Garden Railway Forum

I have a ten-year old IP 'Punch' that uses the budget chassis. It has twice worn the plastic gears out and a third time is approaching. Can anyone recommend a source of brass gears to replace them with? The axle being of 1/8 th rather than 3mm is the problem I am having.
Many thanks.

Cambrian Models, http://cambrianmodels.co.uk/16intropage2.html, is the place to go.

The only problem with that will be the statement -

The plastic gears can be carefully drilled out for 1/8" axles. We do not recommended attempting to enlarge the bore of the brass gears.

The Cambrian CA3 30:1 gears are a direct replacement for the IP plastic ones. I already have them fitted to my IP budget chassis and they fitted
without having to mod anything.

Mike

Thanks for the replies, especially WVLR, that's just what I needed to know. Cheers!

I have had a similar problem and have now acquired some gears from Cambrian, so the next question is what its the safest way to get an IP wheel off of the axle?
Cheers
John

Put it loosly into an Engineers Vice so that it doesn't grip the axle but supports the wheel, then a sharp tap on the end of the axle to get it flush with the wheel then a center punch to tap it through.

If you don't have an Engineers Vice then use a couple of pieces of wood in an ordinary vice to support the wheel.

An even easier way to remove a wheel is to apply a bit of heat to the axle. I found that mine fell off with this method. Use 603 when refitting.

A bit of heat to the Wheel rather than the axle surely, I have a lot of IP wheel/axles and the wheels are all a tight push fit onto the axles.

Doesn't really matter. I think that I.P. use either Loctite or glue to hold the wheels on. All I'm doing is to break the bond. Once the wheel is off, its a sliding fit on the axle.

AH I see where your going, all the wheel sets that I've had from IP have been a tight friction press fit no locktight or any other type of glue.

I was very impressed with some wheel sets from Roy Wood. I asked Roy to supply me with one wheel fitted because I intended to use them for a loco project. When I came to fit the wheel to the axle, it was an interference fit. Therefore I put the axles in the freezer overnight and heated the wheel the following day. Job done, no slip, no 603, just a good, tight fit. Way to go. I don't know how I'd get them off now.

Putting the wheel set in the freezer is a great tip! Frees up the wheels without any further abuse!
Cheers
John