Proto 3 conversion- small flywheel problems

you can make your own out of sticky label sheets and a regular printer. You may have to use a sharpie to darken the stripes if they are too light for any reason.

Others may post about a better printer or tape/label suggestion.

Thank you Joe- I was considering this route.. just didn’t know how to properly space the white and black lines….

You want to end up with 24 evenly spaced lines. 24 is the key to get speed matching when installing the sound file for that particular locomotive. I think John Will, aka gunrunner has posted a pdf of different size tach tapes. I made my own with by scanning the tach tapes supplied with the upgrade kit, then changing the size sent to my printer using the scale feature in the print menu until I had a strip that matched the circumference of the flywheel. 24 lines plus 24 spaces equal the circumference.

Pete

Excellent thank you Pete!  I will see if gunrunner still has that pdf.  Thanks again!!,

Rick

Rick, you will likely have to come up with a mount for the tach sensor. This is what I came up with.

Pete

Exactly the size of the flywheel I’m working on!  I modified the mount already- not nearly as nice as yours but it works.  Now to come up with a 24 black/white tape!

thanks again!

rick

Don’t be surprised if you can’t achieve low speed operation. I tried to convert a PS1 O gauge Blue Comet while at MTH, made the custom tach tape, but the sampling rate with the small flywheel was not adequate. Jason Wenzel was there and tried to figure it out to no avail.  Put the PS1 electronics back in it.

Here is my upgraded PS1 small flywheel engine. By sticking with 24 stripes the sampling rate will be the same as it would be with a larger flywheel.

Pete

Perfect thank you much.  I will see if I can fabricate a 24 line tape for it.  Did you print your tape or just draw out black marks evenly spaced?

Rick, I printed the tape on mailing label. First scanned the tapes MTH provides with their upgrade kit and then printed a smaller image using the reduction feature in the print menu. John’s pdf should have the correct size as there are dozens there.

The pdf images are in this thread. John’s first post is simply a copy of the tapes in the kit but his second post has a series of pdfs. Since there will be some difference in lengths due to the resolution of your printer, one listed slightly shorter or longer may actually be the correct size for that flywheel.

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...rials-andamp-manuals

Pete

I print on half-page mailing labels, I've done tapes down to around a 20mm flywheel and had no issues with operation.  Here's a set of graduated tach tape images and a nice page about making custom tach tapes by the Hikel boys.  I thought I posted these in one of the documentation threads, but I couldn't find them.

If you have a compatible gear ratio, just measure the circumference of the flywheel and match it up to one of the custom tapes to get 24 stripes.  You can also print the labels on plain paper and do "trial fits" of the flywheel if that works for you.

Custom Tach Strips for PS2-PS3.zip

I moved this topic to the correct forum.  This is a question above a proto-3 problem NOT a 3-rail scale topic!  Those of you responding, please help us by alerting us when you see topics in the wrong forum.  By placing topics in the wrong forum, it makes it that much more difficult for others searching for help.

Thanks,

Thank you John- that is a huge help!!!!!!! And sorry- I didn’t know which forum to post this topic in.

I appreciate everyone’s help!

happy railroading!

rick