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 Posted - January 01 2015 : 9:44:17 PM
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Anyone have a favorite chemical for cleaning tarnish, dirt, and oxidation from metal drive wheels? I have used coin cleaner in the past, and it works great for white metal casticngs but can be rough on plated items.
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Posted - January 01 2015 : 9:52:16 PM
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| White vinegar would work well. I've yet to try it, but that's the standard DIY solution for brass. You'd need to let the wheels soak for about an hour.
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Posted - January 01 2015 : 10:53:53 PM
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I stick to 91% alcohol and a cotton swab. Haven't had the need to use anything more powerful, except a brass wire brush on a dremel sometimes to polish the stubborn stuff off.
http://tycodepot.com/
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Posted - January 02 2015 : 07:44:34 AM
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a6m:
I use either denatured alcohol or 91% isopropyl alcohol to clean dirt and grease off, but for actual tarnish I use 600 grit emery paper, followed by 1200 grit crocus cloth if I really want a mirror finish. I wipe the wheels with solvent after that to remove any loose dirt.
Mention sandpaper and people will often worry about scratches, but that's only a problem when people use sandpaper that is too coarse. 600 grit paper leaves a surface with average roughness (Ra) about 6 microinches, and 1200 can leave an actual mirror finish. Both of these are superior to the factory finish.
(Except for old Athearn which are even rougher, wheels are turned on lathes or automatic screw machines, which typically achieve a finish of 16 to 32 microinches)
Being too severe with polishing will eventually wear through nickel-plating on some wheelsets, so don't do that, just polish it until the tarnish is gone. 
I also do this for oxidized track, followed by wire-brushing the sides of the rail ends, where the rail joiners make contact. After that I burnish the rail tops with a stainless steel washer, then clean them with solvent. Someone on the MR forum came up with this idea, calling it "GLEAM polishing method". It gives the rails a surface finish much smoother than the factory, and helps brass rail stay clean for a very long time.
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Posted - January 02 2015 : 12:21:48 PM
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I only polish wheels once, AB. Typically on well-aged survivors from train shows or ebay. Then nothing more powerful than the alcohol on the swab technique, or running the loco on a alcohol-soaked paper towel.
I have started the GLEAM method on track many times, but can only polish track with a stainless steel washer for so long....
http://tycodepot.com/
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Posted - January 02 2015 : 12:42:48 PM
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quote:I only polish wheels once, AB. Typically on well-aged survivors from train shows or ebay. Then nothing more powerful than the alcohol on the swab technique, or running the loco on a alcohol-soaked paper towel.
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I find that once is usually all it takes, to get the brown / green stuff off (depending how 'classic' the wheelset is!) After that I stick to solvent as well.
I really think Linn Westcott overstated the importance of oxidation. But I can't complain too much, since it makes brass track super cheap.
quote:
I have started the GLEAM method on track many times, but can only polish track with a stainless steel washer for so long....
Originally posted by JNXT 7707Â -Â January 02 2015Â :Â 12:21:48 PM
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Have you had good results from it?
Mine was all 'gleamed' on the bench before being laid, and it didn't seem too tedious, but I don't have a whole lot of track. Can only cram so much on a 4x8, and I've tried. :D
I don't burnish the entire railhead either. Just a strip, along the top, using one big washer to polish both rails. It's a bit offset from the true center of the contact patch of a coned wheel, but it seems close enough to work.
Tried to make a 'gleaming car' by gluing two washers to a wood block, but it didn't seem to work. Maybe not enough downward pressure.
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Posted - January 02 2015 : 2:39:13 PM
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Well AB, the problem is that - in my opinion - I didn't polish long enough to truly GLEAM the track. On the other hand, how do you know? The other issue is that probably a third of the track is either in the framework of a bridge or underneath a mountain in a tunnel. Not impossible to reach, but I tend to avoid it unless I notice poor performance from the locos. So to sum up, I don't think I've GLEAMED enough to give it an honest assessment.
