Motor starting to strain under Carousel movement

Steve_J_OM

I have my Carousel (10257) powered by a Medium Linear Motor connected to a Hub (88009). There is a second motor in this Hub that is also powering the Roller Coaster (10261). 

Lately the Carousel seems to be labouring in its movement, which is putting a strain on the motor (which now alternately flashes orange and blue). I've attached a video of what's happening for reference. 

Things I have ruled out:

• It's not a battery issue
• It's not this specific motor (I tried a different motor)
• It's not down to powering two sets at once (it still happens with the Coaster disconnected)

Recently I had to fix the long technic beam that runs across the centre, as it had started to dislodge from the pins it was on. I thought that was the problem, but it has continued. It sounds sort of - I dunno, squeeky? 

One thing that might be happening is that the Light My Bricks lighting kit is somehow putting a strain on the movement. But I can't see any evidence of this. 

To be honest, I'm starting to feel resigned to rebuilding from scratch, but this post is a last ditch effort to see if I could be spared from that (I already have too many sets waiting to be built!). 

It's probably asking a lot for someone to diagnose this from a video and description, but any thoughts welcome!

https://youtu.be/Kjf1P0EwSRg

Brainslugged

Could it just be that the tyres are slipping on the grey tiles? Tyres could get worn and/or residue left on tiles. Maybe try switching out those as a first fix?

Fizyx

Brainslugged said:

Could it just be that the tyres are slipping on the grey tiles? Tyres could get worn and/or residue left on tiles. Maybe try switching out those as a first fix?

I would say it's probably one of three things, and there's likely four things you can do to help fix it.  The first possibility is what @Brainslugged said above.  Replacing the tires and cleaning the tiles would very likely help if that was the issue.  The second possible issue is that over time, part connections have begun to loosen up, and a bunch of small issues are starting to add up to a combined larger issue.  You don't necessarily need to do a complete rebuild in this case, although that WOULD likely fix the issue.  You could also do a partial disassembly, just enough to ensure that all the piece connections are nice and tight and that nothing has slipped out of place.  The final possibility is that there are damaged pieces.  Gears can lose teeth, axles can bend or deform, sometimes pieces can even twist or holes can wear out.  This is pretty unlikely unless you have run the mechanisms a LOT, or if you have put a lot of strain on them by doing things like overloading them or pushing/holding the set against the way it's supposed to/trying to move.  You would obviously have to replace any of those damaged parts.

The final thing that you can do, and that, if you plan on leaving the set together/running it often, I would highly suggest you do, is to thoroughly clean all the parts where contact is made to get get any residual plastics off the pieces that have been left due to wear, and then lubricate any places where there is movement/contacting parts in the system with a dry graphite lubricant.  You can use it very sparingly and it will go a long way, but will help a ton with wear and tear on the parts as well as reducing strain throughout the whole mechanism.

Steve_J_OM

@Brainslugged and @Fizyx, thank you both so much. 

I removed the tires, though unfortunately do not have spares in my collection. But I gave them a thorough clean, until they were looking in great condition (I could see no sign of wear and tear). I used a mini vacuum on both the tires and the tiles. Unfortunately, the problem persisted. 

I was pretty confident the problem was in that general area, so I removed the whole top assembly. I ran the set again, and that proved me wrong - it was still labouring, meaning that the problem is hidden somewhere further down. 

So I stripped the set back further - not the whole way, though pretty far back - and I've gotten to a point where the set rotates perfectly, and the motor shows no signs of struggle. So, in some sub-assembly that I have removed, there is a problem. It's a pain to have to rebuild this much, but if it sorts the problem out then it'll be worth it.

Thanks again!