Upgrade or replace Spring-Belt Drives?

[Schraddel]

I would like to remember to my VGN class AE rebuilding project where I plan tu build to rubber ring drives.



The last idea is inserted into drawing - I replaced the single rubber rings by a double ring drive. And I'm sure that it should work!
Unfortunately my construction is yet a plan and so I can not show you practical results.

Several years ago Roco of Austria made a model of the Austrian crocodile Class 1189. They had rubber belts in their power train.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.roco.cc/de/service/spareparts/index.html?p=y&ssp=72509">http://www.roco.cc/de/service/sparepart ... &ssp=72509</a><!-- m -->
=> load the pdf for the spare parts pictured list.
# 18 is the rubber belt. It is simply an industrial O-ring normally used for gasket purposes. When new, everything is o.k. The loco will run very smooth.
But beware when the o-ring is aging. At first a little portion of the plasticizer migrates out of the o-ring. The O-ring becomes a little bit more stiff, but still will do it's duty. You can see it when the amprerage of the loco rises above the normal level.
Things grew worse as times goes by.
Until the so much plasticizer has migrated out of the host plastics and will lead to the loss of flexibility, tensile strength, embrittlement, and at least cracking. Tensile strength, that is what the O-rings will abducted a little bit here in this case, can be lost as soon as 2 - 3 years after. It does'nt matter if you run your loco or not, it is a matter of aging. In gasket purposes the O-ring will last much longer time because it has only to bear static loads.
So be wise and choose a common dimension of this ISO3601 O-rings that will be available for replacement in the future too.

My 2 Cents

Lutz