Noisy Gears

I'm assuming the gear box has "spur" gears. If they are of a course pitch that is were the noise is coming from. The noise comes from the teeth hitting each other as they rotate. That's why the old transmissions of automobiles back in the standard shifting days were noisy. One way is to use helical gears or a finer pitch of spur gears. North West Shortline company would be your best bet for gearing.

Bernd

Who ordered the Gear Whine?

Gear noise in brass – Oh yeah.  I’ve got a lot of that with older locos. The way to fix it is to re-gear. Not trivial. I have about three now that have pretty loud gear noise. I just run them slow enough that the whine is tolerable. I have one loco that someone else installed some insulation to cut down on the noise. I ended up removing it. The noise was the same without it. Dave at NWSL might have some other less intrusive ideas on reducing gear noise for you depending on the locomotive, but in general, his advice is a re-gear.

Someone to re-gear it for you - Loco doc does that kind of work and I have come across a couple of other people as well. Ask at NWSL, I think he has some names...

Guy

I have heard of this used

I have heard of this used with plastic gears. A mild abrasive like pearl drops tooth polish was used in the gears and they were run for a while with this solution in the gear boxes. Allegedly the polishing smoothed out the gear meshing issues on the models. Not sure if you would want to try this prior to replacing gears or not. One other thought on the drive gears. Is there any way that their engagement point could be adjusted. For example could a thin washer be inserted to separate the gears a tiny amount? Sometimes that can make a difference. One other thing to look at would be seeing if adjusting the mesh point one tooth in either direction could eliminate some binding. I have found this helps on some models and not on others. I believe some models manage to find an equilibrium on their own and others develop a bit of binding if things are just off a touch.

Break In Period?

Hi Sanchomurphy,

I'd try to get 4-6 hours of break-in running on the loco before addressing the noise issue.

New gears need time to adjust to their neighbors.

YOU CAN’T WEAR A GEAR IN -YOU

YOU CAN’T WEAR A GEAR IN -YOU CAN ONLY WEAR IT OUT!

That is a quotation from NWSL Online Catalog, Part 4a -Gears, page 1

My experience after rebuilding a triple-digit number of brass locomotives, about 70% of the gears are straight o.k. and can be continued to use, about 10% needs repair and fixing for continuing to be used and the rest has to be replaced either because they far beyond repair or simply junk.

Take the gear box apart, clean it and have a close look to the different parts. Much often the the grease in the gear box has turned in the course of time into a chewy goop or into solid material. Especially shelf queens and box cases are concerned. In most cases the removing and cleaning all of the residue will turn the gears into smooth and silent runners. In some cases individual worn out gears or cracked ones can be replaced by new parts to make the gearbox fit again for continued use.

But in some cases there is replacing the only option. Either poorly built, worn out beyond repairs, cracked gear box casings or a mixture of it, no way to reuse it. Replacing a gear box means the non insulated driver has to be pulled off the axle to enable to pull the axle gear wheel off. Then press fit the new axle gear and remount the driver wheel. You have to consider the 90° offset quartering of the crank pins to each other.

If you are fit to do this work, then do it. If not there is the option to save money by sending not the whole loco, but only the dismounted defective gearbox assembly together with the driving axle to a specialist to to this work for you.

Lutz

Video of slow speed operation.

I watched your video. The

I watched your video. The binding does not seem consistent. I believe that quartering might not have anything to do with it right now. My first step would be to remove the body and motor. With out the motor I would roll the drive train around. I would make sure that the drive train runs fine with out the motor. If it runs fine then you have the gear train from the motor and its engagement point with the drive train of the model to inspect. Watch for a worm gear that is too deep in engagement with the main drive gear or one that presses down on the drive gear causing binding.

If the model drive train does not run smoothly and freely begin investigating by disassembling things a component at a time. For example disconnect the valve gear from one side and test. If it is still there try the other side. Once you have a free running model begin reconnecting until you isolate the binding.

Don't forget to unhook the decoder and see if the model runs fine on DC. If it does you may have an issue with an improperly set up decoder. Sometimes in some decoders it is possible to change things so that the decoder programing is in conflict and does not work well at all.

The thing to do is systematically check things till the issue is discovered. With luck you will find the item that is giving you problems. The real trick is finding the issue when you might have more than one.

Good advice

Rob has given some very good advice on solving your jerky running engine. I also believe there might be a problem with the gear train as Rob mentioned.

Bernd

Thanks everyone

Thanks everyone, especially Rob for the advice. I am going to get the tools for a regear considering that I plan on doing more brass in the future, although it will be drawn out over time. I'll be trying some of your solutions in the meantime though! I kind of have to figure it out if I want GN steam, only two accurate GN plastic steamers have ever been made!