Large Scale Central

@Kevin Strong and fellow finger-burners

Electronics Live Steam
#1

Afternoom, Gentlemen - I’m in dire need of some steam fittings for my AccuCraft locos, and KNOW that there is a company in the USA who make such things at a LOT less than we pay over here - pacific something or other. This is based on my fading memory of a post on the other LS forum showing a proper working blow-down valve with a handle on it to replace the rather odd thing used by AccuCraft.

This one came from MBV Schug in Detzem and was a horrendous price of around eu45 and sold as ‘buy it now’ off evilbay.

Somebody noted that there was a US company making similar items for a whole lot less, as well as other pipe fittings too. The fitting of such a valve to the EBT mike was also discussed, but as I am no longer a member ther, I can’t do a search.

Trackside details, BTW, have a totally unresponsive website…

Any help and or advice would be much appreciated - I need two such blow-down valves and a couple of straight globe valves…

Best to all

tac, ig & The Umatilla County Boys

#2

Is it PM research? http://www.pmresearchinc.com/

#3

Thank you, Shawn - I’ll give it a look. Much appreciated.

tac, ig & The Malheur County boys

#4

Huh. So much for PM research - their website did not like me using their email contact from the site…

Hi. This is the qmail-send program at p3smtphosting02-01.prod.phx3.secureserver.net.
I’m afraid I wasn’t able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I’ve given up. Sorry it didn’t work out.

[email protected]:
72.45.203.222 does not like recipient.
Remote host said: 550 Blocked - see http://www.spamcop.net/bl.shtml?208.109.80.24 (#5.7.1)
Giving up on 72.45.203.222.

— Below this line is a copy of the message.

Subject: PM Research Inc.: User filled in Contact Us form!
From: [email protected]
X-Mailer: PHP/5.2.17
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary=“3043030156_4fc68”
Reply-to: [email protected]

–3043030156_4fc68
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset=“iso-8859-1”
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

You have received this notification from PM Research Inc. because you are a registered user or you or some other registered user requested some information for you from our store.

Guess I’ll have to think of something else…

tac, ig & The Tillamook County Boys

#5

Tac are you looking for the drain cock blowdown valves? Email me directly at kovacjason @ gmail dot com Just with no spaces

#6

Yessir, that be’s zackly what I’m after. :slight_smile:

Thank you - email sent.

Best to all

tac, ig & The Polk County Boys

#7

tac said:
This is based on my fading memory of a post on the other LS forum showing a proper working blow-down valve with a handle on it to replace the rather odd thing used by AccuCraft. This one came from MBV Schug in Detzem and was a horrendous price of around eu45 and sold as ‘buy it now’ off evilbay. Somebody noted that there was a US company making similar items for a whole lot less, as well as other pipe fittings too. The fitting of such a valve to the EBT mike was also discussed, but as I am no longer a member ther, I can’t do a search.

Tac, I posted that thread about the globe valve on my EBT #12, and I recently updated it to comment that the thing didn’t work. It was weeping water before I even had it in steam. MBV Schug must have had Accucraft make them, because they are now on the Accucraft eStore for $25 without those horrendous shipping charges (that I paid.) Despite all the suggestiuons on my thread (which I diligently followed up,) none were metric thread valves, so I finally bit-the-bullet and spent birthday money on the MBV Schug item - not knowing Accucraft would start selling it a few months later.

(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/petert/_forumfiles/IMG_3374-globe-valve-fitted-6.jpg)

There are a couple of issues. One is that you virtually have to dismantle it to make it fit - everything is a bit tight in there. The real problem is that it isn’t sealed. There is a tapered cone on the handle fitting inside the valve housing and just a nut+washer holding it together. (And that’s another problem - nothing to stop it upscrewing as you move the handle.) I chatted with Ryan B at Scranton as I was replacing it (luckily I brought the old one with me) and we discussed lapping the surfaces with brass polish, and maybe using a fiber or neoprene washer to add some force to the seal. Interestingly, there have been no posts saying my experience was unusual! Maybe Jason has solved the problem. I’ll email him offline, though I guess he’ll read this. The only other solution is to buy a globe valve in the UK from one of themany small suppliers and solder it to the metric-thread shaft.

#8

Thanks for that clarification, Pete - much appreciated. Looks like I might be saving myself $75 or so…

Sadly, nobody over here seems to have tiny valves of this kind, although, with the plethora of AccuCraft locos you might have thunk different. In my local group, just six of us have twenty-five AccuCraft models between us, and that’s not uncommon. The GFO knows that such an item not only enhances the appearance of any model, but anything is better than the toilet sump drain valve as fitted.

Best

tac, ig & The Washington County Boys

#9

Tac,

I do plan to try again with the valve - just haven’t got around to it yet!

#10

I’ve used the lubricator drain valve (as pictured) sold by Accucraft for $25 US + shipping on both of my engines.
As with most things Accucraft, it takes a little bit of reworking to make them work right.
I drilled out the hole in the cone valve slightly larger, and added a washer under the nut that holds the cone in, as there’s nothing for the nut to tighten up against, which is probably the cause for the weeping. Both the cone nut and the installation threads need to be thread locked to remain tight.
The valve works perfectly, and is great for a quick steam oil fill-up - just open valve, crack the throttle open, and it empties the condensate in 1 second.
Also useful as a boiler pressure blow down valve…

#11

Hmmmm, it’s a 50/50 right now…

Thanks anyway to all.

tac, ig & The Benton County Boys

#12
Jim Bruneau said:
I've used the lubricator drain valve (as pictured) sold by Accucraft for $25 US + shipping on both of my engines. As with most things Accucraft, it takes a little bit of reworking to make them work right. I drilled out the hole in the cone valve slightly larger, and added a washer under the nut that holds the cone in, as there's nothing for the nut to tighten up against, which is probably the cause for the weeping. Both the cone nut and the installation threads need to be thread locked to remain tight. The valve works perfectly, and is great for a quick steam oil fill-up - just open valve, crack the throttle open, and it empties the condensate in 1 second. Also useful as a boiler pressure blow down valve...
Nice to know it can be made to work. Pity they can't do it right before taking your $25.
#13

Pete, I look at it this way - Accucraft makes some very nice things, it just takes a little bit of work to get them to function properly.
That lube drain valve is a good example…
My WD Baldwin on 45mm track had a horrible front pilot truck set-up - would derail constantly. Replace and rework the inadequate suspension hardware, and file down the insides of the rear cylinder heads where the rear wheel set hit, and it now tracks flawlessly.
Both of my engines have water sight glasses - which were NEVER accurate as to the water level due to the extremely small glass tube Accucraft uses. Just install a piece of .025 brass wire with a small J bend on each end (to center it) full length down inside the glass to break the water surface tension, and the water glass reads well now.
I’d gladly put up with a little tinkering to get the nice looking Accucraft equipment to perform well.