Testing the brand new Gaugemaster GM 25 Premium Track rubber, does it scratch? Find out here!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ต.ค. 2024
- Testing the brand new Gaugemaster GM 25 (large) Premium Track rubber, does it scratch?
In this video we take the new Gaugemaster premium track rubber/cleaner and put it and its results under the microscope (literally) to test the claim that it’s kinder to your track. (When compared to previous rubbers like the Peco one)
I set out with an open mind but favouring my old Peco rubber and the way I use it, was my mind changed?
Stay tuned to find out and to decide if you might like to switch to the Gaugemaster Premium Track Rubber.
Mine is the larger rubber priced at £9.75 there is a smaller version the GM24 priced at £6.75
You may need to rub slightly harder than you would with the Peco rubber to get the best results!
MRU has no connection to Gaugemaster.
www.gaugemaste...
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Excellent video! I bought a Peco rubber last summer and then immediately afterwards found all the videos everyone made about how bad they are. I'll have to grab a Gaugemaster one if I can.
Always the way, to be honest used carefully the Peco one is not terrible as shown,
A very interesting video. Personally don't use track rubbers as they scratch and mark. I've always used isopropyl & a cotton bud. Works every time and no scratches!
Thanks for watching, consider changing to Lighter-fuel?
Thanks for taking the time to produce this experiment. very interesting to see the comparison. and the surprising detail of the results. Great recommendation , I would think that continued use of the Gaugemaster rubber would polish out the deeper marks over time?
Thank you! yes that's my impression too. I might find a bit of track on the layout, take some stills over time and see what happens???
Great video, really informative, thanks for taking the time to make it, the info is incredibly useful.
Most welcome my friend ☺️
A very conclusive job and a very well-produced video. That will be so helpful to so many.
Glad you think so! cheers Roderick :)
What an excellently produced test.
Very informative, well done.
A couple of boring things: I believe the AlOx cleaning rubbers are used in the electrical industry, cleaning boards, contactors, brush surfaces, that kind of thing.
Secondly I've always thought the Peco (bless 'em) track rubber was always too hard and abrasive, however, in Pecos defence (although it should've been upgraded) the rubber dates from some years ago. Remember farish formaway? Triang series 3? The old triang hornby or Lima? Playcraft?
They were all steel, came pre-rusted from new. Didn't have to paint the rail sides, they'd turn rusty by themselves. Ballasting? Spray that glue and water, you can never have too much rust.
And this was the world that the peco track rubber was born into.
It was a miracle over the 140# sandpaper that was usual.
Since then of course trackage is now a completely different thing, and the good peco track rubber, like the good Hornby Dublo, entered into a world very different from when it departed.
I personally think it should've been retired many years ago, but of course where there's a market. And of course Peco streamline, setrack, premium high quality track products; folks will always take it the the track rubber peco makes is the right one for peco track, understandably so.
I forgot how good your channel was actually, nice to get back to
Hi thanks very much indeed and glad to see you back. I agree fully with your observations. Yes, when I did electronics for a while they were used on the connectors. Steel rail, is that coming back?
@ModelRailwaysUnlimited Steel rail is back in with beads and bell bottoms.
Thing with steel rail like triang, farish, or the old hornby was that it was bare steel. Märklins iconic m track was tinplate, so even though m track can get rusty, being tinplate it was coated, and etched to a degree. The standard UK rail was plain steel. Now, Dublo 3 rail was drawn brass, which could and did oxidise to a certain degree, but being 3 rail rarely did the track ever actually need cleaning.
During the Korean war where metals were in short supply dublo used plain steel rail and cardboard instead of wafer insulators, both of which ensured very poor quality track. From memory even early peco ready lay used wafer sleepers, which were stunningly good when damp or in humidity.
3 rail stuff of course rarely needs a going over, maybe a quick rub over if it hasn't been used for a few years.
Heres the spoiler lol..
.these are rebranded Garryson / Gareyflex rubbers that have been used in sheet metalwork for decades. They are available in different grades, and the one ive been using on my track is now 35 years old and barely worn. But in fairness to gaugemaster, similar to most of their other rebranded products, they havent ramped the price up from the originals.
Oh really? well at least we are getting to benefit from the old new tech at last lol
The Peco track rubber uses fragments of carborumdum, the same as Emery paper. The Guage Master track rubber uses aluminium oxide (AKA ruby crystals).
