edcayton Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 Is there a standard design for these/does anyone make one I can buy? I can see the advantage of having it fixed to a torch. I failed miserably with 3-links in 00, any advice for a beginner in 0 please? At this stage (terrier and two minerals so far) any advice on which way to go with couplings please? Thanks in advance Ed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG John Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 I've decided the best tools for dealing with 3-links are the ones needed to fit Dinghams . Not that I've actually fitted any yet, but I've got more than enough for all the stock I currently have. When I was exhibiting 4mm layouts 30 years ago, I was quite nifty with the 3-links, but the small amount of shunting I've done recently in 7mm is enough to warn me that sticking with them risks what's left of my sanity! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcD Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 All I have is a piece of N/S wire bent up to resemble a 12inch to the foot shunter's pole which is then fitted inside an old biro. which is then filled with araldite. Marc Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davknigh Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 A few tricks come in handy here if you want to go with 3 lnks. Marc's post above should do the trick in good lighting but if you're going to an exhibition then a pen torch is very useful. A trick I used in 4mm (before I switched to Dinghams) was to form the bottom loop out of soft iron and have a rare earth magnet on my shunter's pole to make it easier to pick up that !@#$%&* bottom loop. HTH David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penlan Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 IF the bottom link only, is mild steel - as in garden wire - and the others are nickle silver, then I use a tiny rare earth magnet, fitted into the end of a brass tube which is attached to a LED torch. I have no problems in 4mm, so in 7mm it should be more than OK. I first used a rare earth magnet that I thought was small, it lifted the 25gms wagon straight off the track, no fear of it being dropped. Aghh Davknigh got in before me, same thing too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianthesnail96 Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 I've copied others in my group and use 0.8mm brass wire with a hook formed in one end, inserted into a dead paintbrush with a couple of cm lopped off the bottom. I've tried various dental hooks and not got on with them, the nice thing about doing it the cheap and nasty way is it's easy to tweak the hook until you find a shape that works for you. That and then inevitably go walkies so it's easy and cheap to make spares! Mind you I'm still useless at it. I ought to give the magnet idea a go some time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
3 link Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 I am not very good with digging out old posts, so I hope this works. I have been using this method of coupling my stock for years and it works OK for me. And it costs nothing to knock it together. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/50279-o-gauge-auto-couplings/?p=579380 Martyn. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LohnD Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 hello all One thing I have done to ease the three link problem is to solder/glue/stick the middle and outer links together were the touch. They are then rigid and a lot easier to handle. Regards John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Dava Posted December 28, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 28, 2015 I made up one of the key devices as Martyn showed how. I dont actually use it much as you have to be able to insert it frrom the side, just above the buffers. Most of the time I find a Rolson hooked scriber, in a cheap pack from Maplins, does the trick. At shows this has a little torch (from LED tweezer set, same supplier) attached. Dava Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
3 link Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 I made up one of the key devices as Martyn showed how. I dont actually use it much as you have to be able to insert it frrom the side, just above the buffers. Dava Hi Dava, You need to insert it just under the buffers and not above, and also if you cut the shaft down a bit so you can then get the angle much easier. Martyn. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgood Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 I've not yet tried a magnetic pole, but imagine it can be awkward at times to 'let go' of the coupling when having to break the magnetic field. So how about making up something similar to, or adapting one of those really thin biro pens with a tiny magnet on the end of the tube and the mechanism adapted so it doesn't lock out, i.e. when you release the button it retracts every time? If set up correctly then when you press the button it attracts the bottom link, and as soon as you release the button the link is released but not pulled as it is restrained by the biro housing / outer case? Maybe the magnet could act act on the held end of an iron pole - the field causing the other end of the pole to attract the link? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim.snowdon Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 I have always used 3-link couplings, both in my days in 4mm and now in 7mm, and found that the best form of hook was one used from above. The full size shunters pole, even in miniature form, does not work unless used from the side (as a scale shunter would use it), and on a layout, there is rarely enough room to get access at buffer height to the coupling. The same comment applies to any of the other "key" type tools designed to be used from the side. The coupling hooks I use, and which are used on our club layout, are a simple J shape, made from wire and tube, with a wooden handle to give something large enough to hold on to. The hook itself is 1/32" brass wire, let into one or two lengths of close fitting brass tube to stiffen up the shank. Using one is simple enough - lower it down between the vehicles and pick up the bottom link, then lift that over the other vehicle's drawhook. Ours aren't fitted with lights, but I don't doubt illumination would help. Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John R Smith Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Using the real thing is not really a doddle, either, I never got the hang of it and did all of my hooking up "in-between" using the BR issue red gloves. As most of the stock was vac-fitted this was the only option anyway, a lot of the time. When making a 7mm shunter's pole one basic thing to remember is that the bigger the hook the easier it is to pick up the lower link, but the smaller the hook the easier it is to let go of it gracefully once you have got it over the drawhook. So the size of the hooky bit is really a tradeoff between the start and finish of the process. Uncoupling should be no problem, just lift the centre of the chain with the back of the pole and off she pops . . . well, most of the time. A point to remember - when coupling the train to the engine, always use the engine coupling, not the wagon's. