Lionel 2-8-0 chuff rate project

The first thing you will have to do is replace the puffer smoke unit with a fan driven one.

If your installer used a steam upgrade kit it should have magnets and reed switch included. On this engine you will probably have to locate the switch and magnets on one of the tender trucks.

Pete

As Pete says, you'll have to have a fan driven smoke unit in order to change the number of chuffs, at least if you want the smoke synchronized with them.

I doubt you'll find the magnets at Radio Shack, and probably not the reed switch either.  I buy my reed switches from Digikey, and my magnets from K&J Magnetics.

Depending on the room, I recommend either the D201-N52 or the D21B-N52.  One is thinner and may work where the thicker one doesn't.  You want the magnet within the width of a dime to the travel of the magnets and offset to one side so as not to get double chuffs.  I use this reed switch: MITI-3V1-6-12.5.

Many thanks gunrunnerjohn.  I think I may try to locate the switch and magnets on the tender. 

If the electronics are in the tender, it's easier to put them on the tender.  Usually two magnets on a tender wheel come close to 4 chuff/rev.

I don't know what happened to my post, i was having trouble posting it. One minute it was there the next minute it was gone. I'm going to try and post it again, hope it works.

The cherry switch will have two wires going to it, one is the comes from the chuff circuit the other comes from ground. Cut those wires at the cherry switch and those are the two wires you will connect to the reed switch.

Hi Alex, John and Pete.  Last night, after carefully rereading all of the posts on modifying Lionel steamers to 4 chuffs and memorizing the photos, I dove into the deep end of the pool.  With sweating hands I removed the shell.  I immediately located the smoke unit and the electronic board just aft.  From Lionel's supplement 45 I identified the shaft and lever to activate the puffer and the cherry switch.  The photos helped a lot.  The cherry switch on this loco is on the port side, just forward of the front drivers.  Following your explanation Alex, I cut the 2 wires on the cherry switch (taped the remaining wire tips as a precaution), connected those to two wires to leads that were fished to the underside of the loco.  I marked the location for the magnets on the front port side driver.  I reassembled the loco and it operates on my bench with no problems.

Now I am waiting for the reed switch and magnets I ordered.  In the meantime, I have just a few more questions for you experts.  Alex, in one of your posts you showed how you installed the magnets on the underside of the driver rim.  Your explanation was good but I am a little thick.  My question to clarify the orientation of the magnets is this.  Assuming the magnet is a penny, do you glue the face to the underside of the driver rim or the edge of the penny?  If that makes sense!  Second, I suppose gorilla super glue will work for fastening the reed switch and wires as well as the magnets?

Hey, I took my time and really enjoyed working on this.  I'll update you later.  Many thanks for the advice.

You just set the magnet flat on the side of the driver and secure it with CA glue, the Gorilla Super Glue will work fine.  You want the magnet to project the least amount possible from the side of the driver.  I just stick them on and then cycle around and make sure they're not going to hit anything before gluing them.

I have this engine, differnt road name, and wanted to fit magnets to drivers but found they were too close to the frame at least for the magnets I had. Plan B was to paint white stripes on the driver and use an opto reflector but again finding room was a problem. I ended up installing a TAS EOB drop in to get my 4 synchronized chuffs. I'll be interested to see how you solve this problem.

BTW don't secure the reed switch with glue until you determine the best location for it. Use double sided tape at first.

Pete

John: Yes I have seen the usual/frequent location of the magnet on the side of the driver.  However, because there may be a clearance issue, Alex located the magnet in the cavity underneath the rim and had success. "DIFFERENT IDEA WHEN UPGRADING ..." June 11, 2014. 

Pete:  Good tip!  BTW, on my loco, the lever that activates the cherry switch and smoke puffer is located on the port side and encounters a protrusion on the pushrod slide once a revolution.  

Thanks for the replies. 

If you have room to put them inside the rim, then I put them with the flat side on the rim.  I've only had one that they comfortably fit in that place.  It's a good solution if they fit.

Someone here also ground out a small recess in the driver to embed the magnet, that's a bit labor intensive.

Here is my latest update on my project.  Pete since you asked how I solved the clearance problem, I offer the following with my apology for tedious detail.  Gurunnerjohn recommended the reed switch and magnet options.  I opted for the 1/8" diameter 1/32" thick magnets so I could try to mount them on the side of a driver. They were just a little bit close too the frame for comfort, so I mounted them on the inside next to the wheel spokes.  I used the technique previously posted by Bob Bartizek in his reply posts, "UPGRADED MY LIONEL HUDSON// PHOTOS & VIDEO", January 2014.  Following his method, I glued each magnet to a slice of thin plastic.  Then I added more plastic to increase the width until the magnet would be close to even with the side of the driver.  Then I added a final plastic mounting strip with enough length on the sides to bridge the spokes.  The magnet face would protrude about 1/64" when finally mounted and no clearance problems.  It was tedious work for me as this was my first try.  I was able locate the magnets at 12, 3, 6 and 9.  I adjusted the reed switch location a couple of times to make sure things were working.  The timing was spot on 4 chuffs upside down on the bench! 

BUT, on the track it was another story.  I guess I had not run this loco for a long time and my track was grimy.  It took me a few tries to clean the wheels, pick up rollers and track to get the loco to run smoothly.  (The middle rail is always a big dirt collector for me.)  I ran the loco for about 15 minutes at different speeds with 6 heavy weight passenger cars to test it.  It finally smoothed out and it sounded great.  The drivers on the PRR consolidation were the same as Decapod according to specs I consulted. 

This was a worth while project for me.  I like the 4 chuffs on this loco and plan to do the same type of modification on my Lionel M1a and K-Line K4.  I will not do it on my K-Line B6s because the drivers are smaller and I am OK with that chuff rate.  Sorry to go on so long.  Many thanks for all the help guys.

Nice work, it's good when a project comes together.