Foam rubber over frame?

[peteski]

Joe, I have also seen that blue epoxy putty on motor armatures and flywheels of many locos. It is for balancing the armature/flywheel assembly. Think of it like the wheel weights used for balancing your car wheel/tires.

Check the motor shaft for fore/aft play. There should be some playt. If it is tight, that will cause binding of the motor. I have seen this problem with few Atlas motors.

[Joetrain59]

Pete, your analogy of balancing tires on a wheel was exactly what I thought of. Just never saw that before. But there is a problem with motor. No fore/aft play at all. Can that be fixed, or is motor a scrapper? Problem is, Atlas likely has no replacements. It did run fine when first purchased, but mostly packed away. Storage tote could've had some rough handling during a move. But loco has been kept in jewel case with all packing around it.
 Thanks,
 Joe D

[peteski]

Pete, your analogy of balancing tires on a wheel was exactly what I thought of. Just never saw that before. But there is a problem with motor. No fore/aft play at all. Can that be fixed, or is motor a scrapper? Problem is, Atlas likely has no replacements. It did run fine when first purchased, but mostly packed away. Storage tote could've had some rough handling during a move. But loco has been kept in jewel case with all packing around it.
 Thanks,
 Joe D

If there is no for/aft play of the motor shaft and the shaft does not spin as freely as it should (compared to another working motor), then the solution I used is documented here

You should probbaly read the entire thread to see if that is the same problem you have.

[Joetrain59]

Peteski, read your other thread, and saw how you got some play fore and aft. I just did same a while ago, and now have some fore/aft play. Running motor by itself in a panavise, powered by Kato power pack, motor starts to spin at just about 3 volts. Seems a little coggy at that low end. I don't know if it's motor or Kato pack, but voltage is always fluctuating up/down. I should try to assemble motor back into frame halves, put trucks on, and see how it runs. Depends how I'm feeling, battling my way through the flu. Yes, got my flu shot right before I came down with it. Will compose e-mail to Atlas in a few, with pix attached to see their response. Also pulled out a first run of C420, LV yellow jacket, to see what under that shell.
 Thanks,
 Joe D

[Joetrain59]

I did send an email with pic attachments to Atlas. Steve Millenbach replied, "I couldn’t see the pictures but the self-adhesive foam is used to dampen the sound (prevent vibration). The green putty is used to balance the motor."
 Loco still not running well. Think I'll send it to Atlas for service/repair.  Wouldn't it make more sense if foam was adhered to shell?
 Joe D

[peteski]

Peteski, read your other thread, and saw how you got some play fore and aft. I just did same a while ago, and now have some fore/aft play. Running motor by itself in a panavise, powered by Kato power pack, motor starts to spin at just about 3 volts. Seems a little coggy at that low end. I don't know if it's motor or Kato pack, but voltage is always fluctuating up/down. I should try to assemble motor back into frame halves, put trucks on, and see how it runs. Depends how I'm feeling, battling my way through the flu. Yes, got my flu shot right before I came down with it. Will compose e-mail to Atlas in a few, with pix attached to see their response. Also pulled out a first run of C420, LV yellow jacket, to see what under that shell.
 Thanks,
 Joe D

I meant to reply to your message right after you posted it. 
Sounds like the armature is now free spinning. If the voltage is fluctuating and the motor has high starting voltage then there might be another problem (also described in the thread I pointed you to - the other motor in that thread, the one Max fixed).  What I  mean is that maybe the gaps in the commutator are packed with brush dust.

[MK]

Peteski, I may have the same problem on an Atlas SD60 that I've shelfed for many years now.  Since it's 3 degrees F here in the NYC area, I might want to revisit it later this afternoon. 

Going back to the link you provided (and not wanting to read all 6 pages), how did you figure out which end of the motor need to snap the bearing back in?

[up1950s]

I did send an email with pic attachments to Atlas. Steve Millenbach replied, "I couldn’t see the pictures but the self-adhesive foam is used to dampen the sound (prevent vibration). The green putty is used to balance the motor."
 Loco still not running well. Think I'll send it to Atlas for service/repair.  Wouldn't it make more sense if foam was adhered to shell?
 Joe D

Great logic , but maybe the shell people don't want to add an extra process , or it would cost more if the shell people did it . Then there is a scratch the paint problem if they did it perhaps .

Now there is the assembly process where the chassis meets the shell . Maybe they don't want sticky fingers because of contacts , finger prints , small parts sticking to fingers .

So that , by the looks of misalignment , leaves just one person with time on his hands , the delivery guy from the American restaurant .

[peteski]

Great logic , but maybe the shell people don't want to add an extra process , or it would cost more if the shell people did it . Then there is a scratch the paint problem if they did it perhaps .

Now there is the assembly process where the chassis meets the shell . Maybe they don't want sticky fingers because of contacts , finger prints , small parts sticking to fingers .

So that , by the looks of misalignment , leaves just one person with time on his hands , the delivery guy from the American restaurant .

That last line had me ROTFLMAO!

It is much, much easier to plop a piece of foam on the top of the chassis than try to manouver a self-adhesive strip of foam into the deep narrow cavern of the shell.

But those models should not need any kludges to quiet them down. Kato doesn't do that . . .   

[peteski]

Peteski, I may have the same problem on an Atlas SD60 that I've shelfed for many years now.  Since it's 3 degrees F here in the NYC area, I might want to revisit it later this afternoon. 

Going back to the link you provided (and not wanting to read all 6 pages), how did you figure out which end of the motor need to snap the bearing back in?

My logic was that the front bearing mount is the most likely culprit since there are 2 areas where the shifting could occur: 1.  between the plastic ring and the metal motor frame; 2. between the metal bearing sleeve and the plastic ring.
I also wanted to avoid using the commutator as the pressure point for moving the bearing outwards. The way I did t uses the armature as the pressure point. That theory worked out at least 3 times so far. But I guess the rear bearing (in the plastic end which holds the brushes) could be the slipped one.

And as it was mentioned in the other thread, do not exert too much force or the armature/commutator can slip on the motor shaft.  Even if the mottor gets messed up, you are still only out a motor. It wasn't working right to begin with, and replacement motors are available.

Also, before doing any mechanical tweaks, make sure that the problem is not just some hardened grease/oil in the motor.  This procedure is only for where the armature is binding  due to lack of fore/aft play at the motor shaft and the motor housing.

[MK]

Thanks Peteski, I'll give it a shot and keep it in mind.  The motor can't be used as it is anyway.

[Joetrain59]

Well my loco is running a lot beter, but not like it's twin. It has a lot of wuh,wuh,wuh,wuh. growl to it. Did lightly oil truck gears, but no improvement. Still seems to be a bit of cogging in the motor. (?) I might have an older Atlas motor around, but likely not scale speed. I'll call Atlas to see if I can order one.
 Thanks,
 Joe D