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simond Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 John Why? (always use the loco coupling) The reason for my question is that if you're coupling corridor stock, even with the corridors tied back, it's the devil's own job to get the loco links on the coach hook, but the coach links will drop on the loco hook without too much of a fight. And if the couplings are different lengths, it is sometimes easier to get the longer one to couple, whether loco or stock. btw, my solution to the dilemma of coupling devices is a tiny cheapo led torch with a length of plastruct tube attached, in which is inserted a length of fine (0.4mm?) piano wire, with a pigtail (corkscrew) on the end. cheers Simon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John R Smith Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Hello Simon well, I should have qualified that - no need to use the engine coupling on a model, of course, unless you are Inspector Meticulous. On the real railway back then, it was drummed into me because the engine coupling takes the greatest strain and is designed to take it. Best wishes John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mark Forrest Posted December 29, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 29, 2015 I've always found the Lanarkshire Models & Supplies pentorch coupling tool to be ideal. I've only ever used it in 4mm, but note there is a 7mm version on their website: http://www.lanarkshiremodels.com/lanarkshiremodelsandsupplieswebsite_142.htm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simond Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 John, It certainly makes sense that the loco coupler is designed and made to cope with the loads the loco can impose upon it. It must also be the case that the coupling between the first & second wagons must take some large percentage of that load, assuming no snatch - with snatch, it could quite a bit more, I guess. I wonder if it really makes much difference! Thanks & best regards Simon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim.snowdon Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 If designed properly, the loco and rolling stock couplings are as strong as each other. If nothing else, as Simon pointed out, the coupling at the other end of the wagon/carriage has almost the full weight of the train behind it. As an aside, a friend of mine from my London Underground days, who knew the Metropolitan quite well, always maintained that it was their practice to use the carriage coupling, then if it broke, the loco department coupld simply blame the carriage and wagon department. Buck passing is nothing new. Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
edcayton Posted December 30, 2015 Author Share Posted December 30, 2015 I've always found the Lanarkshire Models & Supplies pentorch coupling tool to be ideal. I've only ever used it in 4mm, but note there is a 7mm version on their website: http://www.lanarkshiremodels.com/lanarkshiremodelsandsupplieswebsite_142.htm Discontinued I'm afraid. Ed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flood Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Hello Simon well, I should have qualified that - no need to use the engine coupling on a model, of course, unless you are Inspector Meticulous. On the real railway back then, it was drummed into me because the engine coupling takes the greatest strain and is designed to take it. Best wishes John You obviously never worked with unfitted freights then. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simond Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 They seem very particular. I wonder what the logic for this instruction was, and for 2.4. Perhaps as Jim suggested in the first case, but in the second? Best Simon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John R Smith Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Hello Flood You are absolutely correct, once I had finished "learning" (at Newton Abbot) I never worked again with loose-coupled unfitted freight. All of my trains were fitted (vac brakes then, air brakes just coming in). So your 1.1 was the directive I was quoting. Interestingly, broken couplings were, if not commonplace, a regular occurrence. Hence the spares found hung up on most stations, in guards vans etc. Some of my shunting involved an engine swap on the "Owl" at Newton. Great fun when you have just come on shift at 6.0am and it is pitch black and raining, the water is trickling down your neck and you are trying to unwind the screw coupling on a Class 52 which will not quite reach the drawhook. Then go back down to knock two vans off the rear, and realise that the driver has not got a full brake application on so you can't part the hoses. So you have to walk all the way back up to the front of the train again and ask the driver nicely to kill the vacuum (the driver sitting in a nice warm cab reading his paper and drinking tea). I do look back on it all with a certain fondness, though Best wishes John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davefrk Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Discontinued I'm afraid. Ed Not quite correct, if you go to the pentorch page then click on the attachments on the bottom right the attachments are still available, it's only the pentorch that has been discontinued by the manufacturer. The replacement they sent me was a bigger diameter which would have meant making the spring clip bigger but also still making the smaller one available too. Direct link to attachments - http://lanarkshiremodels.com/lanarkshiremodelsandsupplieswebsite_143.htm Requires a pentorch of approx 13mm diameter or one could 'stretch' the clip out to fit 16mm. LMS has supplied well into four figures of these attachments with people coming back for more because they seem to get 'borrowed' by others.... I've been sent many different samples by importers and have not found one that is correct size, reliable, LED, with a decent switch, etc.etc. All the best, Dave Franks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
edcayton Posted December 30, 2015 Author Share Posted December 30, 2015 Thanks for that Dave. You will be getting an order when I get my head sorted. Ed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penlan Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 The Led pen torches I have used are MXDL 3w, as shown on Ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Black-MXDL-3W-LED-Mini-Penlight-Flashlight-AAA-Torch-Lamp-Light-W-Belt-Clip-TS-/361313340069?hash=item541ff40aa5:g:D5gAAOSwBahVcXLp It's the longer of the two versions. 14mm dia, 140mm long. Currently £2.65 from Hong Kong - I bought 10 and they have all been used by my friends, indeed I've had to put in another block order. No I'm not retailing, these are for a group of modeller's I associate with. I started using them 4+ years ago, no problems. I have then drilled a hole in one end of the clip and inserted the brass 1.5mm o.d. tube and soldered it inside of the clip, the other end has been filed down to give > end with a rare earth magnet inserted. I used a EP 345 originally, but with a < 1kg pull this was to much... The magnets are epoxy'd in.I now use the EP305 (1mm dia x 1mm length) with a 0.02kg pull. Details here http://e-magnetsuk.com/magnet_products/neodymium_magnets/circular_disc_magnets.aspx?Keyword=ep305 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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