So just this week I finally received in the mail an Atlas RS-11 locomotive with DCC. Not exactly sure of the release date, but likely after 2006, since that's the date printed on the underside of the fuel tank. I suspect this has been sitting in its box for a very long time on the shelf before I bought it, especially considering the amount of oil/grease leakage.... I wasn't super impressed by this, but in the end it doesn't really matter. See, the reason I bought this is for a long term project. I want to try my hand at 3D printing a locomotive shell - in this case a Canadian National RS-18. The issue I have is that I put it on the track, selected DCC address 3, and tried to get it moving. However, well, nothing happened. Wouldn't move forward or backwards, at least not at first. On the other hand, I was able to turn on and off the headlights, so there is communication. Finally, I did give it a bit of a nudge forward, and there is it! It finally started moving, but painfully jerky, like something was half binding in the shell. I suspect that the interior gears are gummed up with old solid oil/grease. If it was a local store, I think I may have returned it, but I had a LOT of trouble finding a recent run of the Atlas RS-11, with DCC, and had to resort to ordering all the way in North Carolina for this one. And well, it was actually a decent price, considering I paid less than how much used ones were appearing on ebay, and those didn't even have DCC. So I figure all I need to do it open it up and give it a good cleaning. So, getting to the point of this long-winded post, what's the best way to clean up the existing lubrication, and what use in applying new grease. Also, where should I apply the new grease/oil?
I have bought some locomotives that had similar problems. I disassembled them and used some plastic safe liquid electrical contact cleaner to get all of the old excess lube out of the motor, the trucks, and off of the electrical contact strips. It took a few sprays while rotating the motor and a little toothbrush action on the other parts, but then the locomotives all worked fine. If excessive/old, caked lube is your issue, then maybe that will fix you up.
ONE...s m a l l drop on the worm gear shaft where the shaft goes in the bearing blocks. ONE...s m a l l drop where the shafts go in the motor housing. A little goes a long way !!!
I second the use of electronic contact cleaner to clean the mechanism. I use a spray can that comes with a straw that allows me to direct the spray to where it's needed. I lay the mech on its side on a paper towel and spray the cleaner into the areas I want to clean, including around the armature. Then I use a paper towel to mop up the spray, before running the mech with a paper towel draped across it to catch the cleaner that is sprayed out as the motor turns. While you have the loco apart you might consider removing the inner bearing blocks. It reduces two friction points that IMO do little if anything to improve performance, but which can degrade performance if the drive train is not reinstalled carefully. http://u18b.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Bearingblock.pdf Regards, Ron McF
There is a guy on YouTube that buys used N scale locomotives and shows how to disassemble, clean, and put them back together. It's called "Watchtrains Now". He does a lot of different brands including Atlas and even has a video on repairing an Atlas RS11. It's pretty far down on his list of videos, but you may find something in it that will help you. Ralph
I've been watching several videos now from "Watchtrains now", super informative! The two RS-11 videos he has were not useful because they refer to the older Kato mechanism, but he has other videos for newer Atlas locos that are nearly the same as my RS-11! So far I've taken the shell off, and there's no white gunk. So taking a cue from the videos, I touched a 9v battery to both halves of the frame. The motor runs smoothly. So it's likely a power pickup problem. I'll follow the video I found and disassemble slowly, testing along the way.
Don't overlook the fact that on those mechanisms with the DCC boards, the motor contacts often are not making good contact with the board and will cause the motor to not run or to run only intermittently.
Great Stephane! Glad the videos were of help. I know between those videos and the help I've received here, I've learned quite a bit, enough that I'm not afraid to tear things apart and repair or do rebuilds anymore and most important what I'm to look for. Brad, I've even had issues with the stock DC boards on some of my Atlas locomotives. I wonder if the new boards that come with the DCC/sound ready locomotives are any better? Ralph
If you put the loco on the program track, and try to read it, if the lights flash but it doesn't move a little, then the connections from rail to decoder and decoder to lights are fine. Therefore suspect the connection from decoder to the motor or that the decoder motor drive circuit has failed (the latter is less likely). If neither the lights nor motor work, then suspect a problem getting the DCC signal to the decoder (i.e. wheel/axle wiper, wiring, or dead decoder, in order of decreasing probability. They were pretty smart to include both lights and motor in service mode feedback response. It can tell you a lot based on which one (or both) failed.
Well, turns out it really was just dirty everything. We can see in the picture I posted how oil just migrated everywhere on to the shell and seeped right into the foam cradle within the box! This afternoon after work I took the shell apart and scrubbed it completely clean with dawn dish soap and reassembled. I used a q-tip soaked in 99% isopropyl alcohol and cleaned the mechanism as best as I could without taking anything apart. Basically, just getting rid of the oil where there should not be any oil. Then, cleaned the wheels again by having the loco drive over the alcohol soaked cloth over the rails. Now, it runs really well, slow speed, fast, almost perfect! There is one silly little thing I just can't seem to track down... when going through curves, and only through left-hand curves, something is rubbing, and a there's an annoying buzzing sound! I've been trying to figure out what it might be, happens with both the shell on and off. Made a small video.. maybe someone has had this and knows exactly what's happening and how to fix. Yes, I'm running it in reverse, but as mentioned, I intend to make a new RS-18 shell for this mechanism and it will be running long hood forward
I'll probably start a thread eventually if it works out, but don't wait up, this is my first time making a shell, and it's likely to be a long term project!
