Tomix Cleaning Car, How It Works?

[HantuBlauLOL]

Hi guys,

 

i'm curious about this, especially about:

 

 

1. how effective this thing is?

 

2. what are the cleaning modes, how to switch them, what kind of mechanism the mode changer has, electrically or mechanically?

 

3. could this thing modified to run with CL power only, how?

 

4. what kind of vacuum cleaner does it use? just a fan or a compressor?

 

 

thanks!

 

 

[sedril]

1.  I use it for vacuuming up dust the rails, and I find it very reasonable.  I haven't used any of the rail cleaning pads or fluid yet.

2.  The cleaning modes are set by what's connected to the motor.  The vacuum bit is a small round fan that sucks stuff off the track.  The other cleaning modes are pads, some use fluid, others don't.  You change the cleaning modes with a small tool included.

3.  Sorry, I don't have a CL Power Pack to answer this.

4.  It's a small fan, no compressor.  The fan pulls everything into a small compartment with a fine mesh to catch the dust.

[kvp]

 

3. could this thing modified to run with CL power only, how?

They can run from CL power (stationary) and normal power. CL power is just very short bursts of normal power, so if the normal power is above a certain threshold, the lights and the vacuum turns on regardless of CL power present or not.

[cteno4]

It's excellent as a vacuum, I'm always surprised what I find in the bin after a run. I also use the spinning soft pad to do the final rail buffing after the fluid car puts down isopropanol and the centerline roller does a good job of scrubbing.

 

Btw I've stuck a small rare earth magnet on the underside of the cleaning car to pick up stray bits of metal. I find bits on it all the time!

 

Jeff

[HantuBlauLOL]

They can run from CL power (stationary) and normal power. CL power is just very short bursts of normal power, so if the normal power is above a certain threshold, the lights and the vacuum turns on regardless of CL power present or not.

 

i mean will a CL run the vacuum in full speed while the loco which pulls it runs in quarter speed?

 

It's excellent as a vacuum, I'm always surprised what I find in the bin after a run. I also use the spinning soft pad to do the final rail buffing after the fluid car puts down isopropanol and the centerline roller does a good job of scrubbing.

 

Btw I've stuck a small rare earth magnet on the underside of the cleaning car to pick up stray bits of metal. I find bits on it all the time!

 

Jeff

 

where did the alcohol came out from the car? i thought it was from the spinning part..

[cteno4]

The Tomix car has a reservoir at one end for the fluid and it comes out to the side of the vacuum/buffer circle where you put in a small strip of felt material to distribute it to the tracks. They give you a little brass weight to put in the reservoir that sits on the hole at the bottom.,this prevents much fluid from going out when the car is sitting still and then when it's moving the vibrations starts letting more fluid out the hole in the bottom.

 

I also have an old heki tank car that has reservoir and a large felt pad I use to put down a bigger layer of isopropanol before the centerline roller which gets the majority of the crud. Then the Tomix behind with the buffer pad and a little more isopropanol at the end and polish up the rails. Usually do the vacuum run before, I have used two Tomix cleaner cars at once, but it takes quite a bit of power and traction to drag the whole thing and I find that the vacuum is very easy and fast to do anytime as dust is the start to so many problems and this can get a lot of it in the critical area between the rails.

 

I've often thought of trying to drag some tape behind a train to catch hairs and stuff as well... Maybe could make a sort of lint roller car like the centerline.

 

I never use the grinding wheel. I'm in the camp that heavily scratched surfaces makes for more gunk to get stuck to the rails better and faster. Plus the amount of fine metal filing dust it could create is just not good to have around the motors. Magnets can help pick some of this up, but the grinding wheel is going to spit it all over the place. I am surprised how many small metal bits the magnet can pickup.

 

Cheers,

 

Jeff