Hi Gents,
My Dapol track cleaner stopped working a while back & I just replaced it straight away with the better CMX system, today during a work bench day I thought I'd have a look at it to see what the real damage was.
I thought the issue might have been a burnt out decoder as I'm running it on DCC, so I stripped the unit down only to find the decoder was fine ? I placed the blanking plug back into the socket & put it all back together.
I then took it to my DC layout for testing, applied power but nothing happened ?
I took the cleaner back to the work bench & dug out a spare 12v DC controller, I flipped the cleaner onto it's roof & applied power directly to the boogie wheels ? Still nothing, I then applied power directly to the pick ups on the boogie, still nothing.
I then noticed the two metal plates under the boogies, but inside the cleaner body, I applied power & the motor kicked into life. I removed the boogie assembly & these have two little springs which come off each pick-up & are in contact with these two metal plates.
Closer inspection showed that one spring on each boogie had melted (Or that what it looks like)
I was wondering if these might be available as spares ? Or is the full boogie assembly available as spares ? If not the only way I can think to bring life back into this unit is too hard wire the boogie onto the metal plates with some short pieces of wire but long enough to allow the boogie assembly to swivel ?
Any feed back will be welcome.
Cheers Mike.
Dapol Track cleaner.
Dapol Track cleaner.
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Re: Dapol Track cleaner.
Have you tried emailing Dapol, or you could post on their Facebook page.
Re: Dapol Track cleaner.
Use some thin and flexible wire, cut long enough that it has a good bend in it when in place so as not to impede bogie movement, and make soldered connections. Always better than wiper contacts for reliability.
Re: Dapol Track cleaner.
I think you need the "Dapol Model Railways B803 Track cleaner (B800) accessory pack" from the picture and memory the part you need is in there
Re: Dapol Track cleaner.
Hi Gents,
I was going to go down the hard wire option with some small pieces of copper wire between boogie & Chassis, but found the part numbers suggested are the better option at £4.25 for a set of 8, so that's one set for changing & another set for spares.
I assume given these are available quite easily (Now I know the part number) Dapol must be aware how quickly they wear out.
I know hard wired would be best, but since I do have my CMX now I think this cleaner will go on eBay once I've soldered the new springs into place. I also have the spare head set to go with this cleaner so I think someone should be picking up a nice bargain soon.
Thank you for your time & ideas/ suggestions as they did help.
Mike.
I was going to go down the hard wire option with some small pieces of copper wire between boogie & Chassis, but found the part numbers suggested are the better option at £4.25 for a set of 8, so that's one set for changing & another set for spares.
I assume given these are available quite easily (Now I know the part number) Dapol must be aware how quickly they wear out.
I know hard wired would be best, but since I do have my CMX now I think this cleaner will go on eBay once I've soldered the new springs into place. I also have the spare head set to go with this cleaner so I think someone should be picking up a nice bargain soon.
Thank you for your time & ideas/ suggestions as they did help.
Mike.
Wordsworth Model Railway Free Downloadable Card Kits can be found at here
http://www.wordsworthmodelrailway.co.uk
The Wordsworth Model Railway Photo Album
https://michael-martin.imgbb.com/
http://www.wordsworthmodelrailway.co.uk
The Wordsworth Model Railway Photo Album
https://michael-martin.imgbb.com/
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Re: Dapol Track cleaner.
Hi Mike
When the Dapol was working did you find it did the job ok? Or was it a distant 2nd plaCe to the CMX
Cheers
Guy
When the Dapol was working did you find it did the job ok? Or was it a distant 2nd plaCe to the CMX
Cheers
Guy
Re: Dapol Track cleaner.
I prefer the CMX any day. Certainly less noise.
Re: Dapol Track cleaner.
I must say that the dapol is noisy compared to the CMX, but I do like the vacuum cleaner function on the Dapol which I will miss. You will be surprised who much flock, fluff & loose ballast it collects from your track work around the layout, which can end up in your lovely loco's.
Owning both systems I do personally prefer the CMX as for me it just has that edge, I suppose the down side of the CMX is the price & the fact you need a really good strong loco to pull it around the layout, where the Dapol any loco on my layout can pull.
Hope to have my spare parts in the next day or so, I can get this lady up & running again.
Cheers,
Mike.
Owning both systems I do personally prefer the CMX as for me it just has that edge, I suppose the down side of the CMX is the price & the fact you need a really good strong loco to pull it around the layout, where the Dapol any loco on my layout can pull.
Hope to have my spare parts in the next day or so, I can get this lady up & running again.
Cheers,
Mike.
Wordsworth Model Railway Free Downloadable Card Kits can be found at here
http://www.wordsworthmodelrailway.co.uk
The Wordsworth Model Railway Photo Album
https://michael-martin.imgbb.com/
http://www.wordsworthmodelrailway.co.uk
The Wordsworth Model Railway Photo Album
https://michael-martin.imgbb.com/