Monorail Playset Motor Thread

[Cinerama261]

Just took this out from Xmas. It's making a very high pitched noise going forward and not in reverse. Any suggestions to fix this?

 

[boBQuincy]

The motor probably needs oil, particularly on the bearing opposite the gear. It is easy to over oil this bearing, too much oil can get on the motor brushes and cause the motor to quit running.

 

[Cinerama261]

What kind of oil should I get? Where do I apply it? Thanks!

 

[boBQuincy]

Since there are plastic pieces all around we need a plastic-compatible oil: this one works well: https://labelle-lubricants.com/shop/labelle-108-fine-oil-for-z-n-and-small-ho-locos/

The WDW and Mark VII monorails are different but the idea is the same: remove 5 screws holdng the upper and lower shells together; lift the rear of the upper shell and slide it back a bit to undo the headlights (WDW); rotate the upper shell away from the lower shell being careful not to break any wires (easier said than done, the wires are fragile).
Remove the 4 (6 Mark VII) screws holding the gearbox then lift it up and forward to get to the motor (Mark VII requires unsoldering the motor). Lightly oil the front and rear motor bearings. Reassemble being careful not to pinch any wires.
It is no fun!

 

[carevalog26]

Hello Bob, I just bought the Mark VII for Christmas and it has been less than a week and it is dead, no motor response at all with new batteries in train and remote.

All cables and soldering look ok.

Any thoughts??, totally interested in doing an upgrade as it was painful to see the model struggle around the track, just want to be sure the board and remote are ok,

thanks!

 

[boBQuincy]

Hello Bob, I just bought the Mark VII for Christmas and it has been less than a week and it is dead, no motor response at all with new batteries in train and remote.

All cables and soldering look ok.

Any thoughts??, totally interested in doing an upgrade as it was painful to see the model struggle around the track, just want to be sure the board and remote are ok,

thanks!

Sorry to read that your monorail didn't even last a week. Does the sound or headlights work? A real shadetree test of the remote is to use your phone camera to see if the remote is sending out infrared (phone cameras will usually see infrared). I have only found one Mark VII with an electrical problem (no reverse, transistor fell off the circuit board) but the quality control seems to be slipping.

 

[Rchenely92]

Hi, I just got a used monorail, looking to upgrade it. I opened it up and saw one of the gears is pretty worn out, also it barley moves backwards. I'm trying to do this cheaply so just a motor and gears replacement, any suggestions? I can do miner adjustments and soldering. I also have access to a 3d printer if your willing to share your designs! I have the WDW version, I don't know exactly which one though

 

[boBQuincy]

Hi, I just got a used monorail, looking to upgrade it. I opened it up and saw one of the gears is pretty worn out, also it barley moves backwards. I'm trying to do this cheaply so just a motor and gears replacement, any suggestions? I can do miner adjustments and soldering. I also have access to a 3d printer if your willing to share your designs! I have the WDW version, I don't know exactly which one though

Unfortunately no replacement parts are available. A popular motor upgrade is Tamiya's Hyper-Dash although I consider it to be a bit much and prefer Torque-Tuned (but the metal brushes should be replaced with the original carbon ones).
Searching eBay for "gear assortment" will bring up plenty of packs of gears at low cost. Some may fit the monorail but it is hit and miss.
My designs are a complete (and difficult) replacement of the entire motor/gearbox/drive wheels. The parts can not be printed on a consumer FDM printer (several modelers have tried) and some require finishing on a lathe.

 

[Rchenely92]

Unfortunately no replacement parts are available. A popular motor upgrade is Tamiya's Hyper-Dash although I consider it to be a bit much and prefer Torque-Tuned (but the metal brushes should be replaced with the original carbon ones).
Searching eBay for "gear assortment" will bring up plenty of packs of gears at low cost. Some may fit the monorail but it is hit and miss.
My designs are a complete (and difficult) replacement of the entire motor/gearbox/drive wheels. The parts can not be printed on a consumer FDM printer (several modelers have tried) and some require finishing on a lathe.

I saw the set up you had on the previous page of this thread with just a replacement of gears, do you know the actual gears you used? I was looking on ebay and it looks like most packs don't have duplicate gears which you would need for the two drive gears... I am a DIYer but not usually with things like this so any help would be much appreciated. The 3D printer is only a consumer grade unfortunately but I do have access to a lathe as well, my work has a bunch of fun toys Also, have you tried putting a larger battery pack in the back cart for longer run time? i was thinking of running wires through the middle carts to the back with a larger pack, I am experienced with rc planes so I was thinking of a similar system used for extending those batteries.

 

[boBQuincy]

I saw the set up you had on the previous page of this thread with just a replacement of gears, do you know the actual gears you used? I was looking on ebay and it looks like most packs don't have duplicate gears which you would need for the two drive gears... I am a DIYer but not usually with things like this so any help would be much appreciated. The 3D printer is only a consumer grade unfortunately but I do have access to a lathe as well, my work has a bunch of fun toys Also, have you tried putting a larger battery pack in the back cart for longer run time? i was thinking of running wires through the middle carts to the back with a larger pack, I am experienced with rc planes so I was thinking of a similar system used for extending those batteries.

Asking me to remember something I did years ago is a stretch when I sometimes can't remember what day it is. However I still have the modified gearbox: the gears are 32 and 34 teeth (original is 26 and 42). I don't recall why not use 34 and 34 since that seems like it would fit the original spacing of 68 teeth, the 32/34 seems a bit loose. The new gears were in one of the eBay packs, maybe there was only one 34.
*update: the 32 T gear (the one near the motor) needed some grinding of the gearbox for clearance. As I now recall the hard part was fitting the 32T to the gear below it, the 32T is a double gear (32/12) and the 12 T part has to be filed to a square to mate with the lower gear. Fun!

I have not tried larger battery packs, my WhisperJets draw about 300-400 mA so they should run for at least a few hours with Eneloop batteries (rated at 2000+ mAH)

 

[mlittig]

Any tips on how to put the tracks together when the tracks don't slide into the support easily?? I am afraid I will break something if I push too hard. Some tracks go on fine but most of them do not. Thanks.
Edited to add: I got it to work!

 

[jdj61479]

Hi,

I have a couple of different WDW monorail playsets and was wondering which type is easier to make modifications to (whisperjet motor, adafruit board for additional audio, etc.). Neither set are operated by remote control, one has passenger car doors that open and the other one doesn’t. They’re both the larger scale playsets.

Thanks in advance for the input.

 

[boBQuincy]

Hi,

I have a couple of different WDW monorail playsets and was wondering which type is easier to make modifications to (whisperjet motor, adafruit board for additional audio, etc.). Neither set are operated by remote control, one has passenger car doors that open and the other one doesn’t. They’re both the larger scale playsets.

Thanks in advance for the input.

The 50th and 100 years models have *a lot* of extra wiring over the earlier models so I prefer to work with the older (non-remote control) models. The older models also have more total battery energy for longer run times (2xAA vs 3xAAA of the new models)