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James Powell wrote:
> The short answer is that it doesn't matter. As long as you pick a
> reasonable figure per inch of car, then they should track reasonably well.
> The heavier the cars, the less likely they are to derail (all other things
> being equal). But, the more TE required to pull them, requiring more
> motors. I have never run into big problems with lego cars except on very
> long trains (~50 cars and more), when light (IE piggyback cars made from the
> drop center plates) tend to derail on the corners. At more typical train
> sizes (5-20 cars), I haven't had problems, but I tend towards smaller cars
> than some other people here (Hi Larry, yep, its Eurotrash!).
Euro-trash? Care to explain?? :D
As for weight... one weight brick per 9v engine block seems to work fine
for me. I refitted my 7760 with a 9v block and it ran great, a LOT
stronger than my 4563 engine. After fitting the 4563 with one weight
brick, difference became a lot smaller.
--
Jan-Albert "Anvil" van Ree | http://www.vanree.net/~javanree/
VanReeDotNet IT Solutions | http://www.vanree.net
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In lugnet.trains, Jan-Albert van Ree writes:
> James Powell wrote: • [snip]
> As for weight... one weight brick per 9v engine block seems to work fine
> for me. I refitted my 7760 with a 9v block and it ran great, a LOT
> stronger than my 4563 engine. After fitting the 4563 with one weight
> brick, difference became a lot smaller.
I have another trick to improve your engines/motors. If you take a close look
at the motor wheels you see there are small round rubber bands. You can
exchange the original ones against the rubberbands used in the Lego bicycles.
Those are a little bit thicker in their diameter. And if you take two of the
cheap telekom bikes for each motor, the bikes will look more like racing bikes
because of the smaller tyres... ;-))
You will be suprised who much stronger your engines become (especially without
extra weight and at sloped track sections. Any feedback is welcome - I did
this with as many engines as I had bikes available.
Kind Regards,
Ben
P.s.: has anybody around some dozens of bicycles? I would need them to upgrade
all my engines since each two motors engine needs 4 bikes for this upgrade.
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Wow! Thast's the first time I've ever heard of that. I noticed those rubber
tires on the motors before, wondered about the life span etc... but kaboom!
What an idea!
I changed the subject, some might be trailing off this one...
SteveB
From "Re: My Santa Fe Train Kit Theories" thread
> I have another trick to improve your engines/motors. If you take a close look
> at the motor wheels you see there are small round rubber bands. You can
> exchange the original ones against the rubberbands used in the Lego bicycles.
>
> You will be suprised who much stronger your engines become (especially without
> extra weight and at sloped track sections. Any feedback is welcome - I did
> this with as many engines as I had bikes available.
>
> Kind Regards,
>
> Ben
>
> P.s.: has anybody around some dozens of bicycles? I would need them to upgrade
> all my engines since each two motors engine needs 4 bikes for this upgrade.
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In lugnet.trains, Steve Barile writes:
> Wow! Thast's the first time I've ever heard of that. I noticed those rubber
> tires on the motors before, wondered about the life span etc... but kaboom!
> What an idea!
...
I agree. It's a great idea. And I like the look of the bicycles with the
thinner tire, too. I changed two motors right away and there's no question,
the traction is improved immensely. I changed the Santa Fe 'A' unit and my
'B' unit, and the wheels went from slipping to no slippage at all.
However, it makes the Santa Fe run worse.
Here's my setup: a Santa Fe engine, with a single weight brick over the
motor, a run-of-the-mill 'B' engine (motor in front, one weight brick),
followed by five stock Santa Fe cars, one of each. Before I made Ben's
change, the engines would slip miserably, but barely pull the train through
the circuit. After I made Ben's change, the train completely stalled at
several points. In both cases, the controller was on full voltage. One stall
had the engine directly over the controller clips.
The track layout is about forty feet in a contorted figure eight on level
ground. The stalls mostly happened when the rear of the train was all on
curved track. There are two level crossings; one crossing derailed the 'B'
engine once. There are two track 'x' crossings; the wheels of the trailing
cars made a terrible "ka-chunk" sounds when they went through the crossings.
The engines initially lurched forward when starting out, so I immediately
checked both motors to make sure the wheels turned freely, and that the
rubber tires were on evenly and securely. I took one passenger car off, and
it still ran poorly. With three cars, it ran OK. But with five cars, the
engines jump forward erratically rather than roll smoothly or freely. Oddly,
they run better backwards than forwards.
I examined some of the cars wheelsets, and noticed that when the wheels
spin, they make a tick-tick-tick sound. I couldn't see what was making the
noise. In all fairness, I need to switch out all of the wheelsets to old
ones to see if that train runs well. I haven't done that yet.
I'd be interested in hearing how others stock Santa Fe + cars run.
Cary
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Hi Ben,
I've also done the tire-exchange in the past. And also out of Telekom's
by now... :-)
My best Trick: just add more power on the track.
I've exchanged the Lego-transformer for a standard 6-dollar-one (with 2
outlets!):
2 times ~11,5V / 1,25A each.
Tested together with Jan-Albert van Ree: 8 (yes eight!) trains together
run completely smooth on just one outlet/rail attachment!
Maximum speed could not be tested: derailment at 2/3 power.
I've seen many postings about 'the regulator can't handle these
currents', but that is all theory.
No problems or whatever with the regulators.
I'll bring one of my transformers to Legoworld, you can see (and test)
for yourself.
I'm curious how many trains we need for the regulator to burn. Shall we
test it next week? I'll offer a regulator for that purpose!
No theories, but heavy trial-and-error... :-)
Klaas
BTW: 2 week ago I visited Günzburg (TOP!), and the BigShop sold the
Telekom-bycicles for 0,90 Euro/bike. Mega heaps of these boxes where
lying around... but after 2 days with Lego-consuming kids (and
myself...) a ran out of Euro's, so, no bikes for me.
Reinhard \"Ben\" Beneke wrote:
> In lugnet.trains, Jan-Albert van Ree writes:
>
> > James Powell wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
> > As for weight... one weight brick per 9v engine block seems to work fine
> > for me. I refitted my 7760 with a 9v block and it ran great, a LOT
> > stronger than my 4563 engine. After fitting the 4563 with one weight
> > brick, difference became a lot smaller.
>
>
> I have another trick to improve your engines/motors. If you take a close look
> at the motor wheels you see there are small round rubber bands. You can
> exchange the original ones against the rubberbands used in the Lego bicycles.
>
> Those are a little bit thicker in their diameter. And if you take two of the
> cheap telekom bikes for each motor, the bikes will look more like racing bikes
> because of the smaller tyres... ;-))
>
> You will be suprised who much stronger your engines become (especially without
> extra weight and at sloped track sections. Any feedback is welcome - I did
> this with as many engines as I had bikes available.
>
> Kind Regards,
>
> Ben
>
> P.s.: has anybody around some dozens of bicycles? I would need them to upgrade
> all my engines since each two motors engine needs 4 bikes for this upgrade.
>
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greenman wrote:
> BTW: 2 week ago I visited Günzburg (TOP!), and the BigShop sold the
> Telekom-bycicles for 0,90 Euro/bike. Mega heaps of these boxes where
> lying around... but after 2 days with Lego-consuming kids (and
> myself...) a ran out of Euro's, so, no bikes for me.
At LEGOWorld, Intertoys will probably have these in their megashop
there. And current Intertoys price is 99 Eurocents :D
--
Jan-Albert "Anvil" van Ree | http://www.vanree.net/~javanree/
VanReeDotNet IT Solutions | http://www.vanree.net
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