Hi all, I got a nice shell via Shapeways of a Dutch locomotive series 1600- 1800 and I am looking for a proper body. Like AZL better than Marklin... The measurements of the GP30 by AZL match pretty well. But it is some 4 mm too high. Is it possible to take out the pcboard and saw off the cast hooks that the pcboard is mounted onto? (I run analog only). Is the pcboard just for lighting (maybe a very silly question but I am electrotechnically challenged..) Thanks, Matt
The board also supplies power to the motor via contacts so there would have to be some modification there.
Funny I just did this to a sd70 chassis to put in one of my brass E8's. Fist remember no lights unless you build another way to attach them. It is really simple just split the frame and pull the motor. carefully bend the motor contacts outward so they will hit the frame on each side. Remove and clean any tape and tape residue from the chassis side plates and put it back together. runs like a champ better than with the board but only on DC. For DCC just pull board and solder as normal. hope this helps
Matt, A mtl gp chassis might also be suitable for a 1600. Just bend the motor contacts to the chassis. on dc the chassis runs fine without the pcb . Build smd led's into the shell and build contacts which touches the chassis when you put the shell on the chassis.
Thanks Joe, Dave, Frank. I do run DC and I don't (really) mind missing out on lighting (although I might try Frank's suggestion, the shell does room for lights). See this link for an idea. I will see that I get a nice chassis of either GPs and start working on it (the one I currently have is my cherished SP, I will leave that one just like it is ) Matt
One more question if I may: is the chassis of the (AZL) GP9 of the same dimensions as the GP30? is it possibly the same chassis? Thanks, Matt
They are very close for sure, I can't say if they are the same but close. Maybe someone with a micrometer can chime in here. Also I tried Dave's suggestion on my GP 30 and wow! home run! since I run dc after the mod I put the board back in and the lights worked fine. They run better with the motor tabs contacting the frame for sure! It is easy and simple, just get the blocks next to the worm aligned right. Thanks Dave!
Just a quick caution: The motor contacts in the AZL motor is very easy to damage (per AZL - Rob Allbritton). So even if you try and hold the tab as it comes out of the motor and try to bend the end beyond the pliers, just all that manipulating may damage the motor internals. If 'over bent', when the frames are 'squeezed' back together, you could 'over tension' the contacts.
Thanks Jeff for that advice. I was careful not to over bend anything as these things are delicate. I did this to the GP 30 and the GP 38. Both sound the same the GP 30 being noisier as it always was, What I noticed was they both smoothed out at slow speeds. I'll report if I get any ill effects of this mod, I didn't bother to try this mod to my first generation GP 7 as it runs smooth all the time with any controller at any speed.
Thanks, Joe and Jeff. I'll look out for any these GPs and will carefully take out the board & connect the contacts to the frame. Cheers, Matt
I'm not sure this is a good idea for the first gen GP9-7 or SD. they use a motor rated for 8-10v (think it was 10). the new motor is rated for 12v. after doing this mod on a new gen sd chassis it hit a higher motor RPM so I'm guessing it is seeing the full 10v. this would suggest the light board has some voltage drop to it maybe the LED's but i'm not sure I haven't got a meter on the board yet. if this is true on the first gen it could put too much voltage to the motor. On the plus side the first gen ran waaaaay better out of the box so no need for this fix.
Not to worry on the motor voltage. This only relates to power factor at rated loads. As an electronics engineer, forget about it. (Motors create a HUGE voltage spike when the contacts exchange and DCC based locos have track voltage spikes that aren't filtered much in the decoder and passed on to the motor). Just an FYI. Use whatever motor/chassis you like. The BAZ BoyZ
Well, I got my GP30 in the mail this week. Got it on the tracks today, guess what... nothing. Lights work fine, and get brighter when more power is given, but the motor remained still, no humming, nothing. So... read back what you guys wrote, did some searching on the net... AZL has a short troubleshooter on their site, but alas no pix. Digitrax has a nice instruction sheet showing how to install their decoder. That helped showing what the downside of the pcb should look like. So, I took the shell off, took the pcb out, and indeed, one of the motor contact clips was on about a 45 degree angle, while the other was almost vertical. I both bent them as in the Digitrax foto, put it al back together again and now it runs fine. Ok, next step will be loosing the pcb and fixing the contact to the chassis. But not tonight no more... More soon (I hope PS anyone interested in a GPS30 Wisconsin Central shell? Matt
Glad you fixed your problem. Another issue that came at least with first samples, pcb was loose and moving off its slots. Mine had this issue when I received it at home and thus was unable to move (with headlight on), until I easily put pcb into its place... Dom
This is kind of related so don't roast me yet. Do ASL GP30s and 38s run about the same speed. In other words, do they have the same motor and drive train? My 38s run so agaonizingly slow I can write letters, go to the post office and fry and egg before they go around once. What can I do to speed them up?
Should run similar. But the slow one is likely the grease in the trucks. Warning to all: If your loco runs slow, then this is putting a LARGE load on your motor ! This means HEAT or the likely potential of. FORCING it to run this way, thinking it will get better, is NOT the way. Take the frame apart. Get the trucks out. Put the frame back together, even if just holding it together and install the light board. Place the frame on the track see if it appears that the motor runs 'normal' . You can compare to your shell-less GP30, at the same track voltage. You can also touch a 9V battery to anywhere on the frame. If you roll the trucks on a paper towel (gives friction to the wheels), holding the frame sides lightly, should sorta roll OK (they won't roll like a ball-bearing). If they are loading with grease lube everywhere, they won't easily roll. So pop them apart, clean with plastic compatible cleaner and re-lube with MICRO drops of lube on each gear and where the axles touch the frame. Now try it.
What do you guys consider as beeing slow? My 3 GP38s run at a somewhat quiet pace, let's say 40-45 scale mph under 8 volts (these units beeing rated at 12 V).... And show awesome low speed caracteristics. Exactly the same than my 1st generation SD70s... Thus I consider they work exactly like what they should and I don't care obtaining higher speeds. Should I ? Dom
Yep, that was happening to me too. The shell is a bit to tight and sometimes the board gets stuck in the shell. The trick is for me to loosen the shell very carefully and strictly vertical. Matt
