Best glue for fixing Kadee Couplings to the underside of rolling stock?

[Tallpaul69]

Hi Everyone,

Can someone recommend from their experience the best glue for fixing Kadee couplings to the underside of rolling stock?

 

I am concerned that the more powerful glues, while preventing the couplings falling off, might react with the plastic of the coupling and spoil the alignment of the coupling.

 

Many thanks

Paul

[ngtrains.com]

Screws is the short answer. Because they need them to be slippy for the coupler to move side to side the coupler box is made out of slippy plastic.

 

A side effect or design feature of this is it doesn’t stick well and solvent glues don’t melt it.

 

If you have to go with glues look for ones that claim to work with Delrin and make sure you scratch the face of the coupler box to give it a key.

[proton]

I use liquid solvent glues for almost all installations, (MEK), and only experience failures in very violent crashes.  No surface prep is necessary.

 

John

[cypherman]

Hi all,

I use Hafix industrial superglue. Just about sticks anything to everything.

 

Edited December 6, 2021 by cypherman

[Jeff Smith]

17 hours ago, proton said:

I use liquid solvent glues for almost all installations, (MEK), and only experience failures in very violent crashes.  No surface prep is necessary.

 

John

Agreed, MEK is hard to come by in the US but Tamya extra thin solvent, which comes with a built-in brush, works well for the Whisker gearboxes.  However my experience with solvent is limited to styrene kits.  For metal kits I use super glue.

[proton]

I would add however, two advantages that the use of screws provides.

1. They can resist very heavy collisions, especially head-on between locomotives
2. It is very easy to adjust the height if the installation is difficult.  I have several models of English Electric engines ( Deltics, class 37) and the room for coupler installation is very limited.  Getting the height right the first time round is not easy, so screws allow for shimming to fit.  Use of the height gauge is essential of course.

John

[Tallpaul69]

15 minutes ago, proton said:

I would add however, two advantages that the use of screws provides.

1. They can resist very heavy collisions, especially head-on between locomotives
2. It is very easy to adjust the height if the installation is difficult.  I have several models of English Electric engines ( Deltics, class 37) and the room for coupler installation is very limited.  Getting the height right the first time round is not easy, so screws allow for shimming to fit.  Use of the height gauge is essential of course.

John

Hi John,

Can you advise what size/length of screws you use, and where in the UK they can be bought from?

Thanks

Paul

[proton]

Hi Paul,

 

I live in Canada, so unfortunately unable to assist where you might be able to buy suitable screws in the UK..  No more than 1/2 inch length though.  I think Kadee suggest a suitable diameter.

 

John

[ejstubbs]

I use the Kadee #256 tap and die set, and purchase screws to match the die size (IIRC it's a UNC 2-56 thread) in various lengths (between 3/16" and 3/8") from https://www.modelfixings.co.uk - no connection, but would recommend.  I actually buy stuff from them for quite a few applications where I need small, difficult to source screws and the like.  For Kadees specifically I use their hex button head screws (they also sell the 1.3mm hex wrench that fits them).

 

I use a swivel-head pin vice like this one to drill and tap the holes.

Edited December 6, 2021 by ejstubbs

[Dunsignalling]

1. Offer up a draft box with your coupler of choice in it to judge exactly where it needs to go to get the knuckle where you want it. If you are doing a RTR wagon, the floor is in the right place, otherwise you may need to construct a mounting platform. Trim/file off any ridges etc that would stop the box fitting flat to the floor.

 

2. Stick the draft box, minus its lid, to the underside of the wagon, and allow the solvent etc to go off. All the readily available liquid solvents/cements will do the job.

 

3. Using the  smaller bit in the Kadee Tap & Drill set [#246], open a hole in the underside of the floor through the boss in the middle of the draft box.

 

4. Thread the hole using the Tap out of the same set.

 

5. Assemble the coupler and add the lid to the draft box.

 

6. Secure the lid using a Kadee screw [#256] trim the end if it stops the body going back on.

 

Job done.

