Making New Driving Rods For Steamer?

[Cannonball]

I dunno if this is really a technical question or not but I couldn't decide where else to ask this.

I broke one of the driving rods on my steamer the other day while cleaning the engine. (It broke while I was taking the engine appart. Twisted and pulled when I should have pushed I guess... ) I don't know if I can fix it or not. The material is just pot metal and I've already discovered superglue won't hold it. The train still runs but it kind of looks silly without it being there. Is there a way I could make new ones? The remaining ones look sort of tarnished and pitted anyhow. Nice, shiney, new ones would perk the ol' girl right up. Any suggestions?

 

[shaygetz]

What kind of loco? Any pics? I may have a rod or two in my scrap box that could work.

 

[Cannonball]

What kind of loco? Any pics? I may have a rod or two in my scrap box that could work.

I'll thow up some pics when I get home tonight. It's a 2-4-0 Engine from an early 70's Cannonball set. (Hence the screen name. ) One thing I noticed on eBay, the engines that were in the 80's sets were different from the one's in the 70's. Mine has two drive rods on each side. The later engines only had one.

 

[Cannonball]

Until I get home, here's about the best picture of one from eBay....

 

[Cannonball]

OK, here's my poor wounded baby.
The marking on the side is 8300.
As I've already said, it's a 2-4-0 and it has a pullmor motor.
That's all I really know about it.
The top drive rod on the right side broke down by the back wheel.

 

[Cannonball]

No joy?

 

[doctorwayne]

If you can disassemble the side with the "good" rod, you can use it as a pattern for making a replacement for the broken one. I would use brass, as it's easy to work with, but if you want "shiny", check at your LHS. Whatever material you choose, use something the same thickness as the original. Use a scriber to trace the shape onto the material, then centre-punch and drill the holes. You can cut out the rough shape with a hacksaw or jeweller's saw, then file to the final shape. Careful use of a cut-off disc in a Dremel tool will also work for this step.

Wayne

 

[Cannonball]

If you can disassemble the side with the "good" rod, you can use it as a pattern for making a replacement for the broken one. I would use brass, as it's easy to work with, but if you want "shiny", check at your LHS. Whatever material you choose, use something the same thickness as the original. Use a scriber to trace the shape onto the material, then centre-punch and drill the holes. You can cut out the rough shape with a hacksaw or jeweller's saw, then file to the final shape. Careful use of a cut-off disc in a Dremel tool will also work for this step.

Wayne

I could try brass.
I could get 'em to match thickness wise but they will definatley look different as these were molded and go from sort of squarish to round.

I have also noticed that a lot of the later trainset Lionels only had one driving rod. I could take the top driving rod off the other side, put in small spacers on the bushings and run it that way. I'm not sure if it would look quite right to me though.

 

[nachoman]

there are quite a few dealers of old lionel parts out there... May cost you a few bucks but I am sure you can get a replacement.

kevin

 

[Cannonball]

there are quite a few dealers of old lionel parts out there... May cost you a few bucks but I am sure you can get a replacement.

kevin

Well, I've found what I think is the part but none of the online vendors want to put up picks. They have everything listed in tables. This is the link anyhow. For $3.00, I don't think I'll cry too hard.

http://www.genestrains.com/p-l1666e-16r.html

Edit:
Now I'm almost positive this is it.

http://pictures.olsenstoy.com/images/partpix/1666e16r.bmp

 

[nachoman]

oh, that is frustrating. I see the lonel parts dealers with tables at train shows all the time. The parts collections alone are worth tens of thousands.

kevin

 

[Cannonball]

Well, I've found what I think is the part but none of the online vendors want to put up picks. They have everything listed in tables. This is the link anyhow. For $3.00, I don't think I'll cry too hard.

http://www.genestrains.com/p-l1666e-16r.html

Edit:
Now I'm almost positive this is it.

http://pictures.olsenstoy.com/images/partpix/1666e16r.bmp

Nope that's not it.

 

[Cannonball]

oh, that is frustrating. I see the lonel parts dealers with tables at train shows all the time. The parts collections alone are worth tens of thousands.

kevin

You would tink that they might sell more stuff by putting up a few pics. Nobody want's to look at boring old html tables and try to guess what they're ordering.

I wish we had train shows here.
There might be some in Kansas City but I wouldn't know how to find out about any of them.

 

[Russ Bellinis]

I just checked www.gats.com Your are right the only train show listed there is in Kansas City Mar 10-11, 2007. Is there a hobby shop near you? They might know of local club shows, but if there isn't a local toy train club, they probably wouldn't have anyone with Lionel parts.

Another idea for getting the homemade rods to match and look kind of like the original rods is to make up a complete set from brass, and powder coat them. I was watching a program on DIY network on restoring a 1962 Thunderbird. They showed a product for using your wifes stove for powder coating. You would make the rods out of brass, clean them thooroughly, and hang them from an oven rack with stainless steel wires provided in the kit. You then hook up a wire from a low voltage power supply to put a negative charge on the parts. Spray the powder which is positively charged onto the parts, and carefully put them in an oven heated to the correct temp. The powder melts into the material, after about 10 minutes if I remember correctly, you turn off the oven and open it to let everything cool. They said that the kit was available with powder in a wide choice of colors including transluscents (candy colors) and metallics. I'm thinking that they probably have the silver color coating available that hot rodders put on their headers, that looks kind of like a matte finished stainless steel. I don't know what the cost of the kit is, but it doesn't make any mess in the oven, so your wife shouldn't have a problem with it. I'm not sure if there is any chemical odor, but any odor could easily be vented out of the kitchen by the exhaust fan.

 

[Cannonball]

The powder coating thing sounds like a cool idea for a lot of applications in this hobby. You may have just cost wives everywhere their ovens.

I don't know if I'm skilled enough to really do a decent job of making the rod though. I've got fat fingers. I'm OK with big, bulky stuff but tiny things tend to get ruined. I guess that's why I became a bass player.