O Gauge Auto Couplings

[alant]

Hi guys,

 

hopefully you'll find the wait worthwhile! As Barnaby says the big plus is the relatively easy set up for them. The only thing I found was to ensure I used the correct flux for soldering the steel wire to the brass tube as normal brass flux didn't work too well.

 

Alan.

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Hi,

 

Please excuse my ignorance - as I cant remember having checked such before - but is Nickel Silver magnetic?

 

NS is a lot easier to solder of course....

 

I don mind looking silly for the sake of progress and enligtenment! LOL!

 

ATVB

 

CME

[PatB]

Hi,

 

Please excuse my ignorance - as I cant remember having checked such before - but is Nickel Silver magnetic?

 

NS is a lot easier to solder of course....

 

I don mind looking silly for the sake of progress and enligtenment! LOL!

 

ATVB

 

CME

Shouldn't be.  It's got no iron in it.

[kes]

Hi Guys - Nickel is magnetic, which is why electric guitars work!

 

Best Wishes

 

Kevin

[Mike]

Hi Guys - Nickel is magnetic, which is why electric guitars work!

 

Best Wishes

 

Kevin

 Sorry Kevin,Guitar strings are steel and the guitar pickups sense the vibrations of the strings electronically which are then amplified via the amplifier, nickel silver has no magnetic properties.

Mike

[Barnaby]

What a confusing post this is now.

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?q=guitar+strings&hl=en&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.1357700187,d.d2k&biw=1678&bih=912&wrapid=tlif135811395858310&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=17383135890895919571&sa=X&ei=xizzULGGA-ec0AXozoDoBQ&ved=0CIgBEPMCMAE

So guitar strings are made of nickle but have a core of steel to work on an electric guitar.

Also Nickle in its standard makeup has only slight magnetic qualities but some higher mixing of the ferro metals increases the magnetic ability.  Quite how you ask for this type I don't know but for the purposes asked here it wouldn't work  so it needs to be steel.

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Hi Guys - Nickel is magnetic, which is why electric guitars work!

 

Best Wishes

 

Kevin

 

Hi Kevin,

 

That was kinda my thoughts as I still twang- bang and Kerrang on the old strat!

 

I thought that electric guitar strings were all wound and that they included NS too....

 

The reason I asked was because;

 

* Most three-link-couplings for 7mm FS are steel (becomes magnetised);

 

* NS is readily available and solders better than steel and/or brass;

 

* Changing steel three-link-couplings to brass, is a bit is of a chore and additional, albeit minimal, cost.

 

I hope that helps - all done with best intent for a good outcome.

 

ATVB

 

CME

Edited January 13, 2013 by CME and Bottlewasher

[alant]

I have found that using the Lincs system you really do need to replace the original 3 links with something other than steel. The steel 3 links do become magnetised after a while and can then become entangled with the Lincs steel coupling.

 

Alan.

[CME and Bottlewasher]

I have found that using the Lincs system you really do need to replace the original 3 links with something other than steel. The steel 3 links do become magnetised after a while and can then become entangled with the Lincs steel coupling.

 

Alan.

 

Hi Alan,

 

Those were my concerns.

 

ATVB

 

CME

[greenglade]

I've been following this thread since it was created, mainly as I was looking into a coupling system for myself, to be honest none of the commercial items don't do it for me. I decided to design my own when time permitted and have most components sorted in my head and a test sample constructed. Now it's R&D time as I want more, I want 3 links and nothing else will do for me. I will get there but it's not my priority just now as I have a couple of live steam locomotives to get finished first.. what I'm saying is.. 'watch this space'...

 

Pete

[Barnaby]

You tease Pete

Not sure what you mean 3-links and nothing more, all you need is 3 links and you're done or are you trying to make the 3-links auto couple, cor if so.

 

That's one of the pluses with the Lincs coupling, if you take stock to a another layout not with magnets fitted you can use 3-link if your eyes are up to it, mine even in 7mm are not.

 

Regards

Edited January 14, 2013 by Barnaby

[greenglade]

You tease Pete

Not sure what you mean 3-links and nothing more, all you need is 3 links and you're done or are you trying to make the 3-links auto couple, cor if so.

 

 

Regards

Hi Barnaby

 

The latter and I'm not teasing... However I have two steam loco's to finish first.. well one really, the second will take another 5 years, perhaps more so will have to wait but the first ( steam test shown in my avatar) is now certified and just needs stripping down, painting, detailing and finishing off, 3 months or so should do it and then I can return to the auto coupler.

 

I will of course make an announcement when ready

 

Regards

 

Pete

[Barnaby]

Thanks Pete

 

I've also just e-mailed jamie, see his post above @ 65 to see if there is any update on these Lincs couplings as they've been at least a year in the promise.

 

Maybe he will update here.

 

regards

Edited January 25, 2013 by Barnaby

[Stringfingerling]

_{Hii Folks}

_{Is there any progress on these couplings?}

_{Sorry if I haven't read everything properly, but is it possible to reverse vehicles fitted with these couplings?  I have a train turntable, so wagons and locos may be pointing in opposite directions on different occasions?}

<sub>I'd be very grateful for a photo.

Cheers, Rob</sub>

 

[kes]

 Sorry Kevin,Guitar strings are steel and the guitar pickups sense the vibrations of the strings electronically which are then amplified via the amplifier, nickel silver has no magnetic properties.

