#394 Beacon tower fine tuning

Well, just discovered it doesn't take much to move the beacon.  With the lamp off, the ceiling fan about 6ft away on its lowest setting makes the beacon turn in the opposite direction.

Using a search on '394 beacon dimple' yields some thread.  This thread looks relevant, especially the 5th post by 'Former Member'.  Good luck.

I had a Marx one as a kid and it seemed to work OK on the layout. Recently tried both Lionel and Marx beacons on a 394 with little luck. It does seem vibrations in table from trains running helps but still trying to find the secret. Just have to settle for a 494 which works reliably.

Pete

vibrations from the table help with my two towers and I also put a drop of 107 oil in the dimple of the bulb which seems to help. also, what volt do you have the accessory on, I have mine at 12v so that the bulb is bright and builds heat.

Thanks for the 'This Thread' link.  Like you mentioned, fiddling with the vanes is the key, but fiddle too much and the break off.

Your ceiling fan providing some 'oomph' to the beacon is very similar to a solution I saw on a layout tour.  The chap had acquired a cheap small clip-on personal fan which he had attached to the ceiling grid above and to one side of the tower location.  He had found a fan position that provided just enough breeze to keep the 394 beacon top in motion.  It's a rather 'Rube Goldberg' solution...especially if your beacon has lost some of its 'vanity'...(vanes, that is). 

Of course when the 394 became superseded by the 494 beacon tower with the vibration motor and 6-fingered wishy-washer, the rotation was more reliable.

I had a 394 tower for my first Lionel layout in the early '50's.  It lived up to its notoriety of unreliability...especially when showing the layout off to family and friends!  In fact, I finally gave up trying to find the magic voltage, the optimum needle position in the dimple, the correct angle for the vanes, adding a drop of oil...or liquid soap...or graphite...or other things Dad suggested trying.  (Most of which merely made a dirty bulb and another clean-up job!)   Besides, the red tower with its green/red beacon just sitting there all lit up and motionless more than sufficed as a complement to the Plasticville airport hanger/terminal and a motley collection of any-scale airplanes.  Vivid imagination provided the rest.

KD

It's all about temperature differentials. if the ambient temp of your room is too warm you can't create the thermal draft required to make it spin.

My layout lives in my basement and is not heated. Even in the summer it rarely gets above 70 deg in July/Aug. Both of my 394's spin nicely but I do wear a long sleeved t-shirt when I'm running trains.

Agree with some of the advice already provided...

When I get the trains going at a good clip, the vibrations definitely help spin rate. Also, you can fiddle with adjustments to the vents. That takes some trial and error but may help.

Good luck. These are definitely finicky.

I got a used one not long ago and after some fussing to even out the vents and to get the thing sitting n/s on the dimple it worked flawlessly.  Burned out two bulbs with it, lol.  But I believe johnstrains has a legit thought about ambient temp.  I have a similar basement situation.

A couple of notes. Use or find an original top if possible. The reproductions are heavier, but the newest repo, like sold from Train Tender, seem to work better than the older repos. The Chinese 394 beacon bulbs don't get as bright or hot as the original 461GE bulbs. You need to use around 16 volts to generate enough heat, but at that voltage the are really bright. Where you live also effects performance also. At sea level they work better than higher elevations. A beacon  will work better in New York than Denver. The air is thinner and not as much to heat, compared to the coast.