33 replies to this topic

[Bruce]

When a fellow member of BayLTC ran his Emerald Night on the club's layout at a show, it ran fine at first. After maybe 15 minutes it started to move jerky. He asked me to run mine, which was a 9 volt mod, his was the stock PF. After about 20 minutes mine also started to move jerky so I took it off and put it aside until I had some time to examine it. Upon examining it I realized that due to the cylinder only being one stud long the piston was jamming on the forward stroke (piston was being pushed in and upward). So I modified the cylinder, making it two studs long. I ran it at the next train show. It ran smoothly for the whole time I ran it. Another member of BayLTC asked me how I had gotten it to run so smoothly (his was also jerking when run). So I thought it would be a good idea to share my fix with the Lego Train Community.

These are the parts you need to add to fix the Emerald Night's jerkiness when running. Different colors shown for contrast. They should all be black.




Here they are assembled. You use the two 3-stud long axles and two Black Technic Perpendicular Axle and Pin Connectors from the original assembly.




Here is one view of the assembly in the Emerald Night.




Here is another view of the assembly in the Emerald Night.




Here is another view of the assembly in the Emerald Night.

[Rumpelmuck]

Hi!

Very surprising! I heard about that "design leak". I ran my Emerald with PF on a show in December two days, about 6 hours a day (as long as the rechargable battery lasted) without any problems.

On which brick, point exactly the piston is jamming?

Cheers and thanks!
Thomas

[SavaTheAggie]

An easier fix is to replace the 1x5 thin technic liftarm acting as the pushrod with a 1x7 thin technic liftarm.  Of course doing both wouldn't hurt any.

--Tony

[soc399]

SavaTheAggie, on Jan 13 2010, 11:19 AM, said:

An easier fix is to replace the 1x5 thin technic liftarm acting as the pushrod with a 1x7 thin technic liftarm.  Of course doing both wouldn't hurt any.

--Tony

That's how I fixed my Emerald Night, and it definitely stopped the locking problem.  It still doesn't run perfectly smoothly, especially on the lowest speed.  I'll have to try widening the cylinder, since I have a MOC steam loco with 2 long cylinders that doesn't suffer from the same problem.

[dhaas06]

I just finished trying your fix, and it looks good and certainly moves a lot smoother. Thanks!

[eric87]

i also used that fix .  works great. thank you.

[Gabrielthorn]

Hi there!

I'm planning to order this beautiful set. Do I need to get extra parts for this fix? If I do, where can I buy them?

Thank you!

[Davey]

SavaTheAggie, on Jan 13 2010, 11:19 AM, said:

An easier fix is to replace the 1x5 thin technic liftarm acting as the pushrod with a 1x7 thin technic liftarm.  Of course doing both wouldn't hurt any.

--Tony

Tony:

I did the 1x7 liftarm fix and even with that, it still locks up after 3-4 hours of solid running.  I am also attempting a fix involving teflon pipe tape and I will let everyone know how it goes after BW.

-Davey

[hoeij]

Davey, on Jun 5 2010, 11:51 AM, said:

Tony:

I did the 1x7 liftarm fix and even with that, it still locks up after 3-4 hours of solid running.  I am also attempting a fix involving teflon pipe tape and I will let everyone know how it goes after BW.

-Davey

I put a tiny amount of WD40 in the cylinders, that solved the locking problem.  To make sure I wouldn't spill any, I just
put a tiny amount of WD40 on the tip of a napkin and then touched the inside of the cylinders with that tip.  In addition, I
also use the 1x7 lift arms. At the moment it works well. I don't know yet how long this solution will work (but I'll find out in a few weeks
from now at the train show).  I'll let you know if it stops working (in which case I'll switch to the "make the cylinder longer"
solution).

[legotrainfan]

Gabrielthorn, on Jun 5 2010, 05:17 PM, said:

Hi there!

I'm planning to order this beautiful set. Do I need to get extra parts for this fix? If I do, where can I buy them?

Thank you!

No idea if you need replacement parts for this modification. I've got the Emerald Night, but it's not motorised anyway. So I'm in no hurry to fix it.

As soon as you know what parts you need for the fix, you can either buy them on bricklink.com or in the Pick-A-Brick section of shop.lego.com.

[broomhandle]

Is anybody still having these problems? I just got my E.Night motorized, and its horrible. splits switches and is so jerky. I even took off the pistons completely, from the fix which you showed. What is making this engine run so jerky?

[hoeij]

broomhandle, on 15 July 2010 - 04:35 PM, said:

Is anybody still having these problems? I just got my E.Night motorized, and its horrible. splits switches and is so jerky. I even took off the pistons completely, from the fix which you showed. What is making this engine run so jerky?

Did you try the various fixes?  Have the wheels angled at 90 degrees with respect to each other?

