Kadee Couplings NEM solution

[josh_will]

Thanks for all of the responses once again. As I’ve now got an item of rolling stock with the NEM sockets in the ‘right’ place, I’ve tried Kadees once more. I don’t have a height gauge, it’s true, but I can’t see how these two couplers are not close enough in levels:

The wagon coupler is perhaps very slightly lower, but we’re talking fractions of a mm here - and surely even if they were exactly level, any slight undulations in the track will cause this mismatch anyway? As it happens, they like to uncouple when I don’t want them to, when they are being pulled across the magnet.

 

I appreciate the suggestions you have given me but right now it’s difficult for me to justify the cost, when I know I can just use a pole to uncouple whenever I want, with basically 100% reliability - for free.

[Sol]

When wagons with Kadees are pulled across a magnet, as long as the loco does not jerk at the wrong time & tension is maintained, they won't uncouple.

[melmerby]

On 01/10/2019 at 18:12, Dunsignalling said:

Try taking the pocket off the loco and gluing the tail of a #20 directly into the dovetail aperture on the chassis.

 

John

I've found gluing a #18 (typically) to the bottom of the NEM pocket with Wilko "Stick It" clear contact adhesive (blue tube) works OK (I tried it as an experiment) but normally I remove the moulded on "too high" mount completely and fix a #146 with a screw the underside of the wagon floor.

I do the same for Airfix, Hornby & Lima non-NEM mounts as well.

Many of my wagons have the steel weight removed and replaced by lead to give more overall weight.

 

One of the problems I have noticed with some "correct height" NEM pockets is that they sag, Dapol's products seem particularly bad with sometimes a noticeable downward slope.

Kadees will never work properly as they stand, so if they cannot be corrected, they are removed completely.

Edited October 7, 2019 by melmerby

[melmerby]

3 hours ago, josh_will said:

 As it happens, they like to uncouple when I don’t want them to, when they are being pulled across the magnet.

 

 

If they uncouple something is wrong as the magnets cannot exert enough force to open the jaws when in tension.

 

[Georgeconna]

Mucking about with these myself over the past week or so, I stuck in some  Kadee Understrack Magnets to Trail but I find that the Metal Wagon Wheels Prevent Uncoupling, I stuck in a Plastic wheel Set and it worked fine.

 

Just landed today with the Postman were some Small Neo Magents which I will trail in the near future.

 

[melmerby]

3 minutes ago, Georgeconna said:

Mucking about with these myself over the past week or so, I stuck in some  Kadee Understrack Magnets to Trail but I find that the Metal Wagon Wheels Prevent Uncoupling, I stuck in a Plastic wheel Set and it worked fine.

 

Just landed today with the Postman were some Small Neo Magents which I will trail in the near future.

 

Plastic? Yuk, how to clag your track.

I use the "on the sleepers" magnets and they work fine. None of this interaction with wagon wheels I keep hearing about.

[Georgeconna]

Yeah I know, dont like the on the track yokes though but they work well. a sponge over an Axle would damp the attraction down though too so might try that!!. There is nothing easy in ths railway lark!

 

 

[Dunsignalling]

11 hours ago, melmerby said:

I've found gluing a #18 (typically) to the bottom of the NEM pocket with Wilko "Stick It" clear contact adhesive (blue tube) works OK (I tried it as an experiment) but normally I remove the moulded on "too high" mount completely and fix a #146 with a screw the underside of the wagon floor.

I do the same for Airfix, Hornby & Lima non-NEM mounts as well.

Many of my wagons have the steel weight removed and replaced by lead to give more overall weight.

 

One of the problems I have noticed with some "correct height" NEM pockets is that they sag, Dapol's products seem particularly bad with sometimes a noticeable downward slope.

Kadees will never work properly as they stand, so if they cannot be corrected, they are removed completely.

Your policy of replacing NEM mounts with #146 tallies exactly with mine, as does the substitution of lead ballast. That also cuts down any tendency for uncoupling magnets to move solo wagons. It seems we probably all evolve the same (most efficient) solutions over time. Nowadays, I even put #146 couplers on some models where the mount was correct as I consider it looks neater.

 

The Dapol problem is a bit odd, as the first couple of wagons I got with the NEM mount were fine to begin with. As you say, it's best to be ruthless with misaligned mounts and/or pockets. One can waste an awful lot of time trying to correct them. 

 

Drooping pockets are a pain and Heljan are frequent offenders too, Those on their Dogfish wagons are especially bad in my experience, but I do rather more than changing the couplings on them anyway. I also had one pocket (just one, the other end was fine) drooping on the new Hornby Toad B brake van. Simple solution, unscrew the mount, file a smidge off the top and put it back on.  

 

John

 

PS. Thanks for the tip on the Wilko sticky stuff. I generally avoid relying solely on glue to hold a coupler on but it's an extra weapon in the armoury.

Edited October 8, 2019 by Dunsignalling
PS

[josh_will]

Perhaps I need to add more weight to the wagons to prevent accidental uncoupling? Increased weight will of course increase tension in the couplings when being pulled along. I should stress that as this is a shunting puzzle I’ll be moving short-wheelbase wagons around individually, which may be what is making this so difficult.

[josh_will]

Problem solved - instead of adding weight, I’ve increased rolling resistance by temporarily adding this piece of foam. This is an example with a S&W coupling but it works equally well with Kadees.

[Dunsignalling]

23 minutes ago, josh_will said:

Problem solved - instead of adding weight, I’ve increased rolling resistance by temporarily adding this piece of foam. This is an example with a S&W coupling but it works equally well with Kadees.

Black or grey foam is obviously less noticeable. I use a small cube of it with a slit half way through to clip it over the axle so it can't fall off.

 

John

[josh_will]

9 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

Black or grey foam is obviously less noticeable. I use a small cube of it with a slit half way through to clip it over the axle so it can't fall off.

 

John

I’ll look into it.

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, josh_will said:

 

 

Ha.

I see an ex-Airfix wagon!

I've Kadee'd many of them. I fill the rectangle with a piece of plasticard as the hole for the bolt through a #146 is right in the middle of that space.

[josh_will]

They’re quite good but the wheels were very free-rolling which must have been exacerbating the issues I was having. They’re good for converting as you get a nice large flat space to take a new coupling. I’ll have to keep an eye out for them at bargain stands at shows.

[josh_will]

On 09/10/2019 at 21:18, Dunsignalling said:

Black or grey foam is obviously less noticeable. I use a small cube of it with a slit half way through to clip it over the axle so it can't fall off.

 

John

Apologies John I noticed after reading back through the thread that you’d already suggested the foam to me.

 

Josh