[Skip]

Ok, Christmas has finally arrived and Ruby is here!  Now, here come the questions...

1) how do you get the domes off - I'm guessing they just pull off, but they ain't budging...  I don't want to try any harder until I know the answer here.

Later I will air run it and see how it does. 

Other than sorting out the running (tuning) and changing the admission as necessary, anything else that should be a change out from the get-go?

 

[hcampbell]

Welcome to the club!
On mine the stack is held by a nut inside the smoke box.
The front dome just lifts off, in rollovers it falls off.
The rear dome screws on.

Seems to me they may have changed things with newer models. If so someone is sure to chime in.

Harvey C.
SA1838

 

[Skip]

Yes - the new ones don't match the manual - unless you're servicing the release valve, they don't come off by the look of it- water fill is now at the throttle body - Its not illustrated in the manual.

Ok, runs on air - runs pretty even both directions, maybe a bit faster in reverse at full throttle - even with lubrication, its got some running in to do, but it'll tick over real slow in either direction. Lots of loose bolts, some in tricky places... /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/sad.gif

 

[Dwight Ennis]

Cobgrats on the new Ruby Skip!   If you haven't already, check out All About Admissions, Valve Timing, and Valve Tuning from the Informative Threads Index. 

 

[FH&PB]

The domes on the new ones do not come off -- they're soldered to the boiler. This is great unless you plan on modifying it, so I have one of the last made, sitting in its box unsteamed, until I decide what to do with it (since it won't work for the project I intended).

Progress. Feh.

 

[Skip]

This one also has a single eccentric, rather than the split pair - the good news is that it appears to fairly well timed, as least as well as I can determine until it runs in some more. Well, this is "owner break-in" loco, I'm not too concerned about bashing it just yet, although I can't decide whether to leave the tanks on and make like its a Porter, or take them off and make up a tender or extend the floor Forney style. I presume its not a good idea to try and steam these in the house...(cold outside)

 

[coolhand]

I bought one of the new Rubys last year. The top of the steam dome and the sand dome unscrew. The domes are hollow.
An advantage as far as lowering the center o gravity. Frame is one piece stamped sheet metal and lighter weight. Less opurtunity to twist with fewer parts.
Mine ran well straight out of the Box. But after Dave Hottmann "HOTTMANNISED" it I really had to cut back on the throttle.
I had added R/C.

 

[FH&PB]

Gary, I was told by Cliff at Accucraft that the domes on the latest Rubies do not come off at all. They're just on there.

Paul, of course you can run them in the house! As long as you don't mind steam oil stains on the carpet. It's probably better if you do it in the garage, if you have one.

Tom Farin collected a LOT of data a couple of years back that relate to bashing the Ruby into various prototypes. Have a look at it here: http://ironhorse129.com/Prototype/SteamClass2004/HomePage.htm

 

[Skip]

Posted By FH&PB on 01/12/2008 12:35 AM
Gary, I was told by Cliff at Accucraft that the domes on the latest Rubies do not come off at all. They're just on there.





I think that is true - It would be helpful for them to include an update page in their manual stating this - all of the instruction pictures show the older version with the water fill under the sand dome.  I don't know how you would service the safety valve on the new version if you needed or wanted to.

Is there any merit, other than curiosity, to adding a pressure gauge to a basic ruby?  The engine will tell you when its ready to go, and steamup is going to take 8-10 min whether there is a gauge or not...

I've read in some of the archive posts that some people cut down the steam exhaust line in the stack to improve the chuff - worth doing?

 

[Skip]

All right! Ruby's had her first steam up. After some adjustments, she did fine.

Observations before the run:
Had to tighten a LOT of bolts - many were not properly snugged up. Air test showed leakage at the cylinder caps on one side - those bolts were not snug. Generally, found many that needed snugging.

After reading most of the threads in regard to the burner, and after operating this one, I have some early conclusions:

This Ruby has the slotted poker. Upon initial exam it was seen to be pressed up tight against the top of boiler tube, so the burner was disassembled and reassembled taking care to get it properly positioned in the boiler tube.

First lights gave me a bit of trouble with flame flow into the smoke box and noisy. Discovered that the gas needle valve is very sensitive, and that the burner needs to wait until the poker is red hot before setting the needle if you want to keep flame out of the smoke box, and its only takes a very low setting for the burner to run properly - if you open it up too much, it'll get noisy - its blowing gas too hard into the boiler tube. Hit the low sweet spot and it burns quiet and clean. All of this means the taper on the needle valve is a bit too short. A longer tapered needle and matching seat would give much better flame control and reduce the chance of turning it up too high and burning up the smoke box. This was done indoors, so we'll how it behaves with a breeze.

Came up to steam in about 5-6 minutes, no more.

A question - how often to clean out the lubricator - there is no water drain as such on these, so you have empty it ? (heavy oils float or sink? Water go to the bottom or sit on top? Time will likely give me that answer I suppose...

If we don't get snow, track test!

 

[FH&PB]

Drain the lubricator after every run, with the small syringe.

 

[CapeCodSteam]

If you can, get a few pics loaded of your test run please

 

[leftyfretguy]

Skip,
Where in south Ontario are you located? Over here in Western New York we have plenty of guys that are very helpful. We also seem to be finding more and more events to run our engines. So if you are remotely close come on over! In fact I am the closest to the border and I run outside year round, you are more than welcome to come over and boil some water!
Matt

 

[coolhand]

Vance, Sorry to hear accucraft has attached the domes permanently. Guess they must have got tired of us "bashing" the Rubys.

 

[Skip]

Rocket Ruby! First (3) runs on the track were a huge success! GREAT plume of steam out the stack and runs my circuit well. A couple of grades it grunts a bit on, and its going take a bit of fiddling to get the right balance between steam output and fire, but it behaves well on a couple of areas where I have tight 8 ft curves to get around. Gets up on 2 wheels momentarily but stays on.  One nitpick, which might cause some guys some trouble -  lubricator is a potential problem spot - they don't finish the weep hole on the inside where the steam line is soldered on, leaving drill burrs of the hole - this snags fabric if you use a paper towel, q-tip or rag to wipe it out, and can leave fibre residue at the steam hole to be dragged into the steam flow...

I think I've confirmed my neighbour's fears about my mental state. I wonder if they run trains at the institute.. Mogul should be here by next weekend -wowsa!, no housework done around here next week either...

CCS - no pictures yet, but will get some first chance - too busy playing with the loco yesterday ...

Lefty - I'm about about 3/4 hour from Lewiston, so will try to get together later on in the year.

 

[Skip]

Ok, somebody wanted pictures, so here's a short featurette in the finest Hollywood tradition, starring the new ruby.../DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/tongue2.gif  It was difficult getting good shots and keeping an eye on it at the same time.  First thing to go were the steps on the front bumper

The yard and the railway is a mess after being under 2 feet of snow for a month, but will look better next summer...

If the embed doesn't work for you, here's the u-tube link: www.youtube.com/watch

 

[insanerocketkid]

Paul, try putting some gravel or maybe even a brick in the gondola.. that will help add weight and control the ruby...

Mike