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I finally got round to work not he failed 88008 motor from the summer. I removed the backplate/brush holder and it was immediately obvious that the brushes were damaged. Here are the brushed from the replacement motor. The backplate/brush holder fit the original motor without any issue and it ran fine. The gearbox had dried up, so I applied a little mineral oil before reassembling everything. Then I refitted the motor into its locomotive and ran it up and down the layout for some time. I'll see how it holds up and try to find a source for just the motor backplates.

Excuse me, this is not directly related to brushless motors, but I believe the experience here might help. As a train builder, I'm a fan of LEGO's 88008 motor. Not only for it's compact size, but also for it's slow speed ability due to PID control and the use of PyBricks with PUP. Unfortunately I've had two of these motors fail and they are now discontinued, the price will only rise. I have sourced what I believe to a replacement motor and I will try to remove the gear from the original with heat, set it onto the replacement and shorten the shafts. Alternatively, has anyone experimented with reusing the 88008 control board with a completely different motor and housing?

@Lok24 have you had any 88008 failures?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/30673753@N05/ It wasn't the internal gearing that failed, rather the DC motor itself. It will rotate in one direction but not the other. The 'propeller' can be popped off the rear shaft. Replacement motors appear to be for sale on AliExpress but I need to double check measurements next week. https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-rf%252d300-dual.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.search.0

I've had my second 88008 Medium Linear Motor failure in 4 years. I assume it's the internal gearing. The first runs one way, but not the other. The second runs fine in one direction and clicks in the other. It's hard to quantify, but I wouldn't say I run them particularly hard. Has anyone take one apar?

I’m not planning to get into 9v, so my take my opinion with a grain of salt, but 9v motors replicate something that’s already available. Power pickups open up new use cases. 9v powered PF for multiple train operation and medium/large motors for more torque and realistic speeds

I'm interested to see what replaces Powered Up, but seeing as the firmware on the new Porsche hub is signed and PyBricks cannot be installed, I'm not very hopeful. I just got a hub, remote and a few extra bits for a good price second hand. I need to keep an eye out for more, as well as 88008 motors.

Checked the half priced hubs in the morning, sold out by the noon when I went to order. I’d be using custom/third party electronics if anything existed like the rotation sensor motors and PiD control

Looks very interesting, do you have an operations schedule/plan?

Ropefish, your image is not available. Are you able to replace it?

That's good to hear, I just need to wait for my parts to arrive now :D

Thank you. You have no problem with the top gear meshing?

Do you have an operations plan?

Thanks Faph, I'm trying to gear down my Boost motor loco. I'm waiting for parts to arrive but I'm trying out some different configurations in Stud.io. I'm assumed the gears need to be supported from both ends to stop them slipping.

I think he is using 12t bevels and only drives the front axle. It looks like you’re using 12t-16t, but only supported on end of the axles? Then I assume another 12t at the bottom?

What gearing are you using?

Sorry for the late reply! The reason I asked was because I had trouble with my BR 08 (0-6-0) binding when driving only the rear axle and using side rods. I had better results driving the middle axle but I ended up driving the front and middle axle. This YouTuber managed to fit 88008 motor in there.

PyBricks uses a different PWM frequency which is quieter https://github.com/pybricks/pybricks-micropython/commit/030dd66fc0066290a1ab842fd387d11e8a8a2aac Have you tried creating PyBricks script from scratch?

It runs okay driving just the rear axle and relying on the side rods? I had trouble doing that with my 08

BatteryPoweredBricks, I'm working on my own replacement for Lok24's script. It won't be as advanced, but it has one key feature for me, the ability to set the target speed while the motor is still accelerating. Lok24, did you notice any delay in the speed control when using motor.run? I'm getting a kind of pumping action as I run trains around s bends, as if the PID control is wildly over compensating and then under

Thanks Polarlicht. I ended up ordering genuine 57878 wheels for all my wagons.

Mine are 14 long, 6 wide and maybe 150g each. My layout has lots of back and forth, slow shunting over R40 an crossover and switches. The cheapest option would be to replace the BB wheels with Lego wheels on the existing ballbearing wheel sets. On the downside they are noisy and I never settled on any detailing to go around them.

As mentioned in the Community BlueBrixxs thread, I’m planning to switch from my ballbearing wheel sets to Lego holders. I decided to order Chinese axles and bearings and BB train wheels and technic bricks after reading the negative opinions regarding Lego’s switch to all-plastic wheel sets. My choice now is between metal axle and all plastic wheel holders. It seems like Moz’s testing shows that the all-plastic design isn’t as bad as originally assumed, particularly with curvy layouts, which is what I run my short wheelbase wagons on. Unfortunately I have no way to source a set locally for testing so I’ll need to order online and it makes sense to order a batch. Is anyone else happy with the all-plastic design? Even better, is anyone running them over a trixbrix triple switch?

Regarding BBs train wheel sets, I have a similar but almost inverse issue. When I first became interested in Lego Trains and read about the new all plastic wheel sets and how much better ballbearing wheel sets are, I ordered the bearings and axles from AliExpress and the wheels and technic bricks from BB. This week I received a triple switch from TrixBrix that has a small bump, or guide, each side making the inside width slightly narrower than normal straight track. This causes BB wheels to significantly jump up. The first wagon in this video is all Lego, the second has BB wheels on Lego axles in Lego wheel holders I assume this means that the wheels are tricker or the flanges are a different angle? Lego wheels on AliExpress axles work fine. After reading that the newer all-plastic wheelsets actually reduce resistance on R40 curves, I think I will order those. Running my layout involves going back and forth over an R40 crossover and two R40 parallel switches continuously.

Thanks Dtomsen I did see L-gague's instructions, but as they are for brick built ballast, I wondered if their base layer was overkill. I placed an order for 1x2s and 2x2s and I'll see how I get on