I thought I had seen a thread on this but no luck on searching the forum or google. I want to speed up the movement of the gantry. Before I take things apart, I thought I would see if anyone has done this or remembers where any past threads are located. Thanks in advance for information.
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More voltage will speed up the vibrotor motor but beware it can lose it's string if you go too high and you will need to put it back.
@iguanaman3, thanks, I should have mentioned I put this thing on the 18v accessory loop with the bubbling oil field and it was some help, but still slow.
I went ahead and took it apart and here are the pictures for the "OGR archive" record. The gap with the vibromotor is obviously too big (red circle). I could see this from the top when you take off the cover to the smoke unit. Like most of these vibrators, there is no adjustment, and something has to be gently bent to reduce the gap. I used a channel lock at the green circle point and gingerly pried up to close the gap. It appears to have worked and now operating faster at 14 volts. The second picture shows the string you mentioned and the entire mechanism.
One final note, when you reassemble, get the orientation of the final linkage on the arm correct. You can guess how I found this out.
I noticed Lionel is reproducing this accessory for the 2022 catalog. Hopefully they have improved it because I will be ordering one! 😉
-Pete
I don't really care for the hokie (pardon the pun 71!) countdown control panel on the re-issue where the count down numbers get larger and larger as the numbers count down. Maybe the newest re-issue will have a more somewhat realistic count down and can replace the original panel.
@Chuck Sartor posted:I don't really care for the hokie (pardon the pun 71!) countdown control panel on the re-issue where the count down numbers get larger and larger as the numbers count down. Maybe the newest re-issue will have a more somewhat realistic count down and can replace the original panel.
Funny, but there is a twilight zone aspect too. Time slows down and the seconds get longer. Must be relativity at work?
https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...9#158533582031931989
It does say it has realistic launch sequence announcements…..sounds like countdown will be announced with no physical controller and launching of rocket will be with legacy remote…..sounds and looks cool…hope they have a good smoke unit!
Heres my version of the rocket blastoff with smoke unit and sequence announcements!
@hokie71 I use a small piece of #600 wet/dry sandpaper (the black stuff) and bend it to create a "U" shape, with the bottom of the "U" quite narrow; narrow enough to fit into the vibrator motor's pulley groove and sand the flat groove area. You don't need much, a couple of times around the wheel very lightly. Put the string back in place and boom! Off to the races. It seems the light sanding gives just a little more "bite" to the string as it vibrates back and forth. This has worked for me every time, and seems to last!
George
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