Because you only use glue in one stage, there's no danger of gumming anything up.

 

John

Edited December 6, 2021 by Dunsignalling
Photo added (Bachmann mineral wagon chassis

[Jeff Smith]

Sorry, I don't follow your logic.  If you are going to stick on the gearbox you don't need a screw, the lid just clips in to hold the coupler in place.  You need the screw if you are not glueing the gearbox on.

[friscopete]

Re screws put black self tapping screws  micro into ebay search . Not specifically for this use but I buy from China on ebay .Little black metric screws just like Bachmann use .loads of listing from 1mm self tappers upwards .They do countersunk  etc  too .I buy in bags of 50 .I always screw kadees as I dont trust glue and neither should you .Poetry.

[Dunsignalling]

33 minutes ago, Jeff Smith said:

Sorry, I don't follow your logic.  If you are going to stick on the gearbox you don't need a screw, the lid just clips in to hold the coupler in place.  You need the screw if you are not glueing the gearbox on.

The lids on #242 boxes do indeed clip on, but tend to pop off after derailments or when lifting wagons off in the fiddle yard. After they've separated a few times they get a bit loose and it becomes a habit. Guaranteed not to make you popular if it happens in the middle of a long train at an exhibition!  

 

The screw just ensures the lid only comes off when you want it to. Works for me, and has been doing so for the last 28 years. Mind you, the #232 boxes on earlier couplers don't clip together so a screw isn't optional.

 

I always glue the box on - it keeps it square to the end of the wagon, which a screw on its own won't do. 

 

You can glue the lid on, but if the coupler ever gets gummed up with muck or damaged (which they occasionally do) it makes more work. I tend to open them up for cleaning after about ten years use.

 

John

 

PS: I am assuming the OP is referring to the current Kadee "Whisker" couplers.

Edited December 6, 2021 by Dunsignalling
PS

[Jeff Smith]

Yes, the Whisker couplers with #252 or #262 gearboxes.

[Dunsignalling]

8 hours ago, Jeff Smith said:

Yes, the Whisker couplers with #252 or #262 gearboxes.

Beware the #262; they are made from a kind of plastic that is impervious to any glue or solvent in my cupboard. That requires the imposition of some mechanical way of preventing them turning about the screw. I drill a 1mm hole through the unoccupied rear half and use a bit of 40 thou plastic rod to pin through into the chassis.

 

The #252 clips together rather less securely than the #242 which is the box provided as standard with Whisker Kadees. I would never omit a screw from those, even in the short term.

 

John

Edited December 7, 2021 by Dunsignalling

[Jeff Smith]

Yes, I meant#242 and #252 - they both work with styrene solvent.

[roythebus1]

I found that the solvent used to stick chairs to sleepers fixes Kadee boxes to most plastic, I can't remember the name offhand. But I use 10BA screws to hold them on for reasons others have mentioned above. Why 10BA? Because I have loads of them in stock.  For getting the "length" right, the inside edge of the coupler knuckle should be level with the buffer face. If you want closer coupling, they can go in another 1mm, but beware of buffer locking on sharp curves and when running with long wheelbase stock.

 

Acetone, that's what you need.

 

 

Edited December 11, 2021 by roythebus1

[Dunsignalling]

Fitted a pair of boxes to a Bachmann underframe this morning using Butanone (aka proper MEK). 

 

They'll be going nowhere without the rest of the wagon!

 

John

Edited December 11, 2021 by Dunsignalling

[TrainMan2001]

I have used Testor's Plastic Cement with a toothpick, and it has worked fine. No issues with restricting the coupler movement or anything falling off.

[josh_will]

If you do decide to glue instead of screw, I'd highly recommend epoxy resin.

 

It'll allow you time to make adjustments, and does not attack plastic. I've used it on Bachmann and Hornby wagons and they've not been problematic at all.

 

 

Regards,

 

Josh