gordon s Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Just taken delivery of a Bachmann B1 which was on special offer from Kernow. I've fitted decoders to these before and as I'm laid up for a while with back problems, thought I would sit at the kitchen table and fit a Zimo decoder. I hadn't done one for a while so this is from memory, but there seem to be some minor changes that may affetct decoder fitment. Here's some pics below. The motor and thrust bearing are similar, but they have added some solder tags to the chassis which easily take the black and red wires from a decoder. The orange and grey wires should be insulated and soldered to the motor. Now here's the conundrum. I can't see and way of removing the valve gear at this time. They appear to be glued to the chassis block behind the cylinders and Bachmann have changed the crank pin. Behind the nut is a small spring circlip, which makes it very difficult to undo the screw. A normal spinner won't fit and I tried using a small pair of flat nosed pliers, but only succeeded in turning the quartering crank. I was loathe to really twist it as I have had difficulties with quartering on these chassis before. So has anyone done one of these modified versions and if so how did you remove the valve gear? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted January 5, 2011 Author Share Posted January 5, 2011 Well a cup of coffee and spoonful of bravery, seem to have solved the problem. The valve gear is a push fit on two cast spigots each side of the chassis. There is no need to remove the quartering crankpin as once the cylinders are pushed off the whole wheelset comes away in one piece. I don't remember it being held that way when I did the last one, or is dementia setting in quicker than I first thought..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Always been that way on the B1, tacked on with a varnish like substance. There was the problem. sometimes lightly tacked, sometimes near immoveable. Some models had a small securing screw for valve gear components. For all that yet to encounter a Bach split chassis loco that actually required anything on the valve gear disconnected to split the chassis and isolate the motor terminals. Just letting the wheelsets dangle below the chassis halves was enough. Looks a mess but always went back together OK. The terminals on the chassis halves are a new thing to me though. Now why didn't they finish the job and bring the motor feeds out through the midline gap to the terminals, so that a simple disconnection is all that is required for a decoder fit? I suppose if they had done that someone would be asking 'where's the decoder socket then?'. Still think Bach could happily run the old body on a current design wiper pick up chassis, it has to be a low cost option to counter the Hornby introduction. The body tooling must be so fully amortised by now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted January 5, 2011 Author Share Posted January 5, 2011 Thanks for that. The changes to other areas made me think the cylinder location design had changed. I usually remove all the valve gear and wheelset for weathering and to mill a flat on the top half of the chassis to accommodate a decoder. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.