There is a helpful overview of problems/solutions on:
http://www.brickset....ws/?set=10194-1
(scroll down to the review by  David   in New Zealand on 02 February 2010).

[broomhandle]

hoeij, on 15 July 2010 - 10:29 PM, said:

Did you try the various fixes?  Have the wheels angled at 90 degrees with respect to each other?

There is a helpful overview of problems/solutions on:
http://www.brickset....ws/?set=10194-1
(scroll down to the review by  David   in New Zealand on 02 February 2010).

yes, the wheels are correct, and I removed the cylinders to see what the problem is. I am stumped.

[hoeij]

broomhandle, on 16 July 2010 - 03:25 PM, said:

yes, the wheels are correct, and I removed the cylinders to see what the problem is. I am stumped.

Perhaps you can take some video of it?  Is it still bumpy without the cylinders?

[broomhandle]

hoeij, on 16 July 2010 - 10:49 PM, said:

Perhaps you can take some video of it?  Is it still bumpy without the cylinders?

yeah, it also splits switches. I will try and get some video. Is anybody else having these problems? I did not expect this from lego, but I guess this is a 14+ age lego... haha

[hoeij]

broomhandle, on 17 July 2010 - 03:57 PM, said:

yeah, it also splits switches. I will try and get some video. Is anybody else having these problems? I did not expect this from lego, but I guess this is a 14+ age lego... haha

One more question:  If you lift the wheels off the ground so they can spin freely, do the wheels turn smoothly then?  Or is it still rough?

Which of the solutions have you tried so far?

Taking the rubber traction rings off the front driving wheels helps make it go smoother through curves/switches, but it should already be able to go through curves/switches without doing that.

[legotrainfan]

Bruce, on 13 January 2010 - 01:33 AM, said:

These are the parts you need to add to fix the Emerald Night's jerkiness when running. Different colors shown for contrast. They should all be black.

I want to modify my Emerlad Night the way you suggested, but how long is the black axle? Eight studs? And could you - or anyone else - please tell me the bricklink element number of the four technic elements directly below the black axle in the picture?

Thanks for your help!

[cusaeng]

The axle is 8 long and I think this is what your looking for
http://www.bricklink...tem.asp?P=41677

Edited by cusaeng, 13 August 2010 - 02:47 PM.

[Goldenmasamune]

http://www.bricklink...tem.asp?P=41677

technic liftarm above (that part)

I made this modification and it's great. Thanks a ton!

[legotrainfan]

Thanks, guys! Soon after reading your replies I bought the necessary bricks on bricklink... plus some other bricks that I need for other things.  

[cusaeng]

legotrainfan, on 13 August 2010 - 09:23 PM, said:

Thanks, guys! Soon after reading your replies I bought the necessary bricks on bricklink... plus some other bricks that I need for other things.

You wont be disappointed . Are you running your train on 9v or pf?

[legotrainfan]

cusaeng, on 14 August 2010 - 12:14 AM, said:

You wont be disappointed . Are you running your train on 9v or pf?

For the time being it is neither equipped with a 9V motor nor with PF components. I'm intending to use it as a PF train, though I have got no idea when I'll motorise it. It's quite expensive to buy all PF components to make it run. However, as soon as I have all the necessary stuff it'll run on a 9V layout.

[cusaeng]

legotrainfan, on 15 August 2010 - 09:32 AM, said:

For the time being it is neither equipped with a 9V motor nor with PF components. I'm intending to use it as a PF train, though I have got no idea when I'll motorise it. It's quite expensive to buy all PF components to make it run. However, as soon as I have all the necessary stuff it'll run on a 9V layout.

If your not going to be running it on PF I would advise removing the internal geearing and connecting the wheels with axels.
I did that with mine as well as the above fix and it seems to be working better with the 9v motor pushing it.

[hoeij]

cusaeng, on 15 August 2010 - 11:30 AM, said:

If your not going to be running it on PF I would advise removing the internal geearing and connecting the wheels with axels.
I did that with mine as well as the above fix and it seems to be working better with the 9v motor pushing it.

The angle between the driving wheels on the left and right side, do you have that at 90 degrees?

[Gioppa]

Well gentleman,finally i have made my modification on the Emerald,and it work.
In my intention i want to put the battery box,and the motor inside of the locomotive(and keep the fire mouth),but in the normal emerald it isn't possible,i have to made it larger but it isn't in my project.
I made it longer with place for the fire mouth and motor.I change in a 2-4-2,and i made everything is possible to made the wheel mechanism work good.
Tomorrow morning i have to find a shop because i don't have the kit for motor\remote control,but i made a lot of test and i think it is fine now.
Here the link for the photo of modification

http://www.youbrick....ns/Emerald Moc/

if you have any questions i'm very happy to give you (i hope correct)answer.
Sorry for my english but i'm Itlian