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2mm couplings, options, choices and recommendations


bogieman
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I have a vague memory of someone making one piece loops out of phosphor bronze wire, with a couple of turns of iron wire around the end of the dropper (Nigel beat me to it! :rolleyes:).

 

David

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I would broadly agree with the Nigel and Izzy on this and avoid making the loop and dropper in one from soft iron wire for the reasons stated. I'm working on a book on modelling in the 2mm scales for Wild Swan (hopefully ready late this year) which includes a chapter on making and fitting DG couplings, i am also working on an article on fitting them to RTR stock for BRM. I solder the dropper parallel to the loop as suggested by Nigel - the trick as with soldering any small parts is to solder on a big bit and cut it short after!

 

23.JPG.543d07471103bd292696f62165df0ae4.JPG

 

Jerry

 

 

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When I make DG loops, I solder the phosphor-bronze loop and steel dropper flat on a slice of Tufnol. I then put the angle bend on afterwards holding the solder joint in some fine-nose pliers.

 

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5 hours ago, Kylestrome said:

I have a vague memory of someone making one piece loops out of phosphor bronze wire, with a couple of turns of iron wire around the end of the dropper (Nigel beat me to it! :rolleyes:).

 

David

 

That might have been me - or not. I'm afraid looking back through the posts on this I seem to have commented before saying much the same as my last post, sorry about that.

 

Anyway, here is a shot of some loops made up alongside some vac pipes. I use the same PB wire for both.

 

1255197711_DGs01.jpg.e06a618d589619bd84e43fd71509e927.jpg

 

 

 

I tend to do them in batches, using a pair of snipe nose pliars with markings made on them to get the basic shape, and then snip the legs etc to length as they are fitted into the etches. This is done by threading the dropper through one hole and then the other end leg. Then the wire is wound on. This is actually wound onto a spare length of wire and then strectched/pulled out and wound/screwed onto the dropper, cut to the length and then usually, but not always, fixed with a touch of the iron/solder.

 

Here are some fitted onto a 2mmSA 4-wheel CCT.

 

852083288_RMwebCCT01.jpg.65d4a6276fad6c3f93dfad5e765c88ef.jpg

 

 

Hopefully you can see that they don't show too badly with the wire added. A point to note is that I use a lower height setting than most, so that they clear the underside of coaches and can be fitted onto coach/wagon bogies. Even here I find with corridor coaches that the delay latch fouls the underside of the connection, stopping the couplings from working, so I don't fit them.  Here are some fitted to a Farish Mk1.

 

 

 

146017944_DGs02.jpg.48007a4239b1e4b93ab107ddf66bbaa5.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

1566217568_DGs03.jpg.b934ab99c1b09d0c1f10775aa31da0d8.jpg

 

 

This does mean these coaches can only be parted over a magnet, but as they are used in rakes anyway and locos have latches and can part from them anywhere if required I have not found it a problem.

 

Izzy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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On 05/03/2019 at 12:49, Richard Battersby said:

 

My apologies for bringing up this old thread. I'm doing some DG Coupling research having restarted my failed attempts to get going with 2mm and I found this thread very useful. The provided link here didn't work so I did a bit a bit of digging and managed to find it. It was certainly worth it, I'm sure it'll be really useful. Hopefully it'll be useful for others too.

 

AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO ASSEMBLING D.G. COUPLINGS

I cheated and tried whole soft iron loops & droppers  ( very  erratic)  I'm grateful to Martin Allen  spending time demonstrating  how to form copper loops and how to make the bu$$ers work

 

the value of a area group ...............

 

Nick 

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  • 1 year later...

Having just found this topic (via  post on the 2MM SA VAG) and finding myself named in it I thought some response in regard to AJ couplings might be pertinent.

 

Firstly I assume that '...the odd individual who uses Alex Jacksons or Three links.' uses the word 'odd' to mean 'just a few people', although there are those who would use it in its other sense!

 

i started out using three links but quickly found that they were not suitable for exhibition use as I was the only one who could work them.  I changed to AJs as they allowed me to still fit three links, and other headstock 'furniture', and also had the delayed action feature.

 

I quickly found that steel wire was no use as the magnetism simply passed through the two couplings you were trying to disengage and locked them together.  P/b wire was the way round this and it also has the advantage of tarnishing to a dull brown, making them even less visible.  As an aside, the late Colin Brady, who used to help me operate Connerburn, claimed he had never managed to see them, but took it on trust that they were there!

