Electric Motor Blocks

[Alastair Pollard]

I am an amateur scratch builder of Locomotives, Rolling stock and Trams running on 45mm gauge track. I'm struggling to find suitable motor blocks or powered bogies, specifically for my latest Blackpool "Balloon" tram. The only ones I can find have 31mm diameter wheels and I want smaller wheels. Can anyone help me?

 

[dutchelm]

The USA trains NW2 wheels are 28.5mm. I use them under Bachmann trams.

 

[dunnyrail]

I am an amateur scratch builder of Locomotives, Rolling stock and Trams running on 45mm gauge track. I'm struggling to find suitable motor blocks or powered bogies, specifically for my latest Blackpool "Balloon" tram. The only ones I can find have 31mm diameter wheels and I want smaller wheels. Can anyone help me?

Fosworks will supply a single motor single axle (axle hung) setup for you, not sure what size wheel he can go to but worth a look. You would probably need 2 of them.

 

[FatherMcD]

You might take a look at this thread Ultra low cost home made drive system

 

[Paul M]

Welcome to the forum, there's a lot of tram interest on here,and some really appalling humour

 

[DafyddElvy]

Welcome to the forum, there's a lot of tram interest on here,and some really appalling humour

That's a little unfair, granted some of the humour can be dire and sometimes cringe worthy, but is not appalling

 

[JimmyB]

That's a little unfair, granted some of the humour can be dire and sometimes cringe worthy, but is not appalling

You have obviously missed the the worst of the "humour" lucky you.

Alastair, welcome to the forum, all of this is in good fun, seriously though we love photos of your projects

 

[Rhinochugger]

That's a little unfair, granted some of the humour can be dire and sometimes cringe worthy, but is not appalling

I'm appalled

 

[Melbournesparks]

You might take a look at this thread Ultra low cost home made drive system

This has largely been superseded now by its derivitve 3D printed version. Has been proven successful for tramway applications with quite a few hours of operation now, and a complete 21E truck is coming shortly.

edit: I should add that the minimum design wheel diameter for this traction motor case is 28mm. 25mm wheels will physically fit, but with only 1mm of clearance between the bottom of the traction motor case and rail level. If you're running outside this would present problems with any minor debris on crossings and paved sections of track.

 

[Dan]

LGB field RR engines (chloe) have small wheels on their motor bolcks as well as the Johnny.

 

[Dan]

LGB field RR engines (chloe) have small wheels on their motor bolcks as well as the Johnny.

 

[GooiseMoordenaar]

I have used Fosworks moters before and I must say they were quite useless for a slow tram. They had a way to low reduction factor. I reworked the unit with very fine gears and I ended up with a reduction factor of 1 to 10. Still a very lively tram.

I am currently experimenting with GUUZI TT motors. They should have a reduction of 1 to 48. They cost next to nothing: 8 for €12. The advantage is that they dont have a worm, so are lower than the top of the wheels. The unit axle has a 2 mm bore, but not all through, so first I drill it out with a 2 mm drill, then widen it with a 3 mm drill. On the 3 mm axle (just a length of hard wire) I fitted 31 mm Lilliput wheels.

Groeten, Ashe

 

[Melbournesparks]

I have used Fosworks moters before and I must say they were quite useless for a slow tram. They had a way to low reduction factor. I reworked the unit with very fine gears and I ended up with a reduction factor of 1 to 10. Still a very lively tram.

I am currently experimenting with GUUZI TT motors. They should have a reduction of 1 to 48. They cost next to nothing: 8 for €12. The advantage is that they dont have a worm, so are lower than the top of the wheels. The unit axle has a 2 mm bore, but not all through, so first I drill it out with a 2 mm drill, then widen it with a 3 mm drill. On the 3 mm axle (just a length of hard wire) I fitted 31 mm Lilliput wheels.

Groeten, Ashe

I used very similar home made traction motors to the fosworks ones on one of my trams. The spec for the motors says 3600rpm at 12v and the gear reduction is 5.3:1 That gives a top speed of 88km/h, but nothing says you have to run them on full voltage so mine are limited to about 8v. Even though this doesn't make quite as efficient use of the motor's speed curve they still run nice and smoothly in the lower end of the speed range. I think the fosworks motors are very expensive for what they are though considering you need more than one and don't even get a gearbox case, something essential for running outside. I suspect the fosworks motors are more aimed at the G1 market, where people are going to want to run their trains at main line speeds and they often have elevated tracks.

Those yellow gearboxes look like they are well suited! Do you know what the top speed is with 31mm wheels?

 

[Degauss]

I used very similar home made traction motors to the fosworks ones on one of my trams. The spec for the motors says 3600rpm at 12v and the gear reduction is 5.3:1 That gives a top speed of 88km/h, but nothing says you have to run them on full voltage so mine are limited to about 8v. Even though this doesn't make quite as efficient use of the motor's speed curve they still run nice and smoothly in the lower end of the speed range. I think the fosworks motors are very expensive for what they are though considering you need more than one and don't even get a gearbox case, something essential for running outside. I suspect the fosworks motors are more aimed at the G1 market, where people are going to want to run their trains at main line speeds and they often have elevated tracks.

Those yellow gearboxes look like they are well suited! Do you know what the top speed is with 31mm wheels?

Based on my calcs 31mm wheel gives scaled 10mph/16kph at 200rpm which is about 6v on a TT motor loaded.
At 3VDC 150mA @ 120 RPM no-load
At 4.5VDC 155mA @ 185 RPM no-load
At 6VDC 160mA @ 250 RPM no-load

I use a printed adapter glued onto the back of a wheel. Slides over the TT motor axle.
Size is set to give 40mm back to back.

 

[Melbournesparks]

Based on my calcs 31mm wheel gives scaled 10mph/16kph at 200rpm which is about 6v on a TT motor loaded.
At 3VDC 150mA @ 120 RPM no-load
At 4.5VDC 155mA @ 185 RPM no-load
At 6VDC 160mA @ 250 RPM no-load

I use a printed adapter View attachment 305435 glued onto the back of a wheel. Slides over the TT motor axle.
Size is set to give 40mm back to back.

I did look at some similar units but I wasn't sure if they were the same ones, they're a bit low geared for my purposes. To get a 55km/h top speed needs 400rpm output, using 31mm wheels. Looks like a very good option for low speed rollingstock though.

 

[GooiseMoordenaar]

At the moment I am in my apartment and the track is at my allotment, so I can only roughly determinate the speed at my desk: for 1 meter it needed 2.77 sec. also 1.3 real km an hour.
Yes, a bit slow, but exactly as I like it.