Now that I have my Challenger running, I may have made the mistake of buying an ho scale Bowser PRR T1 Duplex kit, I started putting it together and after I attached the rod assembly to the wheels, I encountered a binding problem that I can't seem to solve. The wheels run smoothly in the frame without the rods, and are in gauge (according to my NMRA standards tool). Any ideas on how to locate and correct the bind(s)? As everything I've tried so far hasn't worked.
Thank you.
Wolf359 Now that I have my Challenger running, I may have made the mistake of buying an ho scale Bowser PRR T1 Duplex kit, I started putting it together and after I attached the rod assembly to the wheels, I encountered a binding problem that I can't seem to solve. The wheels run smoothly in the frame without the rods, and are in gauge (according to my NMRA standards tool). Any ideas on how to locate and correct the bind(s)? As everything I've tried so far hasn't worked. Thank you.
What step are you at? Before the cylinder assembly is installed?
Sometimes the rods have a burr on them, so you may need to file and clean the holes a bit.
Gary
When I built my T1, the valve gear hangers were binding just slightly with the rods. When you have the rods on and turn the wheels by hand, feel each rod when the bind happens to see which one's causing the problem.
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How closely did you align the crank pins?
The old instructions from when the T1 was a Penn Line kit have some good advice about deburring the rods and potentially filing parts of the side rods thinner at some points.
http://hoseeker.net/pennline/pennlinet1duplexpg05.jpg
http://hoseeker.net/pennline/pennlinet1duplexpg06.jpg
And yes I am aware that Bowser made many changes and improvements to the TI and other Penn Line kits over the years. As did Penn Line itself actually (originally the TI had one motor and flexible shaft that was very prone to failure).
Dave Nelson
To answer several questions at once, I'm at step 4 on the forward drive wheels and step 3 on the rear set. So far, the forward set is the trouble maker. I didn't see any burrs, but maybe I need to look with a magnifying glass. The valve gear hangers seem to be fine, but I'll take another look at them too. The crank pins seem to be aligned properly based on other locomotives that run just fine. Should I re-align them? Mine is the two motor version, but I haven't gotten to motor installation yet. Thank you every one for the tips. I'll post an update with the outcome sometime soon.
Oops! Forgot to add the links for the instructions. They both show what stage I am at. http://www.hoseeker.org/assemblyexplosionBowser/bowser4444t1duplex11001001999pg06.jpg http://www.hoseeker.org/assemblyexplosionBowser/bowser4444t1duplex11001001999pg05.jpg
I was looking at these:
http://www.bowser-trains.com/docs/instructions/101020.pdf
I can't open your links, for some reason. Best advice is go slow and see if you can find what part is binding.
FWIW, I'm working on a Bowser E6 and I'm having some frustration getting valve gear/rods/motor gear lash all working well.
I had the same problem with links on here as well. If you type the whole address out in your search engine, it should come up.
Links to HOSeeker have always been a problem.
Mike.
My You Tube
Assuming there's no burrs (they've been cleaned off):
If the rods are slightly too thick ("slightly", or you'd be locking up with the crankpin screws), unscrewing the crankpin just a bit should reveal that.
More likely, I think, is that a driver is slightly mis-quartered, compared to the other. Since it's only a bind, it shouldn't be much. When it's in the bind position, you will see the rods becoming "not-wiggly".
I'd use a tapered reamer--as lightly tapered as possible. There's a set of five or six of these in ascending sizes that is pretty commonly available. First I'd super gently put the appropriate reamer in each of the four rod holes. If I found one was a bit tighter, I'd ream (again: gently) that one just a bit.
Then re-assemble and try it out.
Once removed, it is difficult to put metal back. This fact should inform the carefulness you use in the operation.
All of the above assumes that you have checked out other possibilities first--see previous paragraph.
Ed
Update: I've successfuly corrected the binding problem thanks to the tips and suggestions that everyone has posted here. As it turns out, it was a snowball effect of issues that created the binds. The biggest issue was some of the wheels being a little bit out of quarter, I fixed this by gently twisting them until they were in quarter. The other issues were some burrs that I didn't see the first time and had to file off, (I've since added better lighting to my work area), and the holes on two of the rods were just a hair too small. I had to use a magnifying glass to see this problem and I corrected it with a round, pointy file.
Thank you everyone for the help.
It's good to see that you have prevailed. Nice work! Can we see your product before long? Will you paint and decal it? What paint will you use?
Thank you! I'am not sure if I'll be able to post a picture on here, but I'm planning to paint and decal it. The paint I have is PollyScale PRR Brunswick Green, and I'm going to airbrush it on.
Posting a photo is a bit of a bother, but it becomes second nature quickly. Our hosts don't permit the storage of photo files here. They have to be linked to using the [img ] tags at a host site. Imgur, or others, I used railimages.com, will host your reduced density files. You click on the file, get it to full size, copy the url and add the img tags at each end. All you do is return to your text box here, paste your code, and your image will appear courtesy of the server.