Cleaning Micro Trains Plastic Wheelsets

[conrad]

      I have used an Ultrasonic cleaner, purchased years ago at a Jewelry Supply House to clean MT plastic wheels, the black crud comes off nicely. I have the cleaning fluid brand I first bought with my cleaner. My one exception all the cars with Pizza Cutter Wheels that I regularly took or still do to train shows. Leaving the black Crud Doughnuts on these they run great on code 55 track without buzzing on the ties. Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah.

Sounds like free Bullfrog Snot for the Pizza Cutter wheels:)

Conrad

[peteski]

Peteski:  I see one of the solvents for acetal resins is chlorine.  I suspect a lot of modelers have that, in the form of household bleach, and a few might try it for cleaning wheels.  Thanks for the warning!

Fair enough (even if the stuff we have at home is usually diluted to 7% or less).  Plus, how many individuals would even think of using household bleach to clean plastic wheels?  I wouldn't think that anybody would be strange enough to do that.

Since I have not done any extensive research (just Wikipedia) to know how strong of a chlorine solution has to be, and how long the exposure needs to be to start degrading/dissolving POM. 

[nkalanaga]

I can't imagine it either, but knowing some of the people I work with, somebody, somewhere probably would try.  As for concentration, as you said, household bleach is weak, and probably won't do any damage, but I'm not taking any chances!

I suspect that it wouldn't take as much in an ultrasonic cleaner is it would just dipping the wheels in bleach.  The vibrations would drive the solution against the surface, and into any pores, more vigorously.

[NtheBasement]

Yes, Yes, I've used the paper towel with back and forth with GooGone, Alcohol, etc. for both locos and cars.  Works great for locos because of the spinning wheels.  For cars, not so good.  Rolling them back and forth generally does not remove the crusted on dirt.  My one true technique is rubbing each wheel with a toothpick to literally flake off the crud.  Very time consuming.

I'll buy a cheapo $40 ultrasonic cleaner on Amazon and see how it goes.

Conrad

I've had the same experience trying the loco wheel cleaning method - car wheels don't rub.

Please post how the ultrasonic cleaner works.  Another question is do you clean just the wheels or the whole truck?  Removing the wheels risks bending the axle.

[conrad]

I've had the same experience trying the loco wheel cleaning method - car wheels don't rub.

Please post how the ultrasonic cleaner works.  Another question is do you clean just the wheels or the whole truck?  Removing the wheels risks bending the axle.

I'll post my ultrasonic cleaning experience next week when it comes.

On bending the axles:  I remove the wheels from the trucks without bending the axles.  My technique is to spread the truck frame slightly by pressing on the rear of one of the wheels.  This releases the opposite wheel from the truck without axle bending.  Once the opposite wheel is out the other "falls" free.  This easily works on the inner end of the truck and with a little fiddling, works on the coupler pocket end of the truck.

Conrad

[Maletrain]

I'll post my ultrasonic cleaning experience next week when it comes.

On bending the axles:  I remove the wheels from the trucks without bending the axles.  My technique is to spread the truck frame slightly by pressing on the rear of one of the wheels.  This releases the opposite wheel from the truck without axle bending.  Once the opposite wheel is out the other "falls" free.  This easily works on the inner end of the truck and with a little fiddling, works on the coupler pocket end of the truck.

Conrad

I do the same process, but with an added precaution:  I make sure that the wheel I press against to spread the truck frame is not the insulated wheel on a metal wheel set.  I am concerned that pushing on the insulated wheel might move it on its axle and disrupt the gauging.

[peteski]

I do the same process, but with an added precaution:  I make sure that the wheel I press against to spread the truck frame is not the insulated wheel on a metal wheel set.  I am concerned that pushing on the insulated wheel might move it on its axle and disrupt the gauging.

The discussion (and thread's title) is about plastic wheels.      BTW, I do what you do.

[nkalanaga]

If you have plastic wheels on metal axles, such as some of the 1980s Con-Cor and MDC wheels, they can be pushed out of gauge as well.

[mandealco]

The active ingredient in most household bleaches is Sodium Hypochlorite.  It also contains an amount of Sodium Hydroxide (Caustic Soda).  Over time it will break down most plastics.  It does however come in a plastic bottle!
Cheers
Steve

[Maletrain]

The discussion (and thread's title) is about plastic wheels.      BTW, I do what you do.

Don't I have a Plaid Membership - doesn't that entitle me to drift threads? 

Seriously, I learned which wheel to not push on the hard way, and thought I would pass it on to anybody reading this who also cleans non-MTL plastic wheels, too.

But, I am toying with trying to make an N scale version of something that Micro Mark was selling for HO trucks.  It is a pair of pliers that spreads the ends when you squeeze the handles, with a set of Vs on the ends that can cradle a wheel axle.  To get a wheel set out, you put the Vs between the wheel and truck on each side from the bottom, and squeeze enough to get the wheel set to drop into the Vs.  To put the wheel set back in the truck, you put the axle in the Vs, put the Vs in the truck, and turn it upside down, then squeeze enough to get the axle to drop into the truck.

I think Micro Mark engineered theirs to avoid over-expanding the truck.  It does seem like a tool that could do some damage if it was not designed well and/or not used well.

[nkalanaga]

Sounds like brake-spring pliers, with the tips modified.

[peteski]

Don't I have a Plaid Membership - doesn't that entitle me to drift threads? 

I guess you ignored the emoticons indicating that I was just joshing you.  Emoticons usually come very handy with written word, where a face-to-face conversation is not possible.  I thought that a trolling  and a a smile    emojis would show that I was just busting your cookies in a friendly way.

As for safely removing plastic wheelsets outof plastic trucks, my thumb fingernails and fingertips work well most of the time. Sometime I use pointy tweezers as a lever between the inside of the truck frame and the wheel face. 

[Maletrain]

I guess you ignored the emoticons indicating that I was just joshing you.  Emoticons usually come very handy with written word, where a face-to-face conversation is not possible.  I thought that a trolling  and a a smile    emojis would show that I was just busting your cookies in a friendly way.
. . .

Peteski, I did see the emoticons - and used one of them, too.     I was just joshing you back, not taking offense.    And beginning my following sentence with "Seriously" was intended to indicate that the preceding sentence was a joke.  But maybe that caused a "reverse Polish notation" glitch?    Anyway, all is good - wishing you a happy new year and clean wheels in 2022.   

[Maletrain]

Sounds like brake-spring pliers, with the tips modified.

Brake spring pliers are the concept I want, but designed for much larger parts and forces - not to mention expense.

Much smaller and cheaper "spring clip pliers" and "snap ring pliers" are more like what I am looking for to use with N scale.

As those come in the stores, the jaws ends start very close together.  By the time they are spread to about N gauge, they are far from parallel.  So, my thinking is to use something like JB Weld epoxy to build out the jaws and attach the V-notched plates parallel with each other and initially spaced to fit slightly loose over N scale wheel sets.  Then they would be close to parallel when actually spreading the truck frames, so that there would be no tendency for the frames to slide down the pliers.

All of my thinking on this is still just abstract.  I expect there will be much fiddling and some lessons learned when I get around to trying to make it.

[MK]

How about this?  Reversed as a spreader with some kind of custom V jaws attached.

https://www.harborfreight.com/hand-tools/clamps-vises/4-in-ratcheting-bar-clampspreader-68974.html