How do you remove or install press fit brass flywheels? I’m doing a little “kitbashing” on a bachmann motor. John
A gear puller from Northwest Short Line would help.
I strongly suggest a gear puller…too much pull on the flywheel, will result in pulling the armature shaft and You don’t want that. It happened to Me once…I was able to fix it, but I learned a lesson, by trying to take a short cut.
Take Care! [:D]
Frank
LION just did this. Him went to the power house and asked Br. John for a gear puller. He called it a bushing puller. This one is made for bigger motors.
The jaws were too thick to get in between motor and the flywheel. The LION got a washer cut a slit in it and placed this between the motor and the fly wheel.
The pusher screw was too big to do anything, but it has a 1/16" hole in it, and so the LION cut off both ends of a nail. One end went into the flywheel and the other in the hole in the screw.
It removed them including the plactic drive part intact.
To attach this to the new motor, I put washers between the jaws of a vise to protect the protuding part of the drive train, and slowly closed it. One wheel was in the correct position before the other, a metal punch of the proper size (any metal object would have done, but the punch was right there next to the vise) to hold the one wheel in place while the second one was moved to its position.
The train works perfectly, but is much faster than the other equipment on the layout. I will be replacing about 10 motors to have all of the equipment upgraded.
Here is the NWSL “Puller” from their catalog. (Click on photo to enlarge)
ROAR
Hi John:
Are you replacing the flywheel with another one or do you intend to do away with it entirely?
If you are not replacing the flywheel, and therefore won’t need the shaft, you can use a Dremel cut off disc between the flywheel and the motor. Just make sure you clean the motor thoroughly afterwards, and it’s not a bad idea to wrap the motor in masking tape to cover any openings so the filings can’t get in.
Dave