American Flyer #312 Steam Engine - Problems with Wiring or Reversing Unit

[richhotrain]

With a lot of help so far from Sturgeon-Phish and green97probe, I have been able to breathe new life into this 60 year old steam engine which I got for Christmas from my parents in 1948.

 

I initially posted by piggybacking on an older thread entitled “help me get these american flyer engines running again”.  But, at this point, I thought it best to start a new thread to summarize what I have done so for and make it easier for others to follow.

 

When I started this rehab project last week, the old steam engine seemed deader than a doornail.  No movement, no sound, no nothing.  At Sturgeon-Phish suggestion, I detached the tender from the engine by removing the jack panel connection and jumpered the two inside wires together while providing power to the two outside wires with power directly from the transformer.  That got the engine moving, so I knew the motor was OK.

 

Then, I applied power from the transformer to the front and rear trucks of the tender and that got the reversing unit to work.  So far, so good. 

 

However, when I reconnected the jack panel between the engine and the tender, I could not get the engine to move although there was power on the tender chassis from both the front and the rear truck and the reversing unit was operative.  So, I opened up the wiring harness and inspected all four wires, but there were no broken connections. 

 

The following diagram illustrates the 4-wire setup in the American Flyer #312:

 

http://www.portlines.com/portlinesclinic10.htm

 

Incidentally, the power pickups are right rail to front truck and left rail to rear truck.

 

Next, I cut the wiring harness in half, leaving one-half of each wire attached to the jack panel and the other half of each wire attached to the reversing unit.  Then, I began to bench test the wiring.

 

With the jack panel still connected between the engine and tender, I jumpered the two inside pins together on the jack panel (leaving the cut portion of those two wires hanging loose from the tender) and applied power to the two outside pins directly from the front and rear trucks.  The engine took off and ran down the test track.  So, I am getting power up to the reversing unit through the front and rear trucks.

 

It seems to me that either something is wrong with the reversing unit or there is still something wrong with the wiring, not on the harness but on the reversing unit.  However, I do not understand the function of each of the four wires, so I am confused what to do next.

 

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

 

Rich

 

 

[Sturgeon-Phish]

My guess is something is amiss with the fingers on the e-unit.  Look carefully and ensure the fingers are not bent out of shape (they should look like a little Sheppard’s staff) and making contact on the drum.  The fingers should be sprug to make positive contact with the drum.  If they are not pressing against the drum, they can be re-bent into a “sprung” position by carefully untwisting the tab that hold the finger panel in place, remove the finger panel and ever so carefully bend the finger to make contact on the drum.  Replace the panel and slightly twist the tabs back, after testing.

Jim

[Anonymous]

Rich,

           To add to what Jim said above, be sure to hold down the fiber board strips that the fingers are mounted on tightly when twisting the tabs to reinstall them.  Sometimes the strip won't be down all the way when the tabs are twisted, which results in one or more fingers not touching the drum.  That has happened to me several times in the past.  Holding the strips down while twisting the tabs prevents that problem.

[richhotrain]

Sturgeon-Phish

My guess is something is amiss with the fingers on the e-unit.  Look carefully and ensure the fingers are not bent out of shape (they should look like a little Sheppard’s staff) and making contact on the drum.  The fingers should be sprug to make positive contact with the drum.  If they are not pressing against the drum, they can be re-bent into a “sprung” position by carefully untwisting the tab that hold the finger panel in place, remove the finger panel and ever so carefully bend the finger to make contact on the drum.  Replace the panel and slightly twist the tabs back, after testing.

 

Jim

Oh boy,

I took a real close look at the four fingers and two of them have a hole in them where they are supposed to make contact with the drum.  The right finger on the upper contact and the left finger on the lower contact are the culprits. 

I will order replacement upper and lower contacts.  It looks like I will have to solder the wires on the new contacts, so I will also order a new wiring harness since I cut the other one in half.

Thanks, Jim.

Rich

[Sturgeon-Phish]

A hole or worn out fingers are a common problem on engines with a lot of run time.  Make it easy on yourself and solder the finger panels up then attach the panels to the frame.  Port Lines and RFGCO has nice finger panels.  Also notice one set of finges is set off to one side and the other set is centered.  Which is on top or on front is not a big deal as far as I know, but you do need to have the different panels to work

Jim

[lionelsoni]

It is possible to get another lifetime out of worn-out fingers, whether Flyer or Lionel.

The finger has a roughly semicircular curl on the end, with a right-angle bend where it connects to the straight part of the finger.  When the curl wears, it is at the middle of that semicircle.  To get more life out of it, remove the part past the middle (which may have fallen off of its own accord).  Then flatten that right-angle bend to about 45 degrees.  This moves another part of the quarter-circle that is left into position to rub on the drum.

To restore the finger force against the drum without taking everything apart, whether or not you have had to do the operation above, make yourself an L-shaped hook from a straightened-out paperclip, with the hook part about as wide as one of the fingers.  Hook it around a finger at the closest point to the insulating board and pull the finger firmly into contact with the board.  Then use a small screwdriver to push the finger toward the drum.  Position the screwdriver right next to the hook, but on the side away from the board.  The idea is to make a little bend right there to swing the loose end of the finger toward the drum until it contacts it firmly.

[richhotrain]

lionelsoni

It is possible to get another lifetime out of worn-out fingers, whether Flyer or Lionel.

The finger has a roughly semicircular curl on the end, with a right-angle bend where it connects to the straight part of the finger.  When the curl wears, it is at the middle of that semicircle.  To get more life out of it, remove the part past the middle (which may have fallen off of its own accord).  Then flatten that right-angle bend to about 45 degrees.  This moves another part of the quarter-circle that is left into position to rub on the drum.

To restore the finger force against the drum without taking everything apart, whether or not you have had to do the operation above, make yourself an L-shaped hook from a straightened-out paperclip, with the hook part about as wide as one of the fingers.  Hook it around a finger at the closest point to the insulating board and pull the finger firmly into contact with the board.  Then use a small screwdriver to push the finger toward the drum.  Position the screwdriver right next to the hook, but on the side away from the board.  The idea is to make a little bend right there to swing the loose end of the finger toward the drum until it contacts it firmly.

Bob,

I tried your technique, and I actually got it to work at first, but the fingers were too far gone.  They started slipping "behind" the drum instead of riding on top of it.  No matter.  I will order new ones and get on with it.  I have learned a ton about these old engines in the last week.  Maybe I will abandon HO for S-Scale once again. 

Thanks for your help.

Rich