PS 2 Speed Issues

Mike,

I would suspect that the timing tape for speed control is damaged or otherwise defective. You'll need to remove he boiler and inspect the stripes for one of the following:

• Tearing of paper timing stripes would cause the engine to run faster than its displayed speed
• Fading of black stripes towards grey would cause the engine to run faster than its displayed speed
• If the stripes are painted, they could be overly porous, causing the engine to run fast.

This and a whole lot more is all in “The DCS Companion 3rd Edition", available for purchase  from many fine OGR advertisers and forum sponsors, or as an eBook or a printed book at OGR’s web store!

Barry, your picture isn't showing in your posts, just get the X and file name next to it (DCS-Book-Cover-Icon.jpg). Thought you might like to know.

Took the boiler off and the tach tape seems in good condition.

This time when I tried to run, the engine seemed to 'want' to move but stayed still - I turned off the sounds and could hear the electricity buzz but the engine would not move forward. I just oiled the rods etc so dont think thats the issue. Also, the smoke unit seemed to be fanning somewhat erraticly - i.e. not as slow as you'd expect for low smph.

What else can I check

Oh yes, and the smoke unit was not producing much smoke - despite smoking pretty well earlier in the day

Is anything binding? try turning the Fly-Wheel by hand, It should be smooth all the way around.     One other thing to check would be the spacing between the tack reader & timing tape.. Should be around the thickness of a dime.  Now would also be a good time to check out the battery buy turning off track power to find out how long the sounds continue on... should be around 6 or 7 seconds  with no track power.

Gregg,

your picture isn't showing in your posts

It shows fine in the Safari browser on my Mac, however, FireFox shows a link name.

Curious.

No surprise the images aren't showing.

<img src="webkit-fake-url://2FBFE2FC-309D-489C-B7E8-8F3FE8119A8F/DCS-Book-Cover-Icon.jpg" alt="DCS-Book-Cover-Icon.jpg" />

That doesn't look like a valid URL to me.

What is model number of engine?  IS this factory PS-2 or upgraded? Are wheels quartered properly?  Tach reader gap good? No binding?  Is Smoke  unit primed?  Since this is used it can be a multitude of things.  G

The image thing is odd. It's pasted in rather than uploaded as an image.

I'll talk to the moderators about it.

AFAIK, you can't paste images directly into a post.  I've tried that as well, and they show up for the original poster, but they're not really available.

Case in point, I pasted a graphic into this reply, I see it fine as I compose the reply, but I'm betting nobody else can see it.

I see a number of Speed limit signs.  yellow driving signs.  Bottom is Cannon City  etc.

Are we suppose to see anything else? 

How much are you willing to bet?

The image issues should be fixed now. Let me know.

Thanks!

This and a whole lot more is in “The DCS Companion 3rd Edition!" This book is available from many fine OGR advertisers and forum sponsors, or as an eBook or a printed book at OGR’s web store!

John H posted:

How much are you willing to bet?

I'm stunned that worked, normally it doesn't work here.  I wonder if that was one of the recent updates for the Hoopla software. Can you see this?

Yes.  And our Golden Retriever has also had a steady diet of bunnies . . .

You are correct that in the past, if you pasted in an image, you could see it, but no one else could.  Looks like Hoopla upgraded the software.  That is a nice improvement.  We will see if it survives the next upgrade.

Bob

Barry, your image is fixed in your last post above.

GRJ, all your images posted above are showing up fine here.

Amazing, I guess you can simply paste directly from the computer now?  I'll have to ask Rich.

Barry,

   Picture on Mac Safari has always been fine.

PCRR/Dave

Dave,

It may be a browser preference that I can't find in Firefox. I tried Internet Explorer old my lone PC and the OGR Forum rejected the browser as being too old (I've turned off Windows automatic updating on the PC).

Regardless, Rich was nice enough to show me how to do what I need t do through html, and it now works fine, as you can see below:

This and a whole lot more is all in “The DCS Companion 3rd Edition!" This book is available from many fine OGR advertisers and forum sponsors, or as an eBook or a printed book at OGR’s web store!

Why go on and on about images and Hi- jack the poster's issue he is trying to solve?  G

George,

Hi

OP here - wasn't able to run trains last night so tried this morning.

I tested the flywheel and found it was binding - managed to free it and reset the engine. The attached video shows what I'm getting now - seems like it's sticking somewhere but I'm not sure how to solve.

