Dapol class 73 in trouble [strip down and service video]

[@clippermuso]

I learned so much about methodical troubleshooting in this video. Thanks for taking the time to film snd upload this. Interesting and very informative. I’ve had poor running from both my 73s, but fixed them them by dismantling and cleaning the bogies and bending those pickups. Both run great now and are lovely little locos. All the best, Colin

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks Colin. Yes they seem sweet runners now, I do have an older one. Still not 100% about the motor. Your kind comments are greatly appreciated

[@AllensTrains]

You were lucky the fault was not serious and you did not have to replace the motor! I would suspect the motor may have got degaussed. Thanks for uploading.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Thanks, that's demagnatised isn't it?

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

@@AllensTrains ah right, yep I remag lots of times :)

[@phil36310]

Hi Mike, Always very interesting to learn how you tackle these problems. Thanks for sharing your experiences and showing the possible solutions. Generally speaking I have the impression - and proof - that today's 'engineering' is not what it used to be. Minimalism for high priced products. When made in china you get the non existence of Quality Control as an extra worry. Quantity and no quality is the game from bookkeepers and share holders to make max profits. With all the high tech we're just producing more waste. Sad world ! Cheers, filip

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Hi Filip, well I can report the loco is fine now. Agree with what you say about the world

[@eisenbau]

The suppression capacitor is actually on the blanking plate. In this way it is removed when you fit the decoder. You should remove the extra capacitor you fitted, it is not required and could in fact impair suppression as you will have doubled the capacitance.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Hi, I've just checked this and I had not appreciated that the board was double sided. So yes pins 18/19 do have that cap across them, thanks for the heads up. I'll remove that section of the video

[@ed731pdh]

Reminds me of the bad old days of the green grease they used to use, the stuff that eventually degraded to a sticky green mess that gummed everything up. In the end I went over to using ZX1 synthetic grease because the offerings on the market were shall we say not up to spec.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Agree mate, Bachmann in the 90s used something that turned to hard wax, many of their 08s have come through my works absolutely solid.

[@locohauledforum]

@@ModelRailwaysUnlimited I buy a lot of Lima locos, many of which are listed as 'non-runners / spares or repairs'. In the vast majority of cases someone has put grease on the self-lubricating nylon gears and the grease has either gone hard or attracted some stray ballast (or similar) and it's got locked in the mechanism. While it's great for me to buy all these engines cheap, I do wonder how many people have wrecked perfectly good locos because of this weird fixation people have for putting on grease on everything that doesn't need it...

[@locohauledforum]

Great video. Thanks for putting in the hard work and sharing. 🙂

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Glad it helped cheers

[@Shelfandtabletoplayouts00gauge]

A comprehensive analysis and strip down Mike, so glad you’re back in the saddle, I’ve had problems with Dapol PCBs before, ended up scrapping the locos as had no clue what to do. Shame because they’re really nice models. All the best and good health, Darren 👋

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Ahw, sad to hear. Thanks for watching

[@locohauledforum]

Can you not just skip the PCB's and run the feeds straight to the motor - old school? You might lose functioning lights or whatever, but at least you won't have to scrap the loco. Although that would only apply to DC operation of course...

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

@@locohauledforum the motors feed is almost direct. I get what you say however, a 0.1uf cap and a couple of diodes should be enough lol

[@Shauniboy1984]

Hi Mike, glad to see you back. I think there have been quite a few faults reported with these models 😢

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Thanks Shaun, yeah before I ordered it I should have checked lol

[@Shauniboy1984]

@@ModelRailwaysUnlimited Dapol models seem a funny bag in the modern era - sort of pot luck if a model is brilliant or terrible, seems to be no midle ground models

[@Chris-BognorRegis]

Hi Mike - very interesting but way beyond my pay grade sadly. Hope you are both feeling a lot better when you read this.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Hi Chris, many thanks. Yes it's all sorted now. I still have a battle ahead of me but I'll win

[@kellyashfordtrains2642]

I missed you very much. I never service my models as I don't have the skills or tools needed. However, there is one thing I've found I'm good at: repainting a cute little 0-4-0 side-tank engine in Great Western Green Ghost Grey. There's a new ghost train video on my channel, if you'd like to look at it. First you see two photos of the engine before and after the repaint, second comes the running session. I'm sure you'll enjoy it, complete with Spooky Story music playing in the background.😂👻 Boo!

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Thanks, yeah I'm still here. Not everyone can service models but they will all need it at some point. Not sure if Sam still does servicing?

[@kellyashfordtrains2642]

@@ModelRailwaysUnlimited He does, but not for other KZbinrs like he used to do.

