: Hi,
:
: I am restoring my American Flyer 282 engine. Whatever that is in
: the coal car isn't responding. Voltage gets to it but nothing
: happens.
: What is that thing? It looks like a motor that turns a cylinder
: (electromechanical commutator?). I think it has something to do
with
: reversing the train. What is the proper way of fixing this
mechanism?
:
: Is it safe to put voltage directly on the engine motor to see it
: works?
:
: Thanks,
: Gary
:
The device in the tender is the reversing unit. The most common
problems with it are the mechanism that rotates the drum gets dirty
and sticks, or the contact fingers that ride on the drum wear out.
Worst case is the operating coil is burned out and the entire unit
will have to be replaced.
There should be a direction locking lever sticking out of the bottom
of the tender. You can use it to manually operate the drum and see if
the operating pawl is sticking. If it is, usually a shot of contact
cleaner will free it up. If it works manually, but not with power
connected to the tender pick-ups, check that none of the wiring has
broken loose. I've seen some where the wire was broken, but the cloth
insulation was holding it in place so it looked okay until you
touched it.
If you need parts, the numbers are:
XA9612CRP - Top Fingers
XA9612BRP - Bottom Fingers
XA8716 - Drum
Parts can be obtained from Train Repair Parts
http://www.trainrepairparts.com/trainrepairparts.htm or RFG Co.
http://www.rfgco.com . Both have exploded view diagrams and wiring
diagrams, but the TRP diagrams are easier to navigate. The diagram
for you loco can be found at:
http://www.hobbysurplus.com/xviews/280spacHSS.asp
If your loco has the four-pin jack panel, you can test the motor
directly by connecting the the lower jack to the one above it on each
side of the jack panel with a jumper wire. A heavy paper clip will do
in a pinch. Then connect a power lead to each jumper. Like this:
+-------------------------+
| o o |
|
/ -Jumper- / |
| o o |
+-------------------------+
Len