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Hello Friends,

I have a Lionel #60 trolley with a burned-out armature that I would like to rewind. I am assuming that one of the three poles should be wound opposite the other two, as it's a universal motor and hence identical to a small DC motor with the armature and field wired in series, typical of postwar Lionel construction? Any and all comment s would be appreciated!

Stephen

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The P/W universal three pole motor armatures have been successfully rewinded for years. There was even a  source that specialized in this.  While those motors tended to last a long while I was always a bit disappointed in the low speed performance.  Lionel would have done better with a 5 pole motor but I often wondered if rewinding with a longer length of lighter gauge enameled wire would make a difference.

+1 Dennis and it's not too late.  I would LOVE to see someone come up with a 5-pole retrofit for postwar Lionel, even if it meant a new brushplate too.  Lionel should have done this around 1990 at the beginning of the "scale" revolution.  Unless Neil Young takes pity on us, I'm starting to doubt that we'll ever see it.

Ted Sowirka posted:

+1 Dennis and it's not too late.  I would LOVE to see someone come up with a 5-pole retrofit for postwar Lionel, even if it meant a new brushplate too.  Lionel should have done this around 1990 at the beginning of the "scale" revolution.  Unless Neil Young takes pity on us, I'm starting to doubt that we'll ever see it.

As the audience was for children, the three pole universal motor was fine for the P/W years . Kids tended to run their trains fast and the Lionel engineering department met the challenge.  As for a 5 pole retrofit; I see no reason why it can't be done. You'd need a lamination die to form the commutator stack and a armature winder that many factories already have.  I would say that model railroaders would rush to buy a 5 pole armature retrofit for their P/W,  MPC/Fundimentions and Lionel LLC products. Low speed operation would be smoother and greatly improved provided that the carbon content of the lamination steel was kept minimal, . You'd end up with similar performance of the DC can motor and have the rugged durability of the Pullmore.  I doubt that it will be done by Lionel but based on volume, maybe a third party manufacturer would find interest.  BTW, Lionel LLC did develop such a motor, built a prototype that was exhibited at a show and it was stolen

Last edited by Dennis LaGrua

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