Have you removed the shell and rotated the flywheel through a complete driver rotation and checked for any binding?  Have you made SURE that no wiring is rubbing the flywheel when the shell is on?  Are the screws on the gearbox tight?  If you wiggle the motor, is it firmly bolted to the motor mount?

What do you mean the flywheel was "binding"?  Binding with what?

I'll give those a try.

initially when I rotated the flywheel it would not rotate a full driver rotation. So I tried in the opposite direction. When I went back to the original direction it would then turn a full rotation. However the resistance I felt when turning varied (i.e part of the revolution was very easy to turn, the rest was still easy but I noticed a change in resistance)

At what speed (SMPH) are you attempting to operate the engine?

If you're feeling a change in resistance manually rotating the flywheel, you can stop right there.  You need to solve that first!

The video showed 4smph

Over the years, MTH has variously stated that PS2 engines are guaranteed to run smoothly at anywhere between 2 and 5 SMPH. How does the engine run at 5 and 10 SMPH?

The fact that he feels varying resistance to turning the flywheel would seem to suggest mechanical binding.  Truthfully, I've never seen a properly operating PS/2 engine run that poorly at 4 SMPH, I strongly suspect he has a mechanical issue.

This is probably a stupid question (I'm pretty new to all this) - but how would I go about finding the source of the binding?

gunrunnerjohn posted:

If you're feeling a change in resistance manually rotating the flywheel, you can stop right there.  You need to solve that first!

I agree. The next question is how?   I can only reply  from my experiences   so here goes.... Turn the fly-Wheel by hand  until it  binds or a change in resistance.. Check out the side rod connections on each driver,  The side rod should have just a slight amount of movement where the bolt goes through to attach it to the driver.. Not very much but some. If there's no movement this could led to the jerky operation at slow speeds... Just loosing off the bolt and tightening it up again may help...

Lube the side rods... I use a small amount of  3 in 1 oil applied with a tooth pick on each  eccentric crank  connections and on the piston. And just about everything else  in the running gear.

I don't think this is an electrical problem. The fire box glow didn't flicker ot dim so I think the engine is picking up power.

  I understand this is a used engine  so it should be broken in with lots of running so there's no use of running the crap out of the engine.... BTW... This is a really neat engine I hope you get it fixed. 

Did you check the stuff I mentioned previously?  A loose motor mount or a gear mesh issue can cause what you see. 

A close physical inspection of the rods and wheels, specifically the traction tires, will be high on my list.  When you get to a tight spot in the rotation, check all the drive rods for looseness.  If there is one that is tight, see if you can determine why?  Another thing, as you rotate the wheels, see if any axles are bent.  The wheels should track straight and true, no wobble as you look as they rotate.  If someone as dropped it, you could have a bent axle.

Thanks guys - I will use these posts tonight as reference as I perform a detailed inspection 

Looked again tonight - there is definitely more resistance every 180 degrees - I.e twice per revolution.

I looked at the rods and at certain points they are loose, at others they are tighter. However, loosening the bolts that hold them to the wheels didn't seem to help.

im at a loss, as I don't want to return the engine, since it is just what I need for my layout

Try taking the bolt on each side from one wheel at a time, then do the rotation test.  See if one wheel is causing the issue.  Did you do what I suggested and make sure an axle wasn't bent?  The other possibility is that a wheel is out of time. that will cause all sorts of issues.

Are the 1/2 moons on the drivers in the exact  same position on each driver on one side?  

   Maybe try disconnection the eccentric  crank and do the fly-wheel test again .  That's  the thing that goes in and out of the piston.  

You may even have to  pull  the  motor  but   this time push the engine on the track by hand  to check out the binding.   (no power) While you're there check for any iron filings or anything else that should not  be in the  worm gear casing.    Good hunting.

You need to remove motor and inspect worm gear and shaft for damage or bend?  Spin drive wheels with motor detached.  Something is mechanically wrong.  You have electronic control and the engine is chuffing, but something is binding.   G

Barry Broskowitz posted:

George,

Why go on and on about images and Hi- jack the poster's issue he is trying to solve?  G

Lighten up. The OP has yet to respond to yours or Gregg's suggestions.

You got to be kidding Barry, you want me to lighten up after you guys waste all that band with bickering over a picture setting.    You guys need to get a job and stop sweating that small stuff.    G

mikeowen17 posted:

Looked again tonight - there is definitely more resistance every 180 degrees - I.e twice per revolution.

Just to be clear, is this twice per revolution of the flywheel or twice per revolution of the driver wheel?