Looking for helpo with a postwar ZW repair

The smoking likely came from the rollers or the arm that isn't moving.  For sure, bad rollers are the quickest way to destroy a ZW, if you score the windings, it's toast!

Which arm is not moving, the inner or outer control?  You can get parts to replace whatever is stripped, many of the parts venders will have them.  I'd try Hennings Trains, they have many of the ZW parts.  You'll have to take it apart to figure out what has stripped.

Here's a link to the Olsen's ZW Transformer Manual, and below is the handle assembly with part numbers.

I'd replace any bent arms, they're tempered and they need to have the pressure on the coils for proper function.

brushes  ignore

If you need some contact arms. I have some. Contact me wheeler359@gmail.com

quote:

 I did notice that ther rollers are worn and one of the arms does not move when I adjust the throttle, the arm stays or sticks .

As the diagram shows, there should be a small pin holding the wiper arm to the control shaft. The ends of the pin should be in slots at the ends of the arm. The arm is thus locked to the shaft. If the pin is not in those slots, there could be a lot of play.

If you move the handle, and the arm doesn't move (with the retaining pins in the proper position), I would suspect that the handle is not locked onto the shaft. 

Hi as John said we have all the parts. We make the handles and have all the rollers pins ect.

Thanks for the help, what I have determined is the smoke was caused by..a roller that was left behind , I can see that one was replaced and this one was laying inside. 

The arm is passable, but the major issue now is the shaft, The end has gnarling on it so that the inner throttle will securely attach.  THe gnarling is smooth and worn.  THus not moving the arm inside.

So I need to order the shaft, replace, replace rollers and clean. 

thanks for the help forum guys!

It may be possible to shim that up to work, taking the shaft out is somewhat of a PITA, though it can be done.

Im gonna give you the same advice

Classic Toy Trains Tech Depart gives.

LET A PRO DO IT.

when you said you are a rookie tech,

make absolutely sure you have a pro

chck it out.

household electricity is nothing to fool with

if you don't know what you are doing.

take it to a certified electrician and have them chck

out your work before and after.

Keep safe!!!!!

I have only seen the inner control (disc shaped), shaft, and wiper arm as a single piece.

As far as I know, neither the control nor the wiper arm are intended to be detached from the shaft, which is really a hollow tube.

John,   Will the blue locktite work? 

Popi.. thanks for the advice, I am an MTH Certified Tech with a background in electronics, I am just entering into the world of postwar repair.  I totally agree, too many times people open up an item and start poking and hoping, What I am unsure on is working on postwar and am starting to teach myself.  Thanks again..

You're right, maybe just buying the whole assembly would be the way to go here.  I was trying to find a way repair the existing one.

I don't think Loctite Blue is the answer, more like Loctite 380, it's a gap filling super-glue that would make sure they were always one piece.

I have re-staked the arm to the shaft in the past. It can be a pita. Best thing is to find another shaft.

Bill

you have recieved some good advise here.    it can be   "FIXED" but not worth the effort.  ..DONT GLUE IT !! trust me,  been there. just contact hennings trains [above poster] replace the shaft assy. its not all that expensive and now you will be confident with the final end result.

contact Gene at

wheeler359@gmail.com

who posted here earlier.

I bought ZW parts from him

and had them in less than

a week.

John, can you email me , I can't find your email.

bbsfdl60@hotmail.com

I didn't see any inner control handle parts on Hennings site. It could be that I missed them.
Given the prices I did see for replacement parts on Dr. Tinker and Trainz, I think I would try using some J.B. Weld.

I don't think I'd try it with the shaft in the transformer. I think I would make an alignment mark, and disassemble the transformer to remove the shaft assembly, and do the gluing on my bench.

Does not sound like a fun job.

See above posters, Gene and Popi.  LISTEN to them.   parts ARE avail.  As per CWburfle post, Yea, jb-weld is a great product. it might work OK , if you only want to keep the ZW for personal use,   but it will require some VERY careful measuring and marking while the ZW is still assembled with only the  top off. like jgr said, its critical and time consuming.  Do yourself a favor and get a NEW piece. Since it already "smoked' on you, maybe its time to say GOOD-BYE !! not worth burning your house down to save a few bucks. Source  a reputable rebuilder and get a warrentyd unit in the $150.00 Range.

You should give them a call, not everything they have is on the site.

Sure, its possible that they have a few, not enough to list them on their site. But I think the reason outer handles are relatively inexpensive is because Henning makes reproductions. If they made reproductions of the inner handle, or the assembly, I think it would be listed on their site.

I took a picture of the handle end of the inner control shaft from a ZW transformer.

Given the pattern, I don't see it as being designed to allow a handle to be removed or pressed on (of course I could be wrong).

I wonder whether the handle was molded around the shaft at manufacturing.

Regardless, that surface is certainly irregular, and I think an epoxy glue would have something to grip, provided the metal was cleaned first. The handle's hole would also have to be prepped, nice and clean, and roughed up.

I was also assuming that the handle wasn't  loose, only slipping (and given the pattern on the metal, I like to understand how that could happen, perhaps a factory defect).

As mentioned before, I wouldn't recommend using glue on an item being serviced for a customer, or an item being prepped for resale.

Looks like a job for my favored adhesive, LocTite 380 Blackmax.  It's gap filling and really strong.

if you haven't contacted Gene yet,

do so, he has ZW parts

contact Gene at

wheeler359@gmail.com

if the rod was attached using the same method

they use to use to attach screw driver handles

to the metel shaft, they would

heat the shaft to slide it onto the nylon handle

and after the shaft cooled, the handle would be

permanently attached.

I had a problem similar to this with the impeller in a dishwasher many years ago.  The solution, which worked until the dishwasher was replaced, was to drill 3 small holes parallel to the shaft, with half of the hole in the shaft and half in the impeller.  Small roll pins were installed in the holes.  This absolutely prevented the impeller from coming loose.  For this application, it would be very easy to drill the holes and install the roll pins.

An easy way to just change just the rollers is to use a pair of pliers to break the old one off the pin.  Then you can cut the pin with a pair of diagonal cutters.  Clean out all the broken pieces of the old roller and pin from inside the case.  Replace the new roller and pin.  Just squeezing both ends of the new pin with pliers will peen it over enough to hold it in place.  Same procedure works for KW's also.

I agree with crushing the old roller, but some of the pins that were used in those are pretty hard, also the space there is fairly small to fit the cutters.  I use a Dremel cutoff wheel to cut the rivet after removing the carbon roller.

HEY,  BBS  rt & lt inner handles on the bay now  7.00 each. from ju52  ending 11-10  19:19 pst.  search  zw 275 transformer.  good luck.   

I use a metal file and file the head

off the pin, remove it and the old roller

all in one piece.

Here's the actual listing, the rollers even look decent!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LIONEL...;hash=item461579d038

IMHO it was very kind of OG Fan to point out the listing. I would be surprised if the lot went for much more than the opening bid price. The controls may be expensive from a Lionel parts dealer, but its a fairly low demand part, so I don't think there will be much competition. We'll see.

I'd probably put in a bid near the single price that other places are quoting for the one, and then you can list the one you don't need and recover some money.

Buy a couple extra pins and brushes, they are cheap enough, and mistakes get made. Not hard, but Murphys pin and roller law always gets me on about 1 in 6. Careful when you close the rivet, its not difficult to over crush the pin, or side load it, bending it along its length. A bent pin makes a poor axle and your brush wont spin well. Maybe not at all.