whatlep
Registered
I'm a huge fan of Piko's railbus, but I'd noticed over the past few weeks that my VT98 railbus was running somewhat jerkily at times. A quick look underneath confirmed that after 18 months frequent use, the pick-up skates were now pretty worn. This is a quick summary of what else I found with some tips that may be of use to others.
Here's the scene of operations:
The wheels look pitted in the photos, but once given a clean with a Massoth cleaning pad come up shiny and smooth. Piko's production engineering is excellent. Disassembly and re-assembly are both straightforward and intuitive. Let's start by removing the two screws holding on the gearbox cover.
Removing the outer cover, the assembly of phosphor bronze pickups and skates is clear. The physical connection to the motor is underneath the bronze strip as we shall see. Note that there is little grease spread around (a big contrast to the early Piko BR80s). The grease on the upper pickup was caused by me mishandling the cover! The skates just pull out. They are not held in place by the small screws which secure the wheel pickups.
At this stage I noticed that the wheel axle was very grubby where it met the pickups, so I removed the axle to investigate...
A quick look showed that both axle and pickups had accumulated a nice thick layer of mud over the months. The pictures don't really do this layer of grot justice. I rather doubt if any current was flowing from the wheels. So, out comes some kitchen towel to remove the slime from both pickups and axle.
Having removed one set of skates etc. for cleaning, you can see the metal contact which carries current to the motor. It's important that this continues to nestle in the slot provided for it which is at 90 degrees to the axle. You should be able to see the contrast between the top, cleaned axlebox and that at the bottom which has yet to be tended to.
Now given a thorough cleaning, the axle is noticeably brighter. A smattering of new grease has been applied to the gears. I cheated on the skates by using those from the trailer (which has had far less use). The old motor coach ones are now on the trailer where they can continue to be useful by leading the wheels into my radius 1 curves. Wear on the Piko skates' side flanges is minimal compared to that on the rail face.
Now it's simply a question of putting in the remaining skate and reassembling the gearbox. A hint & tip at this point. Ensure that the skates are all free to move up and down. If they are not, adjust the small screws seen holding the wheel pickups in place in the photos. The screws need to be just tight, rather than forced as far as they will go.
Out on the line, the railbus immediately ran perfectly smoothly again, creeping along beautifully even on step 1 of the DCC. Job done!
My earlier review of the railbus is here:
http://www.gscalecentral.co.uk/pikos-br80-and-railbus-after-6-months
Here's the scene of operations:
The wheels look pitted in the photos, but once given a clean with a Massoth cleaning pad come up shiny and smooth. Piko's production engineering is excellent. Disassembly and re-assembly are both straightforward and intuitive. Let's start by removing the two screws holding on the gearbox cover.
Removing the outer cover, the assembly of phosphor bronze pickups and skates is clear. The physical connection to the motor is underneath the bronze strip as we shall see. Note that there is little grease spread around (a big contrast to the early Piko BR80s). The grease on the upper pickup was caused by me mishandling the cover! The skates just pull out. They are not held in place by the small screws which secure the wheel pickups.
At this stage I noticed that the wheel axle was very grubby where it met the pickups, so I removed the axle to investigate...
A quick look showed that both axle and pickups had accumulated a nice thick layer of mud over the months. The pictures don't really do this layer of grot justice. I rather doubt if any current was flowing from the wheels. So, out comes some kitchen towel to remove the slime from both pickups and axle.
Having removed one set of skates etc. for cleaning, you can see the metal contact which carries current to the motor. It's important that this continues to nestle in the slot provided for it which is at 90 degrees to the axle. You should be able to see the contrast between the top, cleaned axlebox and that at the bottom which has yet to be tended to.
Now given a thorough cleaning, the axle is noticeably brighter. A smattering of new grease has been applied to the gears. I cheated on the skates by using those from the trailer (which has had far less use). The old motor coach ones are now on the trailer where they can continue to be useful by leading the wheels into my radius 1 curves. Wear on the Piko skates' side flanges is minimal compared to that on the rail face.
Now it's simply a question of putting in the remaining skate and reassembling the gearbox. A hint & tip at this point. Ensure that the skates are all free to move up and down. If they are not, adjust the small screws seen holding the wheel pickups in place in the photos. The screws need to be just tight, rather than forced as far as they will go.
Out on the line, the railbus immediately ran perfectly smoothly again, creeping along beautifully even on step 1 of the DCC. Job done!
My earlier review of the railbus is here:
http://www.gscalecentral.co.uk/pikos-br80-and-railbus-after-6-months