Mike

Hi Mike, there are three ferromagnetic elements which exist at room temperature - Iron, Nickel, and Cobalt. Nickel silver, or German Silver is an alloy of Iron and Nickel hence why it is magnetic. I can assure you that electric guitar strings are Nickel Silver, the top strings are usually plain, not wound, and come in 7/9/11/14/18 gauge, and are a cheap source of Nickel Silver wire. Just search google for Nickel Silver guitar strings.

 

Best Wishes

 

Kevin

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Hi Mike, there are three ferromagnetic elements which exist at room temperature - Iron, Nickel, and Cobalt. Nickel silver, or German Silver is an alloy of Iron and Nickel hence why it is magnetic. I can assure you that electric guitar strings are Nickel Silver, the top strings are usually plain, not wound, and come in 7/9/11/14/18 gauge, and are a cheap source of Nickel Silver wire. Just search google for Nickel Silver guitar strings.

 

Best Wishes

 

Kevin

 

Hi Kevin,

 

Some brands do have 'wound' strings for the top strings (E, B & G) yet they are 'wound' in a different way to the bass strings - the winding is less obvious.

 

ATVB

 

CME

[PatB]

Hi Mike, there are three ferromagnetic elements which exist at room temperature - Iron, Nickel, and Cobalt. Nickel silver, or German Silver is an alloy of Iron and Nickel hence why it is magnetic. I can assure you that electric guitar strings are Nickel Silver, the top strings are usually plain, not wound, and come in 7/9/11/14/18 gauge, and are a cheap source of Nickel Silver wire. Just search google for Nickel Silver guitar strings.

 

Best Wishes

 

Kevin

 

There's no mention of iron in nickel silver either here or here.  I'll concede the ferromagnetism of nickel itself, though, which I wasn't aware of.

[CME and Bottlewasher]

I think that there maybe a difference between the use of 'electro-magnets' and 'passive magnets' when used with such - there my knowledge ends :-)

[Dave]

Hi,

Electro magnets will magnetise if the current is DC as this produces a North and South pole. AC current reverses the polarity the whole time and therefore does not magnetise. You can also use an AC magnet to demagnetise anything by slowly removing the magnet whilst the current is being applied.

 

Dave

[Barnaby]

What a load of Bull & Baloney all this suppliers promises appear to be.

It's been nearly 18 months of promises the lincs will soon be back on the market and still no sign of them.  We've also been entertained with every possible reason why there has been yet another delay.

 

Anyone else fancy getting some etches and the necessary parts together to make these lincs couplings up, as judging from the posts on here there would be some interest in them.

 

Happily  there are a couple of alternative versions of this coupling available using the same basic principle, one does away with the etched bracket and uses some brass channel instead while another version discards the bracket all together and runs the hook wire through the pivot tube, thus making it an even more simplified coupling. All use the wire and lead parts that are supplied with the etches.   

 

I no longer care when they might become available nor want them anymore preferring instead to use one of the readily available variants.

.   

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Hi

 

Harsh words mate

 

I am tittering on the brink - yet do like the reliability of Winterleys, even though they are 'ended' and take a little work to build, other types will not work well in the garden (for us) due to the magnet issue/need of in baseboards - the Winterleys of course carry their magnets on-board.

 

I will wait a little longer though for - both types discussed here - yet I will have to make a 'final' choice soon though.

 

Kind regards to all.

 

CME

[jamie92208]

Just to let you know, the etches are in production and should be with richard next week. There were a few tweks needed to the artwork which accounted for a couple of weeks but things re moving. In my opinion it's better to get it right at this stage with a trial build and alterations than get it wrong. The orginal artwork had gone missing and it's not wasy reverse engineering something when there are no dimensioned drawings to work from.

 

Jamie

[Barnaby]

Sorry CME I must have had a bad day yesterday didn't mean it to sound too vitriolic but the substance still stands.

 

Regards

 

Edit to Jamie just posting.

Hello Jamie, no disrespect but I wont hold my breath, but it will be nice to see them back on the counter again.

 

Cheers

Edited March 7, 2013 by Barnaby

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Hi Guys,

 

I understand - both points of view.

 

And after all 'tis only a hobby.

 

ATVB to one and all.

 

CME

[railwayrod]

Hi Everyone

 

Have just caught up with this topic. Since I started it several months ago I have been experimenting with the Bachmann OO coupling mounted on a plasticard "block" and bolted to the wagon floor. This has worked quite well but one or two problems have raised their ugly heads. One is the "slop" between the flanges and the track gauge which causes the couplers to miss on occasions and the other is that the "droppers" are a bit short making uncoupling of vehicles with hanging brake pipes somewhat hit and miss - even with the "spade" that I have made for this purpose. As I stated earlier I have tried a number of auto couplings but find some of them very fiddly to assemble and fit. The lincs coupling looks a fairly simple and easy solution to my problem and I would like to try it to see how and if I can manage it (remember I have a severe sight problem). If the manufacturer can let us all know when these are likely to become available it would be really nice so that some of us who are in the midst of sorting out our coupling problems can take heart. I do not wish this to sound critical of the efforts put into it's manufacture as I am aware of the hard work needed to produce a reliable product -  but time is running out as our lives are ticking away.

 

Railwayrod