RE: C-16 excessive steam oil usage
At 12:35 PM 12/19/01 -0800, you wrote: >Cox was bought a few years ago by another company, but is still in business >and still producing their engines and various other products. Thanks for this information Steve. Worth looking into, expecially if the remote valves are such that they could be transposed to be oil valves. Cheers, Harry
RE: C-16 excessive steam oil usage
Cox was bought a few years ago by another company, but is still in business and still producing their engines and various other products. OS engines now fits remote needle valves to its engine line so modelers can keep their fingers out of the propellers. Go figure after 50+ years in a hobby someone gets this idea. This might be an easy substitute for what you want. Should be available at your local shop since it is probably one of those items that gets lost or damaged in a crash. Sincerely Steve Ciambrone Sr. Test Engineer L-3 Ocean Systems oil metering valve? I had a half dozen Cox engines during my early childhood (currently being in late childhood) and all of them had a short blackened steel needle valve with a knurled head and threaded shank. Cox went out of business long ago and the only parts available now AFAIK are NOS and dwindling fast. A more certain supply would be wanted. For anyone who knows about such things or wants to pursue it further the needle valve part numbers for Cox TD-010 and TD-020 engines (their smallest) are 1309 & 1609 respectively. List price $.60 in 1962. I have one of these from an 020 in front of me now and it is barely .700" long from end to end. The shank thread is only .085" OD and the thread is so fine as to be unmeasurable with the tools I have. This is good . . . . . and bad. Good because it would allow infinitessimily small adjustment of oil flow, bad because it's anyone's guess what the pitch is and the thread would be a bear to make without breaking a tap. Cheers, Harry
Re: C-16 excessive steam oil usage
> I don't like the straight through exhaust solution because of all the > oil that will be ejected on to the finish of the engine. However the > restricted flow idea has merit. I have C-16 #42 serial 086, and (fortunately) the older style engines don't have front brakes, so there's no transfer of the oil to the railheads, and I won't have Clark chasing me with cutters if I ever get to his place! After a run, the cylinders and pilot truck are covered in steam oil, as is the boiler. These engines definitely spit it out. However, I'm told the small tube/blastpipe in the smokebox is the resonater for the "chuff", so removing it may have other consequences. I like the idea of restricting the oil flow - but it is difficult to know 'how much is enough'. Maybe someone who knows what he is doing could experiment and give us some ideas? Pete
Re: C-16 excessive steam oil usage
Hi It has been a while since I flew control line model airplanes. but you used to be able to but the needle valve assembly for .10 sized engines and larger as a separate part, aside from the engine. Had something to do with people like me who crashed a lot and broke them. Check hobby shops that sell model airplane engines. What you got was a tube that had an outside thread on one side, a hole in the middle for the fuel to come out, and an internal thread on the other end into which the needle valve screwed. I have often wondered if they would make good steam flow regulators. It is worth a try. Larry Harry Wade wrote: > At 12:15 PM 12/18/01 -0800, you wrote: > >Harry et al, > > Hah! I knew that would lure the critter out of his hiding place! > I agree with Geoff on the lubricator valve business. I've often wondered > if there was some product already available that could be adapted to make > this building job easier, possibly make it a hand-tool job, not needing a > lathe. For instance what if one of the model aircraft engine makers made a > throttle valve needle which could be stuck into a threaded hole to make an > oil metering valve? I had a half dozen Cox engines during my early > childhood (currently being in late childhood) and all of them had a short > blackened steel needle valve with a knurled head and threaded shank. Cox > went out of business long ago and the only parts available now AFAIK are > NOS and dwindling fast. A more certain supply would be wanted. > For anyone who knows about such things or wants to pursue it > further the needle valve part numbers for Cox TD-010 and TD-020 engines > (their smallest) are 1309 & 1609 respectively. List price $.60 in 1962. I > have one of these from an 020 in front of me now and it is barely .700" > long from end to end. The shank thread is only .085" OD and the thread is > so fine as to be unmeasurable with the tools I have. This is good . . . . > . and bad. Good because it would allow infinitessimily small adjustment of > oil flow, bad because it's anyone's guess what the pitch is and the thread > would be a bear to make without breaking a tap. > > Cheers, > Harry
Re: C-16 excessive steam oil usage
Thanks, Harry, Jim and Vance for the help on transporting trains. No Walmart here--now to K Mart. Geoff
Re: C-16 excessive steam oil usage
At 12:15 PM 12/18/01 -0800, you wrote: >Harry et al, Hah! I knew that would lure the critter out of his hiding place! I agree with Geoff on the lubricator valve business. I've often wondered if there was some product already available that could be adapted to make this building job easier, possibly make it a hand-tool job, not needing a lathe. For instance what if one of the model aircraft engine makers made a throttle valve needle which could be stuck into a threaded hole to make an oil metering valve? I had a half dozen Cox engines during my early childhood (currently being in late childhood) and all of them had a short blackened steel needle valve with a knurled head and threaded shank. Cox went out of business long ago and the only parts available now AFAIK are NOS and dwindling fast. A more certain supply would be wanted. For anyone who knows about such things or wants to pursue it further the needle valve part numbers for Cox TD-010 and TD-020 engines (their smallest) are 1309 & 1609 respectively. List price $.60 in 1962. I have one of these from an 020 in front of me now and it is barely .700" long from end to end. The shank thread is only .085" OD and the thread is so fine as to be unmeasurable with the tools I have. This is good . . . . . and bad. Good because it would allow infinitessimily small adjustment of oil flow, bad because it's anyone's guess what the pitch is and the thread would be a bear to make without breaking a tap. Cheers, Harry
Re: C-16 excessive steam oil usage
Harry et al, That's why every displacement lubricator should have a regulating valve! Easier with a dead leg. My talented "loner" friend nearly always installs an adjustment control. As a point of interest, he built a lubricator on one loco with a reservior utilizing a steam powered piston to force the oil into the cylinders. Trouble was; altho the system worked very well, it was a pain to close the steam admission to the lubricator when the loco was stopped, and the piston kept forcing the oil into the engine. I suppose RC buffs could use one servo to close the regulator (sorry, throttle!) and the lubricator steam feed at the same time. As for me, the more oil, the better, (like the beer in DH! ) there are always a lot of young chaps (Like Lunkheimer's Asst) around to wipe off the track at DH after I have steamed and to pick me up later at the bar! Well yer lucky, I am only bringing one small loco- (Aster Pannier ) by UPS. I am worried about a hassle and possible loss putting a loco or two in the check-in luggage--it is screened now at our little airport . Some security employees understand little steam locos but with all the changes and the Feds involved, I am very dubious. Then there is UPS-with the surplus outdated rockets I suspect they use to blast from one unloading dock to the next. Well, there is always the back yard track, but it's always raining--and-- I mean RAIN!! Geoff. At 09:58 AM 12/18/01 -0800, you wrote: >>Howdy all. >>. . . . . . . The bad news is the engine is still using excessive steam oil. > > Must be that pumpin' action we've heard so much about. :-) >hw >