The tarnishing of nickel silver track over time, even when covered over and not used, is actually caused by the silver content oxidising with the air. It's one of the disadvantages of nickel silver rails versus steel rails. I have both Peco Streamline flexi-track in nickel silver and steel, on my layout, with the parts of the layout with steel track requiring the least amount of cleaning, just the removal of traction tyre residue maybe once a year.
Oh now that's interesting, I moved away from steel rails in the late 70s. But you actually find it an advantage?
@@ModelRailwaysUnlimited Nickel silver has an electron velocity factor of 0.97c, where as steel has an electron velocity factor of 0.91c Basically, in non-engineering terms, steel isn't such a good conductor as nickel silver and so has a bigger power loss per metre than nickel silver. Steel track requires more power boosting feeder wires over a length than nickel silver or ye olde brass railed track.
According to the velocity factor tables:
Steel has an electron velocity factor of 0.91c
Aluminium has an electron velocity factor of 0.95c
Copper and brass have an electron velocity factor of 0.98c
Gold and Platinum have an electron velocity factor of 0.99c.
An idealised superconductor material has an electron velocity factor of 0.999999999999999999999999999999999999999 etc. c (as close to lightspeed as possible).
The higher the electron velocity factor, the better the material is at conducting electricity. The lower the electron velocity factor, the more resistant a material is to conducting electricity. More resistant materials tend to be employed as resistances and insulators.
The ideal layout would have all the rails made from platinum, for the best conductivity.
@@CZ350tuner platinum rails it is then 😂 resistivity may me another measure?
Nice comparison Mike. It would have been interesting to see what difference the Gaugemaster rubber made over the section previously cleaned by the Peco, would it reduce the scratching. I have tried chemicals but it seems more time consuming and the cloth catches on points and rail joints. Although there have been many videos swearing by the oil based methods like Inox, I would never use them due to the loss of traction and the problem they cause with traction tyres that a fair few of my loco's have.
Hi there, you know I got the feeling it might smooth them out. Lighter fuel is the best method, I apply it via Hornby track cleaner with pads instead of sandpaper
@Mike just used this for the first time based on your recommendation over the weekend - wow super impressed, peco in the bin now!
Ah well done, my track looks much better since
@@ModelRailwaysUnlimited I was thinking the same - track is really new looking now!
@@Shauniboy1984 fantastic news
DCC Concepts also supply an aluminium oxide track rubber, good to have alternatives to the abrasive Peco one. Thank you for the comparison video 👍🏻
Very welcome 🤗 thanks for watching
Interesting experiment Mike I bought two guagemaster ones (one for my mate) but they cost over 30.00 AUD each to get here !! Thanks for heads up you gave my channel by the way , all the best, Stewart
Hi Stewart, glad you enjoyed and you are most welcome, it was a pleasure to promote your efforts, hope it helped a bit
Great comparison. Might look into getting the gaugemaster version. Thanks for showing. Regards Paul.
Cheers Paul, two sizes available this one and the smaller GM24
Mike, an excellent technical inspection and comparison - well done - we need more dies like this! 👍
The only issue I can see with the Gaugemaster rubber is it physical size when it comes to cleaning scenic track - particularly where conductor rail of other lineside apparatus is present is present (and between platforms).🤔
Notwithstanding I'll be looking to purchase one of the Gaugemaster rubbers.🙂
As an aside, the PECO track rubbers tend to harden with age - have you thought about a comparison between a brand new PECO track rubber and one a few years old (I suspect the results will be similar)?🧐
Colin 🌞
Cheers Colin, mines the large block, look for the GM24 small rubber and cheaper. Thanks for the encouragement 😊 my Peco one may be a bit harder than when new but I feel still a valid comparison
@@ModelRailwaysUnlimited Mike, thank you for the 'heads-up' regarding a smaller track rubber. 👍
Completely agree the comparison is most valid as many people retain their rubber until it becomes unusable. 🙂
I tend to replace mine when they start to become hard although theses are not used as the primary method of track cleaning. 🧐
I’ve had an old Gaugemaster track rubber for many a year now: one of the strange, slightly spongy black ones that smell funny. So old, it came from ModelZone!
It’s always done a good job (even if it’s full of deep gouges from cleaning wheels with it) and that too is quite forgiving and spongy. As far as I can tell it doesn’t have any metallic content - though I could be wrong? - which I imagine makes a difference. Only issue is it leaves some small crumbs behind.
