I just got a "vintage" Atlas S4 (DC only, their item #8285), and am having trouble getting it to run.
Followed Atlas shell-removal instructions. No decoder, just the original light "board"...
When DC is applied, the light comes on, but the motor won't turn UNTIL I give the armature a slight nudge with a small wooden toothpick.
Then it runs fine, and smoothly! As long as I don't shut off the power, it's just great!
After power is turned down, I'm back to no movement until the armature is turned a bit.
When powered down, the armature seems to ALWAYS like to come to rest at this "dead spot". I have yet to get it to stop at any other point.
I presume this has something to do with the brushes and commutator plates, but before I attempt to dig deeper, I thought I'd ask for input from the community...
What's the cause? What's the fix?
Thanks in advance for your constructive comments!
-John
Followed Atlas shell-removal instructions. No decoder, just the original light "board"...
When DC is applied, the light comes on, but the motor won't turn UNTIL I give the armature a slight nudge with a small wooden toothpick.
Then it runs fine, and smoothly! As long as I don't shut off the power, it's just great!
After power is turned down, I'm back to no movement until the armature is turned a bit.
When powered down, the armature seems to ALWAYS like to come to rest at this "dead spot". I have yet to get it to stop at any other point.
I presume this has something to do with the brushes and commutator plates, but before I attempt to dig deeper, I thought I'd ask for input from the community...
What's the cause? What's the fix?
Thanks in advance for your constructive comments!
-John