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 Posted - May 26 2011 : 11:36:40 PM
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I went to use my Dremel a few weeks ago, and remembered why I hadn't used it much - the rubber coupling was broken,and the motor spun, but the tool end wouldn't move. Grrr! So Monday I called Dremel in Racine, WI and ordered the replacement parts for this older unit, a Model 395 Type 3, the last of the Dremels with a rubber coupling, they changed over to a steel flywheel type afterwards. I bought 3 couplings so I'd be sure to have spares.  Took it apart about 20 minutes ago, and fixed it in about 15 seconds. Hardest part is finding my Torx toolbit set. LOL. had those by the PC, so wasn't hard tonight to complete this job. I've been missing my Dremel, it's very useful, but I'd been short on funds, so hadn't ordered the parts. I'm ok now, so time to fix'er up and get it rippin' again! Yay! Back in biz...
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - May 28 2011 : 9:34:39 PM
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Have you ever used it to clean loco wheels?
Once I used mine with the polishing disc (the smallest one) on the wheels of one of my N scale... after that I'm not sure if it is my mind, but seems the wheel is no longer a perfect circle :( So after that I have been careful with using it on my trains... I imagine I used too much speed and too long time, but well. I would like to try copper brush now, but not sure is a good idea...
Regards
JL
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Posted - May 28 2011 : 10:05:21 PM
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quote:Have you ever used it to clean loco wheels?
.... I would like to try copper brush now, but not sure is a good idea...
Regards JL
Originally posted by littlejoe - May 28 2011 : 9:34:39 PM
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Well, I wouldn't have used it on the PLASTIC wheels, no. Only the metal ones. I can't believe it would done much damage with just a buffing wheel on the metal wheels. But if you used an aggressive agent, it might well have taken them out-of-round. I wouldn't hesitate to use the dremel on lo-speed setting to clean the metal wheels, even with a brass wire wheel. The plastic wheels, if it has any, I'd probably just clean with Q-tips and alcohol. They definitely couldn't take much abuse. Or a small buffing wheel with alcohol , just briefly enough to knock off the crud. I've got both brass and buffing bits,so I'll probably try it out on some of my worst wheels first. But to be honest, I've never tried it on any train axle that I can remember, if so it was so long ago I've forgotten I did it.
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - May 28 2011 : 10:18:47 PM
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Hi Guys,
A few years back my 395 went up in smoke and I just can`t do without it. I was in Toronto so I took it to the Canadian supplier and they replaced it with a new one N/C
I was quite surprised .
Ken
FIDDLEHEAD RAILWAY CO.
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Posted - May 28 2011 : 10:24:12 PM
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Yeap, it was on a metal wheel while using a polishing compound. I agree that using low speed may be the key to avoid problems as I think that the dremel speed can be so fast that errors can be made in a blink of an eye  (I burn my cell phone cover while polishing it too, speed was so fast that in a fraction of a second I burn a spot in the plastic)
I learned the hard way 
JL
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Posted - May 30 2011 : 11:33:39 AM
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I've used the brass brush to clean severely dirty or tarnished metal wheels many times. It's best if you can remove the wheel and axle from the loco, but it can also be carefully done with the wheels in place. This is especially handy if you're cleaning up old Life-Like diesels. Their wheels seem to tarnish to the point where they won't conduct any electricity, even if the loco hasn't been run.
The one mistake I made was using a sanding drum to sand down a spot inside the shell of a GP20 I had repowered. I needed a little more room for the motor. The plastic got hot and melted a small hole in the shell.
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