But it would allow merkin?????????????????knotty 823 said:Phone wouldn't let put merlin in lol
Electric W&L Countess, first pictures from Accucraft UK
- Thread starter Sea Lion
- Start date
I've taken some more photos today, but from now on I'll post them in the WGLR thread.
http://www.gscalecentral.net/tm?high=&m=125026&mpage=10#143691
http://www.gscalecentral.net/tm?high=&m=125026&mpage=10#143691
Sound advice if referring to the loco, however if the driver's well lubricated.....................Sea Lion said:
Continued running in the loco on the rollers with an ammeter attached. She was drawing 1.5amps at first with a little squealing after the first hour running in.
The immediate effect of oiling was a drop to around 1.2amps
After another 20 mins she's now dropped to around an amp
The immediate effect of oiling was a drop to around 1.2amps
After another 20 mins she's now dropped to around an amp
Ok after another running in period the amps rose back to around 1.2 and a slight squeak starting so I turned her over to oil again and noticed a fair bit of heat coming from the middle axle. The gearbox itself is the source rather than the bearings of the chassis so I'm going to open this up when it cools and clean it up as I suspect there may be some swarf in here as there seems to be lubrication on the axle and drive shaft.
It's not roasting but more like the heat of a fresh cup of tea, you can't leave your finger on it.
Lesson is don't rely on the lubrication that's supposed to be done at the factory, bedding in the gears can get a load of swarf in their which will wear them faster if nit removed
She does run beautifully silent now though just like Caledonia so any squealing is immediately apparent.
It's not roasting but more like the heat of a fresh cup of tea, you can't leave your finger on it.
Lesson is don't rely on the lubrication that's supposed to be done at the factory, bedding in the gears can get a load of swarf in their which will wear them faster if nit removed
She does run beautifully silent now though just like Caledonia so any squealing is immediately apparent.
After noticing excessive heat coming from the gearbox during running in I decided to look if there was anything wrong.
Removing the two tiny screws allows access to the worm and gear.
Nothing to report that's obvious except it was a little mucky from the gears bedding in so I cleaned it up and lubricated in there and the main drive bearings.
Couple of clips running in on the rollers, slow, bit more current showing on the ammeter which is expected.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is34fvfvYOM&feature=youtube_gdata_player < Link To http://www.youtube.com/wa...e=youtube_gdata_player
Trundle speed sitting between 1:06 and 0:98 amps after twenty mins.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJM1M3yvo0c&feature=youtube_gdata_player < Link To http://www.youtube.com/wa...e=youtube_gdata_player
Gearbox is still warm but not hot like before so I think after some more running in I'll clean it again.
Removing the two tiny screws allows access to the worm and gear.
Nothing to report that's obvious except it was a little mucky from the gears bedding in so I cleaned it up and lubricated in there and the main drive bearings.
Couple of clips running in on the rollers, slow, bit more current showing on the ammeter which is expected.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is34fvfvYOM&feature=youtube_gdata_player < Link To http://www.youtube.com/wa...e=youtube_gdata_player
Trundle speed
sitting between 1:06 and 0:98 amps after twenty mins. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJM1M3yvo0c&feature=youtube_gdata_player < Link To http://www.youtube.com/wa...e=youtube_gdata_player
Gearbox is still warm but not hot like before so I think after some more running in I'll clean it again.
I'm getting very similar results from The Earl to Paul. I noticed yesterday that the wheels needed a good clean, so I rested it upside down (I've made a cradle for holding locos this way out of some old polystyrene packaging) and connected the pick-ups to my 1 amp test controller. When this loco was first delivered, I set it up on a piece of test track using this same controller and it would hardly move, but after about 5 hours test running, the 1 amp now gets the wheels spinning like no-ones business.
Having cleaned the wheels (using kitchen towel and cotton buds soaked in meths), I decided to try and get rid of the shiny bright wheel rims. I used a broad nibbed, black permanent marker with the nib running across the rims while the wheels turned. This makes sure that none of the ink gets onto the treads which pick up the current from the track.
Eh presto. Before with shiny rims .......................
................. and after with them blacked.
I'm not sure how durable this will be, but it's the easiest thing in the world to do and makes a lot of difference to the loco's appearance.
