Flyer 342AC - excessive tender truck sparking

[richhotrain]

Incidentally, when I was a kid, I loved those sparks.  I would run my American Flyer 312 in the dark to see the sparks even more dramatically, plus the green and red bulbs glowing on my switches and control box.

As an adult, although still a boy at heart, I never have sparks anymore unless my track and/or wheels are dirty, then out comes the denatured alcohol and the Bright Boy.

Rich

[richhotrain]

I use denatured alcohol on the rails, and it works like a charm.

Also, for build up of that black crap on the pick up wheels, I use a Bright Boy eraser to clean the wheels and restore that bright copper shine.

Rich

[TrainLarry]

Ben,

 Alcohol will not harm the paint on trains. In fact, I use naptha to clean and degrease, as it is a much better solvent than alcohol, and also does not harm paint. If after you clean the wheels and pickups you still get sparking, I would check the insulating washer between the truck and frame. Could be it is worn or missing a piece, letting the truck short to the frame.

Larry  (from downstate)

[gunrunnerjohn]

I "roll my own" Dremel scrubbing pads.  Just cut a little piece of ScotchBrite and attach it to a mandrel, they work great!  The get round in a hurry as you use them.

 

 

[Major]

I agree with green97probe to actually polish the wheels and contacts on your tender. Additionally take a scotch brite green pad to your track and clean the gunk off of it.  You will see a great improvement.  Alcohol does not do as well. I use Brasso  and a felt pad on my Dremel moto tool to polish the wheels and contacts, but other products and hand polishing will work just as well.

[gunrunnerjohn]

Use the pure Isopropyl alcohol, not "rubbing alcohol", it has oils that you don't want on your track or wheels.

[Benjamin Maggi]

Is rubbing alcohol okay around Flyer trucks? Meaning, if I use it to try and degrease and clean the wheels will it strip the paint on the inside areas of the trucks? I will give the wheels themselves a bath and then polish them up. Hopefully that is all that is necessary.

Thanks for the quick response!

[Anonymous]

Ben,

           Excessive sparking results from dirty metal wheels on the tender and dirt or oil on the axle contacts.  Whenever I service a Flyer steamer, the brass wheels on the tender get poished with Never Dull until they shine followed up by CRC contact cleaner to remove any residue.  Gently do the same for  the axles and their contacts.

[Benjamin Maggi]

Interesting that there is another posting just below mine about a Flyer 342 with problems but as the original poster suspects it is a tranformer problem I will start my own thread.

My Flyer 342AC hasn't been used in over a decade but it runs okay. The sound works fine. However, one of the tender trucks sends out sparks as it rolls along the track, usually resulting in a stall on one of the switches resulting in the E-unit tripping. When I say sparking I mean it... lots of bright yellow sparks. To avoid the E-unit problems I recall in the past just locking it in forward but and may again this year but wondered if there is anything I can do to avoid the sparking.

What I have done so far:

1.) Check to make sure the tender wheels are properly oriented. One set picks up from one rail, the other set picks up from the opposite rail.

2.) The tender truck axle pick-up collecter "brushes" are oriented parallel to the rails and not rubbing on the backs of the wheels themselves.

Beyond that, I am out of ideas. Do the trucks just need a good cleaning, or is there something that I am doing wrong?

Thanks.