Liquid smoke unit conversion-fiberglass and no wick

Classic Toy Trains Forum
1

Been reading about the fiberglass insulation packing and chucking the sock that comes with the kit.

Some questions for the smoke pros before Iattempt this:

1-How full should I pack the bowl with the fiberglass instead of using the Lionel pacman?

2-The resistor-should it touch the fiberglass in the bowl and not have the white sock on?

3-What does the sock do, does it lessen the life of the resistor?

4-How much more smoke will this make?

Thanks in advance for tips and suggestions.

Thanks

Northern

2

I’m sure not a smoke pro but I just did the smoke unit repack on my Polar Express Berk. Jr. First thing I noticed after I opened it was that there was no “sock” on the resistor, which just looked like, well, an electronics resistor. Second thing was that the factory wicking material was scorched silly where it touched the heating element.

A quick trip to the attic produced a small amount of pink fiberglass. Out with the old, in with the new. I removed more than I put back. I was careful to not block the two air puff holes, so I put the f.g. mostly in the center of the unit, making sure that it came in contact with the heater at the bottom and the sides but not on the top of it.

The end result is what I feel is a minor improvement in smoke production over brand new performance. My Pennsy Flyer 4-4-2 makes lots more smoke but at least now the smoke from the P.E. loco is more visible.

Pete

3

Some years ago, I suggested that rock wool might tolerate the high temperatures better than glass wool, which is what fiberglass insulation is. Someone volunteered to try it; but I never saw a report. (I didn’t try it myself because I don’t have any of that kind of smoke generator.)

By the way, the advice to use glass wool always refers to it as pink. That color is just an Owens-Corning trademark. The white kind should work the same.

4

Throw away the sock.

Element needs to touch the insulation [I have been told but haven’t tried, tiki candle wicks will work well and not char]. Do the heat will not make it to the smoke fluid.

Don’t block the air passage [in steam puffers like PE, has chimeny; fan units have an air passage].

If using fiberglass, use a lot of fluid. If you don’t, it will char.

Good luck.

5

try this page. I did it and wow what a change! I left in the original Lionel stuff but removed about 1/6 of it. I removed the sock too.

http://web.archive.org/web/20071220074552/http://norm.beesky.com/smoke.html

Joe