[Greg Elmassian]

Stan has changed it every time in every new loco... although I would characterize the davenport as "less than super" ha ha!

The super socket is now a relatively good clone of the Aristo one.. still one entire row of pins is not used. But look at the progress! The new main board is growing by leaps and bounds! What a success, soon it may take a big boy to hold one...

(OK greg, be nice.... oh, I like track power... ha ha ha....)




The Bachmann police will be after me soon! They will no doubt be battering Durango Dan of who the unknown Technical Advisor is!)

Regards, Greg

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Doug, are you asking about the "timing" issue, or the loose screws issue on the valve gear?

on the operation, seems to run ok after the valve timing is fixed, although the gear train works somewhat differently that the K even though it's a double lead.

I believe more information will be forthcoming on this last item. The gear ratio is good, and I believe the comment was it runs ok after the fixes.

Regards, Greg

 

[Greg Elmassian]

My "take" from all that I have heard is that by putting the valve gear into the right "phase" it can run well. I hope that the information on how to do this is made public, but it appears that it is not simple.

We need the next installment.

By the way, I made a comment about the socket changing. My understanding is that the socket itself is unchanged, in terms of pins, but the physical size of the board that carries it is much larger, and the circuitry "around the board" is somewhat changed.

Again, we will need to wait for another installment in this area, but it APPEARS that the fundamental use of the socked, and the fundamental parts of the socket work as in the K. My apologies to Stan Ames, I did not do a good job in my first comment.

Regards, Greg

 

[Greg Elmassian]

I think we need to hear from more people about the eccentrics to see what is really up. I suspect since there was little consistency in the one reviewed, that the factory does not know the importance of this alignment to running ability.

But, the above is my personal speculation.

I agree with you completely on the bashing. It's nice to have a loco that lends itself to bashing, but I suspect that this is one of the thing furthest from the minds of the people who go to all the work to make the model in the first place. Cannot fault Bachmann for this. (although that circuit board could certainly have been smaller!)

Regards, Greg

 

[Greg Elmassian]

The eccentrics basically cannot slip, if you get the loco with them in the wrong place, they were assembled wrong at the factory.

Loose screws have been reported enough by the small number of people that have these that it's no longer a point of contention in my mind, something is wrong in the assembly process at the factory, left loose, not fully tightened, whatever, the bottom line is that whether they are loose in the box, or after 5 minutes, something is wrong.

I've never had an Aristo steamer with loose screws on the valve gear, and I've never heard of any problems out of the box. Sure, after hours of running people have had loose screws.

So, tighten them at the factory.

But this is all really academic, since the proof is there.

I'm concerned about the valve gear operation and want to see pictures that demonstrate the "interference" problem, as I will call it.

That problem could be a big one if some of the things I have heard through the grapevine are true.

Until then, .....

Regards, Greg

 

[Greg Elmassian]

It always scares me when someone does his homework!

Good points Mike!

Greg

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Counterweights are the "half moon" part of a driver, the filled in part.

Eccentrics are the small "arms" or "cranks" that power the valve gear.

Regards, Greg