie System]

My MT F7's are noisy too. I guess that's something we'll have to live with. Hopefully, the new GP35's will be quieter. ;)

Doug

[shamoo737]

Mike, is your F unit a Marklin or MT, because if it is a 3 pole Marklin unit you can replace it with a 5 pole motor. The 5 pole motors are quieter. I have put 5 pole motor in different chassis, and the 5 pole are faster and have a more pleasing sound to it. Some say the 5 pole motor have slower crawling speed, but I have not notice it. If you want a really quiet loco, then get the AZL F59-phi.

[Mike Sheridan]

It (they) are Marklins. They are new, so probably 5-pole, but I'll check next time I have the tops off.

However, the motor/gears are not actually noisy in themselves. When the chassis is run without the shell the engine is quite silky. It almost seems the shell is making a noise itself graemlins/226.gif

[Michael R, New York]

Hey Mike,

Are these your first Marklin Locomotives?

Is your track on a roadbed or just on a board (or unattached)?

It could just be typical Marklin and MTL noise that is usual.

If it is growling, you may need to break down the engine altogether, clean and then re-lube.

How many hours on the locomotives? I doubt this is a brush issue.

It does sound like the shell is vibrating...

[Chessie System]

I run my MTL's on a Noch type layout. That probably explains why mine are so noisy.

Doug

[pray59]

Mine are like coffee bean grinders, but they pull like a mule! :D

[henrikH]

a good tip is to take some masking tape between the chassis and ike engine. becouse the marklin f7 is chaped to be some cind of acoustiq box so you need to stop the vibrations betveen the nengine and the chassie. it vorks for me.

[pray59]

Hi Henrik, welcome to Trainboard. Good tip! graemlins/wink.gif

I need to do maintenance on all my F7's because of the noise, and after a couple hours running they start to run erratic. I think it's the power pickup. But I will look into quieting them down when I service them.

-Robert

[Chessie System]

I sent my F7's back to MTL for service to correct the noise. They returned them in about two weeks. I haven't run them yet to see if there was any improvement.

Doug