Not sure how I feel about electronics in the dishwasher lol. The thought of that makes my mind explode!
Thanks for the info! I’ll give these ideas a shot
Ad far as cleaning off the circuit board goes, brush on some mineral spirits on the bottom side only, wait a few minutes, then try and brush it off. Lather, rinse, repeat so to speak. It should remove the old adhesive without harming anything. And if it doesn't, don't worry. I don't think it will hurt the functionality of the board, whether it has this old foam gunk on it or not.
As far as re-soldering the wires go, cut and strip the wires for new bare ends. Pre-tin them with solder. Insert them through the HOLES in the electrical pickups (and NOT next to the rivets), and solder from there. Use a piece of water-soaked sponge to place on the pickups where they touch the plastic, to act as a heat sink. Immediately when done soldering, wipe the wet sponge over the soldered joint in order to kill the heat. This should keep the plastic from melting. I do this all the time, and it works great.
Not to worry. Guess how they clean the boards at the manufacture? Not quite a dishwasher per se. Board that old probably cleaned by hand with MEK and brush, or was dipped in a solvent tank for flux cleaning. New stuff now days is pretty much clean water, have not seen solvent cleaning for something like 10 years. I put my keyboards or any other suitable stuff in the dishwasher when they get nasty. Ya just got to make sure that all the water is shaken out and it is dry before you use it. Heat oven to 170 then turn off; leave stuff for an hour or so in oven which works if you are lazy. Watch out for SO! I do take the keyboard apart so it is easier to shake water out. Note that there are some parts that will not stand water, usually sealed mechanical relay's ( really not sealed ) or other mechanical parts, crystal ovens, and some other special things. Those types are soldered to the board after the other stuff is washed.
Thanks for the heads up! I will inspect the board more thoroughly.
Everyone has been extremely helpful! I’m hoping to start a small Lionel layout soon with a thread to go along with the build.
Note that while regular solder itself is conductive, it is not as good a conductor as metal to metal. Connections work best if the two conductors are touching and the solder is just used to maintain the connection. Silver solder is a better conductor but requires a higher temperature.
I had to redo one of the connections because it wasn’t located in the right area, so it has a fresh connection adjacent to the old one. Old solder is just there now, no connections to it.
Looks good, GuilfordRailman. You may have to change your forum username to "LionelRepairman"!
Not sure if my repair quality is good enough for that yet lol, but perhaps in the future…Looks good, GuilfordRailman. You may have to change your forum username to "LionelRepairman"!
Unfortunately I am not an electronics guru. The best advice I can offer is to carefully check ALL of the soundboard wiring that goes all the way from the sound board to everywhere else. Make sure the insulation is solid and intact, and not rubbed thru where moving parts or wire movement could cause intermittent contact with metal frames. Make sure all soldered connections are good and not just hanging on by a strand or two.
Thanks for the information! I’ll explore your suggestions more when I get a chance.
So by not working you mean the loco is still slowing down on the one, or stalling outright? OR the turnout isn't throwing?
The loco stalls as it passes over the turnout when the switch is thrown. It works when the points allow the train to proceed straight but not into the spur track. Does that make sense?
