Have made some progress on the Atlas Kato RSD-12 engine This unit is used and in unknown condition.
The upgrade is progressing nicely.
Following the process plan:
1.) The evaluation (AS Received) test in DC has been completed.
Here are some results & Pix.
Typically the engine is run for 30 mins. before any measurements are taken.This chart shows the velocity voltage function. The RSD-12 is shown in red. The average, maximum and minimum of all the Atlas Kato engines in my data base are shown in black. The grey background lines are all of the data base engines. This chart shows the RSD-12 engine is better than the average Atlas Kato engine. This is a good result.This chart examines the Starting sustained velocity as a function of engine weight. The background is the same as the previous char except the entire data base in shown in grey & dark blue. Grey is Pre 1995 and Dark blue is post 1995 manufacture dates. The RSD-12 shows to be near the minimum Atlas Kato engine tested. Only a hand full of the entire data base show a lower starting velocity. This is a great result.By measuring the draw bar force at 12 volts, the number of as that can be pulled up a 2.5% grade can be inferred with some assumptions. This is where the engine is marginal. Real engines are thought to be able to pull two times the drive axles. This unit has six axles. So it should be able to pull 12 loaded cars. Here the RSD-12 pulls 17 cars at a very low speed. A weight reduction of 100 grams would put the engine at or near the desired limit. This chart shows the stall current result compared to the data bases as before. For successful digital module installation this result needs to be below 1.4 amps. The RDS-12 measures 1.35 amps. This is acceptable, Just below the average Atlas Kato level. Interestingly, roughly half of the data base Atlas Kato engines would fail this requirement.
2.) Clean and tune the mechanism.
This step is in process
3.) Repeat the DC tests.
This step is waiting completion of #2
4.) Ascertain if adding the Rail pro will be acceptable.
Because most of the initial results are acceptable, The application for the digital module is compatible with this engine.
This chart shows the shell and chassis as received. This shows a pre DC ready electrical circuit that does not use the chassis for electrical connection. The right and left side of the trucks are directly wired to the light board. The motor connections are the gold strips that are trapped under the copper wires. The light is also connected to these wires. Quite simple. Note the light is always on when power is applied. There is no attempt at directional lighting.Here The inside of the shell is shown with the weights and lighting glass. The Chassis shows the thickness of the light light bar. This will be discussed in a subsequent chart.Here the area in the region of the fuel tank is shown. In other applications, the speakers were mounted in this region. For this construction, significant material would need to be removed to allow a successful installation.This chart shows the engine weight and I-phone speaker. The weight needs to be trimmed b the speaker thickness to allow for proper clearance. Resulting in an unwanted engine weight reduction.Here the Chassis light board thickness is compared with the Rail Pro module thickness. The light board will be removed. There will still be more height that can be accommodated with the light glass in place. The solution is to remove the light glass and replace it with appropriate LEDs. This will open up room for the module. The result will be additional weight reduction. Some additional weights will be needed to replace the parts that have been removed.
The tuned testing will be accomplished next and then the material will be removed from one of the weights for one of the speakers. The installation of the LEDs, speaker and module will be completed. With success additional weighs will be identified to increase the engine weight back towards the initial level.
