# Accucraft K4...issues?



## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

I just visited our buddy Doc Watson and we ran a lot of his great locos and hoped to run his Pennsy Accucraft K4. The engine is a beauty to look at but he reported he has had some issues with it from the 'git go', seeming to bind up a bit and not run smoothly. When visiting recently I hoped to see this loco run but Doc reported the engine had recently failed to run at all and is on the 'disabled list'. Very sad. It's a beauty to behold. Have any other owners had issues with this model?

Scott


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

live steam or sparky?


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## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

It's a sparky Greg. It ran for a while (3 laps around my layout) and seemed to start binding up on and off and eventually stopped altogether. I checked all the valve gear and there's nothing obvious there. I could still manually push it along the track. I'm wondering if there's a problem with the motor drive. It does make a considerable clicking noise as it starts to bind up. Because of the noises I'm almost positive its not an electrical problem unless you've heard the opposite. I'm not anxious to take it apart myself and I guess it would cost a fortune to mail it to someone. It weighs a ton.

I bought this 2 years ago at the ECLSTS and had it as a showpiece item on my shelf. I ran it last year and experienced the same problem. I gave it to someone to check out the problem and they didn't determine what the problem was because, on the test bench, running at relatively low speeds, the binding didn't show up.

Any ideas/help would be appreciated.

Doc


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I have a couple of the AML 1:29 ones... dunno if that is what you have or a 1:32 one... 

You can EASILY cook the motor overloading it... It's geared too high, and like most of this series of Pittman motors, it will willingly draw more current than it can sustain. The motor is rated for 0.7 amps continuous. That is correct. 

Run it over that and the motor will overheat and melt inside and lock up. 

But that might not be your problem. To debug it you might try to send power to the motor directly. 

I have stuff on my site... go to motive power..... AML .... K4..... I have the pinout of the connector... try putting power to the motor directly. 

There's a 6 volt regulator in the loco that can go poof! 

Regards, Greg


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## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks Greg,

I'll check it out. It is an 1:29 AML K4.

Doc


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Typical problem is setscrew comes loose on the connections from the universal to the motor or the universal to the gearbox on the axle.... common.. 

Greg


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## jfrank (Jan 2, 2008)

My suggestion on this would be to call Accucraft and talk to Cliff. They usually have someone that repairs these engines on tap. Other option is to take the engine apart yourself and diagnose the problem. I had an electric C19 I sent back twice to get repaired. I finally tore into it my self and fixed it out of frustration as I fugured at that point I had nothing to lose. Good luck.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

My site does have a detailed, step by step disassembly procedure for the K4, just to let you know. 

Greg


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## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

John,

I contacted Cliff the last time I had this problem and he put me in touch with one of his repair people who didn't take the engine apart and thus did not solve the problem. I just might attempt to take the engine apart or just take it to the ECLSTS next Spring and dump it on Accicraft's table and let them deal with it.

Greg, I've been through your instructions on your web site and I will certainly refer to them if I decide to attempt a repair myself.

Thanks for your help.

Doc


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Any time Doc, and I have one apart right now if you need some pix. 

Greg


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## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

Greg, 
I reviewed your website but I'm guessing I missed it. Where do you have the Accu K4 info?


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## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

oops, never mind. I found it. 

thanks. 

S


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## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

Greg,

If it's not too much trouble I would certainly appreciate any additional help, in the form of pictures, you can provide. Thanks again.

Doc


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## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

On a recent visit to Doc Watson's place I admired the front pilot truck modification he made to his Connie with outside springs and journal boxes that looks way cool. He still had the mold he made for it and he mixed one up for my Connie and told me he had one in his shop for me. Too Cool!!! i stopped down Friday and we installed the mod on my connie's pilot truck and I can't tell you how cool it looks and how grateful I am to Doc for thinking of me and crankin' one out for my loco! 

Anyway, while i was there we ran Doc's K4 on the rollers and tried to figure out what the recent malfunction might be. For a while we thought it might even be some kind of a bizarre short across the body of the engine, possibly coming from the trailing truck. Eventually we ruled that out and now Doc thinks it might be an issue coming from the pickups on the drivers. I think he plans to pull them off and clean them and see if there's improvement from that. Something's also definitely gone awry with his sound card too, possibly from a voltage spike. [?] It's definitely a mystery, but I feel confident he'll figure it out and get the engine back in service. It's a puzzler.


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## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

Well Scott I think I've located the source of the problem. If I'm correct, the problem was in the graphite electrical pickups. When I took them apart I noticed that the tiny graphite rods were flat on one end and tapered on the other. The sprung metal rod holder inside the pickup mount appeared to be conical-shaped which meant that the rods should be inserted with the conical end facing inward. ALL of the rods were in backwards which meant that 1: the rods weren't properly seated and thus not providing sufficient contact with the metal holder; and 2: the rods were only making a point contact with the drivers instead of a nice flat contact.

Since I reversed the rods, the engine runs just fine with no hesitations or locking up at all. Go figure. It's amazing that such a small thing could cause such a large problem.

BTW, while Scott was here we also disassembled the trailing truck and added additional nylon washers on the axle to help eliminate any possible shorting of the rear wheels against the truck frame.

Glad you're enjoying your new Connie front truck enhancement.

Doc


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## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

Thanks again Doc, for the pilot truck enhancement you mixed up with the molds you had in your shop from the modification on your Connie. It is a visually impressive improvement to an engine I already very much enjoy watching run around the track. 

I'm so glad you discovered the pickup issue with your K4 and that it's back in service. I hope if others have encountered similar erratic performance that they might be able to pull the pickups off and inspect the orientation of the contact points on the pickups to see if that may be an issue on their locomotive. 

S


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