Motor identification

[markoteal]

Fancy a challenge at ID'ing a motor?

Bought a job lots of O gauge stuff a while ago at an auction that included a battery loco - being O gauge I was after the chassis - after stripping away the bespoke made body shell I was left with this.











It wouldn't run but after some tweaking of the brass pick ups I got it running intermittently - the challenge was the brass pick ups weren't constantly in contact with where they needed to be - more tweaking later it was getting better but then one of the brass pick ups snapped as i'd 'tweaked it' too much I think.

Can anyone Id what motor its from (I'm guessing vintage Hornby???) or even older - (looks like it was converted from rail to batter operation at some point) - once i know that I can try and source some spare pick ups - or at least some brass sheet of the right thickness to make my own I guess

[philipy]

Tom, I can't help with the identification, but if you intend to make pickups for it I'd suggest using phosphor bronze rather than brass. You get better electrical contact and its more springy so you can use thinner material and put less pressure/rolling resistance on the back of the wheel.

Eileens Emporium do it I know ( https://eileensemporium.com/index.php?o ... Itemid=189 ), but I'm sure there must be other suppliers.

[Big Jim]

I think it may be Bassett Lowke.
I will do some digging and see what I can find out.

[Big Jim]

http://postimg.org/image/uxkli3w6n/
Looks similar to one of the boat motors on the top left.

I think they were made by a company called Tayco. Most DC motors for models of this sort of era ran on 6 to 8 volts.

Most Hornby stuff was 20v AC (earlier models were 110v AC ) Some were the also low voltage DC.

I don't think it is a Hornby or a Leeds MC unit.

It could be a Bonds or a Bassett product but equally it could be a home built bogie with a purchased motor.

Phospher Bronze for the pic ups would be my thought.

[philipy]

http://postimg.org/image/uxkli3w6n/


I think they were made by a company called Tayco. Most DC motors for models of this sort of era ran on 6 to 8 volts.

Back in the 60's I know Tayco made motors that were advertised for use in model boats. Can't remember voltage but I'd guess 9v - being 2x 4.5v Bell Batteries ( My dad built me a boat in early 60's with a Mabuchi motor with that battery configuration).

The photo of Tom's motor keeps ringing a bell in my head but I simply can't pin it down.

[Big Jim]

It is similar to a BL Permamag power unit but the motor is set the wrong way.

The thing that makes me think it is home build is that most model railway stuff of this era 1950's (give or take a decade) was steam outline and the motor is too large to allow bigger steam loco driving wheels to be fitted.

[tom_tom_go]

Thanks for all your posts but his was for markoteal (I have now changed the author) as his original post was hijacked so trying to be clever I split the posts but forgot to change the author.

[markoteal]

Cheers gents - Jim, I think you are spot on as to its origins (well researched sir!)- I do think it is the boat motor magnet element married to the wheels via a homebuild - if you look at the wheels and they way they are attached to the axles, there is a degree of self soldering involved - the motor came from a job lot of scratchbuild locos and wagons so I think this the output of a clever engineer - its currently languishing in a neglected area of my workbench but I've now started a search for some Phospher Bronze for the pic ups - Eileen's Emporium beware!

[Big Jim]

Happy to help, I may be completely wide of the mark (I often am). Some of these motors are incredibly powerful, however they can draw a high current. This might be something to watch when you decide to use it.