# Dissecting my 312AC



## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

I tore apart my 312AC as it had a short in it somewhere. Here's a few pix of the surgery, and I apologize for the lousy pix. I just can't get a handle on close-ups. I also don't know how to put a picture in and then narrate it. Oh well, you have to see the pix.The first coup[le of pictures is about tearing the engine down to the bare essentiosls. As I suspected earlier, there was a short from the wires going to the head-light. The lug on the smoke box top plate was touching the boiler shell on occasion. Fixed that. Took apart the motr,and re-surfaced the armature. Cleaned the brushes, squared them up alittle, and cleaned the funk out of the brush holder. Took out the smoke piston and cleaned up the insides with a red scotchbrite pad. I love them! Put a slim coat of vaseline inside the chamber and started to put things back. Of course I cleaned all the linkage and polished them a little. Got the motor, smoke unit mated again,and put them on my threadmill. What do you think??? Smokes like crazy, and just runs like a deer. This will be one of my better engines. Cleaned and polished the handrails, and reistalled the motor. Got all the linkages right the third time around, and viola. Finished. I tried it on my layout, and she is a super beast!!


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Flyernut,

Good thing you've disected a few of these. I'd be scratching my head over that unsorted pile of screws and parts ... which goes where?!?

You should embed your pics. After you attached, click on each pic icon individually. Highlight the URL address at the top, and Ctrl-C copy to the clipboard. Then, back in your post editor, click on the little "mountain" icon to insert the photo URL inbetween IMG tags like this:










Presto ... image seen in post, and you can add comments above or below each image.

TJ


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## imatt88 (Jan 31, 2010)

OMG

How the heck do your keep track of all the fiddly bits?:laugh:


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

tjcruiser said:


> Flyernut,
> 
> Good thing you've disected a few of these. I'd be scratching my head over that unsorted pile of screws and parts ... which goes where?!?
> 
> ...


This is my first one to take apart. The biggest headache is getting the linkages all sync'ed with the other side. It's just not a matter of putting stuff together. It's just as important as quartering.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

imatt88 said:


> OMG
> 
> How the heck do your keep track of all the fiddly bits?:laugh:


Ha!! I never took one of these apart before so I took pictures of things before I took it apart. The only thing wrong with that is all the pictures I took were blurred, and I couldn't use them!!! Luckily, I had the other loco I just bought and the linkages are the same. I only used to other loco to check if I did it right. Kinda like a little test for myself. You have to experiment and jump into this stuff.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

tjcruiser said:


> Flyernut,
> 
> Good thing you've disected a few of these. I'd be scratching my head over that unsorted pile of screws and parts ... which goes where?!?
> 
> ...


I appreciate the help with the 'puter!!!But you're talking to a guy who still has an 8-track player in his car,lol...


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## imatt88 (Jan 31, 2010)

Flyer,


I got a Led Zepplin 8-track for you if you need it:laugh::laugh:


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

imatt88 said:


> Flyer,
> 
> 
> I got a Led Zepplin 8-track for you if you need it:laugh::laugh:


Probably got it, lol.....


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

flyernut said:


> I appreciate the help with the 'puter!!!But you're talking to a guy who still has an 8-track player in his car,lol...


C'mon ... you can do it ...










Easy!

You know you can ...

TJ


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

tjcruiser said:


> C'mon ... you can do it ...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


HA!!! I'll try....


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

*I wanted to see this*

I find, I don't need a large picture very often.
Around 6oo to 650 pixels wide is a good size.
I use paint to resize them. Sometimes I use the medium size in photobucket. When I have a lot, then I just link them up. Members can always go there since I have more pictures there.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Here is your picture reduced to 32% with paint.










I thought I lost the big post. Good to see it.
The width on yours is 1000 as compared to 320 on the reduced picture.


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## Reckers (Oct 11, 2009)

I like big pics----more detail!


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Of course, you're sitting on a potty looking at S gage pictures!
Been doing that for years and years.


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