[NavyTech]

I am looking into giving my 4-6-0 Big Hauler a bigger motor and gear train. At the moment it has a 12v motor and I would like to put a 24v motor. I also want to replace the gears with steel ones.

I am not sure why they put a 12v motor in it when the power supply pumps out 24v? Makes no sense to me. Anyone know why?


Has anyone done this modification?

 

[lownote]

So I'm guessing binfordizing is a process that makes the drive train invisible?

 

[aceinspp]

Excellent job. Totally invisible. Later RJD

 

[Torby]

More power!

 

[Dennis Paulson]

Torby can't you see that it already has too much power !

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Which drive train do you want to censor? Is it emitting foul or pornographic language or images?

http://mediaverse-memphis.blogspot.com/2008/05/on-being-binfordized.html

Regards, Greg

 

[Steve Stockham]

Ach, ya canna see that the wee beastie is already pushing the limits of warp technology! The Capt. asked for "full speed maximum warp" and the ol' girl flew straight into a time warp!! I canna be sure but due to the restrictions placed upon the warp field by the number of dilithium crystals in the matrix, she should be reappearing sometime tomorrow.... That's the closest estimate I can give ya without hav'n seen the feild flux read'ns before she disappeared but isn't she a bonnie piece of work!! Aye....and completely invisible without a Cloaking Device!!

 

[NavyTech]

Wow did I ever choose the wrong words for this thread. Sorry to have caused such a rant. I was referring to a Tim The Tool man catch phase. where he always has to modify something to make it more powerful. For some reason the body of my thread did not upload so I edited it for you all.

 

[Dave F]

Posted By Steve Stockham on 02/04/2009 5:04 PM
Ach, ya canna see that the wee beastie is already pushing the limits of warp technology! The Capt. asked for "full speed maximum warp" and the ol' girl flew straight into a time warp!! I canna be sure but due to the restrictions placed upon the warp field by the number of dilithium crystals in the matrix, she should be reappearing sometime tomorrow.... That's the closest estimate I can give ya without hav'n seen the feild flux read'ns before she disappeared but isn't she a bonnie piece of work!! Aye....and completely invisible without a Cloaking Device!!





Obviously, Mr Scott, logic would show that you have mearly overloaded the Hisenberg compensators. Once the warp field decays your "Bonnie Lass" should be visible once again.

 

[steam5]

I would think the simple answer is getting a Barry’s Big Trains drive; apparently they will pull a brick from a house.

Maybe you could purchase a gear box and a motor from Accucraft, they have a few listed on there website http://www.accucraft.com/index.php?categoryID=41 but it’s probably easier to go with the BBT drive as it’s a drop in replacement.

 

[Greg Elmassian]

There really is such a thing as Binfordizing something... funny thing that Tim TTM used such a phrase incorrectly.

Google can be fun!

Greg

 

[Torby]

Entirely possible that he didn't choose the name "Binford" by mistake

 

[NavyTech]

A $300 BBT drive is not an option. I am sure I can make it myself for less that $50. I have more skills than money.

No one has yet answered my original questions.

 

[K27_463]

I have a bunch of like new pittmann 19v motors of a suitable size for Big haulers or other large scale locos. These are not gear head units , but are direct single shaft output- suitable for use with a normal gearbox. Cheap. Contact off list if interested.

jonathan/
EMW

 

[steam5]

Maybe some who is handy with a lathe and mill could knock you up some gears?

Do NWSL do custom gears? Maybe drop them an email.

Now this is a bit more of an out there solution. Could you mount a second gear box in the chassis? Then power it with a double shaft motor, essentially like an LGB loco.

I think someone on this forum could set you up with a cheap unwanted Big Hauler gear box.

 

[Steve Stockham]

Okay, now we have something to work with!

A lot depends on what kind of gearing you have. Go to George Schreyer's website and read up on the different versions of the Big Hauler. Then, do a "search" on everything you can find here (and in the archives) about Barry Olson and BBT. He had some really informative threads about the development of his drivetrains. As to 24v Pittman Motors, go to Accucraft's website and look under accessories. They have replacement motors for K-28's which are 24v. As far as why they use nylon gearing with a double worm drive, it's for sound reduction in part. The early 2nd gen. Big Hauler (the first with track power) was loud! (I know, I had one.) Bachmann has improved the drivetrain until it's now pretty reliable and relatively quiet.

 

[BarrysBigTrains]

First, I rather doubt that the Bachmann Big Hauler motor is 12v. More than likely 18 to 20v. I would suggest that you match you motor voltage to the voltage available from your power pack or less.


You won't need to make your gears, I buy my many of my gears from Stock drive in NY. I specify brass hubs with an acetal gear face. Boston Gear also makes good gears similar to Stock Drive.


I have my worms custom made, but Stock Drive has the necessary worms. Specify double thread worms and worm gears to

avoid surging on downgrades. I recommend 32 pitch gears and worms. The best overall gear ratio is 30:1 although 40:1 is a lot of fun
especially in switching and yard work.

Bachmann's biggest problem in their Plus drives (the one between the battery powered, first track powered and the current fifth generation)

was that the motor moved. The gear were fine, but the motor moved and started chewing on the gears. To fix the Plus units, simply run a hefty
wire tie strip down past the loco weight around the motor, back up past the weight again, thread the tie together as tightly as possible. That will allow
you a long life on your loco. If I can be of any help to, just ask.

Barry - BBT

 

[Terl]

I pretty well completely rebuilt a Bachmann Big hauler and turned a sow's ear into a silk purse. I used a ballbearing Pittman motor and running on 14v has plenty of power with a 14:1 (maybe 25:1 ?) worm drive. I found it very important to use the ball bearing version of the worm drive from Pacific Northwest engineering, because the high thrust forces on the worm shaft would wear out (bore a hole through) the plastic case with just a greased brass bearing. It was also necessary to pin with small nails all of the wheels on the axels so that they wouldn't slip and go out of quarter. These are the original plastic wheels with rubber traction tires, and I am not very well satisfied with them, because the poor shape of the sharp flanges tend to derail too easily. Maybe metal wheels with better shaped flanges (rounded flange with a rounded fillet similar to RP-25 standard) would do better. I tried to let the front wheel pivot to give some equalization but that didn't seem to help much. There is added weight on the drivers with a battery pack in the boiler.


I'm still futzing with this thing. I think that getting a locomotive to pull well and to stay on the track is as much an art as a science. I have heard alot of good about BBT drives, which means to me that Barry has spent alot of effort getting the drive to work right.

A long time ago the NMRA set 12v as the standard for model railroading, but that was for O and HO scale modeling. Basically LGB set 18 volts as the standard for G scale. I don't know why some large scale models have been made with 24 volt motors, but the higher voltage on the transformer can help for better running with dirty track.

Terl

 

[david bunn]

Just remember what happened to all of Tims efforts in applying more power!!!!

 

[lownote]

I just want to note for the sake of posterity that when this thread first appeared there was nothing in the original post--which is why the comments about invisibility. Then, a couple days later the entire thread seemed to vanish. When it reappeared, the first post was suddenly visible.

Fascinating thread, thanks all