AHM Krauss Maffei ML-4000 HO scale locomotive

AHM Krauss Maffei ML-4000 HO scale locomotive

Total Rebuild

After doing the Tenshodo SD24, I finally gained the skills necessary to revisit the AHM Krauss Maffei ML-4000 project that I started about 5 years ago.

When I started the project I found it simple to disassemble and strip all the paint.  The motor is a vertical shaft with a worm that goes down to a set of brass gears inside the rear truck.  Power is picked up from 2 axles on one side in the from, which is the right side and by a single axle on one side in the back.  The way this thing is able to work at all is because of the very heavy weight blocks.  It does run quite smooth in fact.  There are 2 traction tires in the rear.

The trucks are quite detailed with a single piece sideframe and screw on bottom cover.  This is the problem.  There is only 1 wire coming up from the center and to add power pickup was beyond my skill at that time.

Fast forward to the Tenshodo.  I had begun using the Tichy phosphor bronze wire to get more pickup out of the Bachmann and Life-Like trucks which lead to figuring out a way to do the same with the Tenshodo.  That's when I remembered the Krauss Maffei.  Could this method be adapted.  On the front truck, it was simple and a couple quarter inch holes in the frame floor gave plenty of clearance for turning.

Now for the rear truck.  There is a problem in that the motor just floats freely and is held in place with a spring clip.  The floor of the frame has a steel plate which is another obstacle.  Even if those two items are overcome,  2 wheels have traction tires and there is a serious clearance issue with the steel plate and motor in the way.  So let's see what we can do....

Bachmann pancake motor GP50 and Life-Like pancake motor GP38-2 Multiple Unit Build

Bachmann High Nose GP50 pancake motor

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Life-Like High Nose GP38-2 pancake motor

Multiple Unit Build

I've got these 2 locomotives that I found at train shows.  They both have the infamous and notorious pancake motors.  A few years ago I airbrushed them with Rustoleum Gloss Red Enamel.  The paint jobs are actually pretty good, but did take weeks to fully cure.  I also put the decals on and number boards.  Then they sat in the junk pile for about 5 years.

I got the idea that I could use a 2 pin connector and make a connection between the two locomotives so that they would share power.  The reason is that they have plastic front wheels with traction tire and only get power from the rear truck.  Yes I could have replaced the wheels and made it all-wheel pickup, but I've lately been trying to think of ways to improve the original system without investing into replacement parts.

I rebuilt the motors to better than new performance.  In fact, the motors, despite being damaged and beat up, have come back to life in the most amazing way.  I've always believed in the pancake motor concept because it's proven itself in slot car racing.  The motors in DVD and CD-ROM drives are pancake motors with a better enclosure and more modern cores, but they are still pancake motors.  I'll probably be using one of those motors from an old DVD drive on a Bachmann steam engine that I've got sitting in the deadline.

So the concept of this operation is to make a PC board that collects power from the pickup truck.  Then power is routed to the motor.  But, a set of wires with a 2 pin quick connector will also be on that PC board.  The male connector will be on the outside of one of the locomotives and the female with a bit of the wire leads will be on the other.  When connected, the 2 locomotives will be sharing power pickup from 2 trucks instead of 1 truck each.

So let's see where this takes us....

Clean the wheels, polish them and paint the ends if you're going to do that now.  Clean any paint off the part that touches the rail.  Coat the back and tread area with Oxgard - it will stay greasy for a couple weeks then turn to a film.

Wipe a paper thin layer of red lithium high temp brake grease - which you get at any auto parts store in a little tub that will last decades - into the sockets that hold the axles.  No more than a paper thin layer and no excess.

You will lay the wheels into the centerpiece after the wipers are installed - but do not put the side frames on.  When you get to the phosphor bronze wire step, carefully set it upright without the sideframes on and with the wheels in place.

Rebuilding the power pickup trucks is one of the more difficult challenges.  The idea is to keep the copper wipers exactly as they are built.  They need to be cleaned with new black and red 32 awg silicone wire soldered to them.  Then they must be coated with Oxgard.  The new leads are threaded through the existing holes like usual.  But, before doing any of that we need to make a modification for the new parts we're going to make.  Look carefully at the truck and you will see a small hole where the wire gets threaded into the center so it can go up through the frame.  You will need to take a 1/16" drill bit and make a second hole that mirrors the one on the other side.  You will be drilling 2 holes, 1 on each side so that when you are done you will have holes that match.  This is super simple but hard to describe, there will be pictures later.  Look at the truck and see the holes that it came with are drilled near the axle socket.  You will make 2 new holes in the same way near the other socket - like a mirror.

