Trackmaster 2 Motor Swap- Help

TheBlueSnowplow

So last night I was wondering what might happen if I took out the motor in my Flying Scotsman (Trackmaster Revolution) and replaced it with the motor from a Tomy Duck chassis, as while doing some cleaning and repair to my TOMY Mavis I noticed that the motors are nearly identical in size. Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the "surgery" was a success, and Flying Scotsman now moves at about the same speed as the Turbo Thomas, which is just delightful to see- I will post a video for you all to look at on my Youtube channel next weekend. The bad news is that while removing Duck's motor from the motor casing, the anti-tampering tabs popped open and his motor and gears fell apart. Luckily, I have all the parts including the spring, but I have no clue how it all fits together. I was thinking I would reassemble the entire mechanism with the TM2 motor inside Duck, just to see what happens. as if it doesn't work properly I'll be needing a new Duck model for filming. Any help you guys can give me about how to reassemble the Duck motor mechanism would be great!

ripley802

Can you post a pic of the motor and the gears. I believe I know the one you are referring to, but wanted to confirm.

TheBlueSnowplow

I won't be home till Friday, so it will have to wait until then.

TheBlueSnowplow

Here we are.

ripley802

Yeah that one is a pain. The short answer is you have to get most everything in one half of the shell, then carefully line up the gears/shafts all while getting the small metal pieces to be attached to the motor. Let me see if I can make a quick video. It may take me a little while though.

ripley802

And here we go..
[video=youtube]https://youtu.be/1j04gRpVEkc[/video]

Super

Excellent video Ripley, I like the music. 🙂

TheBlueSnowplow

I agree- the music was a nice touch 😛

Anyway, I tried reassembling him- no luck. the switch seems to be the issue though- its not making a clear shift between "on" and "off" like it's supposed to- just kind of sliding rather than making a good positive connection. any other ideas?

EDIT- the drive gear is also spinning freely

ripley802

Is the spring in there? That should put pressure on the gear that moves when the switch is moved back and forth. I typically solder the motor to the wire leads as well once it is back together as that gives it a better connection.

TheBlueSnowplow

yeah i put the spring in there but its not actually doing anything as far as i can tell. let me give it another shot

Edit:
ok. its working. i had the gear in the wrong way. although he moves with such lethargy due to the motor swap that i hardly think all this time and effort was worth it. oh well, i'm too in debt to buy a new duck so this will have to do! xD

Super

Of course it was "Worth It" Look at the knowledge you obtained from taking the motor apart.

Now that you are familiar with the workings, you could swap the motor out with a junk engine. The motors are all the same size. Personally I gained info from this thread as I always wondered how a TM2 motor would perform in our original trains. I wonder if, because the TM2 engines use 2 AAA battery's there needs to be more voltage for their motors.

TheBlueSnowplow

that's my thought too. if i find a "dead" duck somewhere else for cheap maybe ill try and grab it, until then duck moves at a snail's pace. I will say however that his tractive power was not diminished at all, he can still climb hills and pull longer trains, albeit much much slower. good to know for anyone wanting to try this mod.

Super

Just dawned on me that I may try that motor in a original engine the next time I video with an onboard camera. The slower the better as I really dislike videos with onboard cameras on fast trains as you miss so much of the landscape and get the feeling you are on a roller coaster.

TheBlueSnowplow

it would certainly be suitable for something like that, as like i said there is little to no diminishment in the torque of the engine itself. just remember to switch the worm gears or your engines will be going faster and slower (respectively 😉 ) in the wrong direction!