[T-Man]

Found this in a junk box purchase, attached to a Lionel tender.

The small hole on thr right is not the piston but air is forced through it.

 

[SkyArcher]

Cool! Does it run?

 

[tjcruiser]

T-Man,

I've read about those, but never seen one or heard one. From your photos, I see a motor (field, brushes, etc.) moving a crank that drives some sort of a piston / cylinder ... a soft air whooshing noise? a friction rubbing sound?

What gives, T? Enlighten us!

TJ

 

[Stillakid]

Bob, very nice! What shell did they have over it? From the size, I'm thinking something like the scout metal shell(1689?)

 

[T-Man]

WOW a captive crowd.

It does work. Not loud though.
It is in a modern shell 2446 or something sim. 1666T-4. I installed some railings.
I will do a video with a quiet engine.
Nobody else has one????

 

[Stillakid]

Bob, how loud without the shell? Maybe you need to "alter" the tender. Something like cutting out the coal load and replacing it with some black, speaker fabric?

Have you seen this?

http://www.shifrin.net/trains/service_bench/chugger/chug-service.htm

 

[T-Man]

I never considered the volume.
It came with a set I bought in the 80's. Not sure which one. I cleaned it up and it ran. I suspected it might be AF but never found any documention. Too bad I can't print any information on it. I got the diagram to print though. It's just like the diagrams, cylinder, switch and motor. The frame wasn't marked but I repainted it. The shell is a 1666T-4.
Mechanically there is nothing wrong with it. There was nothing else AF that was in the box so I do not have the original tender. The holes were crudely cut so I cleaned them up a little. I did redo the screw holes three were bad. I won't touch the shell but have a reason to look at another. I would cut a side out and cloth it.
This is a printable link.

 

[Reckers]

Bob, it's similar to the AF chuffing mechanism that goes in the steam engines. The earliest steamers with the chuff/smoke had it in the tender; SIT or SIB are the acronyms used for "Smoke in Tender" or "Smoke in Boiler" to identify which version of the same locomotive is being discussed.

 

[SkyArcher]

So what does it sound like? A whoopee cushion?:laugh:

 

[Reckers]

Probably like me at 4 am, after beer and Taco Bell with my son at midnight. There's the slow-speed, thoughtful "chuff.......chuff.......chuff......" or the high-speed, "Let's get this over with!" rate of "CHUFF-CHUFF-CHUFF-CHUFF-CHUFF-CHUFF----CHUFF--------chuff.................chuff...." that wakes my girlfriend up and drives her outta the bedroom!

 

[Reckers]

*LOL* Timboy, I'd have to concede you're right on that one.

Sky, if it's like the chuff mechanism in the AF steamer engines, it sounds remarkably like a real steam engine does: a very pleasant simulation of the timed steam-release as the piston in the steam chest flies back and forth---chuff...chuff....chuff. As the engine moves faster, it chuffs faster, just like the real thing.

In a car, the piston slamming down drives a rotary crank; this is the reverse. A crank drives the piston up to make a chuff as air is compressed at the top of the cylinder, then is drawn back down as the crank rotates further.

 

[tjcruiser]

So, Reck ... that was my question above ...

The sound is made via air (like a low-frequency pipe organ), rather than friction of the sliding cylinder ???

TJ

 

[Reckers]

Teej, I'd have to take my engine apart to make sure how it works, but I can tell you this much: there is a small piston that is driven by the train's electric motor: the worm gear that drives the wheels has an extra gear resting above it and engaged with the worm gear. That gear is relatively large in diameter; on the flat face of the gear, near the teeth, is a pin. The pin connects to a piston rod and that rod to the piston; the piston is forced up a metal cylinder and then drawn down again, over and over. What I don't know is how the air being forced out at the top of the stroke creates the chuff sound. I suspect it's simply the sound of air being forced out of the top of the piston through a narrow opening.

 

[T-Man]

Jim gave me the maintenance manual in a link. The pipe organ theory holds.
I repaired the brush holder years ago, it cracked. I have been cleaning grease from the seal. I have noticed my number 2 washer is loose and out of position. At this point I don't want to remove number three in the way.

As you have mentioned it, the appearance is similiar to the 1962 model I worked on.

The hole of the first piece. The next picture has the third piece, the reed I guess slightly bent.

This one sort of shows the number two not flush with the end behind the reed.

The back end.

The plunger. I think, I used vaseline not grease on the leather.

 

[Reckers]

I stand corrected!!!!

 

[SkyArcher]

I guess we can't blame it on the train...

 

[tjcruiser]

T-Man,

Excellent surgical photos. The innards (reed, leather-wrapped plunger, etc.) mesh well with the instructional drawings that you and Jim had posted.

Thanks for the inside look!

TJ

 

[T-Man]

I thought Reck was doing rather well.


To overkill here is the switch.

The big gear.

The repaired brushplate.

I will clean the motor next and figure out how to seal the second washer without removing that reed plate.

 

[tjcruiser]

T-Man,

Two thoughts ...

1. If I understand you, the aft-most "washer disc" (or valve, I guess) has been inadvertently pushed back too far, away from the edge of the big side opening window. But there's no easy way to grab it and move it back into position, with the resonator reed in the way. (Do I have that right?) If so, I'm wondering if the misplaced valve is magnetic? Can you poke in there with a strong (but small) magnet, grab it (magnetically), and wiggle it back into position? Or, if not that, maybe temporarilly super-glue a little grab stick to it's face, wiggle it into position, then break off the stick?

2. In your service info link, did you see the trick to add some diodes to the circuit to have the chugger stop chugging when the loco is kicked into neutral? Right up your alley.

Cheers,

TJ

 

[T-Man]

I have a plan. I may grab it directly from the access hole or from the sound hole go straight in and hook to pull out. Then cut the wire for removal since I may have to bend it from the acces hole. I could drill from the backside and push out and then epoxy the hole.
I skipped the diodes for now since the interest was to hear this beast roar.
I am leaving the piston in the cylinder to store.
I may attempt to epoxy it in. It does move a little.