IR bleed air hose
--If the hose is
cracked or loose, the M56 can’t put out
much IR (infrared) smoke. So feel both
ends of the hose for looseness and eye-
ball the length of the hose for cracks or
bulges. Fix a loose hose by reposition-
ing and tightening the hose clamp. Tell
your repairman about a cracked or
bulging hose.
Shutdown
At shutdown, make absolutely sure
the visual obscurant three-way valve,
which acts as the fog oil ON/OFF
switch, is set to OFF.
Otherwise, fog oil drips out of the
dispersion cone (turbine exhaust) or col-
lects in the turbine combustor section,
causing false starts and fuel to collect in
the section. If you
do
ever forget to set
the switch to OFF and you
do
find oil
has dripped out of the cone or collected
in the section, your repairman needs to
clean the visual obscurant check valve
and drain the turbine combustor section.
Both procedures are in Para 2-12 in TM
3-1040-282-20.
Wait at least 15 minutes after shut-
down before putting a tarp or the storage
and transit cover on your M56.
Otherwise, the hot dispersion cone
burns a hole in the tarp. To make sure
the cone has cooled, hold your hand
over the cone without touching it. If you
still feel heat, wait longer for it to cool.
PS 579
FEB 01
47
Dear Editor,
If your M157-series smoke genera-
tor starts but then immediately dies,
you may have a fuel pressure problem.
TM 3-1040-279-12&P says the fuel
pressure should be 100 psi +/- 5 psi.
But that’s too high on some genera-
tors.
The M157 gets too much fuel
and floods out.
If your M157 starts and dies,
have your repairman lower the fuel
pressure 10 psi by following the pro-
cedure in Para 4-12 in the -12&P. If the
generator still dies, lower it another
10 psi. Some generators must have
their pressure lowered to 67 psi
before they run smoothly.
Kim Poehling
Rich Dixon
SBCCOM-Rock Island
The mask should be sent to:
Pine Bluff Arsenal
Depot Operations
Field Service Stock Non-ammo
(ATTN: Terry Brodnax)
53 990 507th St
Pine Bluff, AR 71602-9500
Dispose of the canister and battery as
hazardous waste.
Questions? Call SBCCOM’s Frank
Fuoto at (309) 782-4285, DSN 793-
4285, or e-mail
fuotof@ria.army.mil
.
You’ve taken the pressure off good
smoking. Thanks.
PS 579
46
Toggle Switches
It’s pull up and push forward when
you turn on the toggle switches on the
control panel. If you forget to first pull
up, you can bend or break the switch.
Try to keep things like helmets and
packs away from the control panel.
They can break the switches. Keep a
box over the control panel when you’re
not operating to protect the switches.
IR hose loose
or cracked?
Switc
h
set
to
Switch
set
to
OFF?
Pull up and
push forward
Cone
cool?
M157-Series Smoke Generators.
..
I
f your unit has damaged or
excess M43 (Types I and II) pro-
tective aircraft masks, turn them in
immediately. The Army needs
them to repair and get back to
Apache units. After removing the
mask canister and battery, turn in
the mask with a DD Form 1348M
or DD Form 1265, Report of
Excess.
See Para 7.12B in AR
725-50 for instructions.
Turn in M43 Masks