Some of you may remember I had a problem with my SD35 a while back. I got it open again today and went a little deeper into it's guts. I'm always wary of fixing things because my fixes usually involve other breaks. Lost pieces, bent pieces, cracked whatever, I always manage to need to fix about three things by the time I'm done fixing something. I discovered that my engine had a cracked brush. I have never had cracked brushes, only worn brushes. Anyone else cracked a brush on a motor before?
never had a cracked one geeky, bought a second hand loco once that had mushy ones - i think the previous owner had topped up the brush holders with oil! whoppit
Whoppit mentioned oil soaked motor bushes - I did that once, got oil on the commutator of a AHM Q1b while trying to oil the front motor bearing. There was lots of smoke and a pitted commutator. Required new brushes and fine sandpaper to remove the pits. There are other ways to use too much lubricating oil, I used the Labelle applicator to oil the valve gear on some of my steamers and found out that a drop you can see is too much. Had oil on the top of rails and on some traction tires. A mess to clean up so from now on I will use a fine brush that has been barely dipped in a pool of oil. Al
I guess we have to be light on the oil, but I am always amazed how much oil drips out of my diesels when they come brand new.
Some good comments on lubricating locomotives fro the guys. As an old instrument dude, my suggestion is if you can see the oil it is too much. The best tool to use is watchmakes oiler. These are usually fine tapered stainless steel wire with handle. Dip it in the oil, place the pointed end where you want the oil and the oil droplets on the wire will slowly slide down to the end. Over lubrication can cause many problems with oil migration onto other parts that should not be oiled, such as paintwork.
Did you typo the oil brand? Is it Watchmakes or watchmakers? Do you know how someone in the USA could find this product?
Geeky, what was the problem you had with your SD35? I have a new Atlas GP30 that runs fine after you get it to move. It ran right out of the box, ran it on my oval for a couple of hours with my SD24, then, I stopped the train, and it quit. The headlight lights up but the motor wouldn't turn. No buzz or anything. I took the shell off and set it on the track and turned the flywheels by hand. It started running fine. Stopped it again, and it won't run. Maybe the same thing as yours?
