The rear worm drive is spinning normally, but front fly wheel and worm drive are not spinning. I have cleaned the parts and only rarely can I get the front assembly to work. Does the fly wheel need to be fixed to the motor shaft more tightly? Is the worm gear misaligned with the front wheel gear? How would I correct that? Thanks for helping out... Bruce
It looks like one end of the motor shaft either broke off or is free spinning inside the flywheel. I doubt that it's one solid shaft through the flywheel to the motor though.
If the motor shaft was broken off all together the front drive would not work at all But you said you rarely get it to work which leads me to think the motor shaft is spinning inside the flywheel. You may be able to repair it by using a drop of Locktite or CA glue on the shaft then re-installing the flywheel. Just be sure to take plenty of measurements so you can attach the flywheel at the correct depth on the shaft. And don't go overboard on the glue you don't want it wicking up the shaft and seizing up the motor.
It required a tear down to get at the motor shaft where it enters the flywheel. Now the flywheel doesn't rotate without the worm gear on the opposite side. Ill update when I have all the wires re-soldered and parts re-glued.
From the looks of the worm gear, this unit has seen a lot of running. Try running the motor on a 9V battery for a few seconds while holding the worm gear, and you will see if it's loose.
Good idea. I did the check that you suggested and the worm gear is tight on the fly wheel shaft. (Best to get that out of the way before reassembling!)
After affixing flywheel to motor shaft with loctite, all wheels and flywheel moving with power applied. Time to get out the soldering iron and loupes. By the way, can anyone tell me what the black electronic part on the disconnected wheel pick-up is and what it does? Thanks for your suggestions. Bruce
It looks like a ferrite bead, which would be used for noise reduction that some countries require to turn high frequency noise into heat on DC motor circuits. Markin puts a disc capacitor on some of their Z locomotives too, but I think it is only needed on motors with brushes that spark and generate noise.
