Bachman Spectrum Steam

[jtudor]

Are you guys buying them from Micro-Mark? Theirs seem to have more bugs than most. Maybe they're getting factory seconds or returns? (factor refurbished?)

While I haven't purchased anything from Micro-Mark yet, and i haven't purchased any refurbished locomotives yet, may I comment?

Quite often items that are mass produced do not get enough attention to the finer details when they come off the line and some minor problems are not noticed until they are in the hands of the customer.

When an item is returned and is refurbed, individual attention is paid to each piece, and many of those items are addressed. My experience with "most" factory refurbs has been fewer problems over the life of the product and fewer initial problems also.

One reason is that federal law requires that when an item is returned for exchange under a warranty, no matter how minor the problem is, that item cannot be sold as new again, and must be marked as refurb. So even if the problem is as minor as a burned out bulb, or a loose solder connection on a wire, it is now a refurb if it was an exchange.

 

[UP2CSX]

I agree 100%. I actually look for factory refurbs to buy. As an example, I've probably had 10 different Palm PDA's in my life. The one's I bought new inevitably failed with a year, usually with a bad touchscreen. I'd send it back and they would send me a refurb. For whatever reason, I almost never had a problem again. I think the last "new" Palm I bought was five years ago and my refurb TX is still going strong after almost three years.

 

[Cjcrescent]

All kidding aside I have not found many of these that needed improvement. I'm a brass snob, as you know (it's your fault) but Michael has one that runs like a watch. A few guys at the club have them and have had no problems. I've been into one or two of the captain's to fix bugs. Are you guys buying them from Micro-Mark? Theirs seem to have more bugs than most. Maybe they're getting factory seconds or returns? (factor refurbished?)

What I have found that causes these things to have problems mostly is flash, especially in the suspension bearings. The flash jams the bearing into a slight angle and this causes a bind to develop on the axles. This can also occur between the frame halves at the worm. The mostly minor "other" problems are caused by the huge amount of grease these things usually gets packed with. Most of the motors are borderline in size and power due to where and how they are hidden, but the binds are just enough to cause the motors to start overheating. When they have overheated enough times, the performance degradation then really becomes noticeable.

While I agree that the majority of the locos are perfectly fine, I class all of what I've done to mine as preventative maintenance. It's like tweaking a brass steamer Alan, that has sat on a shelf for several years before we actually breakdown and buy the thing!

 

[Cjcrescent]

OK. Fellas, lets get this done. You’ll have to excuse me for the past week, as I thought I was going to be spending some time in the Hospital. Seems one of my medical conditions is acting up and I can’t type too well when its doing it. The meds I take for it has a tendency to make me do an imitation of a DC-10, you know, crash and burn.

First thing is of course to separate the mechanism from the boiler. This can be done by removing the pilot truck screw, and then the screws located between the cylinders, and at the rear of the loco, holding the drawbar and then finally the last screw on the mechanism itself.

Remove the mech. by letting the rear fall away from the boiler and then the front will drop. Set this aside for now. You must remove the frame from the boiler to get to the motor and gear. This is done by first removing any wire detail that may be a part of the boiler but not the frame, like injector wires, air compressor wires etc. Often you will not know what will need to be removed until it shows up during disassembly.

The frame is removed by first grasping the rear of the frame itself, pulling back and up from the rear of the locomotive. Then pull back which should free the frame from the front of the boiler, and remove. The loco is now in three main subassemblies, which we will deal with as needed to improve the running of the loco.

Part 1- The frame.

The frame is the part containing the motor, drive belt, and worm. Remove all screws from the frame halves, and set the screws aside. Take a finger and run along the edges of the frame halves. If you feel roughness, take a file and smooth the edges, particularly around the worm and belt.

While the frame is apart, using a pipe cleaner dipped into the degreaser, swab the armature of the motor, by inserting the pc into one of the holes by the armature, and turning the motor shaft away from you, clean off the armature.

After getting this done, clean all remaining parts in the degreaser. I use Ronsonol lighter fluid my self, as it does not attack plastic or nylon and really dissolves the grease. You can use whatever solvent you would like, as long as it doesn’t attack plastic or nylon.

Reassemble the frame, lubricating the bearings on the end of the shaft and the ends of the motor as well. Apply some Labelle 106 grease to the worm. Set aside.

Part 2 The Mechanism

First thing is to check for any binds. To do this, simply roll the mechanism across a piece of glass without applying any downward pressure. If you do not have a “spare” piece of glass available, a slick desktop will work.
As long as the surface is fairly slick, and you don’t push down on the mechanism, it should roll freely, and if it doesn’t, you have a bind. Now we need to locate that bind. First, remove the screws holding the main rods and valve gear, (if present), from the mechanism. There should be one or two screws on top of the frame holding the valve gear to the frame, remove these and separate the valve gear from the rest. Set this aside.
I have found that 99.9% of the time, that the valve gear is not the problem with Spectrum mechanisms binding, but if you feel that you need to rule out the valve gear anyway, simply spin the eccentric gear, (that’s the piece that was screwed onto the main rod), with a screwdriver. There will not be a bind there.

Remove all screws from the bottom of the mechanism that secures the gearcover plate. Carefully remove this plate as it contains all the pickups on the locomotive and you don’t want to break them. Set this aside after you clean off all the overflow grease that will be there. Remove all the wheels from the frame, and you will see there are anywhere from 1 to 3 “suspension bearings” in the frame.

Carefully remove these and you will see that there is a post with a spring on it. You will also notice that there is a lot of flash around the upper edges of these bearings, and this is where the binds come from. After removing the extra grease from these, take a flat file and remove all this flash. I also like to take a small rat-tail file, and lightly chamfer the edges of these bearings as well. Please note that I said the edges, and not the entire bearing slot. Filing down the whole bearing slot is just asking for more trouble.

Although I don’t believe that it necessary at this point, you may want to remove all the siderods from all the wheels, and check all the siderods for burrs and such. Reassemble the mechanism, and lightly oil the bearings and the axles. I prefer to use DexonIII transmission fluid. I have found it to be superior to any other oil, is safe for plastics, and its even cheap! A quart will last a lifetime!

As you reassemble the mechanism, test for binds after each step. I doubt if you will find any. I believe that besides coming from the factory over lubricated, the flash that is seen on the “suspension” bearings, doesn’t allow the bearing to move as it was designed to. The flash can also cause the bearing to twist, applying greater pressure on the axle, again causing a bind. If the bearing gets twisted and cannot untwist, it will cause undue wear on the motor and will soon burn it out.

I have done this “tune up” not only to all my Spectrum steamers but to several of our club members as well. This is a variation on the "tweaking" that I do to a brass loco after I acquire it and after this "tweaking", I will break it in prior to painting.

All these Spectrums are now all very quiet, super smooth runners. For me how smooth and quiet a locomotive runs is second only to how much it can pull. For someone who is somewhat of a brass snob,(me), the Spectrums are a great way to get brass performance and detail at a very affordable price.

 

[beiland]

Tune UP !

Thanks Carey for that great tune-up posting....very detailed and with great photos.

I put that on my favorites list, and just happened to look back at it today. Decided to bump this subject up to the top for others to review.
Brian

 

[blackz28]

funny i just realized,that this might be my sons issue. when i talked to my son last week he said that the 4-8-2 spectrum was running strange & loose hummm , maybe i should tell him to give it the tune up u outlined here, & ohh thank you for the detailed , outline ,people like you going out of your way using up your time to help us out is the reason i love this hobby

 

[Odyknuck]

I know this is an old thread however I wanted to know if the 2-6-6-2 is serviced the same way?