cleaning loco

Hello,
Is there some special advice to clean my loco? I have two steamer and one F7A from Markin.
Thank you Charles

Careful and keep all pieces

Seriously, take them apart and clean each piece. then when putting them together oil a little bit. If this is the first time you do it, then try one or all of the following:
- get a set of tools before you strip the first screw of its head: small screwdriver and tweezers
- put a white (or similar) coloured towel on your desk, working inside a light coloured box is another option
- take photo's and notes at each step
- try to get one of those large egg cartons and put the pieces of each step in a cavity

I use an old film canister with some alcohol for degreasing the metal parts. I never clean the plastic ones.

When taking apart marklin bogie engines, keep the gears of each bogie together. Be very careful when taking the bogie apart as the spring that makes the coupler work is very small and impossible to find if it jumps away (the towel/box might help). This happens when you unscrew the single screw at the bottom of the bogie and pulls the plastic outside frame of the metal inner one.

I use the oil from Marklin, a bottle lasts a loooong time. Don't apply directly from the bottle as you'll use too much. Wet the top of a needle with it and apply that. A few ticks against the large gear and a single one on each gear is enough. Don't get any on the wheels.

Charles,

Here's a YouTube video that shows taking apart a Marklin 8864 that might be helpful

charles wrote:

Hello,
Is there some special advice to clean my loco? I have two steamer and one F7A from Markin.
Thank you Charles

Charles, whatever you do, dont take the gears out of the steamer. Its hard for a beginner to put it back together. I find electronic motor cleaners for RC clean better then alcohol. Like Havoc said, put everything in containers. Its very easy lose those small part.

shamoo737 wrote:

charles wrote:

I find electronic motor cleaners for RC clean better then alcohol.

I'll also add that the electronic parts cleaner you can get from Radio Shack is another good one to use. I find it useful for cleaning (in addition to the motor brushes) the contacts that rub on the wheels on your loco. Take care not to get any cleaner on bare skin. I think it has acetone in it.

Welcome to the forum charles. Another little hint: if you take the trucks off your F7A, make sure you put them back the same way. If you reverse them the loco will run in the reverse direction to what you expect when you apply power to it. Why this is so I don't know, but it certainly applies to all Marklin locos with trucks (ie diesels and electrics).

ausman2001 wrote:

Another little hint: if you take the trucks off your F7A, make sure you put them back the same way. If you reverse them the loco will run in the reverse direction to what you expect when you apply power to it. Why this is so I don't know, but it certainly applies to all Marklin locos with trucks (ie diesels and electrics).

I can assure you that flipping or swapping the trucks on a Micro-Trains locomotive will not reverse the direction of travel. The only thing that can do that is removing the motor and reinstalling it reversed. While I don't have direct experience with Märklin locomotives, I suspect the same holds true.

David, I agree on the MTLs, but If you switch the trucks on the Marklins, they do run on reverse position.

shamoo737 wrote:

David, I agree on the MTLs, but If you switch the trucks on the Marklins, they do run on reverse position.

Interesting! I'd love to learn more about why this is so. They must have a very unusual power transfer system. Any chance of some photos?

David, I know it sounds strange, but its true. Look under train runs backward.

www.zscale.org/articles/revival.html

David K. Smith wrote:

... They must have a very unusual power transfer system. Any chance of some photos?

Thr trucks are not identical but symmetric.

The change in position is the polarity is reversed (in DC analog control only)

lh6.ggpht.com/_qh55JF4fIC4/S3nWkVu_B_I/AAAAAAAABrc/TvOljC0GdE0/88444%2011.jpg



lh3.ggpht.com/_qh55JF4fIC4/S3nWmS7oeUI/AAAAAAAABrg/7Qdt5o1b6OA/88444%2012.jpg




Greetings from Spain

agp-schwarzwaldbahn.blogspot.com
www.escala-z.com/forum.htm

agarpin wrote:

David K. Smith wrote:

... They must have a very unusual power transfer system. Any chance of some photos?

Thr trucks are not identical but symmetric.

The change in position is the polarity is reversed (in DC analog control only)

Greetings from Spain

agp-schwarzwaldbahn.blogspot.com
www.escala-z.com/forum.htm

Thank you very much for posting this! Now I understand what's going on.