I have a fairly new Rivarossi Cab forward that has a loose gear. It is the white plastic one on the shaft with the traction tires. I have tried super glue as well as loctite with no good results. What would you suggest to use to resolve this problem?
Super glue has little or no shear strength - forget it . Loctite isn’t a glue, so forget it. The best idea would be to replace the driver set. See Walthers (chuckle) - they might have a replacement driver set. Ask for the geared driver pair. Failing that, I fear you’re out of luck,unless the driver shaft is knurled where the gear sits, in which case epoxy might serve.
After Gary’s suggestions, try a telephone call to NWSL.
You would have nothing to lose by removing the gear from the shaft, scoring the shaft with a Dremel cutting disk to creat small channels running along the shaft where the gear is meant to sit, and scoring (carefully) the inner surface of the plastic gear, perhaps with a small blade. Go easy on the gear…you don’t want to break it. The idea is to create burrs and dips for the glue to grow tendrils for grip…more surface area.
Then, use Weld Bond, or a better one would be a small mixture of two-part epoxy. Let it cure for at least two days before you use it. You may be surprised at how well it works!
Let me know how it works. [:)]
Golf Manor Hobbies in Cincinnati for Rivarossi parts their website is: www.GOLFMANORHOBBIES.com (they aren’t so hot on answering emails), Ph# (513) 351-3849 3pm- 9pm EST. I know they have older Rivarossi/AHM parts so I wouldn’t be surprised if they have parts for the newer Locomotives.
No glue will stick to nylon, which is what the gear is made of. Your only option is to find a replacement. Walthers is the Rivarossi distributor, so you might try sending them an e-mail about repair parts.
I agree with making some channels in the gear shaft for an adhesive to flow into. But there another alternative you may try it is more work but will work.
First you have to remove the shaft from both wheels, then take the shaft and use a small fine jewlers file and scuff the shaft where the gear is centered in the middle, then take a and put the shaft in a parts holder make sure its metal. Then use a 15 watt soldering iron with some good solder and flow it al around the shaft in the middle where you scuffed it. After it cools put it in a cordless drill chuck and run it at low RPM’s and use 222 grit emery until the gear slides over the shaft with a bit of a bind.
Make sure the gear is not cracked too, if it is it will slip. There is a new gear set from NWSL that is 10 times better than the factory one to.
Thanks guys. It sounds like I need to contact NWSL for help. It seems that when you pay this much for a locomotive that it would work for more than a few months. Other than that I like the slow speed and used to like the pulling power of the unit.