MT Metal Wheels

[Bill H]

Group:
My test pack arrived today from Pete at BLW. Need to get home to check their rolling resistance. Most interesting note is on the packaging, "Place on track near magnetic uncoupler. If car is drawn into magnet, add one or more restraining springs to axles." That would seem to infer that the metallic parts are not brass and not non-magnetic. On close examination, the metal wheels themselves seem to be a bit roughly painted, there were some anomalies on the flange that when my thumbnail moved over them, the anomalies flaked off and there was shiny metal underneath. Of the first four I pulled from the packaging, all four had some sort of roughness in the paint either in the flange or the tread that flaked off.

Visually, they look quite nice, and the plastic axle between two metal wheels solves the issue I had with FVM wheels having the outer rim fall off the plastic insert.

That said, the paint flaking off was disappointing - but this is the first run, I am more than willing to cut MT some slack.

Kind regards,
Bill

[ai5629]

Are you able to measure the thickness of the plastic axil?  I am interested how much thinner (or thicker) it is compared to the FVM and BLMA axils.  Thank you.

Jeff

[peteski]

Paint or a chemical blackener?
So these are magnetic? Really?! And from MTL (the magnetic coupler people)? Why? 
Seems like a step in a wrong direction. I haven't seen N scale steel wheels (and only on locos)since the days of old Arnold locos in the '70s.  But many had steel axles which messed with the uncoupling magnets.  But those also disappeared years ago.
Is it possible that the cardboard insert is simply a generic one MTL uses for other products?

[Bill H]

Are you able to measure the thickness of the plastic axil?  I am interested how much thinner (or thicker) it is compared to the FVM and BLMA axils.  Thank you.

Jeff

Hi Jeff:
At the narrowest part of the axle, which has a slight taper, it measures 0.95MM or 0.038 in. At the widest part of the axle at the wheel, it measures 1.16mm 0.045in

Kind regards.

[Bill H]

Paint or a chemical blackener?
So these are magnetic? Really?! And from MTL (the magnetic coupler people)? Why? 
Seems like a step in a wrong direction. I haven't seen N scale steel wheels (and only on locos)since the days of old Arnold locos in the '70s.  But many had steel axles which messed with the uncoupling magnets.  But those also disappeared years ago.
Is it possible that the cardboard insert is simply a generic one MTL uses for other products?

Pete:
The cardboard insert is Rev. 8/17 and titled 33" Metal Wheel sets, doesn't seem like a reuse to me. Why they did not go non magnetic is their decision, perhaps it just came down to costs. Clearly, I would doubt that they are as magnetic as say - the Atlas metal wheelsets.

As far as paint or blackener - well my WAG at this point is not sure, I need to get home and put on my optivisor. The entire metal wheel is painted/blackened including the tread.

Kind regards,
Bill

[chessie system fan]

I'm guessing they're using the same blackener as on their freight car underframes?

[mmagliaro]

They don't have to be steel to be magnetic.  They could be nickel.  That would be durable and conductive (in the event that they ever plan to use these with an option for all-wheels-live electrical pickup... just sayin' )

I have a test package also ordered.  I am very curious to test these for rolling properties, conductivity, and smoothness.

[peteski]

I'm also planning on getting a package of these for evaluation.

[Point353]

As far as paint or blackener - well my WAG at this point is not sure, I need to get home and put on my optivisor. The entire metal wheel is painted/blackened including the tread.

MTL claims the wheels are chemically blackened:

[jdcolombo]

MTL claims the wheels are chemically blackened:

Hmmm.  Chemical blackening wouldn't "flake off" I don't think.

In any event, I'd rather not have blackened wheels.  A prototype wheel in use on a freight car isn't black; it's a shade of brown, from light to dark depending on how long the wheel has been in use and where.  And the tread is shiny, not black.  With FVM or other metal wheels, I paint the outside with a Tamiya earth color, and leave the tread nice and shiny.  Might not look 100% proto, but better than black, which is clearly wrong. 

Nevertheless, I'll probably end up trying some of these, just to see how they work; a bit of paint and a wire brush can solve the "black" issue.

John C.

[Lemosteam]

@Bill H ,

I assume these are 0.540" axle length across points?  Are the points still plastic or is the point part of the wheel and the axle is pressed in the back only.

[Bill H]

Hi John:
The MT card in the packaging describes them as 0.530" across the points, my mic said 0.529". I checked that last night.

Points appear to me (from memory as I am at work) to be metal. Will confirm (with an edit to this message) when I get home.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Sokramiketes]

Hmmm.  Chemical blackening wouldn't "flake off" I don't think.

It does on the HO Kadee wheels, so I'm guessing a similar process was used to manufacture these wheels.  The appearance is that of cast metal (as opposed to machined brass) for the wheels.  In HO the Kadee wheels have been largely passed up by Intermountain/Reboxx/JBL machined wheels that don't leave crud on the rails.  These N scale wheels are sounding like a step back in time...

[peteski]

In HO the Kadee wheels have been largely passed up by Intermountain/Reboxx/JBL machined wheels that don't leave crud on the rails.  These N scale wheels are sounding like a step back in time...

If they are in fact blackened cast white-metal then I agree 100%. N Scalers have plenty of machined brass or nickel-silver wheels available which are much better than cast white-metal wheels.  I guess it is time to place a BLW order. . .

[wcfn100]

From the photo, it would appear the axle points are plastic.



Jason