To Joe Fermani - It worked!!! I beveled the drivers of my T1 as you suggested. It now runs through my Atlas 0-72 switches without shorting out. Thanks for this great tip!!!! The engine is back in action after sitting under the layout for a couple of years.
I didn't bother to take the engine apart as you suggested. I put it upside down in a foam cradle and ran the engine using alligator clips to power the engine from a transformer. The engine will run upside down in conventional mode without the tender attached. I used a dremel with a carbide bit to bevel the drivers while the engine was running in the cradle.
I carefully cleaned all the the very small metal shavings from the underside of the engine using a soft paint brush and a magnet. This seems to have worked OK. At least the engine doesn't have any issues with the shavings that I can see.
I first tried beveling the drivers using a Dremel grinding stone. The steel drivers ground down the stone and dust went everywhere. This is not the way to do it.
A friend suggested using a carbide grinding bit for steel. I found a Dremel number 9901 tungsten carbide cutter at the Home Depot. It made short work of cutting the bevel. The 9901 cost about $10 but it was worth it.
Thanks again Joe for this great tip on how to solve the T1 driver shorting problem
Best wishes, Joe Barker