Now you can install the copper wipers and thread the wire - red on one side, black on the other.  This wire goes through the hole that was factory made - right hand hole when you are looking at it laying on its side.

You will need a tube of phosphor bronze wire for the next step.  My goto wire for this is .0125 phosphor bronze from Tichy.  You will need to cut 2 pieces that are long enough to span the tops of the wheels on each side, but not so long that the sideframe can't be put back on.  Lay this piece on top of the wheels and mark a spot just to the right of the hole we drilled earlier.  Now tin this spot with solder and solder a red wire to one piece and a black wire to the other.

Next thread the wires through the holes we made - make sure the red is on the red side and the black is on the black side.  You can't do this wrong because the center piece of the truck will fit either way, it's totally the same.  Just get all the wires of one color on the same sides.

Pull the electric wire tight enough to keep the bronze wire touching the tops of the wheels.  At this point you will probably need a drop of super glue to hold the electric wire tight.  When you have everything they way you like it, put the side frames back on.

The pancake motor rebuild went very well.  With all the parts cleaned in the ultrasonic cleaner using Mean Green, the parts looked good.  The core was inspected and polished.  The motor housings were thoroughly cleaned in the ultrasonic.  Oxgard was applied to all the parts that needed it, but especially the screws that hold the housing and the brush covers.  these screws tend to rust over time.  The brush covers were polished and coated with Oxgard.  It's important not to get Oxgard on the actual brushes because it can cause them to become soft.  Better is to use powdered graphite inside the brush sockets to keep everything dry and free moving.  Once assembled and lubed carefully with red lithium grease the testing could begin.

The red lithium gets a little stiff when cold so it helps to warm things up.  Once in use, you would never believe how smooth a pancake motor can be.  Also, the sound changed.  The motor now sounds acceptable.  The annoying high whine is much less than before.  It sounds best at about 50% power.  Extra weight needed to be added at strategic points to help keep the wheels from picking points due to light weight.  The plastic pizza cutter wheels will reveal many track flaws.  Cheap switches that have rivets holding the points will get picked frequently.  At first I thought it might be a wheel gauge problem, but after checking and rechecking, I noticed that the locomotives had no problem on my hand laid switches.  The problem appeared on a couple switches where I used the cheapest snap switches where the rivet is not perfect.  I fixed a couple of these, but I marked them for replacement with my hand laid switches.

On the GP50 I put the socket on the rear pilot.  When I wired it I kept the red wires on the right and the black wires on the left.  This means that one of the locomotives needs to have the red and black reversed on the M.U. cable only.  So on the GP38-2 I put a solder pad on the rear pilot and brought the wires through.  This means that if I want to remove the shell I must unsolder the connections.  On the GP50, I put a disconnect on the inside so I can remove the shell.  One thing about the 2 pin connectors is that I shaved the off the teeth that hold the connection in place.  The reason for this is that the connectors are extremely difficult to disconnect in small spaces.  They are not likely to come apart so removing the locking teeth is no problem.  Also in the event of some failure of couplers the locomotives will just disconnect instead of dragging themselves by the wires.

The performance of the lash-up is off the charts fantastic.  Super slow, no stalls, excellent for switching ops. I would classify this as a huge success.  I'll add pictures pretty quick and do a youtube video of the performance.

So.... my U36Bs....  this is what I'm going to do to them.  I've pushed individual locomotive performance to the max, but with multiple units sharing power we have excellent performance.  The operating reliability is so far as good as anything else and will certainly get DCC.  BQ23-7s are another bunch that will get this treatment.  The bonus is that locomotives can be swapped around.  The AHM FM C-Liner project is now a total go - that will be a B unit with the cable on each end and the A units each with a socket.

AHM FM C-Liner Rebuild

The AHM FM C-Liner Rebuild Project

The C-Liner project is coming along nicely.  The much maligned from pilot was cut off and replaced with some tin I bent from an oyster tin.

