Grandt Line 23 Ton Boxcab Diesel Locomotive Motor and Drive Options for HO, Hon3, and Hon30
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ส.ค. 2024
- In this video I put together a collection of the various drive and motor options I have been exploring with the Grandt Line 23 ton GE boxcab locomotive kits. I work mostly in HOn3 but most of these options should work from HOn30 up to standard gauge. There are also strategies you might apply to other Grandt Line four wheel diesel and gasoline mechanical kits in both HO and O scale.
My ultimate goal here is shrinking the motor and drive enough that I can comfortably fit a DCC + Sound decoder, speaker, capacitor bank, and lighting into an HOn3 23 ton GE boxcab without resorting to opaque windows or Tardis/Timelord interior space compression technology.
There are a surprising number of easily adapted gear motors you can find on Ebay and others you can buy directly from Faulhaber. Northwest Shortline FLEA drive parts will also work but are sadly now extinct in their natural habitat. Find them on Ebay.
An important thing to remember is calculate the top speed you are shooting for and work backwards from there! These models have 33 inch wheelsets. For a prototypical top speed of 20 MPH you are looking for 200 RPMS at the wheels. 15 MPH is 153 RPMS, 25 MPH is 254 RPMS. Hopefully that helps your drive and motor selection.
Links and Resources
Faulhaber 1512 gear motors:
www.faulhaber....
12V, 39:1 is what I used with a 1:1 final drive
Pololu Gear Motors:
www.pololu.com...
12V, 150:1, 220 RPMS max works perfectly with a 1:1 final drive
You can find these cheaper on Ebay
The new owners of Grandt Line:
sanjuandetails...
I do not know if they plan to sell gears and gearboxes
Grandt Line locomotive kits:
sanjuandetails...
The Old Grandt Line drive components pages for reference
www.grandtline...
www.grandtline...
Northwest Shortline:
www.nwsl.com
Toma Models Japan:
tomamw.miiduu....
Handy speed calculator, use 33 inches for your wheel diameter.
www.omnicalcul...
Enjoyed the video hope to see more in the New Year.
There's definitely a lot more on the way! Thanks for stopping by!
You should add some narrow gauge to your layout, it's good for the soul!
@@dtj9923 Thanks very much for replying to my comment. More uploads in 2022 to look out for and supporting my channel..Take Care & Stay Safe.
Another fantastic video! I'm seeing a lot of 3d printed tools and parts in your videos that would make a great product line.
Keep up the great work!
Hey thank for stopping by! I'm trying to find the time to turn a lot of my 3D print files into an online business. It's just really tough to do with my day job. This channel definitely has a tendency to go dark for long periods of time. Thanks again!
Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate the comments. I have a lot more remotoring re-gauging, and brass rescue content on the way.
Perfect timing. I just received a new generation Grandt Line kit in the mail today and then stumbled on this video while looking for assembly options.
Thanks for stopping by, plesse feel free to reach out with any ideas or questions you might have.
I am looking at another idea for repowering the new style kits with a heavy brass power unit that has an actual working equalizer. I'll post a link to my inspiration below.
th-cam.com/video/8LDjoc6wmdM/w-d-xo.html
This basic concept would be a great option to work with for truly free floating equalized suspension.
This guy has some amazing hon30 models largely scratch built and a really cool layout. Check out his Hon30 Davenport Diesel and his Nn3 boxcabs!
@@dtj9923 pardon me while I pick my jaw up off the floor. 😲
Critters are the outer limits of what's possible in a scale, with only early (1830s era) steam, speeders, and modern track maintenance machinery being more difficult. And that's just considering straight DC. DCC / DCC-Sound is a whole other level of insanity - as you seem to know.
Have you examined the mechanisms used by Broadway Limited's trackmobile, Athearn / Roundhouse's EMD Model 40, or the Walthers ML-8?
@@ajkleipass Here's s good picture of the ML-8 chassis, I haven't looked at this but I am now!:
www.trains.com/mrr/news-reviews/reviews/staff-reviews/product-review-walthers-ho-scale-plymouth-ml-8-with-esu-lokpilot-dcc/
The Model 40 chassis is a pretty solid chunk of die cast metal, looks like motor in the middle, small flywheels on the ends of the shaft:
www.trains.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/mrr-pr00406_34.jpg
I have seen the BLI Trackmobile but never under the hood.
My big struggle is: Come up with something that has equalized wheels, is compact enough to get DCC and sound under the hood, gets everything under the window sill line.
