New Hornby Surface Motors
I purchased six of the new motors. They are very small and neat, even smaller than the 70's surface motor of which I have 22 operational on my layout.
The first two were connected to points purchased last year, and worked perfectly first time. Plenty of power operating from a CDU.
The third one which was connected to a new curved point failed to operate. On checking, it would work sometimes in one direction only. After checking out my wiring (we always blame ourselves), I turned my attention to the point. I noticed that it was lying across a join in the baseboard which was not quite flat. I then noticed that the top of the knob connected to the motor was catching the motor housing. I snipped a fraction off the top of the knob, and hey presto - perfect working.
As these points are so small in profile, there is virtually no tolerance for error.
Yesterday, I replaced an old Peco point with a new Hornby express point, and connected one of the new motors. This was on a perfectly flat surface.
Pressed the point change switch - nothing but a buzzing noise. I manually flicked the point, pressed again, and the point changed. Pressed again, nothing but a buzz.
On my points, I have LED's connecetd across the switches so that a red light operates in the direction that is blocked. I noticed that when switching, the light was not on.
On investigating, I found that the switch blade was not going fully home. I pushed the motor hard up aganst the point, but it would not go.
I then snipped a small amount of plastic from off the point where the motor pushes up against it, and everything worked perfectly.
I suppose these problems are to be expected if you are trying to get a motor as small as that and as powerfull as it is to meet the tolerances that are in the motor and of course the points, which previously there has been no need.
People are reporting problems of the above nature, whilst obviously there are some who are happy as I would have been if I had stuck at two.
Another problem I found was that the wire connecting the motor is very thin, and in my opinion not of very good quality. When trying to strip the insulation, the wire has a tendency to break easily, even when trying with finger nails. There is only 2cm of tinned wire showing which does not clip into a 5 amp connector block, I solder thicker wire to the ends of the motor wire, and then connect these into blocks.
As a tip, I put sellotape thin double sided sticky tape under the point to initially fix it, so that adjustment can be made, and even removed and put down again so that it all works before screwing down. Mine are still operation with sticky tape only for over a week with no movement.
Hope this helps.
AlanB
The first two were connected to points purchased last year, and worked perfectly first time. Plenty of power operating from a CDU.
The third one which was connected to a new curved point failed to operate. On checking, it would work sometimes in one direction only. After checking out my wiring (we always blame ourselves), I turned my attention to the point. I noticed that it was lying across a join in the baseboard which was not quite flat. I then noticed that the top of the knob connected to the motor was catching the motor housing. I snipped a fraction off the top of the knob, and hey presto - perfect working.
As these points are so small in profile, there is virtually no tolerance for error.
Yesterday, I replaced an old Peco point with a new Hornby express point, and connected one of the new motors. This was on a perfectly flat surface.
Pressed the point change switch - nothing but a buzzing noise. I manually flicked the point, pressed again, and the point changed. Pressed again, nothing but a buzz.
On my points, I have LED's connecetd across the switches so that a red light operates in the direction that is blocked. I noticed that when switching, the light was not on.
On investigating, I found that the switch blade was not going fully home. I pushed the motor hard up aganst the point, but it would not go.
I then snipped a small amount of plastic from off the point where the motor pushes up against it, and everything worked perfectly.
I suppose these problems are to be expected if you are trying to get a motor as small as that and as powerfull as it is to meet the tolerances that are in the motor and of course the points, which previously there has been no need.
People are reporting problems of the above nature, whilst obviously there are some who are happy as I would have been if I had stuck at two.
Another problem I found was that the wire connecting the motor is very thin, and in my opinion not of very good quality. When trying to strip the insulation, the wire has a tendency to break easily, even when trying with finger nails. There is only 2cm of tinned wire showing which does not clip into a 5 amp connector block, I solder thicker wire to the ends of the motor wire, and then connect these into blocks.
As a tip, I put sellotape thin double sided sticky tape under the point to initially fix it, so that adjustment can be made, and even removed and put down again so that it all works before screwing down. Mine are still operation with sticky tape only for over a week with no movement.
Hope this helps.
AlanB
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