artfull dodger
Registered
And for something you do not see done very often, full valve gear on a Roundhouse basic series. I have always like the looks of Sammie, but the slip eccentric valve gear did nothing for me. When I got a chance to buy one second hand, that included the full valve gear kit, I jumped at it. He had already added every single factory upgrade to Sammie and he was well run in, if not starting to wear out a bit(need to replace the wheel coupling rods). Going by the supplied drawings and measurments, the valve gear rocker bushings side just above the factory frame and just behind the front spring detail that is part of the frame. I used the supplied "penguin" brackets to mount the rocker shaft by turning the brackets toward the rear and down to mount them to the frame. I drilled and tapped the frame and fastened them in place with small cap screws. I have a second pair of these brackets on order from RH so I can mount the lifting link rockshaft to shift the valve gear into reverse. The rest of the valve gear was straight forward in its installation on the model. I did have to retime the slide valves after the conversion. Through out this process, I kept the slip eccentric rods in place incase this didn't work. Once I proved the chassis on air, I took my Dremel with a cut off wheel and cut a second out of the eccentric rod from behind the drive wheel while the eccentric was in its lowest and most exposed position. This allowed me to remove the old eccentric rod. I then took the chassis to my wash tank on my work bench that I use when I fix lawn mowers and flushed all the grit and debris from cutting from the rear axle and degreased the rest of the frame. I allowed it to drip dry over night, then relubricated the following morning. At this point I reassembled the boiler and ran a steam test. Sammie ran smoother and much better at slower speeds, showing how much wear was in the old motion. I blackened the drivers and added front and rear headlights and a bell that I got from Accucraft's web E store. It took some thinking and rearranging in the cab to fit the reversing quadrant, it sits right behind the gas tank and the reach rod tucks inbetween the gas tank and the boiler. Right now Sammie runs in forward only, as I am still awaiting my order from the RH dealer here in the states. Mike
