Kenneth Belbin
@Stores Manager said:
I have looked at these plungers from the stores and my observations are below
The instructions do leave a lot to be desired. From my experience below they should be assembled in a slightly different order.
On the assemble side the plunger has a small “pip” at the end where the wire is soldered onto. The pip is there to prevent the plunger from coming back out. This makes it a tight push fit until the pip emerges from the other end. When I pushed the the plunger through the plastic bush (with the help of a small vice – fiddly but straight forward) the plunger did slide in the bush but the spring was not strong enough to push the plunger back out.
From that initial experience I adopted the following to assemble the plungers
Open out the bush slightly using a small (~1.3mm) drill.
Shorten the bush slightly to aid soldering the wire on
Place the spring on the the plunger from the end with the pip
Push the plunger through the plastic bush using a small vice if necessary
Solder the wire on
Assemble in the frameI have assembled several complete and working kits using the method outlined above.
The instructions do leave a lot to be desired and I will rewrite them based on my experience of assembling them. Once I had figured this out they are relatively easy to put together
I will be happy to send you a fully assembled set to replace the ones you purchased. Please get in touch if you want to take me up on the offer
John
@Stores Manager said:
I have looked at these plungers from the stores and my observations are below
The instructions do leave a lot to be desired. From my experience below they should be assembled in a slightly different order.
On the assemble side the plunger has a small “pip” at the end where the wire is soldered onto. The pip is there to prevent the plunger from coming back out. This makes it a tight push fit until the pip emerges from the other end. When I pushed the the plunger through the plastic bush (with the help of a small vice – fiddly but straight forward) the plunger did slide in the bush but the spring was not strong enough to push the plunger back out.
From that initial experience I adopted the following to assemble the plungers
Open out the bush slightly using a small (~1.3mm) drill.
Shorten the bush slightly to aid soldering the wire on
Place the spring on the the plunger from the end with the pip
Push the plunger through the plastic bush using a small vice if necessary
Solder the wire on
Assemble in the frameI have assembled several complete and working kits using the method outlined above.
The instructions do leave a lot to be desired and I will rewrite them based on my experience of assembling them. Once I had figured this out they are relatively easy to put together
I will be happy to send you a fully assembled set to replace the ones you purchased. Please get in touch if you want to take me up on the offer
John
Thanks for the reply. I tried also reaming out the bush and found that I could then insert the plunger but not with the wire already soldered on. I thought that if I tried to solder the wire after assembly I would melt the bush. I never considered cutting back the bush. Were you able to fit the spring into the bush or did it sit proud? If the latter there was not enough room between the loco frame and wheel using standard EM spacers as the spring was about 2mm when fully compressed. Thanks for the offer of made-up assemblies but I have now used wipers on the inside of the wheel.