Model Railway Forum

Hi There

I am not too sure if this is the correct board to put this up on. If I am wrong I apologise.

I have taken out my GMX track cleaner and placed it on my circuit. I have had this for a while now and this isthe first time I have been able to get it out and run it as before I never had any room to set up a circuit. The circuit is DCC.

When the vehicle is placed on the track the Gaugemaster controller immediately shows up an error.

After examining the track cleaner I see that 3 of the 4 axles are insulated. The 4th axle is not.

If I remove the 4th axle from the bogie frame there is no error reported on the controller.

Does anyone else have this problem, or are theirs insulated on all 4 axles ?

Is there a way of adding insulation, or do I need to contact the manufacturers for a replacement axle ?

Thank you in advance for any advice/help.

Joe H

Do you mean the CMX track cleaner? I’ve never had a problem with mine.

Can’t find a GMX cleaner.

R-

I've looked at my CMX cleaner and the wheels are insulated on one side only. As the bogie frames are plastic it shouldn't matter which way round they and indeed on mine the insulated wheels are not all on the same side.

What happens if you just place this one axle on the track? Does it short the DCC system? In which case you'll need a replacement axle. Wouldn't have thought if that were the case yours is the only instance, so perhaps the manufacturers know about it already.

Apologies It is the CMX Track Cleaner, not GMX !! (Must get a set of fingers that can spell !! )

If I place the individual axle onto the track I immediately get the error message. All the other axles are fine.

Looks like I will have to get in touch with the manufacturers !!

Many Thanks

Don't have mine to hand to check, but could it be the back-to-back? Are the wheels pushed so far together that it over rides the insulated part.

I mention that as I recently had a similar issue with a loco shorting and a wise person on here told me to check the B2B and that sorted it.

A quick update.

I have spoken to the guys at DIGITRAINS this morning who have asked for the unit to be returned to them.

They have said they will resolve the problem for me.

So looking forward to having the unit back in a week or so and being able to use it without receiving error messages on my controller.

Hi

Firstly, I assume you have fitted the ribbed pad correctly and it prevents the metal block that the pad sits on is not able to touch the rail tops.

A quick visual look at the underside of the two bogies wheel sets will immediately reveal any wheel set fitted the wrong way around. See the image of my own CMX wheels and the red arrowed insulating bushes on one bogie. All insulated bushes on all bogies need to be on the same side.



The other thing to check is that the two metal pad clips are fully in place and one is not able to touch across the rail tops. One is shown by Blue arrow

Hi Brian

Thank you for the input.

However, one of the axles in question has no insulation whatsoever ! Hence the problem I am having.

As I have said earlier, I have spoken to the guys at Digitrains who have said they will sort it out for me.

I will post an update when I receive the unit back from them

Cheer 4 Now

Brian wrote: ↑Mon Jun 07, 2021 1:13 pm Hi

A quick visual look at the underside of the two bogies wheel sets will immediately reveal any wheel set fitted the wrong way around. See the image of my own CMX wheels and the red arrowed insulating bushes on one bogie. All insulated bushes on all bogies need to be on the same side.

Brian - the bogies are plastic so it doesn't matter which way round the wheels are. On mine the insulated wheels are not all on the same side and there's no problem. The OP says he has one axle where there's no insulating bush on either wheel and it shorts the system when placed on the track by itself.

Yes I know they are plastic or at least were when I got mine! Newer models could have been produced with metal frames? Mine is at least ten years old if not older. Insulated bushes should really all be fitted on the same side for total uniformity! Regardless of plastic frames.
Just tying to point out all possible causes that can cause a short. Missing insulated wheel bush is another one that the OP says one of his wheel sets has. That is the cause of the rail to rail short and should never have been allowed out of the factory, but these things happen occasionally.