While only using three cars, I feel this is a pretty good test. I was very impressed with the grip this wheels and traction bands offer. I made a quick point-to-point layout so I could do some testing in both directions and through some BrickTracks r104 switches. I could not wait to throw down some track and get some cars out. It is nothing a little sandpaper cannot fix though. So this must be a one-off on one of the wheels. When I put some sideways pressure on the opposite side, the sticking sensation seemed to vanish. I removed the wheels to try to see what was causing the sticking and my only conclusion is that one of the injection points on one of the wheels was causing this. This did not seem to be a noticeable issue in my powered tests in section 5. After closer inspection it appears that some of the injection points are ever so slightly rough enough to get caught on the technic brick frame. In my push test I did notice that the inside of the wheels seemed to get caught on the frame of my “locomotive” in the video below, you can see how I am attempting to push the locomotive along but the wheels are getting caught and causing it to stick. You can see this in the powered test video in section 5 The Powered Tests. This is the conclusion that I came to because when I changed the wheel arrangement to x-6-x or F-B-F I had no issues with r40 curves. The traction bands on both sides of my frame also contributed to the additional friction but it was mostly the wheel flanges. Also, since the conical shape of the rolling surface is too fine to really be of any use in properly negotiating a curve of such proportions it really does not make sense to measure this. The flanges rubbed on the rails very hard and caused too much friction. As I expected in the F-B-B-F arrangement r40 curves were no good. So I quickly threw together a little frame and with make-shift side-rods to test “brumming” these wheels along the track with my hand. The name of this test comes from the sound one makes with their voice as they push a toy car along in play. (As of this writing, this is un-tested but I plan to add this to my future testing. At first I was confused by this, but I have come to realize that by putting traction bands on blind drivers, one could power an axle of blind drivers and still run your locomotive. I noticed that even the blind driver wheels have the traction band groove. The grooves are pronounced enough to snugly hold a traction band, allowing just enough of the band to be exposed on the rolling surface to give the wheel traction, but not so much so as to raise the wheel off the rail head by a noticeable amount. These appear to be built in the mold, so there is no evidence these were machined into he wheels after coming out of the mold. The new great feature of this product is the size of wheel with traction band grooves. The tolerances on all eight wheels are very precise. The axle holes also have just the right amount of friction to rival that of LEGO® equivalent connections. There is no lateral movement meaning the pins do not slide around but are secure yet have complete freedom for rotation. I tested this with different types of pins and they all easily snap in with a good little click. (See size chart for reference) The photo below has the BBB #11 on the left and the LEGO(R) #9 on the right. These wheels do not quite have the same glossy shine as the #9 wheels produced by LEGO®. On the back, you can hardly tell where the injection points are located. Here are the wheels with the bands and without. As you can see, these are injection molded and have a superior finish to 3d printed wheels. They arrived with the traction bands already in place. This will allow for a steam locomotive wheel arrangement of x-8-x. He asked me to provide a review on these wheels and so here goes: Below is the current wheel size chart.īen has had #11 wheels available for quite some time now and only recently has added traction band grooves. This review is on-going in that I have already done some testing and playing with these wheels but as I sit here writing the review, new and different tests, views, needs for photos are occurring to me so I will be updating this review as time permits. Being size 11, this means these wheels are 11.5 plates in diameter measured on the rolling surface. These would be XL size under the old name scheme. I am here with NAOLTC (North American Online Lego Train Club) to provide a review of Big Ben Bricks #11 size steam driver wheels WITH traction band grooves.
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