Members:
I noticed a thread from a few years ago entitled "Lionel 282 gantry crane -- Is it possible to increase the strength of magnet ?" and read the various posts.
I have a different issue: when all three levers on the controller are in their proper position (magnet on) and the crane is rotated or raised/lowered, metal on the the maget vibrates and the magnet appears to lose functionality, i.e., the metal drops. I'm feeding 15v AC from my RW accessories transformer and I know I'm supposed to be using steel. Any suggestions for a fix?
Many thanks.
My guess, based on the behavior of "magnet holds stuff fine, until the crane is operated", is that the contacts that bring power up to the magnet, are dirty or not making good enough contact. I'm sure someone else will chime in with more specific instructions, but basically the base and the winch both serve double duty in providing a circuit for the electricity. The 'hot' goes through the winch, and a wiper contacts the metal winch. One of the magnet's wires goes to this contact. The other magnet wire goes to a sprung metal pin of sorts, that presses against the metal frame of the crane. Lack of tension, and/or dirty contact surfaces, will cause intermittent contact when the crane is rotated, or when the winch is operated.-Ellie
Very helpful. Thanks. Before I go any further with tweaking the wire contacts at the gear shaft and spring-loaded pin, however, I should add one pertinent detail. The magnet does function when the solenoid is activated and first controller lever is down and the center lever is up, i.e., when the big hook is being lowered. It loses magnetism, however, when the first lever is shifted to the up position, i.e., when the hook is raised. (Vibration at both positions, though.) In short, while the magnet will work and the motors for rotation and winching appear fine, the whole mechanism does not successfully pick up and transport the magnetized load. Any further speculations or advice before proceeding?
It's also been suggested that I increase the size of the power wires between controller and transformer (they're currently 18AWG) and/or increase voltage (B-D posts on my RW give me 15v, but switching to A-D, or 19v might overload the power source from which I'm running the other accessories).
It may well have something to do with the controller. The magnet loses power at the exact moment that the center (winch) lever is engaged upwards. It will maintain magnetism if the crane is rotated right or left and even winched downwards. But it loses contact when hoisting.
It is also possible a wire was hooked up wrong somehow. Here's the wiring diagram for the 282, from my copy of the reprinted service manual:I have a 282 myself, which I got working somewhere around November or December of last year I think. It was a lot of work, but well worth it!I had issues with not being able to tension the clutch right- the spring was either too strong for the solenoid to hold against it, or too weak to hold the clutch in position when the solenoid wasn't in use. Or somewhere in between, in which case it wasn't working in either position.My "well I need it done soon and I'm tired of fighting with it" solution was to use a full wave bridge rectifier to rectify the current through the solenoid- this had the effect of making it stronger, and also quieter- I'm pretty sure I wasn't using the original spring (couldn't find it) so that may have been the source of my issues. Regardless, it's working now.
It can't hurt to check, clean, and adjust (as needed) those contacts while you've got the thing apart, but it may just be a case of wiring not being hooked up right somewhere.Good luck!-Ellie
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