Bell Ringers - Air Operated

sooline1003engr · **Posted:** Mon Oct 18, 2010 11:29 pm

Is anyone out here good with the air operated bell ringer and their adjustment? This would be the type of ringer mounted on the bell frame that pushes the bell, NOT the kind that just move the clapper.

Want to know some feedback of proper position of the arm where it clamps on the bell's shaft and the adjustment of the set screw in the arm itself.

Frisco1522 · **Posted:** Tue Oct 19, 2010 10:13 am

Good luck with that one. Those things are really finicky not only about arm position, but air pressure, the position of the stars and who is in office at the time. Even the railroads had fits with them.
Yours is a boiler top bell mounting isn't it?

Dennis Storzek · **Posted:** Tue Oct 19, 2010 11:28 am

If this is for Soo 1003, he's in luck, since the Soo routinely mounted a bar on top of the hanger to stop the bell from flipping over and going into a noiseless twirl.

sooline1003engr · **Posted:** Tue Oct 19, 2010 11:46 am

Funny thing is the 1003 doesn't have the top non spin bar, but we did have the ringer adjusted just right so it wouldn't rotate when ringing, in absence of the bar.

The ringer was adjusted and worked great then it stopped pushing the bell to start it, so I would think that means the angle changed in relation to the bell shaft, and maybe slipped on the set screw.

Our bell is straight on top of the boiler and the ringer is mounted at about a 45 degree angle. The ringer arm is connected to the part attached to the bell shaft below the arm. This just seems to be an issue of correct angles of the parts.

sbhunterca · **Joined:** Sun Aug 22, 2004 7:58 am **Posts:** 728

Quote:

The ringer was adjusted and worked great then it stopped pushing the bell to start it, so I would think that means the angle changed in relation to the bell shaft, and maybe slipped on the set screw.

Could it just be getting sticky, rather than being out of adjustment?

I've had a diesel bell actuator that was getting unreliable- sometimes it would ring, sometimes it wouldn't. A bit of air tool oil in the inlet air line got it running perfectly again in short order.

This might be worth trying before messing around with adjustments.

Steve Hunter
RMEO

Frisco1522 · **Posted:** Tue Oct 19, 2010 12:05 pm

Somewhere in the air line to the ringer should be a little "oiler" that you put air oil in. Just takes a couple of drops.
When you get it adjusted just right, put witness marks on the shaft and arm. On 1522, it seemed to be critical how much air it got. A little too much and it was spinning, a little too little and it wouldn't start right.
All of my literature is packed away, but I had info on them, both from the manufacturer and the Frisco roundhouse foreman at Lindenwood.
They can be a pain.