Cleaning 12v rails and motor contacts

[Reker1000000]

Hello EB,

I don't think I have seen much information on the internet about this, so I thought I'd make a video (and share it here). Often when you're running 12v trains, metal rails and motor contacts become dirty with "black dust"- dust that settles on the rails and then is burned from the friction between the metal of the motor contacts and the metal of the rails. I am sure that other experienced 12v train fans out there know this and have your own way of cleaning the rails. I made a tutorial on how to clean rails and contacts, with easy to acquire materials- I use rubbing alcohol on a rag. Hopefully this video will help some of you, now and in the future, who are having difficulty with maintaining your 12v components!

 

[JopieK]

Great info @Reker1000000. Keeping the beloved 12V motors in perfect shape!

[BillytheKid]

I must say, it is nice to see how you clean the innertrack and motor. I will make in short future a video how I handle with dust. One of the reasons why Lego changed the system into 9v .

I use benzene(?) to clean the innertrack, which is made of iron (it can rust ), and the contacts of 12v motor. I prefer to clean them when track is build. Goes faster and easier in mine opnion.
And I use 2 12v motors under 1 train which are connected to eachother with a wire, so you create 4 points which make contact with innertrack.
And this why I love the PF-system, I made a cleaning wagon which is pulled by a PF-train to clean in a fun way the innertrack . I will show all in that video, than all will be become clear. Only need time to make the video, work too much.

[Toastie]

48 minutes ago, BillytheKid said:

I use benzene(?)

Hopefully not - oh my. This is from the very olden days - benzene gets rid of any kind of non-polar crap (i.e., fatty, oily, greasy stuff) but as for decades now it is known to cause cancer on a much less relaxed scale (you don't have to swallow gallons, you have simply been exposed to it) - if you really used benzene, than better switch to toluene right away and get rid of that benzene stuff (bring it to a station handling "toxic" materials). Simply use alcohol, or isopropanol to get rid of greasy stuff. Or even light petrol.

48 minutes ago, BillytheKid said:

which is made of iron (it can rust )

Well, could be, but I doubt it; iron rusts like crazy. So this is more of an alloy - presumably Nickel is very high up there - and that may be also one of the reasons, 12V and 9V was phased out - these rails never "rusted". They put on some nice weathering - but no rust. And still worked very well. And cleaning (i.e., removing the oxide layer) was/is super easy. But then: There are people who react badly towards Nickel exposure. 

I don't, and thus (I can't sue TLG) I do have some 12V and many 9V rails :D

Best,
Thorsten 

 

 

Edited July 24, 2022 by Toastie

[ThePhatController]

Nice video! I use alcohol for cleanup. The points do seem to be the worst and need regular scrubbing as per @Reker1000000

For the rest I have a 4.5v train with a not very successful cleaning car so I are really interested to see what you are using @BillytheKid

Edited July 25, 2022 by ThePhatController
Typo

[BillytheKid]

@Toastie: In Holland it is called 'wasbenzine', you can buy that easily at constructingstores. It is used to clean stickers, paint brushes, etc. And it has a nice smell too , I don't mind. I've done it whole mine life and train runs like a train. Check mine YouTube at PandaCity of Bricks .
Put a innerrail outside in the rain for a few days. It rust like hell.

[Toastie]

19 minutes ago, BillytheKid said:

wasbenzine

Heehee oh yes - benzine (or petrol ether) is very different from benzene - the first paragraph in that Wikipedia article points that out. I was just a bit scared - some people still use benzene (it was/is dead cheap) and came literally in casks - back then.

23 minutes ago, BillytheKid said:

Put a innerrail outside in the rain for a few days. It rust like hell

Oh, I can see that - however, it much depends on the status of the plating on the inner rails, that is what I am seeing on my 12V stuff. When that has cracks or was peeled off due to heavy usage, then the rust begins to fly. If they were made from iron only, they would rust like hell even inside (provided you are not living in a non-airconditioned place in Qatar ) - but I guess they have air-conditioned the entire country by now, so that folks can play soccer ... "outside" 

I am from Northern Germany - about 20 km off the North Sea is where I lived in my youth - which is ages ago. No eons ago. The closer I cycled to the sea, the rustier things were. You are living in the Netherlands - in a place closer to the sea? Because that adds a little salt to the (rain) soup ... and then even stainless steel stains quite a bit

Best,
Thorsten

 

[Reker1000000]

23 hours ago, JopieK said:

Great info @Reker1000000. Keeping the beloved 12V motors in perfect shape!

Thank you! Always good to maintain the expensive motors, speaking of which I've got a broken red motor that I have to repair soon... will make a post on that when I do.

 

15 hours ago, BillytheKid said:

I must say, it is nice to see how you clean the innertrack and motor. I will make in short future a video how I handle with dust. One of the reasons why Lego changed the system into 9v .

I use benzene(?) to clean the innertrack, which is made of iron (it can rust ), and the contacts of 12v motor. I prefer to clean them when track is build. Goes faster and easier in mine opnion.
And I use 2 12v motors under 1 train which are connected to eachother with a wire, so you create 4 points which make contact with innertrack.
And this why I love the PF-system, I made a cleaning wagon which is pulled by a PF-train to clean in a fun way the innertrack . I will show all in that video, than all will be become clear. Only need time to make the video, work too much.

Yeah, although I currently don't own 9v stuff I know that 12v is much harder to maintain. I do have a few rails with a bit of rust. Do you also still use weights in an engine with 2 motors? I tried it once and it was very, very heavy.

 

13 hours ago, ThePhatController said:

Nice video! I use alcohol for cleanup. The points do seem to be the worst and need regular scrubbing as per @Reker1000000

For the rest I have a 4.5v train with a not very successful cleaning car so I are really interested to see what you are using @BillytheKid

Thanks! How is your cleaning car made? I might try to build one, as cleaning each rail by hand, while effective, is time-consuming...