MTH Rotary Beacon

Don't use Grease! Clean it off and use powered graphite.

My son has an MTH rotary beacon.  I'm out of town now and can't go down to the basement to check but, as I recollect, these have a small gasket with rubber "feet".  Remove the Labell's and use powdered graphite.

Curt

I see that Chuck typed faster than me.

Chuck/Curt

 

Thanks for the tip. Got plenty of graphite at work and will grab a spoonful to try here. I'll report back. 

 

No such luck on the graphite, a dry powder type. Even mixing it with some oil did not improve anything. I find it hard to believe the rubber "feet" are shot after about a half hour of run time. 

 

Any other ideas?

Remove the oil.  Completely.  Use no liquid lubricant, it will only make things worse.  Clean any and all liquid lube off the contact surfaces, thoroughly.

 

Once it's dry, see if the rubber washer with the downward-projecting fingers is attached to the inside of the rotating head.  If it isn't, try a small dab of rubber cement to hold it in place.

 

If that doesn't work, replace the washer.

 

Assuming the MTH beacon works like its Lionel equivalent, it should look something like this:

 

http://pictures.olsenstoy.com/cd/accs%5Cacc494p1.pdf

 

Try attaching the beacon to a variable voltage source, to find the voltage at which it works best.

 

Do not use liquid lube.

I used dry powder graphite and when that didn't work, added a bit of oil just to see what would happen. Both dry powder and powder with oil did nothing. Voltage had to be cranked all the way to get it to barely spin. At that voltage, the bulb overheats and the surrounding plastic gets tremendously hot. 

 

It is a brand new piece, with maybe 20 minutes of use. I'll have to give a call to my LHS, who has this same accessory on the store layout and get some tips from him.