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I have had an American Flyer 322 smoke in tender Hudson for about 70 years. Two years ago it needed help because it ran very slowly if at all and the smoke bellows had developed a significant tear.

I took it apart removed the armature, cleaned the commutator, installed new brushes, lubricated and reassembled. Armature turns freely by hand But not when powered. Thought it might be e-unit. Replaced e-unit with Dallee electronic e-unit. No go. Dallee unit starts in neutral. Cycling into forward or reverse produces current draw over 2.5 amps, but nothing turns. No current draw in neutral.

AF 312 smoke in tender draws 1.5 amps or less with smoke turned off.

Sounds like a short somewhere.

Any thoughts 

Last edited by ctr
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You can always put the washer the other end of the armature. I always add shim washers so that I have about 0.3mm end float movement on the armature.

With regards to the bellows i'm sure the width of the material is one inch, can't remember the length needed at the moment. Trying to replace the material insitu is pretty difficult, in the end I built my own jig to hold the two end plates in a set position which gives more all round space to work the new material on.

ctr posted:

If all goes well, I will tackle the smoke bellows after I get the engine to run.

 

Many of the Flyer parts dealers stock the piston conversion assembly. It was an engineering change that Gilbert made for the service stations. It replaces the bellows with a piston and cylinder, like the smoke in boiler models.

Thank I all you guys I'm the one working on the 322 no what the problem was I had beans new brushes I replace the new brushes I had with another new set thus time the motor work thank u all you guys 

Now I have a new problem when I gave the motor power the armature starts to turn and then stops 

Now the armature turns freely when I don't have power going to the motor what is causing this new problem again thank you very much for all your replys

Thank I all you guys I'm the one working on the 322 no what the problem was I had beans new brushes I replace the new brushes I had with another new set thus time the motor work thank u all you guys 

Now I have a new problem when I gave the motor power the armature starts to turn and then stops 

Now the armature turns freely when I don't have power going to the motor what is causing this new problem again thank you very much for all your replys

From what you describe of the motor starting to turn, then stoping, it sounds like a section of the armature has a broken wire.  The armature will spin for 2/3 or 1/3 of a rotation then stop.  Check on the wire from the armature section's winding being broken at the commutator plate.  Or the solder joint being faulty.  If you have a multimeter, check continuity from one armature section to the next.  If no continuity, there's a break somewhere.   A simple break or bad solder joint can be fixed, but if the break is too close to the winding, you may have to source another armature.

Good luck!

Using the original SIT motor, the bellows unit takes less energy than the piston conversion, and I think the bellows in good shape puff more smoke. I used to offer to give folks the original bellows cloth, but it's now made of unobtainium--it was used mostly for player pianos, and no one makes it anymore! There is a substitute with man-made fabric, but it won't glue with the old Hide Glue, one has to use a modern glue--which might not be an issue with the SIT units, but I haven't yet purchased any of it, so I don't have yards of it laying about to cut off the little bit that an AF unit needs.

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OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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