Quieting An MTH Rotary Beacon

RickM46 posted:

I bought three Lionel 494 rotary beacons from the Bay a few years ago; I ran them on about 7-8 volts off of a ZWL transformer and got slow rotation and they were quiet - had to replace the nubbed rubber washers on 1 to get it to work well but after that, no issues - all quiet.  One last thing, when first powered up, one would not rotate till it 'warmed up' - maybe a few minutes.

Thanks Rick. I also have a ZWL transformer, but haven't throttled back the voltage to that low of a reading.  I would have to reconfigure the wiring, and add a second transformer to go with that low of a voltage, although it's doable.

Lou1985 posted:

I've had the same Lionel modern era rotary beacon (made in 1996) for years. It's been pretty quiet the entire time. I replaced the rubber washer once and use a little bit of graphite between the washer and the vibrator motor. Never had an issue. The trick is to not fasten the beacon to the table. Instead just put it on some soft scenery. That will keep noise transfer to the layout at a minimum.

Thanks Lou.  This particular beacon seems to vibrate whether it is attached to the table or not -- likely because the table has 1" homasote on the entire table, and, the screws don't reach to the table itself.  I also tried rubber underneath the base, and that didn't seem to make much of a difference.  I think my powdered graphite arrived, so I'll try that.