Blowing Smoke From A Postwar S-2 Turbine?

Mitch, it does seem very feasible, no doubt.  Seeing as you are a scrounger, good at recycling parts and being handy....   There are many different fan driven smoke units available.  John or GGG, or many others will be good to inform you of the choices.  Or... as I have done at times, utilize a fan driven smoke unit rescued from a RK engine, or perhaps another second hand, "parts only" engine acquired at low costs.

Jesse

Jesse: 

I'm also thinking of trying to roll my own:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Everco...ackaged/300767065372

Strap one of these to a Lionel liquid smoke unit , add an on/off switch and a couple AA batteries to KISS and away we go! 

Thoughts?

Mitch

I'd go with a factory smoke unit, they're certainly cheap enough.  A Lionel with the 27 ohm element will drop right in and run from track power.

What is the smallest fan smoke unit they make?

I'm wondering about ho too. A neighbor was telling me about an ho unit. He was real excited over the performance he had seen, but I got the impression it was fan driven. A DCC diesel, so it almost had to be fan driven. 

  Hard to tell how accurate the description was though, he is a bit "foamy" and never made it past Jr High. Not dumb, he was just from a bad part of town and he and the parents considered finishing school too great a health risk. They are VERY old fashioned and gullible; he would have been a "target" for sure.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

I'd go with a factory smoke unit, they're certainly cheap enough.  A Lionel with the 27 ohm element will drop right in and run from track power.

Fair enow!  Got a part number? 

Thanks!

Mitch

Here's one of the common ones, it fits in most steamers.  $30 on the Lionel parts site.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Here's one of the common ones, it fits in most steamers.  $30 on the Lionel parts site.

Thankee!  Do you have a P/N for the hookup cable? 

Mitch

Honestly, no, I just make my own.  It only takes two wires for power in a three-pin connector.  Send me an email to my profile email and I'll see if I can fix you up with a workable cable.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Here's one of the common ones, it fits in most steamers.  $30 on the Lionel parts site.

John, would you have a link to the Lionel parts site ?

Why, bless your pointy lil' haid!  Email sent! 

Mitch

Dan Padova posted:

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Here's one of the common ones, it fits in most steamers.  $30 on the Lionel parts site.

John, would you have a link to the Lionel parts site ?

Here ya go!

https://www.lionelsupport.com/...4a-a2d3-705c23d6c233

Mitch

Thanks Mitch.  

As it turns out, Lionel makes a mounting bracket and duct for the fan driven smoke unit which should fit the postwar S-2 just fine!

https://www.lionelsupport.com/...c4-bd24-ff951f95c416

Just placed an order with Lionel; will keep everyone posted. 

Mitch

Got the bits in from Lionel today.  After a bit of trial and error, the smoke unit fits perfectly!  Here's the 2020 on the point of the Brakeman/Gi-raffe Conga Line...

As you can see, once it's broken in, the smoke unit does a dandy job! 

Mitch

Great work!

Nice work Mitch!

I used the same smoke unit to upgrade a Williams Postwar style turbine. I had Boxcar Bill (really do miss him) do the install. It works great and the the constant stream of smoke is appropriate for the Turbine.

Very cool, nice job.

Dan Padova posted:

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Here's one of the common ones, it fits in most steamers.  $30 on the Lionel parts site.

John, would you have a link to the Lionel parts site ?

Question: Looks Like this is a DC unit, do not see any bridge in the exploded diagram just one diode.
Will this work on AC or do I need a bridge?

Trust me Ron, it runs on AC track power.   You don't need a bridge to generate DC, just a diode, cap, and the 5V regulator.  That's all that the standard lionel 27 ohm smoke units have.  You might have to tone it down a bit for 18V track power, it really is designed around 10-12 volts power.  At 18 volts, it's dissipating 12 watts in the smoke unit, lots of smoke, but limited life.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Trust me Ron, it runs on AC track power.   You don't need a bridge to generate DC, just a diode, cap, and the 5V regulator.  That's all that the standard lionel 27 ohm smoke units have.  You might have to tone it down a bit for 18V track power, it really is designed around 10-12 volts power.  At 18 volts, it's dissipating 12 watts in the smoke unit, lots of smoke, but limited life.

Thank you John.
I have several applications for the smoke units.
Once I get one, I will hook it up to a resistor decade box and find the best resistor value at 18 vac full bore to tone it down a bit.
Looks like the current draw is 0.666 amps, strange number

Yes, .666 amps through the 27 ohm resistor is 12 watts, that's too much for reliable operation.  You really want to keep the current to a max of around .5 amps, that drops the power to 6.75W.  That will still generate lots of smoke.

You do NOT want a resistor to drop the voltage, you'll have two smoke units, and one won't have an enclosure with wick and a smoke stack!   If you must wire direct, consider using 1A bridge rectifiers wired as diode pairs to drop the voltage.

The Gi-raffe Conga train turned out very nice!  Looks like you have the Monkees waiting to cross the tracks, hope they make their gig on time!

that looks great Mitch, I need to do this to my 671.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Very cool, nice job.

Couldn't have done it without you!  ;-)

rtr12 posted:

The Gi-raffe Conga train turned out very nice!  Looks like you have the Monkees waiting to cross the tracks, hope they make their gig on time!

They're waiting for the Last Train To Clarksville! 

Steamer posted:

that looks great Mitch, I need to do this to my 671.

I'll pop the top for an under-the-hood view at a later date...

Mitch

thanks Mitch

I would use the MTH PS-1 smoke unit.  You will get constant smoke flow like a turbine and no chuff.

Other than the size of the MTH PS/1 unit, it would be a good choice, lots of smoke!

It's a big longer than the Lionel, and the components go right to the edge.