Chapter 18.14 – Setting Reverse ArmsThe next part is setting the reverse arms in the correct position. Kozo gives info on WHERE the arms need to be set, but not really HOW to do it. He says to set the arms 112
o from the curved reverse shaft and shows a picture of it, but I didn’t find that very helpful. I spent a lot of time trying to work out how to do this. Eventually, I used some cardboard angle templates that I made for helping to set angles on my grinder and this seemed to work out the best.
Then once you get the reverse arms set, you have to set the reach rod arm at a certain angle from those. It took a while, but I got it close enough and tightened up the set screws.
I set things up, tried it out and it seemed to give me the necessary range of motion (at least, once I got all the parts to fit together – this was the first time most of them had been assembled!) I’m sorry to say that MANY e-clips were lost during this operation. Luckily, I’d purchased a package of 100, and I’m pretty sure I still have a few left. :/
After that lengthy but necessary check, I carefully drilled the 1/16” hole through the shaft and pinned the arms in place.
The pins are a friction fit, and I tried to peen over the ends a bit to help them stay in place. Then I carefully ground down the ends of the pins flush using a Dremel. I removed the set screws also since they are really only used to hold things in place till the pins are added.
Chapter 18.15 – Setting Reverse Gear and Cutting NotchesKozo provides very good, very clear instructions on how to set the quadrant notches for the reversing lever.
After re-assembling the reverse arms and shaft I trimmed the reverse rod to length and cut the center notch on the quadrant:
I had to remove the steam chest covers to align the vales with the correct places to put the other notches in the quadrant.
And here’s after I cut all the notches in the quadrant.
Oddly, the latch doesn’t seem to be sitting in the center notch properly in this picture. I’ll have to check on that. But it seems to click in pretty well at all notches, as can be seen in this short ‘reverse lever demonstration’ video
Finally, here’s a full family shot of everything done to date:
But I just couldn’t resist hooking up the air and giving it a try with the reverse lever in place. It works pretty well. But you can detect some galloping in there. Still need to tweak the valve adjustment a bit, but I’ll probably wait till after I paint and re-assemble before I do that.
I’m going to be taking a break from the Pennsy for a bit and start working on my welding project again. I think I’m up for that now!
Thanks for stopping by!
Kim
