Anyone have a source for worm gears to fit the USA trains axle sets? I was thinking I’d like to make my own small motor block if possible?
USA Trains/Charles Ro sells motors and axles. But it is cheaper to buy the whole motor block.
Yeah, I have a couple of 4 and 6 wheel blocks. I just want a mate to the gear on a single axle, I have some small motors already. I’d like to make a tiny single axle block for some critter and motor car sorts of projects. I was just wondering if anyone has done this and might have a source for just the worm gears that could drive them.
Martin,
Try these folks: Stock Drive Products http://www.sdp-si.com/ and W. M. Berg www.wmberg.com
I am sure one of those two will have what you need. I am sure that even the Chinese purchase from somewhere, and it would not surprise me to find that both of these folks are in reality manufactured in China.
Bob C.
Martin
Do some research at North West Short Lines, link below. You’ll find all kinds of great info and offerings. NWSL has a sheet for requests too.
http://www.nwsl.com/NWSL_Online_Catalog.html
I’ve purchased and used many NWSL products over the years. Notably they offer a replacement for the infamous USA Trains axle gears and the correct diameter drivers for many USA engines, that work great!!
There has been an ownership change at NWSL within the last couple years as I recall, yet don’t recall much about same and have heard good thing since too.
Michael
Thanks for the links guys. These are tougher to find than I thought they would be! For now I think I’ll just do a couple of resin castings for experimental purposes. Not sure how well the resin will hold up in actual use but it should be ok to test my ideas out.
Martin
Part numbers below from NWSL:
2163-6 34T x 17.8mm dia (NW2 diesel)
2165-6 33T x 21mm dia (GP9, F3, GP38 diesels)
I’d suggest resin cast gears won’t hold up to well, primarily because of heat. Heat is problematic with resins of all flavors.
I believe I still have a couple of tired USAT trucks laying around for parts if your interested I could provide used axle/worm gears.
Michael
Michael,
Aren’t the NWSL gears the axle (or properly called worm gears) gears? I think the OP was looking for the worm that mates with the axle gear (worm gear).
Craig
You maybe correct, yet Martin asked for:
"Anyone have a source for worm gears to fit the USA trains axle sets?"
I initially though as you, but saw worm gear noted… Then again Martin seems to allude to a worm in his second post.
Anywho, I have several worms that are yours for the asking Martin. Problem is the bore is likely to large for smaller motors, one could possibly bush the worm for smaller diameter motor shaft. I’d suggest its plausible to locate the correct worm/bore needed too.
Michael
to make this more fun, in the USA Trains design, the worm drives an idler gear that drives the axle gears, right?
Joe
Six axle trucks have an idler gear, likely due to driver diameter me thinks… Four axle trucks are mono-mono.
Michael
Thanks Guys. Good info. I got the resin worm working, more or less, it did so-so and did not last long. Also, resin is tough to get real accurate, always a bubble or something to mess it up.
Yes, I was looking for the worm part, or the part that looks like a screw, I probably used the wrong term? Anyhow, I’ve got a 6 wheel USAT truck but have not opened it, I have been looking over the innards of a 4 wheel one as I figured it was simpler.
But now I’m not sure I’m going down the right path. The idea is to put together a really small power truck, only two wheels with one axle to drive little critters and rail cars and such. It would be battery powered so I don’t need any sort of power pickup.
So perhaps a different direction- I’m thinking this drive train, meant for robots and small vehicles-
https://www.pololu.com/product/69
and add metal wheels, perhaps these?
http://rldhobbies.com/blacksmoothwheelsets.aspx
It looks like it would work and the wheels would just fit the axle of the drive? but I guess I won’t know till I give it a shot.
Gee with that kind of gear reduction, your critter would take all day to traverse your railroad.
The motor spins at 17K. 101:1 would give me ~160 rpm, right? Or am I flunking math again?
Yea, you are right. But where do you see the 17k number? On the data sheet, a separate download, I see 9100, 12300 and 8300. And I was looking at the gear ratio of 719:1, for some reason my eyes skipped the 101:1 ratio. Yea, that could work, I never timed my wheels on my rolling stock to see how many RPM they turn at a normal track speed.
I was looking at the replacement motors. The stock ones, from what I’ve read, die quickly if you push them. I dunno, a drive train and a couple of extra motors are pretty cheap so what the heck. I took apart a couple of USAT trucks I have here so I have two wheels already.
Get a 'Stomper" These run on AA batteries and have a decent speed on the RR when adding LGB plastic wheels. I built 2 of these just for fun to free wheel around the track.
Years back, this was a craze for some largescale railroaders. Mine still work.
Dan, try finding a Stomper now. I tried using metal wheels on an abused Big Bird locomotive. Those cheap little motors really don’t like slinging around metal wheels, and I don’t like using plastic wheels, so the burned up locomotive went in a box somewhere.
I think I still have two NIB Stompers in a drawer somewhere. I started making a speeder from one using part of a New Bright reefer and the wheels from a New Bright tuck. Like a lot of my other motive power projects, as soon as it was able to move it went to work and was never finished.
Well, getting away from the worm gears- I finally got the gearbox into this kit I picked up at the local hobby shop. Came out ok but needs some fine tuning. The little guy trundles along at a good scale speed with a 6v motor and a 3.7v li-poly. But the gearbox needs some tuning, it’s noisy and skips gears a little (it was the cheapest one, go figure). Also the flanges on the wheels need some help, it does fine on a straight run of track but doesn’t like my switches. it’s also ridiculously light and will sometimes jump the rails and take off overland. Makes for a wild ride 