My track cleaning regimen has varied widely. Starting out, I did the alcohol/brite boy routine. That did not seem to work well at all, or at least never seemed to work for very long, requiring constant attention.
Next came my obsession with LaBelle 105 - due to a horrible first-time experience running the layout at a State Fair for 9 days. I could NOT get the trains to run reliably without constant cleaning. And I mean CONSTANT. it was beside an open door in the summer with a lot of foot traffic - and so a lot of dust. HORRIBLE. By chance I had a bottle of this stuff in my tool bag - I figured WTH? Why not? And honestly it was as if the heavens parted and a miracle occurred. Instantly trains ran, and ran all day with nary a hiccup. I cleaned/conditioned once each morning and they ran 12 hours (yes, 12 hours each day). So I was hooked.
BUT...problem was, as well as it worked for electrical conductivity - it sucked when it came to pulling longer trains. LaBelle 105 is probably very close to plain old clipper oil. And oil is...slippery. Any excess residue at all and you are losing traction, the wheels spinning as if on ice. Plus, it does tend to attract dust/dirt, and while it conducts well it gets dirty and transfers that slipperiness/dirt to the wheels.
So now....I'm back to alcohol...and, a bit of GLEAMING as I can manage. It seems to be working well now, I rarely need to clean the tracks nowadays, and may hit it with an alcohol-damp pad about once a month or so.
http://tycodepot.com/
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Posted - January 02 2015 : 7:51:13 PM
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White vinegar is great for tarnish and corrosion -- just don't use it on blackened wheels, as it will take the blackening right off.
The Tyco Depot
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Posted - January 04 2015 : 9:57:51 PM
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I found a whole bag of old Varney brass rolling stock wheels, all corroded, and I can't make heads or tails of what to do with them. You say white vinegar will work?
ALSO - I was watching some videos on electrolytic rust removal like this one:
And I was thinking, this might be a good way to de-rust old Athearn wheelsets. I have a seemingly endless supply of old, rusted Athearn wheelsets (both Delrin and the earlier, harder plastic) that I'd like not to go to waste, but I never use wheelsets that have gotten rusty. I already polish the wheels themselves to remove all the built-up gunk from whoever ran them last, using an old washcloth (which works well and really cuts down on track gunk buildup). But would the electricity do anything to the plastic wheels? They're obviously electrical insulators so I'm guessing not, but if anyone has any experience with this, I'd like to make sure before I accidentally melt 300 wheelsets together.
--CRC
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Posted - January 05 2015 : 07:21:36 AM
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quote:I found a whole bag of old Varney brass rolling stock wheels, all corroded, and I can't make heads or tails of what to do with them. You say white vinegar will work?
ALSO - I was watching some videos on electrolytic rust removal like this one:
And I was thinking, this might be a good way to de-rust old Athearn wheelsets. I have a seemingly endless supply of old, rusted Athearn wheelsets (both Delrin and the earlier, harder plastic) that I'd like not to go to waste, but I never use wheelsets that have gotten rusty. I already polish the wheels themselves to remove all the built-up gunk from whoever ran them last, using an old washcloth (which works well and really cuts down on track gunk buildup). But would the electricity do anything to the plastic wheels? They're obviously electrical insulators so I'm guessing not, but if anyone has any experience with this, I'd like to make sure before I accidentally melt 300 wheelsets together.
Originally posted by PRR 4800Â -Â January 04 2015Â :Â 9:57:51 PM
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PRR48:
You mean the axles are rusty, right?
I can't see the plastic wheels getting damaged by this. There might be some tendency to etch the needlepoint ends, but if they're already rusty they aren't smooth to begin with.
The difficulty I could see is getting the current to the axle. Stacking them in a pile in a metal mesh basket probably won't work; the plastic wheels will insulate them, and there won't be any electric current and no electrolysis. Suspending htem individually with a wire would be tedious. I suppose you could make some sort of rack with wires to support rows of wheelsets all lined up. Maybe another rack to hold them down, does Delrin float?
Or you could just claim it as weathering, 1:1 axles are pretty rusty too.
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