Kato SD70Ace help

[John]

I had to take apart my UP1943 because of a binding problem .. I can't find my parts diagram, nor is there one on Kato's site that i can find .. where does the little plastic piece go (see pix with arrow)   TIA

[samusi01]

If I recall correctly, that's p/n X07-2903, the 'circuitboard shim' listed on their parts website. I checked a couple of mine but they all have decoders and it doesn't appear that I reinstalled any of those.

Sam

[ns737]

it go's in the front cavity where the front of the decoder board slides in

[John]

it go's in the front cavity where the front of the decoder board slides in

Thank you .. kind of like a wedge?


Btw -- KatoUSA said that Japan never sent them any diagrams for the newer ACE's ..

[ns737]

did you find the binding problem

[Hatchet]

That piece I believe was to resolve the original problem of keeping the front of decoder boards in contact. The old solution was to cut off a piece of the foam that came with loco box  and wedge that in there.

Mark

[John]

did you find the binding problem

Yes .. one of the drive lines wasn't making connnection properly . the Mike Fifer video was helpful .

[John]

I cleaned it up and put it back together .. a little fuzz removed in the gears ..

Next problem .. there is an intermittent dead spot on the motor where it won't turn over after power is applied  .This loco only has about 2 hours of run time ... so I guess I take out the brushes and give the commutator a good cleaning ..

[ns737]

this a new engine?

[John]

this a new engine?

I picked it up a couple of years ago when they came out  .. but it's been sitting on the layout unused for quite a while

[woodone]

In your OP you stated that you had a binding problem. If you had left the power on the the locomotive while it was bound up you may have burned out one of the segments of the motor windings . You will have to replace the motor if that happened.
Did you find the binding problem?

[peteski]

Couple of years ago I dealt with a Kato motor having the same exact problem. The problem was that one commutator segment was not making connection with the wire attached to it.  The way these motors are wired, the wire goes to 2 windings. I removed the flywheels, and took the motor apart.  Then I very carefully scraped the enamel from the wire and soldered the bare copper spot on the wire to the commutator.  The arrow points to the extra solder joint I added to connect the wire to the commutator.

[John]

Thanks for the information Pete .. I marked the flywheel at the spot when the motor wouldn't start .. I can get the motor to run by rotating the flywheel  1/4 turn .. and it will restart as long as the mark isn't visible - so based on information in this thread - and your post especially, I suspect something similar happened to my motor .. I'm going to order a new one, as my motor skills are no longer able to do that level of fine work . .thanks all

[John]

My new Kato motor was in the mail when I returned from vacation -- it's in the frame and checks out .. so the decoder will go back in today and loco returned to service .. next up - try to diagnose what failed on the old motor and see if I can fix it .. I don't have a flywheel puller - so it may not get fixed