Where do i cut wheelsets to make them roll better?

[Carefree_Dude]

in railbricks 2 it says that we should cut the wheelsets in order to prevents rubbing. where do i cut them at though? I didnt' understand the diagram.

[The Yellow Brick]

I'm not sure what you are talking about, do you have the link .

[Carefree_Dude]

http://www.railbricks.com/media/railbricks_2.pdf

page 51

[hoeij]

http://www.railbricks.com/media/railbricks_2.pdf

page 51

I'll make some pictures once I find the cable that connects the camera to the computer. Most of my wheel sets have received such treatment. One of the reasons I did that is to make my 9V motors last longer; for example, for my Santa Fe train the cuts reduce the load on the motor by about a factor 2.

[pinioncorp]

It is where the flange of the wheel comes very close to the holder.

The green line is where the shaving should be made, on the inside, and the purple line represents the location of the wheel flange.

This is really only necessary on wheelsets that rub against the frame though. The new ones do not seem to do this, and only some of the older ones do. A good test is to while holding the wheel holder, give the wheel a little press from below. If it touches the frame, its probably best to shave the side away a little.

[legotrainfan]

I also had badly rotating wheels on my Super Chief and its waggons. After a phone call, TLC sent me some where this problem did not occur. Just for additional information: Some sets of the My Own Train series also have this problem as well as the Metroliner legend. Newer wheels work alright.

[Carefree_Dude]

thanks a ton. i've began shaving. I went a head and shaved the whole slot (instead of just the green part) to make it work better. its amazing how soft the plastic is.

OH WOW! I did it to all 5 of my santa fe cars and my santa fe engine. It can now go fast enough to fall off the track around corners! i bet a single PF train motor actually COULD pull 13 santa fe cars.

Alright, i tossed 15 heavy passenger cars (including 2 club car and 5 santa fe car!) onto the train, and though it struggles when pulling, it actually can pull them all. Since it can pull all those, i'd assume it can pull 13 santa fe cars. a second motor in a B unit would be extremely helpful though.

Edited September 26, 2010 by Goldenmasamune

[hoeij]

I'll make some pictures once I find the cable that connects the camera to the computer. Most of my wheel sets have received such treatment. One of the reasons I did that is to make my 9V motors last longer; for example, for my Santa Fe train the cuts reduce the load on the motor by about a factor 2.

Found the cable. I put a picture on:

http://www.math.fsu.edu/~hoeij/t/c/wheelset.jpg

Most of my train cars have received this treatment, except the very lightest ones.

[Carefree_Dude]

Found the cable. I put a picture on:

http://www.math.fsu.edu/~hoeij/t/c/wheelset.jpg

Most of my train cars have received this treatment, except the very lightest ones.

oh wow, i did something entirely different. I just scraped the inside, so the walls were thinner.

[pinioncorp]

Most of my train cars have received this treatment, except the very lightest ones.

Oh wow Hoeij, that is extreme. Expecting to go off (rail)road?

[hoeij]

oh wow, i did something entirely different. I just scraped the inside, so the walls were thinner.

What do you use to scrape it with?

With a sharp knife, the cuts can be made quite quickly because the material is soft (much softer than regular lego bricks). I've done these cuts to about 70 cars, or 280 wheelsets, with 4 cuts per wheelset, so that's over 1000 cuts. Quite a bit of work, but it will help to make my 9V motors last much longer.

[Carefree_Dude]

used an xacto knife. the plastic cut like butter.