@@dtj9923 The What's Neat podcast for November 2020 has a segment on adding lights, DCC, and sound to a DC version of the trackmobile.
th-cam.com/video/k_K9u4d2LoQ/w-d-xo.html
Nice collection of Grandt GE boxcabs! The original version of the kit with the Faulhaber 59:1 motor/gearhead was not too bad. Later versions with the open framed motors really sucked.
Love the side rod drive versions... GE never built any of the boxcabs with side rods, but with the later end cab 25 tonners, GE did build some narrow gauge versions with side rods. Several in meter gauge for Brazil and a few in narrower gauges.
Hello again!
Yeah the current powered versions of the GL boxcab and 25 tonner are useless, waddling, coffee grinders. I am actively exploring a 3D printed, or machined brass drop in mechanism with an equalizer to fix them. It's really the best solution.
My siderod boxcabs were inspired by both the 45T and 25T siderod locos. I know the engines in Brazil you speak of. Super cool! I have two 25 tonner kits saved up to build a pair of siderod 25 tonners. I also have some 45t die cast hoods to use on them to add weight.
The new style Faulhaber mini flat spur gear drives I install in this video on the old kits work great. You still run into issues with the 1:1 bevel gear final drives being non-concentric and causing erratic running. Fixable but a ton of work to iron out. A 5MM NWSL worm based final drive will be much smoother. Working on that now. A Flea would work as well but the larger worm is smoother. The smaller Faulhaber motors leave PLENTY of room for DCC, sound and electronics in the 23 tonner cab.
- D
I forgot to mention I'm actually working on a Brazilian style 25 Tonner. Not sure how much of the Grandt kit I will use vs just 3D modeling and 3D printing a whole new one. The Brazilian machines were the main inspiration to do the 23 ton siderod boxcabs. Then I did a 45 tonner boxcab!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE_25-ton_switcher#/media/File:GE_25T_507_ALL.JPG
LOVE IT!
I would like to know where you sourced the bevel gears please?
Hey Steve, thanks for stopping by.
Here's the story on the bevel gears.
The original Grandt boxcabs with the Faulhaber drives came with bevel gears. The one for the motor has a 2MM D shaped hole, the one on the axles has a small inward pointing shoulder and a 1/16" bore. I can not locate a specific Grandt Line Part number for these but they are definitely Grandt gears. They came in the old boxcab powering kits.
IMPORTANT!!! If you find a powered kit or the powering kit by itself you will want to put a flanged brass hub in the center of the motor bevel gear to take out the wobbles. Make it a tight slip fit on to the motor shaft and affix it with a little CA glue. Otherwise you'll see pulsation when the locomotive is running. I chased this issue forever.
Here's some Grandt numbers for you:
7034 - 1:1 Bevel gears, in line
15 tooth, .3mm bore, 48 DP
7035 - 1:1 Gears in Line 15T 3/32" Bore , 48 Dp (I modify these with brass hubs all the time so 3/32" bore doesn't matter)
7037 - 1:1 Gears with Mounting Bracket .078 Coupling 3/32 Axle ( same as above but with a gearbox and coupling)
www.grandtline.com/products/transmission-components-2/
Precision Scale Options (Grandt made these parts for PSC)
4018.5 - same as Grandt 7035 - 1:1 Gears in Line 15T 3/32" Bore , 48 Dp
4018.8 - 2:1 Miniature Offset Bevel Drive (DELRIN) - www.ebay.com/itm/233470988463?hash=item365bf490af:g:gusAAOSwlq9eJhcM
4018.9 - 2:1 Miniature Offset Bevel Drive (BRASS) - www.ebay.com/itm/233077564882?hash=item36448165d2:g:HTsAAOSwtYZcLBE8
Plan B is to use Helical gears which will be much smoother than bevel gears (these are all 3/32 and will likely need adapter bushings)
PSC - 4009 - www.ebay.com/itm/233470993933?hash=item365bf4a60d:g:1SwAAOSwzp1eJhkG (I don't like that they are brass on brass, not great)
PSC - 4018.2 - www.ebay.com/itm/393470573752?hash=item5b9cac7cb8:g:68YAAOSwEsthAcMb (same but with a gearbox)
Grandt - 7038 - same as (PSC - 4018.2) (but with steel on brass gears! WINNING!)
Yes I literally have a sample box with all of this stuff in it... crazy I know
Happy hunting!