Issues with Drive Motor and Smoke Unit

[George]

I have pretty much completed the tank, but I've encountered 2 issues I'm trying to resolve.

The first is with the smoke unit. Even after letting it run for a few minutes, it didn't produce any smoke. The little reciprocating pump seems to work fine. I removed the top of the fluid well and started it again and I didn't see or feel any heat coming off the thin copper wire that's wrapped around the wadding, but I'm not sure how hot it's supposed to get. The copper wire did appear to be connected to the board.

The second issue is with the left drive motor. I can see the rotor spinning in the casing so I know it's working, but the axle doesn't turn the pinion gear on the end of it. The pinion gear is loose on both motors, so I assume that it functions as some sort of clutch and that the axle and the pinion are fitted with just the right amount of friction so that the motor can drive the gears but should something block the track it won't burn out the motor. The right motor works fine and properly drives the track, and I can move both sets of tracks with my hand and they both seem to have the same resistance, so it doesn't seem as though the left track is caught on something or is binding. I'm not sure how to get the left motor to behave like the right one.

Any suggestions on how to resolve these issues would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Mark, The Master Modeller]

The pinion gear should be firmly fixed on the motor shaft.  It sounds like you have a faulty motor, stage 83.

The smoke generator is more tricky.  It needs just the right amount of smoke oil.  Too much and the element can’t vaporise it.  However, when it is working it only produces a tiny wisp of smoke.  Don’t expect clouds of smoke.  The real tank has very little visible smoke coming from the exhaust so lots of smoke would be unrealistic. 

[George]

Thank you for the response; very helpful.

I will empty out the tank for the smoke oil, let it dry out a bit, and try again.

As for the pinion gear, is there a way to fix it in place, or should ask Agora about a replacement?

Thanks.

[Mark, The Master Modeller]

I can’t think of an easy way to fix the pinion so I’d ask for a replacement.