Large Scale Central

Water Gauge, Timing & Tender

Electronics Live Steam
#1

Gents,

I finally installed the new water gauge from Coles Power Models.
Was a 5/16 X 32 thread so I drilled and tapped the boiler bushing for
it. Plenty of material there to work with. I had to drill and tape
the upper fitting to mate with the stock right angle fitting the old
gauge mated to. Was easy enough. After a bit of fitting to make sure
th parts lined up I installed the new gauge and fired it up. Held
pressure and ran but it loped on the rollers. Didn’t do it while
being held up off the rollers so think it may be them.

There are some issues I think with the reverser. The reversing levers
are a bit loose on the shaft. I also have some steam coming from the
front of the left side piston and the rear of the right side. Figure
they should be the same so need to look into that. The tender needs a
redo also. The electronics and tank were put into a Vandy tender. It
needs some work to finish that up.

The battery and charging plugs were removed from the main board. I
don’t know which plug is which on the board. Can anyone provide me
with that info?

Butane is definitely not the fuel for this far north unless I can get
a steam line to the tank. Looks like that process was started but the
valve on the end in the cab leaks so it will need work or replacement
and a line plumbed back to the tender.

I’d appreciate any tips for the above issues and suggestions for other
improvements. Is there any info on how to check/correct the timing on
these?

Thanks

Andre’

#2

I compared my Mikado’s timing measurements to those posted here and on
MLS. I have the reverser in the proper place as indicated.

On the fireman’s side,to get any measurements even remotely close to
the ones posted I need to have my rear driver’s rod at 3 o’clock not
the 9 o’clock as stated. The measurements are .538 and 1.230. At the
9 position my cross head is very close to the piston.

The engineer’s side measures .519 and 1.261. However these are taken
with the rear drive rod at the 9 o’clock position.

Have I got the positioning correct? Is it possible the quartering is
wrong? Its possible the previous owner messed this up as he had
posted the nuts were loose and had adjusted them.

Its obvious this is the cause of the less than optimum running and
they need to be adjusted. Both sides are off from the posted
measurements. Should I match them as is or bring both near the posted
measurements?

Thanks

Andre’

#3

OK I tried timing it by the last mentioned method in a post wherein
the author adjusted the piston for equal movement on either side of
center when the wheels went to the 12 and 6 o;clock positions.

Will barely run in forward but runs far better and faster in reverse.
However it still has that lope or bind. As I continue to examine the
quartering they appear to be a few degrees off of 90.

Any bright ideas?

Andre’

#4

Re: Timing Errors

After working 96+ hrs a week for most of May I got a weekend off and
managed to get to the train room this afternoon.

I reread the timing tips posted elsewhere and reexamined the Mikado.
On the Aristo forum the main batch of tips for adjustment were
“recalled” by the poster and for good reason. His measurement points
were fixed and were unchangeable by the adjustments. He had the
revelation in the shower and its true.

I decided to start from the valve and piston assys free and
unconnected to any other linkages. Measured the limits of travel,
subtracted, divided by two and added to the minimal travel
measurement. Did that for all four assys.

Then placed the Mikado in null position with reversing linkage
centered. I then set each valve assy to the computed measurement.
Did the same for the pistons with wheels set for each side’s 6 0’clock
position.

Turned on the compressor and it ran!!! Was better than anything I had
achieved prior with out doing any tweaking. I attempted to tune it
but kept having the adjustment float away. Remembered someone saying
to make sure no water or oil was in the valves and piston assys so I
turned it wide open and sure enough it blew a bit of water and some
oil out the exhaust tube. I ran a pipe cleaner down the fitting as
far as I could and soaked up a bit more oil.

I turn the throttle valve down low and was able to tune it to a pretty
smooth rotation. There was just a wee bit of a slowdown in one spot
but it wouldn’t run at all in reverse. It would get about three
quarters around then stop. So I tuned it for reverse and can get it
almost a bit smoother there but there is a substantial slowdown in
forward…Sigh.

I’m going to try for a medium spot but I’ve had it for this evening.

Andre’