 

It is true that adopting them is a steep learning curve and they are not 100% reliable (is any discrete auto-coupler?).  I have over 100 vehicles fitted with them and I still get the odd pair who will not couple up and just flip over one another, despite them being set accurately to my gauge.

 

I use a rod with holes in either end to get the lengths of the hook and tail consistent and have a drawing printed out with the angles on it to get them as close as possible.  I have also made a jig to get them positioned fairly accurately on the vehicle, both in terms of projecting the correct 1mm from the buffers and in horizontal and vertical alignment.  Final adjustment to the gauge is done by gripping the wire close to, or behind, the axle and easing it slightly in whatever direction is needed.  You get fairly good at judging this with practice.

 

With the coiled version, they are so flexible that you really have to abuse them quite severely to knock them out of adjustment.

 

On locos, the coupling doesn't need to have a dropper, but having as much flexibility as possible (via a coil) helps to prevent 'bounce-off' when coupling up to one, or a few, free running vehicle(s) and likewise 'hang-on' when uncoupling.  I don't believe that a hinged coupling is any benefit in this respect as I have proven to myself, through experiment with a pair of large scale couplings, that when coupling up most, if not all, of the movement is horizontal.

 

Jim

 

 

Edited by Caley Jim
edited for typos
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  • 5 months later...

I've been reading this thread as I have a pack of DG couplings on the way for me to try out. 

 

It appears that the "official" PK electromagnet is sold out. Looking at the Gaugemaster EM1 the instructions suggest it is suitable for DG couplings, but it seems expensive at £11 each. Has anyone tried the Peco PL-25 with DG/BB/MBD?

 

Thanks

 

David

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2 minutes ago, David41283 said:

I've been reading this thread as I have a pack of DG couplings on the way for me to try out. 

 

It appears that the "official" PK electromagnet is sold out. Looking at the Gaugemaster EM1 the instructions suggest it is suitable for DG couplings, but it seems expensive at £11 each. Has anyone tried the Peco PL-25 with DG/BB/MBD?

 

Thanks

 

David

 

On Missy's Highclere blog there was a good piece on how he made electromagnents wound round a nail  if I remember aright. The length of wire was measured at 32ohms and then woud round I think. Last time I looked it was still on here.

Don

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45 minutes ago, Donw said:

 

On Missy's Highclere blog there was a good piece on how he made electromagnents wound round a nail  if I remember aright. The length of wire was measured at 32ohms and then woud round I think. Last time I looked it was still on here.

Don

 

24 minutes ago, Donw said:

I have found the piece by Missy   https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blogs/entry/3957-im-attracted-to-you/

 

Obviously my memory is not so good  it is the length that was measured to give a resistance of 12 ohms. Work a look.

 

Don


Memory? I think you are aware that -missy- is most definitely not ‘he’. Presumably a typo?

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1 hour ago, David41283 said:

I've been reading this thread as I have a pack of DG couplings on the way for me to try out. 

 

It appears that the "official" PK electromagnet is sold out. Looking at the Gaugemaster EM1 the instructions suggest it is suitable for DG couplings, but it seems expensive at £11 each. Has anyone tried the Peco PL-25 with DG/BB/MBD?

 

Thanks

 

David


The Gaugemaster EM’s work fine, and don’t get too hot with prolonged use I.e. being left on for any length of time. By comparison I have found the Peco to be too weak to work and only for very momentary use, otherwise they just well, melt or something akin to that. 
 

An alternative to consider is using the rare earth magnets that are available in many different shapes/sizes and moved mechanically in/out of position by various means, on sliders, by servos etc. 

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1 hour ago, Izzy said:

The Gaugemaster EM’s work fine, and don’t get too hot with prolonged use I.e. being left on for any length of time. By comparison I have found the Peco to be too weak to work and only for very momentary use, otherwise they just well, melt or something akin to that. 

 

Thank you - that's exactly the sort of information I was after. I will ignore the PL-25 for now.

 

I have read Missy's Highclere blog - inspirational stuff, but I fear she is a far better engineer than I will ever be!

 

Thanks

 

David

 

 

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5 hours ago, richbrummitt said:

 


Memory? I think you are aware that -missy- is most definitely not ‘he’. Presumably a typo?

well it was over 10 years ago when that blog page was posted  and since I first had the pleasure of meeting her and running a train on Highclere at the Golden Jubilee.  So I had forgotten details of the article as for the typo I will remonstrate with my fingers meanwhile my apologies to Julia.

 

Don

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