Magnetic Uncouplers

[KKEIFE]

I've never used them before so I don't know what I'm doing...but I seem to remember some on this forum have used magnets from RS on their layout.

I bought some 1 inch ceramic magnets from RS and tried them with no luck. I tried them under the ties and then between the ties and they did nothing to the couplers.

Any suggestions, comments. Are these 1 inchers from RS unusable as magnetic uncouplers?

Thanks.

Ken

[TomDiehl]

The uncoupler magents from Kadee are polarized in some strange way, I'm not quite sure how. Like the center is one pole and the two edges are the other pole. Probably better off buying the Kadee ones.

[SteelMonsters]

I'm pretty sure Kadees are oriented from one edge to the other. If you rotate two magnets edge to edge then they continue to repel or attract. They seem to have orientation through the thickness because the edges attract or repel each other. If you rotate the magnets it seems to flip orientation. It's not, it's flipping adjacent edge orientation.

The goal is to pull the "hoses" to opposite rails. They uncouple the best if the hoses are skewed slightly in the direction they need to go to open the coupler. You also need edge oriented magnets with the poles close to the rails.

[wrumbel]

The RS magnets will work but you have to use them on their edges, not flat. It will take 3 magnets stacked together. This will require a hole in the table under the track to install them.

Wayne