The B unit is a dummy, but I've made it to pickup power which I plan to distribute through tiny 2 pin connectors to the 2 A units making a lash up that gets power from all 3 units together making for a super reliable set up.  Picking up power from many wheels over a long distance should insure that it never stalls from lack of power.

Track Planning for Beginners Part 1

Track Planning for Beginners Part 1

This is how I am carrying out my track planning.

1.  Prepare the available space.  At a minimum clean the area where the bench work will go.

2.  Measure the space available and use a piece of graph paper to make a map of the area.

3.  I used handy panels which are 2'x4' and I made the bench work follow the wall.  Going wider than 2 feet around a wall makes maintenance and operations more difficult.

4.  Make a list next to your map of the possible configurations - even some you know you don't want or are impractical.  Consider using a 4'x8' sheet that you can walk around both long sides.

5.  Start the Design Process.

I.  Visualize what you want out of your model railroad.  Imagine the things you really like and how the look and feel of the layout will make you happy.  Imagine showing your layout to your friends.  Imagine how things will look at sunrise, sunset and night.

II.  Describe your vision by making a list of the coolest things you could think of - the look, the feel and how you would explain it to a friend viewing it for the first time.

III.  Start drawing your best guess on your map.

6.  Armchair modeling is when you make track plans on paper and imagine how they will function.  This is a hobby all to itself - you can make track plans on paper just because it's fun.  I like to keep these things in a Composition Book Quad Rule.  You can find these in many stores and even the dollar store.  Try laying out a simple industry with 1 track and a run around track.  Then bend that configuration in many different ways and see if you can imagine dropping off and picking up cars.

7.  Assuming you decided on a tentative plan and have prepare the space then build the primary bench work.  I personally do not use foam tops because I nail my track in place.  I do this on purpose because I like to lay down track and test it, redo it and retest it.  I like cork bulletin boards squares on top of particle board.  That doesn't mean you should do that.  Particle board can be very tricky stuff to work with because of the numerous scenery techniques that involve putting a liquid down for scenery which will be soaked up by the board causing it to swell.  I've been using it for a very long time and know its properties and how it reacts to water and temperature changes.  The cork squares just so happen to be 1'x1' making it very easy to draw accurate maps.  It also makes it easy to put some track on it and see if it actually lines up the way you think it will.

8.  Start putting track and your favorite cars on the benchwork to see how they look.  You can nail down some track, test it and go back to your map.  Keep refining your plan using the new information from your tests.  Also start small - get little parts to work and build on them, i.e., don't lay down a huge yard first.  If you have an industry or a single track somewhere put that one down first and start building out from there.  Many people like to lay down the mainline first and make everything fit after that.  I like to lay down simple pieces and build out which then creates a mainline which only has to be completed.

9.  Test and Retest.  Rebuild and test again.

Useful tools

2B pencils
2H pencils
plastic eraser
metal pencil sharpener
small ruler
graph paper

Athearn Blue Box DD40 rebuild

Working on the old MP40

The right combination of parts was found with the MP15 cab and base plus an Atlas Trainmaster H24-66 frame and finally the correct height to get the cab to see over the body was achieved.

The dual motors will be upgraded to 2 24 volt rare earth magnet motors which should give a super smooth movement like the high torque 24 volt rare earth magnet motor used in the single motor Athearn Blue Box DD40 that we did on YouTube. 

Athearn Blue Box DD40 Rebuild

Athearn Blue Box DD40 Rebuild

Making my MP40

I've been working on this MP40 for a couple years now.  Lately, I made some 3D printed parts to help me out.

I need better pilots and a better cab stand, so I used a Mecreator 2 to make these basic parts and they turned out pretty decent.

I used PLA to make the parts and found out that PLA is hard to sand.  In the pictures below, you'll find that the surfaces are a bit rough and the accuracy is not that great.

This project is mostly a learning project and not meant to win any contests.  I do have several more DD40's that will build on this concept and their accuracy should be much higher.

The next step from here is to use wood filament rather than PLA.  Parts printed with wood should be much better for finishing.

First up we have an orange box Athearn DD40 dual motor that needs quite a bit of restoration:

A top view of the MP40 Hercules:

 The rear, you can see how the 3D printed parts are very rough and will require quite a bit more work to get right.  Also the air enclosure.  It's big, but rough around the edges:

MP40 Hercules

 The xy milling table, a very handy tool.