Motor currently used in MTH Premier steam locomotives?

Really? No one has popped the shell off a Premier steam locomotive made in the past couple of years to see what motor is in it? 

Clearly, you don’t know the secret squirrel hand shake buddy!....hopefully keeping the thread popping up, somebody will get tired of seeing it and give an answer.??......maybe???.........Pat

IMO you would be better off posting this in the main 3-rail forum, MTH isn't going to answer here.

Pittman (now owned by Ametek) is one of the few companies that makes a 7-pole motor, so I would guess that's what they're still using in the premium locos large enough to accommodate it.  For sure they are not spending the money on Buehler motors.   I think the label on the motor actually says Ametek, so their lawyers probably advised them to stop printing Pittman on the box. 

To my knowledge, smaller Premier locos like the 0-6-0 and 0-4-0 switchers never used Pittman motors, instead making do with the ubiquitous 5-pole Mabuchi RS-385.

Honestly I'm not sure how relevant it is anymore.  I've done a LOT of first-hand testing.  I've observed that operation is more affected by the gear ratio, whether or not the gears are back-drivable, and the electronic speed control algorithms than it is by the quality of the motor.  The motor and the speed control algorithm have to be well-matched.  My $.02.

I'll try putting it in the 3 rail forum and see. I'm just curious what MTH is using. Lionel used to use Pittmans but switched to Cannon motors. I'm curious what MTH is using now.

It is a knockoff made in Korea or China.  Have you priced pittman motors recently after Amtek took over.  They cost more than an engine, especially for obsolete styles.

Good news is pittman do not fail often, but I have repaired a few, and even rebuilt a few.  G

GGG posted:

It is a knockoff made in Korea or China.  Have you priced pittman motors recently after Amtek took over.  They cost more than an engine, especially for obsolete styles.

Good news is pittman do not fail often, but I have repaired a few, and even rebuilt a few.  G

George, are they using a motor that sorta looks like a Pittman in how it’s constructed? .....Tsiny has a motor that has the same build technique like a Pittman, it looks like you could open it up and service it....unlike the Mubachi or Cannon.....thanks for the info!.....Pat

PS, are you going to the Raleigh show, or the VTC show in January? ....we should grab a sandwich sometime!...

GGG posted:

It is a knockoff made in Korea or China.  Have you priced pittman motors recently after Amtek took over.  They cost more than an engine, especially for obsolete styles.

Good news is pittman do not fail often, but I have repaired a few, and even rebuilt a few.  G

So it's similar in construction to a Pittman. I've noticed the drastic increase in prices for Pittmans since Amtek took over, so I figured MTH went to something else.

I like the Pittmans more than other can motors. I find them smoother at low speeds with much more torque. I've got a buddy with a Legacy GS4 from 2016 with a Cannon motor. We've done a test between his Legacy GS4 under Legacy control and my Premier GS4 (PS1 converted to PS2 3V with a 9434 Pittman) under DCS pulling the same 8 car passenger train. The train is 8 Lionel 18" aluminum passenger cars. My GS4 will start the train at a lower speed with less current draw (starts moving the train at 2 scale mph and can run at that speed without stalling) than his GS4. The Legacy GS4 manages to get down to around 5 scale mph. Mine with the Pittman is noticeably smoother as well.

In any case future purchases of Lionel or MTH large steam will be older Pittman powered models for me. I'll sacrifice some bells and whistles (pun intended 😁) for a smoother motor. This is coming from a guy who still enjoys running Pullmor powered F3s and Geeps (albeit with AC Commanders).

I've had one Pittman fail in all the years I've worked on this stuff, and it appeared that it had a motor stall and just burned the armature up.  This was on a 3rd Rail steamer with a QSI board.  The QSI board was also dead, probably died killing the motor.

I've had three Canon motors croak on Legacy steamers so far, and two of the three destroyed the RCMC for a clean sweep and a big repair bill!  I was able to repair the cooked drivers on the third RCMC and save it.  All three of the motors exhibited a dead short.  I pulled one apart, but I did so much damage getting it apart that I wasn't really able to determine anything about the failure.

If only we knew where all the Pittmans went??.......😉.........Pat

harmonyards posted:

If only we knew where all the Pittmans went??.......😉.........Pat

A bunch of them show up on ebay.  My personal favorites are 9432's.  These are the same diameter but shorter than the 9434's and can fit in more locomotives.  A few months ago I bought a lot of 12 of these motors (seem to be new since there is no evidence of solder on the motor contacts nor marks on the motor shaft) on ebay for $73.  That works out to $6.08 per motor!  Several years ago I was paying around $50 each for these motors direct from Pittman.  Two of my friends and I shared this batch of motors.  By the way, they all run smooth and quiet.

harmonyards posted:

If only we knew where all the Pittmans went??.......😉.........Pat

Don't you have most of them?

gunrunnerjohn posted:

harmonyards posted:

If only we knew where all the Pittmans went??.......😉.........Pat

Don't you have most of them?

What in the world ever gave you that idea? ......Pat

I rest my case!

Ahhhhhh, One of those motors went into my CSS last winter! Thanks again for doing that Pat! It runs Fantastically!

harmonyards posted:

gunrunnerjohn posted:

harmonyards posted:

If only we knew where all the Pittmans went??.......😉.........Pat

Don't you have most of them?

What in the world ever gave you that idea? ......Pat

Two of those 9434s better have my name on them 😁. 

One on the shelf for your WP Lou, the Santa ........Fe......😌.......already has it in it........😂😂😂😂..........Pat

Jayhawk500 posted:

Ahhhhhh, One of those motors went into my CSS last winter! Thanks again for doing that Pat! It runs Fantastically!

I could not get the videos you loaded on your thread to play Chris....ya mind emailing them to me whenever?.......Pat

Im glad it runs good buddy!...that’s a tough rugged combination....very hard to beat!.......Pat

harmonyards posted:

One on the shelf for your WP Lou, the Santa ........Fe......😌.......already has it in it........😂😂😂😂..........Pat

One down, one to go. Hopefully you don't go through your stash before the WP gets a 9434 😉.

harmonyards posted:

Jayhawk500 posted:

Ahhhhhh, One of those motors went into my CSS last winter! Thanks again for doing that Pat! It runs Fantastically!

I could not get the videos you loaded on your thread to play Chris....ya mind emailing them to me whenever?.......Pat

Im glad it runs good buddy!...that’s a tough rugged combination....very hard to beat!.......Pat

I noticed those 2 videos didn't load correctly for some reason. Once I get my layout completed, I'll make another one and post it up through You Tube. As long as my cat Snow will leave my lanterns on my switches alone, she likes pulling them off.