CMX track cleaner

[C_O_Fan]

Actually, I find sound loco’s with the speakers installed in the fuel tank do an excellent job of finding and picking up metal objects from the track! [sigh]

tilden

Yes you’re right

I’m trying to avoid punching a hole in a speaker with a lost track spike

[trainwrekd]

forgive me as I have never seen this unit before, is it as heavy as it looks?..is that the appeal?

it appears to do a great job of cleaning…is it worth the $$?

[D_HRR]

forgive me as I have never seen this unit before, is it as heavy as it looks?..is that the appeal?

it appears to do a great job of cleaning…is it worth the $$?

1. Yes

2. Well worth the $

[Tilden]

[#ditto]

Tilden

[SilverSpike]

I unboxed and installed the cloth to the pad of the CMX car, cleaned out the holding tank and filled it up with some cleaning solution. Then I ran it along with my John Allen slider car and cleaned up just about the entire lower deck tracks on the layout in about 30-40 minutes time.

The CMX track cleaning car is worth every penny! Not sure how much it weights, but it is heavy for it’s size and makes for a steady cleaning too.

[tradupj]

Got mine in the mail today, my christmas present to me arrived on x-mas eve. How fitting.

It appears to be a very well built product with good instructions and reviews. The instructions state that Acetone and nail polish remover are recommended, all things considered. My wife has plenty of the polish remover, and I’m curious if anyone has used that and had good results. Or, are the more industrial type solvents better ???

Thanks, Joel

[mondotrains]

forgive me as I have never seen this unit before, is it as heavy as it looks?..is that the appeal?

it appears to do a great job of cleaning…is it worth the $$?

Merry Christmas, Guys!

To answer your question, the CMX machine is very heavy but that’s because the cleaning pad mount has springs in each corner which push it down on the track. The machine needs the heavy weight to counteract the springs and that’s good, because it’s like you pressing down a pad with your hands. If the machine was lighter, it wouldn’t rub the rails as clean as it does.

Someone asked if the cleaning pad has a problem with frogs and points. I’ve been using my CMX machine for several years and out of my 75 turnouts on the layout, only one had points which caught the machine’s pad and I had to replace the turnout. My thinking is that the turnout was the problem, not the cleaning machine, especially because the other 74 turnouts have never had a problem.

Hope this helps.

Mondo

[bogp40]

The CMX has a precision valve that allows you to adjust the drip(I have mine set to about every 3 seconds). My layout is in the basement, and I have had no problems with fumes or attacking the plastic ties. With the controlled drip rate, the lacquer thinner evaporates fast enough to not cause a problem.

I also run a homemade masonite block car. It has drywall screen glued to the tapered masonite block and does a good job of picking up the ‘crud’ after it has been dissolved by the lacquer thinner in the CMX car. As I mentioned, I run a P2K GP9 on each end of the cleaning train, with the CMX and the masonite cars in between. I had some reservations about the drywall screen scratching the top of the rail, but have seen no problems over the past 3 seasons of track cleaning.

BTW, all of my wheel sets are metal, and I clean them by popping them out and washing them in the dishwasher! I bought one of those zippered mesh bags at Walmart, fill it with wheel sets and hang it in the dishwasher on the upper level - works great. After the track has been cleaned in the fall, I do all of the rolling stock/engines and nothing touches the clean rails unless it has clean metal wheels. This usually gets me through the normal winter season of running. Summer means ‘yard work’(the outdoor residential kind) and the trains sort of take a back seat until September.

Jim

Jim,

I too would have had some reservations about the use of the DW screen. The screen most likely wore rather quickly and now is burnishing the railhead instead of scratching. As long as it keeps working and the rails stay clean. That’s all that matters.

[Flashwave]

Here’s a bizzare question:

IS there a reccommended “speed” at which it’ll work? Fast enough to do a larger layout, but still do it efficently, and not so fast the pad just skims?

[mondotrains]

Here’s a bizzare question:

IS there a reccommended “speed” at which it’ll work? Fast enough to do a larger layout, but still do it efficently, and not so fast the pad just skims?

Your question is a good one…not “bizzare” at all. I looked at the enclosed instructions and they say the CMX cleaning machine works best at a speed of about 1-2 feet per second. You don’t want to run it much faster than that and too slow doesn’t work either. It’s real easy to get the right speed with a little practice.

Regarding the cost…it’s a little pricey at $99.00 but I have to say that it used to take me around 2 hours with a cloth wrapped around my finger and some cleaner and of course, it was next to impossible to get into my tunnels and hidden staging properly. Now, when guys are coming over, I whip out the CMX machine…a few times around the whole layout, both mainlines, and we’re good to go.

Hope this helps.

Mondo

[mondotrains]

By the way, one problem I’ve had is with the syringes that you get with the clean machine to fill the tank. The plunger kept coming apart inside the syringe. When I talked to Tony, he said after using the syringe, I should remove the plunger rather than leave it in the syringe. And, talk about service, he mailed me 2 new syringes at no cost…not even shipping.

Mondo

[Flashwave]

Sounds good. After a year or two’s worth of saving, and a layout, HO&N may just be getting a “weedwhacker tank”

[Medina1128]

By the way, one problem I’ve had is with the syringes that you get with the clean machine to fill the tank. The plunger kept coming apart inside the syringe. When I talked to Tony, he said after using the syringe, I should remove the plunger rather than leave it in the syringe. And, talk about service, he mailed me 2 new syringes at no cost…not even shipping.

Mondo

This is why I come to the forums. I have the same issue with the plunger coming apart. I sent an email to their tech support this morning. I hope I get the same customer service that you did.

[BigDaddy]

I don’t have one, but if you are using laquer thinner, it is probably softening the black plastic thing on the plunger.

If you know an anesthesiologist, or more likely a pregnant women, ask for one of their all glass epidural syringes. They are disposable and no plastic parts, but doctors think it is a little weird when a civilian asks for a syringe.

They are also good for drawing up solvent paints for your airbrush.