[@paulbache3940]

Cheers Mike great video, hope your breathing improves soon

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Thanks Paul, yeah me to, had chest x-ray done today so with lick they'll know what to do

[@Night_Ferry]

Hi Mike, glad you are on the mend. But don't go too mad. Stick something reliable on and just let it run in the background. I picked up a H class without a motor recently for an amazing £44 and have managed to procure a replacement motor from Hornby. Looking into the gear train assembly it looks like someone in China tried to fit a whole jar of Vaseline in there! No wonder the first motor died.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Hiya, thanks, yeah still under the doc and all sorts of tests done. She's fine now and I'd have put up another video to show it if my software would stop crashing lol. Nice one with the H class, did you see my video about fitting spacers under the worm cover?

[@Night_Ferry]

@@ModelRailwaysUnlimited I did indeed, first place I looked for service information :)

[@hotdogpilot6319]

I was just wondering if the gear tower covers might be a little tight on the worm? However, there's an awful lot of gears in the bogie and as for the pickups....nah. Thanks Mike

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Thanks, I think they may have been stiff due to the grease in them. Thanks for watching

[@petersmith4455]

hi there, great video, its just not good enough,i was going to buy one of these but now have cancelled it, will keep my hornby 73,would like to know what Dapol say, questions have to be asked where is quality control ? and should they recall all of them ? look forward to the next video.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Hi Peter, sorry to hear that. You might get a good one? Dapol have replied and not very well. Said they were sorry to hear about the issues but simply referred me to their service agent dcc supplies. Talk about no responsibility eh

[@chrisvaughan159]

Excellent observation Mike. I'll have to get mine out again and give it more of a test. I always thought a cap across the motor was essential to reduce commutator arcing as well as rfi suppression - surely still a legal requirement? Dapol's response will be interesting. Thanks for posting this.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Cheers Chris. Like you I think it controls arcing, nobody seems to care about rfi these days, as a keen swl that bugs me

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

HI Mike Sorry to hear of the problem. You will need to contact our service agents, DCC Supplies, who handle all our repair work. Not very impressed to be honest

[@chrisvaughan159]

@@ModelRailwaysUnlimited Hmmmm, just had a gander at the Ofcom website where I found this "Anyone using electrical apparatus is responsible for ensuring that it does not cause harmful interference to others. If this happens, we may require the user to rectify the situation. Find out about our approach to spectrum enforcement." So it looks like rfi is still covered by a legal requirement. Perhaps Dapol needs to be made aware they are breaking the law by not fitting suppression? Best regards Chris.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

@@chrisvaughan159 thanks Chris, Hornby are the same. They all think dcc will be fitted that probably does have something. Otherwise Hornby will say the cap should be in the track.

[@chrisvaughan159]

@@ModelRailwaysUnlimited Yeah!?!. I was always taught the suppressor should be as close to the source of spark/field collapse as possible (as it was in GPO relay days!), since any intervening wiring (or track) acted as a very efficient antenna. Gone are the days of 405/625 tubes, but as you know, there is plenty of AM still out there! Hoping you feel better soon. All the best Chris.

[@stephendavies6949]

Sorry to hear you're still not quite 100% health-wise. Another piece of quality trouble-shooting. Good decision to send your findings to Dapol. Perhaps they - along with many other manufacturers - may now ponder whether using slightly better quality motors would be of mutual benefit to both themselves and their customers.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Thank you kindly. Had a reply: HI Mike Sorry to hear of the problem. You will need to contact our service agents, DCC Supplies, who handle all our repair work. Not impressed to be honest

[@NWRJ_WStudios]

I have a question Mike, do you still want the pictures of the wrenn west country? I can upload it as a video. Cheers Jasper & Willow

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Refresh my memory please?

[@NWRJ_WStudios]

​@@ModelRailwaysUnlimitedSure. You asked me if could you see my wrenn's valve gear, in your wrenn west country repair video.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Oh yeah I remember. Well I'm sorted here so no panic thanks

[@NWRJ_WStudios]

@@ModelRailwaysUnlimited your welcome ;)

[@Dart180]

Does anyone know why my 73 runs really slow even on full power?

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Oh, is it a Dapol one? Could be the motor about to die, does it get hot?

[@modelrailwaynoob]

I have one that behaves badly. It's ok once it's had a long run but nowhere as good as all my old Hornby models.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

Sorry to hear that. Have you tried anything to fix

[@modelrailwaynoob]

@ModelRailwaysUnlimited No I am not that confident with it. It runs but not as well as it should.

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

​@@modelrailwaynoobhi, this video shows what I did to improve mine. You can see the bearing pickup arrangements. You might try some Peco Electrolube on the axels, this will improve conductivity

[@modelrailwaynoob]

@@ModelRailwaysUnlimited thank you

[@ModelRailwaysUnlimited]

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