Hi Gil,

So happy you got all the parts for this one in the end, I`d have hated to have missed the end result.

Look forward to seeing the finished Orrery in all it`s glory.

Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

Nice work Gil, looks good.

Al

Well done.

A very nice end result considering some of the hassle you had with parts.

Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

Great to see this finally finished. It looks stunning!

With regards to video you might be better off uploading the video to YouTube and posting a link

Hey guys.

I was so glad that I stumbled across this forum and this thread.

I completed my orrery recently and wish I'd had you guys to chat with whilst making it.

Just a quick one first regarding Eaglemoss. I have found that they can take some time to reply to emails, I did call them twice and was through to someone straight away and resolved my issues. I have had a few pieces replaced, no questions asked. I even received my gemstones planets and one of Saturns moons had snapped off and they just replaced them all. So now I have two sets of gemstones planets, minus a moon.

As for the orrery, I do love it and enjoyed building it. It certainly seems like a good build and good quality.

I'll include some pics and a link to a couple of videos for anyone interested.

My bugs with it:

The planets arms, particularly the longer ones, do droop a little. I've made sure they're tightened of course. I did read someone's suggestions about sanding the grub screws down, so may try that. Other than that, glue them? Not ideal though if I ever want to take it down.

Secondly, the planets do not fit very well at all into the planet arms. This is really disappointing as surely just a slightly longer pin and bigger hole would have solved this. Again, I could glue them. They really do wobble quite a bit and the slightest touch and they could fall off.

And lastly, my biggest gripe with it and I'm hoping others could post a video of theirs working. It's the noise. My motor is extremely noisey. I even emailed them to say it was faulty, they did send another and it's exactly the same. I tried it whilst it's not compact in the unit to check it wasn't in wrong, but it's just as loud. I simply can't leave it turned on.

And I understand of course Pluto and the more distant planetary bodies take a hell of a long time to orbit, but even when turned right up, they barely move. Is this the same for everyone else? And when I turn it right down, sometimes it keeps slowly spinning, sometimes it just stops. Same for others?

I'll add the pictures and video shortly.

Hi Gil and MrJaffa!

I think everybody has had the 'droopy arms' problem, mine was like that from the start (first edition of this kit) although it doesn't seem to affect the rotation of the orrery. It's mainly an aesthetic point and the only way I think it can be altered is to actually add a slight bend in the inner end of the arm where it comes out of the gear to compensate. (I haven't done this to mine yet!)
Tightening the grub screws won't do a thing as its the actual weight of the thin arm and planet which is causing the droop.
MrJaffa, have you tried running the motor completely away from the drive gears? (just attached by the electrical wires) Mine is really quiet even after a few years, I'm just wondering if your gears have been over tightened somewhere which is causing the motor to labour under the strain?
As for Pluto (which IS a PLANET no matter what the IAA says!)- even under full speed it will take about half an hour if not longer for it to complete one orbit! (And I would glue the planets into their arms - I didn't and poor Eris has gone awol. If possible though, keep the Jupiter moons movable - they can just touch Saturn's ring from time to time)

Robin.

Hi all 😀

I’m new to this forum and would like some help please.

My solar planet orrery, after many years of running, has slowed to a crawl and will hardly turn even at top speed on the controller under the base.

After an inspection of the motor it appears it is on its way out. I found some identification numbers on the DC motor. 2430RE-046-6.0

Would anyone know where I could purchase a new replacement motor from that matches please. I have tried my local electronics store but they don’t have anything with 6v capacity. After looking online at the prices EBay sellers want for the original item that came with the magazine, I thought there must be a cheaper alternative motor that suits.

I’m not very clued up with matching the motor to the speed controller but I’m very capable of doing the replacement work to set a new DC motor into the gearbox.

Thank you for your time and help

Hi Bean 24!

If you can more easily find a 12v motor that fits, just use a new 12v adapter to go with it and I would think you should be fine, the speed controller should compensate for any differences.
I must plug mine in and check it one of these days!

Robin.

Hi again Bean.

I just had a thought on this, have you tried the motor disconnected from the base so it can just spin the shaft? It could (possibly) be the gears meshing too tightly to allow the motor to turn at the right speed but I'd be more worried that it could be the speed controller itself, its basically a variable resistor like a volume control in a hi-fi and they don't last forever. A worn track or even dirt inside could cause the motor problem even if the motor itself was fine.
It might be worth removing the motor and trying it off the gearing. If it still won't go at top speed try disconnecting the speed controller and applying the 6v directly to the motor to see if that would help.

Robin.

That's great Bean (well, not great as in a dead motor but great that you know it IS the motor!)
It would have been awful to replace it and then find out it wasn't at fault!
I know what you mean about the Earth/Sun model - I still have to sort out a couple of stripped thread grub screws on that one before mine works properly!
Best of luck!

Robin.