8mm Forum: Toy Train advice please

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Topic: Toy Train advice please

Mark Todd
Film God

Posts: 3846
From: UK
Registered: Aug 2003

posted April 17, 2010 07:40 PM

Hi would appreciate a bit of advice re the Tomy battery operated trains the nippers are well in to at the moment, must admit I like them too now, must be a bloke thing.

Anyway these Tomy trains are upgraded motor real life copy`s of Japanses trains with faster motors than the usual Thomas blue ( plarail ) rail sets.

There are some very nice ones.

Anyway the nippers often have a few going at once, they are great fun, But they do give off quite a strong smell from the small motors.

It can actually get quite noticeable in the room and hang about etc and can then cause me to cough and feel a bit breathey etc.

Anyway after the odd cough a light went on in my head somewhere as often so strong RE Ozone production from brushes in motors !!!! and Ozone is seriously nasty stuff on your health etc.

Getting to the question !! now, is a small 1.5 volt battery motor likely to produce Ozone.

I never smelt it from my cine projector motors and far bigger and they have brushes though still faily low voltage.

Anyway as one of the nippers does have asthma thought I would ask on here as plenty of technical types and also train in the know types as well.

Thanks in advance Mark.

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Patrick Walsh
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 723
From: Christchurch, New Zealand
Registered: Jul 2006

posted April 17, 2010 08:56 PM

Hi Mark
I have noticed this smell as well on my OO gauge electric trains, also I collect old Dalek toys from the 60s and 70s and some of them create a strong smell from their motors.
I have always though that is is an age thing, all my "toys" are about 20 to 40 years old.
How old is your kid's trainset?

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"Raise The Titanic!", It would of been cheaper to lower the Atlantic!

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Mark Todd
Film God

Posts: 3846
From: UK
Registered: Aug 2003

posted April 17, 2010 09:06 PM

Hi Patrick on the whole brand new bought via ebay with the middle lads birthday cash.

Great fun but as I say a flash !!! of something I heard RE ozone popped up etc.

Best Mark.

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Steve Klare
Film Guy

Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted April 17, 2010 10:56 PM

Hi Mark,

Really not much that can be done. You can try polishing the commutator if you can get to it. The worse the contact between the brushes and commutator, the more sparking there will be. In a more expesive motor the brushes would be replaceable, but probably not in this case.

The thing about it is the motor is inductive and every time the commutator passes another segment, the energy in the now disconnected segment wants to keep the current flowing so you get a spark. There are ways of constructing the motor to deal with this, but that adds cost.

With Summer on the way a little outdoor railroading may be just the thing!

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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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