Athearn Blue Box Motor Tune Up

[@MakeDo-Turner_Smith]

Good video. I swap the top and bottom clips, and use the prongs that were making contact with the frame to solder wires on. A bit of tape on the frame ensures that no conductive material falling between the motor and frame can bridge the isolation.

[@elite194]

what I've been doing lately is constructing a platform to mount the decoder and then making a circuit board to clean up all the wiring - I also started using liquid electrical tape which is amazing stuff!

[@MakeDo-Turner_Smith]

@@elite194 great stuff indeed, I've been using it for a long time. I paint the inside of the firebox on all my brass decoder installations, as well as the left cylinder and frame where the wheels can short out. Keep up the good work!

[@donavonrobbins1908]

You ever polish the commutators? I've done it on a couple starter motors and it helped them a lot. I've done a couple of my proto E7 motors that were used and ran weak. One seemed to wake right up after cleaning with alcohol, hooking the motor to a battery and holding a piece of emery paper against the commutator to draw down the gouging. The other motor I did has something else going on though, so I'd don't know if it helped.

[@elite194]

I did polish the commutators with the moto tool first. Sometimes I've used contact cleaner on older motors while cleaning. A good current flow from the wheels to the brush holder is the goal.

[@jolliemark6294]

Looks interesting Mike 👍

[@elite194]

I just did this same procedure on an old AHM 3 pole standard motor and cut the amp draw almost in half. I'm not going to use that motor in this RS11 build happening today, but I had to know anyways! The RS11 gets my new motor, the REVOLUTION 1.

[@olebond0071]

Hi, where can you find the Marvel lubricant oil, or can I use something similar? They only have Marvel mystery oil near me.

[@elite194]

Marvel Air Tool Oil usually at auto parts stores, Northern Tool has it, but any tool store with a lot of air tools should have some brand of air tool oil. the important thing about it is that it does not dry out like mineral oil, eg, wd40 or 3 in 1 -both of those dry out and make things worse. Most auto patrts store have some kind of air tool oil!

[@olebond0071]

Thank you so much. The video was great , I plan on using the process on my old Athearn c44-9w locomotive

[@brian5606]

That OX-Gard is that what you used on your track to help keep it clean so cleaning is less after rubbing OX-GARD on it

[@elite194]

that's the same stuff

[@brian5606]

@@elite194 Man I'm sure glad you've got a lot of this stuff already figured out, hell, it would take years to stumble on to some of this stuff lol . . . Thanks BRIAN

[@elite194]

@@brian5606 I studied all the ancient tomes, most of which are now lost and can't be found on the internet. Then I started doing the things and recording them in a lab book. I figured someone should pass on the knowledge before it's lost again.

[@brian5606]

@@elite194 Lol lol . . . right on man lol. Payday I'm ordering a OT-CL 2448 Electric Motor to try to take the armature from it and use a jet motor case housing and then add a half or so of another case housing to get the length I'm after to house the armature out of the 24mm tall & wide ( round motor ) and 48mm length. I'm thinking the armature might be close to the same size as the jet motors armature just 10mm or so longer. If this is the case I'll use the bearings out of the 2448 motor and see if I can splice them into the jet motor plastic ends and then my intentions are to try to fit some N45 or N52 rare earth magnets in place of the jet motors magnets and see what kinda Frankenstein I have created. Wish me luck, cause when I go into the operating room it's either him or me coming out alive lol hopefully it'll be me with a high-powered imitation of a EMD 20 Cyl. 710 jet motor lol. Man by looking at your videos your layout must be huge. As soon as I move into my next house, I'll be able to stretch my legs a bit. I'm building a shadow box layout, something like yours but with a top built over it with lights tucked up inside which makes visuals more better to the eyes. I found out how to get the ultimate slow crawl speed I've been looking for. Along with using your method of oiling up cleaning up and making all electrical connections connect like their supposed to, the Atlas & Kato engines seem to work better at slow crawl speed than some of the others I've been told. The athearns I have I'm building up with duel engines from the China motors and I'm working on this Frankenstein motor project to see if more power will allow the engine to start off real slow and maintain that slow as we go you know lol

[@elite194]

@@brian5606 you might be able to make that work, especially if you can add some sort of way to get rid of the heat and then you'll be in business

[@jeffbaker2897]

Can you use denatured alcohol instead of asatone on the clip to clean it?, Next what method do you use to clean the commentator on the motor?

[@elite194]

acetone is the preferred method to neutralize the acid from acid paste flux and it evaporates immediately. denatured alcohol is not good at doing this task and does not neutralize the acid, rather it may spread the acid to places you don't want it to go. what I have been using lately is ZEP solvent degreaser to clean the entire motor. However, now that I have had my own motors made, there won't be much more saving of old motors. My new motors are infinitely superior to these old motors. I will have a video shortly where I put the new motor into an Athearn GP60. You should always have a can of acetone on hand plus you need a small glass container to put some in - and a stiff paint brush to use with it!

[@jeffbaker2897]

@@elite194 thanks Elite194, for your response,very helpful on my project a BL 2, Proto 2000. Looking forward for your next up date.👋😎🚂

[@elite194]

@@jeffbaker2897 I'll be doing another proto SD7 with DCC and a motor replacement sometime soon. Protos are notorious for a bunch of problems and obstacles.

[@PrinceRupertBC]

how do you make the pc board? plus can u use 3 in1 multi-purpose oil for motor?

[@elite194]

I use a razor saw to cut the copper clad PCB and make the gaps in the board . you should NOT use 3 in 1 oil - that is mineral oil and will wear out and cause damage later, it is also a drying agent. when I use oil I use Marvel Air Tool Oil and for gear lube I use MAG-1 Hi-Temp brake grease.

[@tudrow6087]

I have seen people put those neodymium magnets on the out side of the motor . They say it makes the motor stronger . Is there any truth in that ?

[@elite194]

there is some truth to that, but it's impractical. the slot car racers have a whole range of magnet strengths (which also fit Tyco Power Torque motors) that they can swap out. In the Tyco motor, when you put in the strongest magnet it doesn't work so great, but if you put in the 2nd strongest you will get a huge performace boost. old Pittman motors have a variety of replacement magnets that is pretty good at upgrading them and they are very easy to change out. the old 24v rare earth magnet motors that I use to use have ridiculous magnetic force but need a bit higher starting voltage. you can easily do a test by taking and Athearn F unit and putting a button magnet on each side of the motor and see how it performs. those button magnets are dirt cheap at harbor freight!

[@tudrow6087]

@@elite194 Thanks dude . All my stuff is N scale so not a lot of room for any mods .

[@elite194]

@@tudrow6087 a mod you might consider is an M50 micro motor - I haven't figured out how to connect such a tiny shaft, but it has ludicrous power

[@tudrow6087]

@@elite194 I am just getting back into the hobby . So fare every thing I have bought is working good .

[@christopherbrown6152]

Cutting them in half only makes it run better IF you lost a spring 😄

[@elite194]

excellent observation! a measure of final frustration, but a totally legit option!

[@davidhodges2331]

Where do you get your PC board from

[@elite194]

amazon or ebay - its called copper clad project circuit board

[@davidhodges2331]

​@@elite194 thank you

[@Ebeniste]

Merci pour la vidéo

[@elite194]

de rien!