Rotary Beacon Not Rotating

Scott,

While the black rubber ring may look fine, it also has "nipples" on top side.
At some point they start to wear and lean, which also causes the beacon not to turn. That may be your problem.

Secondly, I would also clean the silver ring piece at the bottom of the rotating beacon, ie the part with the red and green light. That is the piece that comes in contact with black rubber ring. The rubber from the black ring over time will build up on the silver piece.

Hope this helps.

Erol

When mine stoppedworking I was given the advice to put some powdered Graphite on the surface that the tiny fingers sit on (top of the vibrating motor). This worked for me and it has worked ever since. Every once in awhile it will pause but then starts right back up again. Should also reduce the volatage needed to make it spin.

They do make repro rubber bushings with the fingers on them. Any of the popular part suppliers should have them. You will also need to purchase the double sided die cut sticky ring which hold it in place. A word of advice.....buy extras of these!

Any quality MTH dealer shoule have the drive washers, as they are called. I recommend Chuck Sartor at Mizell Trains. He is fairly close to you, and has great customer service. Order several, as shipping will cost more than the part. Or order other parts you need from him.

My Lionel version of the tower had problems as you described. I did the same as Strogey and used the powdered graphite. She spins just perfectly now with no hesitation or stopping.

Thanks everyone.

I cleaned off the beacon with a magic eraser and lubed her with some power graphite and she works like a gem! Gonna order some drives washers in the next couple of days. Great advice!

Scott, the main question having been answered I hope you won't mind if I piggyback off your thread.

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??

Btw, I also have the '50s Lionel rotary beacon. Mine has been working OK for many years, excepting around ten years ago the parts mentioned here were replaced.

What I attribute the successful long frequent running to is using only the least amount of current possible to rotate it at the slowest speed possible. I do have to jack it a little on start up to get it going, but then drop way back. One of these days, I'll have to check it with a voltmeter to see what current it likes best.

I have the Kline version and it came with paper washers. It is a little finicky but generally works with the paper washers. Does your version have that.

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??

Ginsaw,

In my own experience, those type of rotary beacons that relied on the rising heat from the bulb to rotate the beacon never really worked all that well. It needs at least 16-18 volts to generate enough heat to operate somewhat decently, but due to the pin/dimple design and the general flimsiness of the beacon housing it still has a tendency to wobble somewhat, not to mention even the slightest disturbance of air, whether from a fan blowing in the room somewhere, a breeze from a window, or an AC/Heating vent would either make the beacon stop rotating, get stuck rotating slightly back and forth, wobble even more, or the worst part, the pin losing its balance on the dimple, causing the beacon to fall down on and get askew on the bulb, which could then melt or warp the lenses if left unattended. There are so many of these out there that have either melted lenses, bent/distorted beacon housings, or both. It's just not a very good design.

That's probably why, in Lionel's case at least, they discontinued that model (the 394) and replaced it with the 494 that uses the vibrator motor. So my own recommendation, take your Marx piece and relegate it to a display piece, and get either the postwar or one of the modern-day beacon towers that have the vibrator motor.

quote:

I hope you won't mind if I piggyback off your thread.

All yours mate - no worries!

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

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.

"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.