Heppeng

You must be very careful of introducing any lubricant to a product that relies on friction to hold it together... Not only that but WD-40 could be a very poor choice, Some oils are harmful to plastics and I am not sure what long term effects WD-40 might have. It stinks too. If you must use a little oil, your best bet is to get some oil from your local model railroad store. They will have plastic friendly oil designed for use on model trains which should not harm anything.

It was the AAA box and he did have to raise the plate to accomodate it.

Just curious, would it not have been possible to run an axle from one end to the other with a bevel gear on each end?

Yes, but that information is getting somewhat out of date. There are no doubt still a few bad apples around, but the improvement in working conditions and pay has been quite substantial over the last fifteen years or so. Because of the expansion of the Chinese economy, if a worker does not like his pay and conditions he/she can now go and find somewhere better. Treat your workers like they used to be and soon you will have no workers. This is one of the main reason why labour costs are going up in China.

Another vote for Brickficiency here. I always use it.

Yes, that was the reason why I went for brick hinges instead of plate hinges for my build.

Don't forget that Pullmans would be buckeye coupled together with the buffers retracted, so that the buffers would be much shorter than the corridors in real life, except at the ends of the train when they would be extended to couple to the loco - unless the loco is buckeye equipped also.

Well I sold my coach and with the proceeds bought four Enlighten First Class coaches which go surprisingly well with the Emerald Night locomotive. They are a cross between a Santa Fe observation car and a European Pullman car, except with dark green in lieu of brown. They are a bit on the tall side too. In the end I decided I wanted something better, so I saved the windows from them and made this: Bar Car, Parlour Car, Kitchen Car, Luggage Car

Just because something is made in China does not necessarily mean poor quality. China has come a very long way. Nowadays you only get poor quality if the company allows it in their specification. A case in point, I also dabble in Model Railways, where high top quality models are demanded. Most of the major manufactures use china including some high end top of the range specialists, and the detail and finish and running qualities achieved is astounding. China can deliver product to any quality specified, from very low to exceptionally high. So if you find a low quality Chinese product, it is most likely that someone specified it to be like that - may be to save money - and the Chinese factory obliged.

Thats looking pretty good!

You can make a fairly impressive station with a large footbridge by combining 2 x 7937 with not many wasted parts: I combined them with a bricklinked version of the red 2150 Metro station to make this:

That smell is in fact Ozone, which is created by the sparks between the pick ups and rails ionising the air.

I think Ashi might have been thinking of old fashioned train set resistance type of controllers. Set them on a slower speed (higher resistance in the controller) they can get hotter. I don't think lego made any like that, unless the old blue 12V controller was? The others use transistors which don't dissipate heat to slow the train down, they just cut the power.

And you must have at least two axles mounted on six long axles. It is essential that on a steam engine both sides turn together exactly. You also need to make sure the rods are 'quartered' That means that when on one side the rods are at the bottom (6'o clock) position the rods on the other must be either at the 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock positions - i.e one quarter of a circle difference. If this is not accurately maintained then the rods will bind and lock up.

It would seem that Enlighten is copying lego rather closely - they seem to be dropping the sale of individual cars and going for selling sets. No more 'My own train' style hopper cars/tank cars/Frisco Fe/Union Pacific Diesel etc, and introducing Maersk copies and 7939 copies. The quality of their stuff was quite reasonable, and I can see the value of the discontinued sets rising...

There is a way round that, although it would not be 100% lego and will only work if your trains go around the loop in the same direction. Isolate the loop electrically and feed it from a bridge rectifier. When the train is in the loop flick it in to reverse, the train will continue forwards but when it reaches the end of the loop the polarity of the rest of the circuit will match and it will continue on its way.

Just won a MISB Maersk Train for Just under £110 on Ebay, doubt I will find one cheaper!

I had that a while back just before Christmas. I just ended up phoning the order through instead.

Good stuff! Wait till you try a 4.5V train...

Worse than 4560?

One way of making the EN more affordable is to buy the set and sell the coach. You can then design your own colours and style of carriages to go with it without breaking the bank or trying to match the one that comes with it. I managed to get a set cheap, and sold the coach alone for almost as much as I paid for the complete set! And lets face it, it is the loco that is the real star here...

To be honest I was just using a very similar wheel turned on a lathe as a comparison of price verses 3d printing. I am sure that making one to a slightly different profile would not add to production costs. Just goes to show just how much can be saved when a more appropriate manufacturing method is used. Yes, although clearly being able to make a metal wheel for $1.50, I am sure that a metal wheel with plastic insert for the cross axle could be made for retail for significantly less than $5, let alone $10. it would also have the advantage that the axle would be being pushed in to plastic as lego intended, which would no doubt improve fit and reduce any likelyhood of damage. I think that the reason why the machine shops would have turned this down is the difficulty in making the cross hole in metal - too small to mill, which even if it was not would push the price up, and making a special broach again would make it more expensive. Making it in two parts means that you can use the more appropriate material in the area where it is needed, slash production cost, get a better finish and get something that works better all in one!

Ok, just to prove my point, you can get the wheel shown in the middle here (lego wheel on left for comparison): $17.95 for a pack of 4, i.e under $5 each - http://www.shop.osor...?productId=2204 Somehow I do not think they are selling at a loss. All that is needed is to bore out the center (no additional machining cost, just use a bigger drill) and push in an ABS plastic insert with the cross axle hole. You could use a turned down center from a plastic lego wheel which is available for a few cents. Most people here could buy the wheels above and modify them using nothing more than a drill successfully, rather than getting someone else to do it. I rest my case....

I would expect that just about anyone with a lathe would be prepared to make them for far less than Shapeways as it is a much more appropriate and cheaper method of manufacture. After all a 3d printer is best at making complex 3d shapes. It can take hours to print out a wheel on a machine that costs thousands of dollars. Is it any wonder that making a round thing on a machine designed specifically to make round things in minutes that costs hundreds rather than thousands of dollars is going to be far cheaper and easier? Heck if I could sell all the wheels I could make day in day out on my lathe for $10 each I'd give up my day job and buy a nice new Range Rover! Back in the real world I would only be able to sell a few hundred I would expect at best, so it would end up being a spare time hobby job, and as spare time is something I have got precious little of at the moment its scarcity tends to put its value up somewhat...