GREAT SUCCESS WITH A LIONEL SMOKE PUFFER UNIT //WITH PHOTOS AND VIDEO

Great Job Alex great smoker 

Alex, what a fantastic improvement. What value resistor do you use? It's a wire wound resistor? Was that loco running under command? I'd like to see it run in conventional.

Nice job Alex, it looks great. I have one just like it, think ill give it a try.

Big improvement Alex! Sounds like you did the four chuff mod too?

I say up the ante, see if you can't convert a puffer to a synchronized fan.... and then give us a list of prices for the various upgrades on older Lionel stuff

Great work Alex! Thats definitely a substantial improvement, do you usually use parts from Lionel?  

That's certainly impressive for a puffer, better than any of mine do, that's for sure!  I think I'll try the Alex mod on one and see how it looks.  Great job!

Hey guys thanks to all of you.

Dave the resistor value was 27 OHM and is a wire wound resistor. The engine was in command mode.

Dave1 give it a try it's not to difficult

RickO Yes he wanted 3 plus to 4 chuffs per rev. and he knew that it wouldn't be synchronized. But like you said, I was thinking the same thing to get it synchronized.

KevinB yes the parts are Lionel, but I purchase all of them from fellow forum member BOX CAR BILL.  He's a great guy.

Thanks again, Alex

Yet another great job Alex.

Hi Alex, thanks for the info. Was the original resistor a different value? Do you use different wicking material?

Thanks Alex, good pics!  I'll have to try it myself.

-Ken

Alex Great job what an improvement. I wonder if it would work on my J1a.....wait a minute that is my J1a. Thanks again for doing such a terrific job. Also thank your wife for the snacks. Being an x Nabisco guy I really like wheat thins. JohnB

Dave the original  resistor was 27 OHM. I know a lot of folks don't like to use batting material. But that's what I use all the time. I find that it holds a lot of smoke fluid. I like it much better.

Thanks Ken, and JohnB. John it was a pleasure having you over my house, you are welcomed anytime.

Alex

Really nice Alex. Any idea how well it might work on my Polar Express with its fan driven whistle steam effect feature? Wonder whether it would adversely affect the whistle steam smoke capability? Has anyone tried this on a Lionel puffer which has the fan driven whistle steam effect? Also will using a higher value resistor adversely effect the running of the loco by overheating, etc?

Should likewise be interesting to see how much smoke Lionel's new LionelChief equipped rtr starter set puffer engines will put out since track voltage from wall wart will be 18 volts. Curious if Lionel puts a higher value resistor into them than it puts in its conventioanal locos to keep the smoke output down and keepthe parents who buy these sets for their children happy.

And snacks too!...... I've never heard of Mike Reagan handing out snacks in Ohio! This upgrade gets better and better by the minute!

That, in fact may be the case. The starter set engines come with a 28 ohm resistor but its not the extra 1 ohm that makes the difference. Rather its the fact that the 28 ohm reistors are ceramic coated and don't transfer the heat as well as the uninsulated wire wound units do.

Pete

Nice mod Alex.

Not only are you a whiz at scennicing; but good with smoke units too!

I have a couple of K-Line engines with mechanical puffers. I think I'll try your ideas on them. Can't hurt.

Rod

Alex,

Great job as usual!

I've never seen a mechanical smoke unit smoke like that! Awesome job!!

Mike R

Ps...RickO Dina is a great cook also. The last time I was over there Alex and I ran trains and his wife fed me dinner. Can't beat that with a stick. Thanks again Dina!

Alex,

Thanks for sharing.  I would really like to know if this modification would work with the Polar Express Jr. Berk from the set.

Todd

Great Job Alex!

It looks like what Alex did would work for most puffers, can't imagine why it won't work with the PE Berk.  I thought about drilling out those holes, now that I see the result, I'm going to try it.

Hi Guys thanks for all the nice comments

Guys like Gunrunner John said, I'm pretty sure this should work on all puffer units.Drilling out the holes was a chance I took and it worked out great!!!!!

The holes were so small and I thought if I made them larger there would be more air pushed from the piston and it worked out that way.

Thanks very much to all, ALex

Great job, what number drill did you use to open the holes?

I've often looked at those holes and wondered if they'd work better if they were bigger, now I know.

Thanks to all,

Ed I used an 1/8 inch drill bit. It seemed to be just slightly larger than the holes on this particular engine. I'm not sure if all the puffer units would have the same size holes. So just go a little larger. I wouldn't go to large because the unit might not work right.

Gunrunner John, if you want to experiment you can try drilling the holes larger than I did. Maybe if you have an extra puffer unit laying around. Just to see if it works even better.

Alex

Now to understand this correctly did you drill extra holes besides the existing holes because the normal smoke unit only has one right?  Looks great and what is the mod for the four chuffs sounds?  Thanks.

Thanks for the info, the next one I open up will be modified.

Anyone ever open up both a rtr set Polar Express Berk and also the P.E. Berk with the fan driven steam whistle effect to compare them? If you have, is the puffer unit in the steam whistle effect Berk the same one that's in the rtr set Berk? Would Alex's mod work equally well in a P.E. Berk with the fan driven steam whistle smoke effect?

Bill is a great guy.  He sent me a couple of transistors to repair my two modern whistle tenders at no charge.  I have a couple locomotives I wouldn't mind putting a cruise commander in at some point (when money allows), so I'm sure he'll be getting my business in the future.

It never ceases to amaze me why LIONEL don't do this to all steamers with smoke.

This looks fantastic!!!!!!!!!!

Rod

Alex great work and inspiration to look at some of my other smokers.

There are days when I really think we need a separate smoke forum!!

Good morning everyone, I just want to say thanks to all for the interest and nice comments. I glad this will help a lot of folks out.

Super Dave, I didn't drill new holes I only drilled out the existing holes slightly larger

Please don't drill new holes, the unit might not work right.

Thanks again to all, ALEX

Alex will give it a try. Have same issue with a TMCC K-Line scale Berk

THANKS Steve

LI Train...........be careful when working with TMCC and smoke as the resistance is very important when operating an engine with TMCC. I have been installing TMCC in engines for many years and I would not go below 27 ohms unless you know what you are doing.

Ed

Wow!!! That is neat.

Alex,

Thanks for posting this very helpful information.  I will use it to modify the smoke unit in my RTR loco that I run around the Christmas tree.  It sure needs the improvement.

Keep the great info coming.  I enjoy reading your posts and seeing your wonderful layout in action.  Thanks again.

It seems to me that the points of importance are,

1) slightly increase the holes for more air flow.

2) Fill smoke unit will fibreglass insulation wool so the chamber will hold more smoke fluid.

That's it.

Don't vary the value of the resistor, but use an exposed wire wound rather than an encased type, for more immediate heat transfer.

It begs the question, what's the best smoke fluid to use. Indeed, what did Alex use?

I for one would be using JT's Megasteam.

Thanks to all again for the very nice comments

Dave you hit the nail on the head with everything, I only use three types of smoke fluid.  Lionel, Lionel premium ,and MTH proto smoke

Thanks, Alex