Having cleaned the wheels (using kitchen towel and cotton buds soaked in meths), I decided to try and get rid of the shiny bright wheel rims. I used a broad nibbed, black permanent marker with the nib running across the rims while the wheels turned. This makes sure that none of the ink gets onto the treads which pick up the current from the track.
Eh presto. Before with shiny rims .......................
................. and after with them blacked.
I'm not sure how durable this will be, but it's the easiest thing in the world to do and makes a lot of difference to the loco's appearance.
On the way home from Dave Dowling's open day, I spotted the Countess parked next to the water tower at Raven Square. I de-toured into the car park, grabbed the camera and went over to take some detail pics. The fireman saw me taking pics of the cab and invited me on board. These photos may be helpful to those wishing to add more details to the already excellent cab interior of the Accucraft model.
And some exterior pics. Big thanks to the young crew of the loco who couldn't have been more helpful and were a credit to the W&LLR.
In the second to last picture, is that a jack? If so why would they have one on the loco? :thinking:
Double sticky sided tape Bob. Sticks really well, but less likely to damage the paintwork if you decide to have a change.bobg said:
Puggy, yep both the Earl and Countess have always carried a jack in that position on the footplate in case of derailments ................. or punctures??
Yes Puggy, it is a jack, for use in the case of a de-railment. It has a traversing mechanism which enables the loco to be moved sideways back over the rail once it's been lifted.
yb281 said:
OK. I'd heard that double sided tape wasn't so good with oil about, but of course that isn't too much of a concern with 'lectric.
bobg said:
I noticed that, which is why I asked if it was a jack otherwise it's a dead ringer for the ex-military one which came with my old Landrover.
And Mel, if it gets a flat it is probably the traction tyre
New centre pickups, araldite is holding it not the cable ties
No need to take the body off as you can rewire it all underneath, just pop the extended wires through into the boiler.
No need to take the body off as you can rewire it all underneath, just pop the extended wires through into the boiler.
As the iPhone is defeated again and can't upload and the photobucket direct link doesn't work either
Lets try a link to photobucket!
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/...1C5E4E7-1260-0000015505A93D1A_zpsd5b91575.jpg < Link To http://i162.photobucket.c...A93D1A_zpsd5b91575.jpg
Lets try a link to photobucket!
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/...1C5E4E7-1260-0000015505A93D1A_zpsd5b91575.jpg < Link To http://i162.photobucket.c...A93D1A_zpsd5b91575.jpg
Ok as Tony was asking about fitting dcc in an electric Lew here are some photos of how I did it the easy way in my Countess. If Lew has a similar arrangement then it might be possible to copy this.
The limiting factor will be if the decoder will fit inside the boiler.
I built a sled from plastic, a flat plate with holes to allow the decoder to be cable tied to it and it has sides to insulate the decoder if it moves around.
The speaker is glued to the front end of the sled and sits in the smokebox. To stop any vibration I covered the sled and around the speaker with felt.
The wiring is coiled up so the sled can be pulled right out unplugged and swapped to my 7/8ths locos
All I had to do to rewire it was snip the two wires going to the motor, that pass up by the driveshaft. Extend these to a four pin socket with about 9-12 inches of wire, now do the same for the pickup side of the two wires you cut.
You should now have all four ends extended to the socket and this can be poked up through the hole in the boiler ready for attaching to the decoder. Just finally make sure the wires aren`t foul of the driveshaft, use a dab of silicon or epoxy if needs be.
The limiting factor will be if the decoder will fit inside the boiler.
I built a sled from plastic, a flat plate with holes to allow the decoder to be cable tied to it and it has sides to insulate the decoder if it moves around.
The speaker is glued to the front end of the sled and sits in the smokebox. To stop any vibration I covered the sled and around the speaker with felt.
The wiring is coiled up so the sled can be pulled right out unplugged and swapped to my 7/8ths locos
All I had to do to rewire it was snip the two wires going to the motor, that pass up by the driveshaft. Extend these to a four pin socket with about 9-12 inches of wire, now do the same for the pickup side of the two wires you cut.
You should now have all four ends extended to the socket and this can be poked up through the hole in the boiler ready for attaching to the decoder. Just finally make sure the wires aren`t foul of the driveshaft, use a dab of silicon or epoxy if needs be.