The Peco ones have always made me frown a bit with how rough n tough they are.. I’ve used them at my local shop, but always felt like I’d be safer using a piece of concrete.. 😅
Lol the Peco ones used as suggested are actually fine and faster. However the microscope does show scratches even then.
I recently bought the DCC concepts track cleaner, can you tell me if the new Gaugemaster is the same product?
Thanks for doing your most enlightening video.
Thanks, no idea on that I'm afraid
Thank you for the video sent to Tri-ang society today, probably nudged by my own poor attempt to demonstrate the same. Any chance you can do a test using 1200 wet & dry paper or even 2400? Very good information video, thank you for that.
Thanks very much indeed, wet and dry will scratch but at those grades very fine
@@ModelRailwaysUnlimited That's what I thought and could sort of see with 10x magnification but your instrument can see far clearer. Thank you
Happy to help 🙂
Try a small off cut of Balsa wood. Since using this I now only clean track every few months and as I always have a bit of balsa going spare it’s free and no residue or particles 👍
Ah yes I've heard this before, that and hard board, thanks
It is good but its sooooo big ! I have used in the past the smaller track rubber,but i tend to use now IPA and a glasses lens cleaning cloth.But would a few scratches really hurt? I guess it all helps in smooth running thinking about it.😀
Check out the GM 24 and it's the smaller one
I'd be interested to see the Hornby track rubber compared.
I did not even know they did one lol it's going to be a very long time before I'll need to replace this GM one hahaha
Hornbys will be 80 years old and triple the price
I did compare the Peco one some years back
Thats timely, I was about to pop over the town and grab a peco rubber tomorrow. I think I'll ask him to grab a gaugemaster one. How easily do you think that would cut? Not covered in the video but what happens if you use it on already scratched track? Would it restore it? Or not really as its not super abrasive? Happy modelling 🙂
They do a small one too, the GM24, I got the feeling they might smooth it down, but would take a while 😁
@@ModelRailwaysUnlimited Cheers. My code 75 track has probably had quite the pasting from the peco rubber over the years. I wondered if it may be brought back a bit, not that I've had trouble really. But it couldn't hurt!
New video up to answer your question!
can you test the woodland scenics track rubber next! i dread to think what my track looks like under magnification!
Lol, what's it like by comparison then
I saw someone cleaning track at Pendon using a small piece of hardboard.
Yes I've heard that before as well
I use gaugemaster track rubbers on my older Tri-ang track and it works wonders
Nice, this is a new one to the range
Where you used the peco rubber, could you use the gaugemaster over it to see if it gets rid of the scratches made by it
That's been requested several times, follow up video maybe 🤔
New video up to answer your question!
hello Mike, Top of the Model Railways, in at no1 is the Gaugemaster track cleaner ! a top hit. Mike's product of the week, down from no1 is Bachmann 's booster loco which is no2
Hahahaha I can hear the music 🎶🎶 nice one
I wonder if the Gaugemaster rubber would polish out the scratches made by the Peco one?
That seems to be the general feeling 🙂
Only problem seems to be the dimensions... way too wide. If you are cleaning in situ, it will wallop everything at the side of the track. It might merit a cut-down to mitigate this. The Fleischmann track rubber is of similar substance and is suitably sized.
Ah no problem they make the GM24 which is about the size of the Peco rubber and only £6.75
@@ModelRailwaysUnlimited Excellent!
I have used cars track cars track rubbers for the 20 years no trouble on my garden railway oo gauge
Excellent well done
Gaugemaster wins!
As they often do lol
Great video.
Glad you enjoyed it
Thanks for this one Mike, I wondered if at first it was an April fools!
Lol why I left it until well after midday 😂 absolutely genuine
Nicely done 0:16
Thanks 😊
@@ModelRailwaysUnlimited No problem
impressive
Thanks
Balsa wood is meant to be excellent as a track rubber🤔
Heard that twice now, where to get some?
A model shop. Possibly a DIY shop.
Ok, will look
Thanks my old peco rubber is now in the bin..
Glad I could help! but feeling a bit guilty for the old Peco rubbers
I had a Hornby track rubber, but it was too thin. A friend of mine bought a PECO track rubber and sent it to me. The PECO track rubber is as good as the Gaugemaster one: no scratches. Whatever floats our boats.
The Peco one used properly is good however as you see the new GM24/25 cleans without scratches