As fun as it is to watch an industrial switcher go 400 MPH, I thought I’d try my hand at making it useful at something a little more mundane, say, switching.
I tried the Ernst gears but didn’t like it. (long time ago, can’t remember why). Having seen a setup on this forum where the worms were put on a motor and then driving the axle gears, I liked that idea. Well I tried the Ernst worms on a Sagami can and Athearn axle gears, it was rather rough and noisy. Then I got to wondering if them good ol’ slippery Atlas loco gears could work? Ever heard gear noise out of an Atlas?
That’s gonna take some doing, long story short, Atlas gears were bored out and mounted on axles made from acetal (Delrin, available at plastics supply houses). I used a Sherline lathe to turn and bore the axles.
Oops! I blew some tubes down at Photobucket AGAIN trying to load multiple pictures. Am I the only one or is it getting extremely difficult for everyone?
OK Got it back…Heres an early shot. Note them red gears. Also note the Ernst flywheels, tapered to fit at this point.
Bearings in hustler frame were sloppy, so new ones were turned. (This project was greatly aided by a Sherline lathe and vertical mill)
More room was needed for bigger flywheels, so the ends of the inside of the frame were milled out a full 1/8 inch on both ends.
I still have fond memories of my little Athern Hustler from the 60’s scooting around the layout. I do believe it could go faster than any HO loco ever made. 0-60 in 0.4 seconds. In the right hands, remotored and with the right custom rubber band, it could probably reach orbital escape velocity!
Nice work on the rework! You crippled a real Cheeta.
JaBear, This is easy stuff compared to Darth’s work. I dare not compare myself to him!
Dave, Making flywheels can be kinda tricky, almost like one off work sometimes. Ya gotta have the shaft you’re fitting it on present, cuz being off by a couple 10 thousandths can make the diff between slipping and not going on the shaft. Or at least know exactly what size shaft you’re working with. Sagami, Athearn, all those should be uniform enough to work with. Even on this project, I had to put the flywheels back on the lathe repeatedly to adjust them to final clearances. Especially to avoid interference with the loco’s wheels. (Maybe I’m admitting my limitations here. Always a learning process.) Then some flywheels have different size input and output holes…Not a one size fits all thing. [:S]
