2mm Dia Axles

Pannier Tank

Western Thunderer
I am looking at converting a OO Gauge Dapol Class 22 to EM Gauge. The Axle is in two halves and held together by a central Plastic Gear. I have looked at pulling the existing Wheels out to 16.5mm Back to Back, but I'm not happy with the amount of wheel left on the axle. I'm thinking of replacing the Dapol Axles with longer axles. Can anyone recommend a supplier of 2mm dia Steel Axles?
 

Jeremy Good

Western Thunderer
I am looking at converting a OO Gauge Dapol Class 22 to EM Gauge. The Axle is in two halves and held together by a central Plastic Gear. I have looked at pulling the existing Wheels out to 16.5mm Back to Back, but I'm not happy with the amount of wheel left on the axle. I'm thinking of replacing the Dapol Axles with longer axles. Can anyone recommend a supplier of 2mm dia Steel Axles?

I used wheels/axles from Alan Gibson for my P4 conversion. The wheels have either one too many or one too few spikes if I remember correctly but you can’t really see them behind the frames.

I struggled to replicate the split axle arrangement and eventually drilled through the axle and used a single axle. I then added pickups to the bogie gear tower using a copper clad strip and wiper pickups.

The other issue I had was a tendency for the loco to lift a front axle under power resulting in a derailment due to the small flanges. It may not be a problem in EM but I got acceptable running by taking out all the side play on the axles. Not sure why it worked but it did.

There are a couple of threads on RMWeb and the Scalefour Forum covering the conversion.

Jeremy
 
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Pannier Tank

Western Thunderer
Hello Jeremy,

Thank you for your reply.

I'm hoping to use the original Dapol Wheel Set with new extended axles.

I will continue with the Split Axle arrangement, but if I run into further issues I'll take your advice and go with a full length axle. All noted with regards to the side play on the axles, I intended putting some Packing Washers to eliminate this problem.

I think I'll probably just get a length of 2mm steel so that I plenty of spare in case the split axle doesn't work out.

I've seen the RMweb and the EM Gauge 70s Layout Class 22 threads which were very helpful. In fact it was Tim's conversion on RMweb that convinced me to extend the axles.
 

Neil

Western Thunderer
I don't know how much meat the Dapol wheels have but I've tacked several Bachmann 24 chassis conversions to EM by just pulling the wheels out on the axles. They spent many hours trundling back and forth on Shell Island and many laps of my bigger layout Morfa without causing any bother at all. Perhaps worth trying, if it proves unsuccessful you can always go for a more engineered approach.
 
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AJC

Western Thunderer
I don't know how much meat the Dapol wheels have but I've tacked several Bachmann 24 chassis conversions to EM by just pulling the wheels out on the axles. They spent many hours trundling back and forth on Shell Island and many laps of my bigger layout Morfa without causing any bother at all. Perhaps worth trying, if it proves unsuccessful you can always go for a more engineered approach.

Works for Heljans, too. Not sure that the mechanics of the Dapol 22 will allow that. I think dad skimmed the wheels on his on the lathe but I can’t remember what he did with the axles.

Adam
 

Pannier Tank

Western Thunderer
I don't know how much meat the Dapol wheels have but I've tacked several Bachmann 24 chassis conversions to EM by just pulling the wheels out on the axles.

That's the problem, the axle was barely 2mm into the Wheel, and the wheel would turn on the Axle with little force. I know people have got away with pulling out the Dapol Wheels to Gauge, so it is possible. I'm probably being a bit over cautious as this is my first attempt at re-gauging a Diesel Locomotive with Split Axles.

I'll report back when the conversion is complete.
 
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