In one of the steps of this very thorough Athearn tune-up, the authors recommend using “pearl drops” whitening toothpaste to burnish the truck gears. I’ve been looking around for that brand of toothpaste because I’m in need of tuning up a couple of engines. Does anyone know where I can find this toothpaste? I’ve looked at all the typical places: walgreens, CVS, wal-mart, local grocery stores, and no luck. I’m thinking it’s no longer made, so can anyone recommend some other abrasive paste that would work in this situation? Thanks.
I tried that a couple of years ago and it wasn’t worth the effort. That was with Pearldrops too!
Seriously from what’s described you will think the results are gonna be far more effective than they are.
This is only a guess, but I would assume that it quietly lost its American Dental Association seal of approval when it became clear, after a number of years of its availability, that its abrasive content and habitual use did more harm than good. At one time, all toothpaste had abrasives in it.
I wonder if it would be useful to use a lapping compound.
I bought a bottle of Pearl Drops about two years ago from Walmart. I don’t know if they still sell it or not but the one bottle is still 3/4 full and I’ve done six locos.
You can most likely use automotive polishing compound or jewlers rouge. Both are mild abrasives.
Bill
I do almost all of my shopping for items like that at either the military exchange or commisary but I seem to recall having seen this a short time back. I don’t know how this stuff works but my recollection is that it is just a little on the expensive side - low sales volumn could have driven it off of the shelves at the outlets you mention.
I am sure that Austin has jewelry supply centers - not jewelry stores, mind you, but places that handle DIY materials; I would check there for some kind of polishing compound, just make sure you get something that is plastic compatible. As Bill54 stated, jewelers rouge should work out perfectly.
I’m sitting here looking at a tube (yes, tube – not “container”) of Pearl Drops that I purchased no more than a couple of months ago at one of the Wal-Marts in the Kansas City metro area. Apparently the company has changed the packaging to be more “conformist”. (I do recall that I couldn’t find it there for several months during what might have been the packaging changeover.)
Go to their web site www.pearldrops.com and look at the FAQs – they say it may be purchased at Wal-Mart, Publix, and on-line at Amazon.com and Cosmeticmall.com.
Works great on my teeth, but I’ve never used it to lap gearing; however, I know a local N-scaler who swears by it for older vintage locos. (He also cautioned not to “overdo” the treatment).
I’ve looked in every store I go in around here. No luck. I used some liquid brass polish that worked well. Just keep it away from the bronze axle bearings and don’t let it run too long.
I’ve used the pearl drops technique to improve the running ability of locos and it works nicely. Basically here’s what you do:
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Take apart the loco and completely disassemble the power trucks gear tower. Clean out all lubricants.
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Reassemble the cleaned and dried gear tower, but before you put the cover back on, squirt in some pearl drops polish on the gears.
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Finish reassembling the loco, put it up on blocks, and run the loco at full speed forward for one hour, then at full speed in reverse for 1 hour.
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Completely disassemble the power trucks gear towers, and completely clean out all pearl drops polish.
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Reassemble the cleaned and dried gear tower, lubricating the gears lightly with the appropriate lubricant. I like to use synthetic ATF (automatic transmission fluid) – it’s cheap (one quart bottle is a life time supply), won’t harm plastic, and it won’t turn into paste when it ages.
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Run the loco on your layout. You should find the loco performs smoothly throughout its speed range.
Hey watch it… I use Pearl Drops toothpaste, to brush my teeth, it has the seal of approval, and contains flouride, and everybody around here carries it. I have been using it for 25 years because it makes my teeth feel cleaner. And, all 4 dentists I have gone to in the intervening years have said my teeth are fine. They do not give it out as samples, because Pearl Drops do not give them samples to hand out.
It is a great toothpaste, AND a handy abrasive compound. Flitz and Semichrome will also work, but not as toothpaste.
ABRASIVE is the key word. I would be concerned about daily use scratching the enamel.
Sue
That was the concern of my dentist as well, although I did like Pearl Drops as a toothpaste. I like the way it makes my teeth feel.
I haven’t used it for gears in locos, although I’ve heard this for years. I prefer to run the locos in on their own, rather than intentionally add abrasives to wear stuff out prematurely.
I have tried to use Pearl Drops for a plastic polish on the face shield for my racing helmet. It left minute scratches in the shield, which wasn’t good in the setting sun. [:O]
Rotor
Our local WalMart carries Pearl Drops.
I’m not in a dying need to get the toothpaste, but I’ll need it soon. Guess I’ll look around some more to see if I can find it, if not I might go with the other suggestion of a jewelers rouge or just order the paste online. I don’t know why I didn’t google it [D)], thanks Andre.
To the ones who’ve used the toothpaste to burnish the gears, is it worth the effort. I know mj3200 says “no”, but I’m curious if this process (or similar) worked for you.
To the ones who’ve used the toothpaste for it’s purpose, did it work out for ya?
Thanks everyone.
I did use it on some Athearn diesel gearboxes (Trainmasters) and it worked pretty well, and I still have them, and they run fine 20 years on.
The best thing I ever found for glass or motorcycle helmet visors is a wad of wetted newspaper. Takes a lot of elbow grease, especially on glass, but it will do it. I have tried every polishing rouge made, and even the ones that leave plastic looking shiney as all get out, and they still leave very fine scratches on a see thru surface.