I had similar experiences with the light weight and rocking. I took a slightly different method to fix, but I have indeed shimmed the ends of the axles to eliminate the severe side to side play.

Greg

American Main Line (AML) 1/29 "G" scale Stock Cars!

I've had these cars for a long time, but only recently tried to operate them on my outdoor layout.

As it comes from the factory, if you push at the top side of the AML stock car and let go, it easily leans over and rocks, reminiscent of a shaking bobble head doll you might see on the rear package shelf in a car!

The AML stock car is so loosely sprung that it can lean over or rock during operation on a train.  This is most noticeable when the car is positioned near the front of a long train, particularly when using AML or Kadee body mount coupler boxes.  

[img]https://elmassian.com/images/stories/rollingstock/aml/stock_cars/ted/AML_WPstockCarLeaingOverInHeavy45carTrainComposite.jpg[/img]

The leaning or rocking propensity is associated with how the trucks are attached to the chassis with AML's unique fastener with coil spring - not the trucks since they don't use springs in the sideframes.  Compounding this, the car is a bit too light in weight.

As to couplers, AML does supply with the car a bag of their unique body mount boxes that resemble Kadee 830/906 types if the user chooses to install them in place of truck mounts.

As an experiment I adapted the AML boxes to accept a stand alone Kadee 900 straight shank centerset couplers for body mounting.

For more info., see vignette I finally got around to do, title, "AML Stock Car Experiences & Body Mounting Kadee Centerset Couplers"

-Ted

An Aristo driver that isn't square to the axle. Now there is something you don't see very often.

Sniff, sniff sniif. You smell that? That is sarcasm.

Flipped it over and took the roller to it and the fixed axle driver seems to be out of square with the engine itself, and really fights to push towards its right.

The furthest axle is rigid, but the nearer axle is quite loose.  

So from your picture, the "furthest" axle should be pretty "rigid" in the motor block housing.... look for elongated holes in the "axle bearings"

Greg

Greg, you’re right, it lists quickly port and starboard. 

You can see that the intention is one axle is pretty much fixed, and the one with the black gearbox should pivot.

I'd look for worn "axle bearings" on the fixed axle... I'm assuming that you mean it lists to port or starboard, rather than wobbling as caused by a wheel not running true

Greg

I have an older 0-4-0 that rocks side to side, a lot. I’ve dug into the motorblock and the front wheel set has quite a bit of lean to play with. 

The link below has a picture of the block cover removed. Is there something missing to keep them from rocking the boat so much?

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10106514064185218&set=a.10106162144744598&type=3&sfns=mo

David - This morning, just to play it safe, I replaced the XL Decoder with another brand new one.  The first one I had use some on my test stand loco and maybe had made some CV adjustments to it.  I put the loco on my indoor DCC layout for 15 minutes pulling three RhB passenger cars and it ran smoothly........so it was the decoder.   But this loco has been run quite a lot based upon the condition of the wheels.  So I believe eventually it will need new motor blocks due to the normal wear and tear of the axles and their supports in the motor blocks.

Maybe the loco, with 2 motors, is drawing too much current from your DCC booster.

Hello Fellow Hobbyists - I'm doing a DCC conversion on someone's older LGB 20851 Two Motor Block Mallet which has a Phoenix Model 97 DC/DCC Sound Decoder previously installed.  The person knew he striped the idler gear in the rear motor block during a railway crash, and when I removed the motor, the damaged idler gears were obvious. I've done the following: Installed a Massoth XL Power Decoder; installed Massoth DCC Pulsed Smoke Generator; Installed 2 new Idler Gears in each motor block (front motor block also showed some damage too); installed new LGB/Marklin E126050 motors in each motor block which required bending the motor's electrical pins for proper motor block fitment (see photo); replaced two defective carbon brushes in front motor block.

Problem: The loco's motor blocks run smooth when operating on my Piko DCC Central Station test stand or when tested with DC power. But when I test operate the loco on my indoor DCC layout powered by my Massoth Command Station/Massoth Power Supply, the loco doesn't operate smoothly. There's a slight amount of continual surging noticeable at Navigator speed setting 1, 2 , 3 etc. I took the bottom covers off both motor blocks and realigned the wheels/gears to ensure there's properly meshing, no binding, and the loco still doesn't run smoothly. I can't figure out why this loco isn't running smooth as silk like all my other locos. What diagnosis am I missing.......advice please!

kiss is best... congrats

Status Report

I tested the 18 volt LGB smoke unit that arrived today with 13 - 14 volts DCC, my customer's NCE DCC systems layout output, and it smoked like a champ.  So I installed it in the Chloe directly to track power.  Not worrying about regulators or resistors for this install!

Yep, but to achieve their max current, they need a heat sink, so for a couple hundred ma, a 500 ma unit would be good... much over that, just the standard TO-220 1.5 amp unit... then no heat dissipation worries.

If you read the datasheet carefully, you will see the derating as the temperature goes up. These are series regulators, and the "excess voltage" is dissipated as heat. The small adjustable "regulators" are actually adjustable switching power supplies, or a DC to DC inverter. They are more efficient and don't heat up.

So, if the priority is size (which was stated several times) then the larger 1.5 amp regulator is cheap, and smaller than the adjustable switching units.

Greg

When buying LM series regulators, check the spec closely.  I got some that were 1/2 amp, not 1 amp.  And for current under 100ma there is the 100ma version and these are very small.

Yeah, they have been around forever, are cheap, and are fixed voltage... I am not a fan of using an adjustable regulator when not necessary, if they go out of adjustment, you can easily destroy stuff.

Be aware of the heat it can generate, but in your app, it should be minimal.

Greg

Greg - Thanks much for the three pin regulator data and website.....I'll get some of those smaller units.

Tom

Sorry, LDO is "low dropout".... it allows a regulation output voltage closer to the input voltage... helps when the desired output voltage is close to the input voltage.

You can go way smaller with a 3 terminal regulator, see the LM7800 series...

http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm7800.pdf

Greg