I am restoring a 1948 AF steam locomotive that has been in my family since it was purchased new. It has not been modified in any. It works great except for the smoke unit. I have run into a problem in removing the smoke unit. One of the screws holding the smoke unit appears to have been glued or welded in place at the factory. I have tried to chip away whatever the material is that is holding it in place, but I am still unscuccessful in removing it. Has anyone else run into this kind of problem? This is the only screw on the train that has been sealed in this way. Is there some kind of solvent (or tool) that can be used to loosen the screw? I would appreciate any advice on this as it is impossible to repair the smoke unit without getting this screw out.
The screw may have been put in with red Loctite. Can you see any of it? You may be able to get it out by heating it. Check out this site: http://henkeladhesivesna.com/blog/the-difference-between-red-blue-green-and-purple-threadlockers/
Bob Nelson
What color is it? Try to use a solder gun to heat it up and remove the material if it is filling the screw slot. At worse use a dremel and remove the head then grasping the shaft of the screw with needle nose vice grips remove it.
Jim
Thanks for the replies and suggestions on this problem. The material sealing the screw seemed to be something like LokTite. It was black. It did respond to heat. When I touched it with a soldering iron, it melted and vaporized immediately. By doing this I was able to remove all of the material that was visible, but unfortunately the screw would still not budge. I tried heating the screw with the soldering iron in an effort to get to the sealing material that is probably on the screw threads. But the smoke unit is such a large heat sink that my soldering iron was ineffective in heating the screw.
So, I gave up on getting the screw out. Fortunately with a little imagination I was able to figure out how to re-wick the smoke unit without removing it. Now I am happy to report that my old train is puffing smoke for the first time since 1952!
Good job!
Satisfaction from seeing these old pieces restored / repaired is rewarding.
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