Chuff Sencers K-27

[mudhen]

This my be old hat to some of you, but I haven't read any way how to make this work.
Has Bachmann found a solution to the optical chuff sencers problem in the K-27 yet ?
I would like to have proper chuff quartering......barring that the only way I can think of is to cut the wires at the steam chests, and add the trigger magnet from Phoenix Sound to them, mounting them ( triggers ) onto the bottom of the firer box. then placing smaller magnets to the 4th drive axle in the proper 1/4 erring spots.
Any sud jestions on this topic, and hoping to he from Mr Bachmann on this.....Please !!!!! 

[Kevin Strong]

That's exactly what I ended up doing. I forget which wires you need to cut, but it's pretty easy to trace on the wiring diagram. I used 1/8" round rare-earth magnets that I got on the internet, though if you check Caboose Hobbies online, they have reed switches and magnet kits that will work very well. I just attached the magnets to the rear axle.

Later,

K

[mudhen]

So Kevin,
I see you are a rivit counter too. So does the chuff look and sound correct now ?

[StanAmes]

This my be old hat to some of you, but I haven't read any way how to make this work.
Has Bachmann found a solution to the optical chuff sencers problem in the K-27 yet ?
I would like to have proper chuff quartering......barring that the only way I can think of is to cut the wires at the steam chests, and add the trigger magnet from Phoenix Sound to them, mounting them ( triggers ) onto the bottom of the firer box. then placing smaller magnets to the 4th drive axle in the proper 1/4 erring spots.
Any sud jestions on this topic, and hoping to he from Mr Bachmann on this.....Please !!!!! 

Perhaps I could clear up some of the confusion from your post.

Quartering refers to the drivers and how they are connected to the rods.  If a locomotives drivers are out of quarter the locomotive drivers will bind.
As far as I am aware the K27 is in perfect quarter.

I think what you are referring to is the locomotive square.  The square of a locomotive refers to the adjustment of the exhaust.  If a locomotive is in perfect square the locomotive will have cuffs that are perfectly in time and the volume of the chuff will be the same for all 4 chuffs.

Locomotives are generally only in square immediately after a  significant service and can get out of square rather quickly.  For example if you listen to a K36 at the beginning of the season it is close to being in square while the same locomotive at the end of a season will have a chuff way out of square.  I was surprised how far the OJ-49 I operated last year in Poland was.  It gave the locomotive a distinctive sound.

Most model locomotives have 4 chuff triggers on the same axle so the chuff is always even so there is no ability to adjust the chuff to get a unique sounding locomotive.  The Bachmann 2-6-6-2 for example will always have an even chuff because all 4 triggers are on a single axla.

The K27 and the Forney have two separate chuff triggers one in each Cylinder.  Chuffs 1 and 3 come from one side while chuffs 2 and 4 come from the other side.  For locomotives such as this you will need to adjust the triggers to get perfect square.  I tend to adjust some to be much further  out of square like the prototype so I can identify the locomotive by its sound.

The Forney has a very simple square adjustment.  You simply move the trigger a little forward or backward on one side.  The K27 takes a little more effort.  For the K27 you need to move the circuit board that has the trigger receiver a little forward or backward.  You can see the board if you remove the lower cylinder cover. 
On two of my K-27s I  found the board was  a very tight fit from the factory.

Hope that helps.

Stan Ames

[armorsmith]

Stan,

Please re-read the original post, I believe Mudhen is referring to the incompatibility of the Bachmann optical chuff sensors with any of the sound cards on the market. I believe I have read several posts on other forums about cutting wires and adding diodes to accomplish proper operation.

Personally, I spoke to one hobby shop who told me to simply ignore the optical sensors, "they don't work" was his statement, and use magnets and reed switches on the tender axle.

If you have information on how to make a Pheonix sound card work directly with the optical chuff sensors, please share with the rest of us K27 owners.

Thanks

Bob C.

[StanAmes]

Stan,

Please re-read the original post, I believe Mudhen is referring to the incompatibility of the Bachmann optical chuff sensors with any of the sound cards on the market. I believe I have read several posts on other forums about cutting wires and adding diodes to accomplish proper operation.

Personally, I spoke to one hobby shop who told me to simply ignore the optical sensors, "they don't work" was his statement, and use magnets and reed switches on the tender axle.

If you have information on how to make a Pheonix sound card work directly with the optical chuff sensors, please share with the rest of us K27 owners.

Thanks

Bob C.

Bob

The K27 has a chuff on high output. While ESU and some of the others can accommodate this with no problem, most common sound boards on the market utilize chuff on ground.

Bachmann has several installations under product references/product manuals which show how to invert the chuff.

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/k27.php?k27page=3

I found the simplest of these is described under the QSI Solutions link.  Basically it requires the installation of an inversion transistor which inverts the chuff high to a chuff on ground.  The RCS plug in board has this inversion built in so no additional modifications are required.

Several years back I made of video of 3 of my K27s pulling a long train up a grade.  All the locomotives in the video have Phoenix P5 sound boards and all are using the optical chuffs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-0iUbSXl2s

Hope that helps.

Stan Ames

[Kevin Strong]

So Kevin,
I see you are a rivit counter too. So does the chuff look and sound correct now ?

Yes it does. Looks great and sounds great. To stick the magnets onto the axle, I wrapped it with two-sided tape, then stuck the magnets in place. Once they were in place and I was happy with the quartering, I took a second layer of two-sided tape and wrapped around the top of the magnets, essentially encasing them in the tape. If you don't want the "sticky" attracting dirt, etc., cut a thin strip of plastic wrap and stick it to the outside of the tape.

Later,

K