My MTH 30-9033 Operating Red & Green Rotating Aircraft Beacon completely stopped spinning.
![Eek](/static/images/graemlins/icon_eek.gif)
Other than that can you help with some tips or tricks for the thing?!?
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quote:Originally posted by Ginsaw:
I have a '50s Marx rotary beacon that rarely rotates. It's not motorized but works off a pin in the light structure that rests on a dimpled bulb.
Any ideas??
quote:I hope you won't mind if I piggyback off your thread.
My nipples are fine (I'm referring to the ones on the rubber gasket - LOL!).
The metal washer is clean and in place, but the rotating beacon vibrates and seems to be struggling to spin.
Where can I find powered graphite? I need to try this trick.
Thanks,
Terrence
Ginsaw:
I had one of those when I was a kid and, as John notes, it never really worked well. I usually resorted to blowing on the doggone thing to make it turn. When I got back into the hobby as an adult and decided it was time to add a rotary beacon to my layout, I went for the motorized version with no reservations.
Curt
Where can I find powered graphite? I need to try this trick.
Thanks,
Terrence
Any hardware store should have it.
0 0 o o Carl Benvenuto
0 ____ ____.
Y__._|[]|_/ CB |
{|__|_|__|______|
//ooo==OO-oo--oo
I have heard that baby powder will give like results!
I have heard that baby powder will give like results!
Are you serious?
I didn't have any powdered graphite on had so I took a pencil and just rubbed the point all over the washer that is under the part that rotates (covering the light bulb). It helped a lot. My beacon is rotating, but I still hear an occasional buzzing sound from the vibration that makes the thing rotate.
Tomorrow I will stop in at Home Depot or ACE hardware and pick-up some powdered graphic. Hope it makes my MTH beacon rotate like a tornado! Well, at least like it should (without the buzzing sound).
YES! It worked on my MPC unit.
Cornstarch works fine, too.
I hope someone here can help me.
My MTH 30-9033 rotating beacon light bulb just burned out! Grrrr! I Googled and even looked on MTHtrains.com and I cannot find any replacement bulbs for the beacon.
It's a 14 volt clear round bulb that is NOT threaded (it does not screw in). The base of the bulb just has two "dimples" that stick out ever so slightly -- like the bolts on Frankensteins neck.
All I can find are screw in type bulbs. I even searched Amazon for Flashlight bulbs. Ebay only has screw-in theaded type bulbs.
I hope that one of you awesome experienced train fans can point me in the right direction.
Thanks in advance,
Terrence
Sounds like you have the "bayonet" type bulb. You should be able to get one at the Shack. They are usually found there in the various parts drawers, usually in the back of the store.
Or, you can get tehm over the net.
Sounds like you have the "bayonet" type bulb. You should be able to get one at the Shack. They are usually found there in the various parts drawers, usually in the back of the store.
Or, you can get tehm over the net.
"Bayonet" bulb, eh? I'll pop into Radio Shack tomorrow and see if they have this bulb. Thanks.
UPDATE:
I found this 14V miniature "bayonet bulb" online at bulbtown.com for 65 cents a piece. I hope this is the right bulb for the MTH rotating beacon. It looks right compared to the one I have tat blew out, but photos can be deceptive when it comes to perceiving the actual size.
You're probably looking for a #53. That's 14.4 V, 0.12 amps. The 53 will work in any case.
In my opinion, all of the rotary beacons are problematic and unreliable. Given the low cost of small electric motors we can get these days, why not try this idea. You can regulate the motor speed by varying the voltage with a potentiometer.
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