My 2046 smokes like a champ, the 681 barely smokes at all. Any suggestions?
You will have to check all the usual suspects.
-Is the element heating up appropriately?
-Is the smoke lever exerting a full stroke on the piston?
-Is the piston moving freely up AND down?
-Is the cylinder-to-bowl vent clear/unobstructed?
-Is there adequate wadding in the bowl?
-What smoke medium (pellet/liquid) are you using?
Using the 2046 as a good working example, you can probably drill down each of these items. Both locos can be run with the cabs off to compare them side by side.
Rob
Rob has asked some great questions. If you answer “yes” to all, your engine will smoke great. Usually a blocked hole in the “chimney” in bowl of smoke unit. If wadding in bottom of bowl is chared, remove and put in pink fiberglass insolation [yes that used for houses, steal some from your attic]. Piston must travel to the top of the unit and yet, fall freely to the bottom without coming out of unit. Good luck.
thanks guys, now that i think of it, didn’t Chief post something about making post war locos smoke better not too long ago. anyway, now i have something to follow.
Mike
OGR has a backshop video on this. Mainly it shows how to bend the “tongue” to make the piston make full travel [bet you can figure that one out]. Rest, follow the suggestion about pink insolation [Mr. Barrett hasn’t learned that one yet]. The last one I worked on, I converted to new style heating element [that has plastic top]. Really smokes. Just make sure the element is touching the pink. If it chars over time, take it out and put in new [real cheap].
I’ve mentioned this many times before: You can effectively boost the voltage to the smoke generator by dropping the voltage to the motor (and the headlight if you want). Making the motor voltage lower than the smoke-generator voltage is the same as making the smoke-generator voltage higher than the motor voltage.
You can do this with a resistor, but getting the right size is tricky. A better way is to use rectifier diodes, not for rectifying but for their voltage drop. A convenient way to get diodes for this purpose is to use packaged bridge rectifiers, like the Radio Shack 276-1146 4-ampere 50-volt bridge, and connect the + and - terminals together. Then connect the other terminals (maybe marked with ~) in series with the motor and any other bridge-rectifier modules you use–but not the smoke generator. You can use several of these in series if you need to and have room for them. Each one will lower the motor voltage by a volt or so. If you find that you need finer adjustment, you can use half of a rectifier module by connecting to the (wired together) + and - pins and either or both of the other two pins.
Bob is right. He taught me how to do this in reverse. I wanted to smoke a dummy diesel. To prevent too much smoke and burning out the smoke element, we reduced the voltage with these. I also have used it in several application to reduce voltages. 5 turne dout to be too many for the smoke unit at 18V in command. 3 was the majic number for that.
Chief,
Is pink fiberglass better than yellow? I know you recommend the pink.
Jim, the color doesn’t matter. Both work the same.
Jim,
Thanks for your reply.
Chief, excuse my ignorance but what does OGR (O Gauge Railroading??) stand for and is it a free video clip or one to purchase?
Mike
Jim,
I recently put a new pill-type smoke element in a 2037. I also placed some fiberglass insulation under it. It smoked great. Then one day this week, I took the shell off to swap with a better shell. I put it all back together and ran the engine. No smoke. Eventually I detected the problem. When I put the new shell on, I accidently knocked the puffer lever out of it’s grooves, and it wasn’t pumping. Once I fixed that, it started smoking good again. If that lever isn’t moving, or moving far enough, it won’t puff smoke.
Jim
Backshop Videos are not free. You have to find the right volume #. Check OGR site [O Gauge Railroading].
ezmike,
Among other things, OGR is a magazine, store and a Q & A forum. Their forum is still free; lunch is not.
Thanks guys, yes, there’s no such thing as free lunch, there’s always a catch. I appreciate the help. I’m gonna go through that check list tonight and see what happens. I’m not sure I understand what has to be done to the rod, but I’ll compare it to the 2046 and see what I come up with. I’m still feeling my way around so it takes a little longer. At least I guessed right with OGR!!
Later!
Mike
Okay guys, I went through the check ist last night.
-Although I don’t know what proper heating would be, I dropped a pellet in and it melted pretty quickly.
-I both hand turned the wheels and ran it in test mode and it looks like the piston comes all the way down without coming out and all the way up.
-Looks like the piston moves freely.
-I cleaned out the vent.
-I replaced the wadding with “new” pink insulation.
Still not as much smoke as the 2046.
I’m gonna take her apart again to check that the piston is not coming out of the cylinder at all, I don’t think it is. If when I do that I want to ensure full stroke of the smoke lever, where do I bend it and in which direction? Also, the smoke unit is one with a metal top.
Thanks again for you assistance.
Hard to describe. Works off of a cam. Bend on the piston side of the flat “tongue” like piece. Now, put about 5 or 6 drops of LIQUID smoke fluid in it. Bet it smokes better. FLUID??? Yes, the pill turns to fluid. So, speed up the process. In fact, to start the process, I would put 12 drops to soak the pink. Try it. OH, make sure the pink does not block the vent.
The spring is a good suggestion as I used it in all my postwar steamers as per Lionel’s original service manual instructions. they originally had said it’s for quieter operation but I think it helps force more smoke out of the stack.
If this doesn’t help I would take a turn off the element or replace it. I have heard that repro elements need a turn taken off of them as well. I have some original elements from Jeff Kane at traintender so he might still have some.
Mike S.
I’m ordering some parts from Jeff either tonight or tomorrow. I’ll try the 2026-44 spring. I don’t know what you mean by “need a turn taken off the element”. The smoke unit looks original. I’ll also check with Jeff about these too. Are you suggesting to use original Lionel elements or a repro from Jeff?
Mike