Hobbez IRONROOSTER rrebell Just as an update Sergeant now offers this option! I couldn't find it on their web site. Can you provide a link to information on them? Thanks Paul Go to the main page http://www.sergentengineering.com/ click on the "compatable shank" button and scroll all the way to the bottom. You will see he offers both bottom and top lever operated options. I use Sergents exclusively on my layout. I tried a set of top cut levers once, but my fingers are just too fumble bumble to do it.
IRONROOSTER rrebell Just as an update Sergeant now offers this option! I couldn't find it on their web site. Can you provide a link to information on them? Thanks Paul
rrebell Just as an update Sergeant now offers this option!
Just as an update Sergeant now offers this option!
I couldn't find it on their web site. Can you provide a link to information on them?
Thanks
Paul
Go to the main page http://www.sergentengineering.com/ click on the "compatable shank" button and scroll all the way to the bottom. You will see he offers both bottom and top lever operated options. I use Sergents exclusively on my layout. I tried a set of top cut levers once, but my fingers are just too fumble bumble to do it.
I want to chime in to correct a misunderstanding in this thread about the Sergent cut lever linkages. He offers etched cut lever linkages for Type E coupler to glue at the bottom of the knuckle. This is strickly a non-operating detail item.
As far as modeling top operating type E couplers, Frank Sergent has extensive instructions how to drill the top of the coupler and glue in a loop where the cut lever would go through. Click "Instructions, Etc." at http://www.sergentengineering.com/
These details DO NOT allow the cut lever to take the place of the ball bearing that functions to lock the knuckle jaw from swinging when it is in the down resting position. The magnet over the coupler draws this steel ball bearing up, away from its resting position, out of the way so the knuckle jaw can swing open.
I have hundreds of freight cars, a fleet of heavyweight passenger cars with working diaphragms, and over 12 steam locomotives with Sergents that I have assembled using their jig. I really enjoy them.
I have also communicated directly with Frank Sergent about his products, so you can imagine my surprise when someone said Frank offered a kit to make his couplers operable using a cut lever.
Not the case. If you want to do this, the video link a poster (sorry forgot who) pointed to is the only way to do this.
Before I leave this, a pointer to Sergent users. I sometimes encounter a coupler whose jaw will no stay locked when trying to couple. This is because the tiny ball bearing sometimes gets stuck in the "up" position. To get it to work, just place the magnetic wand under the two couplers being joined to draw the ball back down.
Joel
Modeling the C&O New River Subdivision circa 1949 for the fun of it!
being an engineer I sat there and tried to figure out how it worked. So this is what I imagine the sergents coupler does...when the ball bearing is low it sits between the jaw pocket and a lower pocket which keeps the jaw locked in place (similar to the pin) And when it sits high the ball bearing is clear the lower hole and it easily moves.Might even work better with a cylinder pin. And it wouldn't be that hard to attach the locking pin to a platform which manually lifts the cylinder/bearing. But it would require some very precise milling and patience.
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
I've saw sergent couplers do this a couple years ago.
They have a ball bearing inside a tiny vertical tube. When the bearing was at the bottom it prevented the coupler from opening. But when you put a magnet over it, it PUSHED the ball bearing up which allowed the coupler to swing open whenever it was tugged out. This is not to far off from a real life coupler pin attached to a cut bar.
Quite ingenious IMHO.
rrebell It is at the bottom of their products page in the same area as the cut levers, basicaly theyt will drill the hole in the top of their coupler to accept an eyebolt to connect to a cut lever.
It is at the bottom of their products page in the same area as the cut levers, basicaly theyt will drill the hole in the top of their coupler to accept an eyebolt to connect to a cut lever.
Well, sure, but you still need to build the rest yourself. Note that Sergent expects that you glue the lift ring and still put the ball in, so I am not sure if the hole is optimally placed for a working pin/lift ring.
If someone wanted to make a working one like in the video (I linked to above), I would suggest that you drill the hole yourself from the inside surface.
No we are talking working cut levers.
Is this what you're looking for? I saw this at my LHS, but at $20 MSRP and the hole you need for it? Give me a Kadee uncoupling magnet anytime!
http://rapidotrains.com/on-off-remote-coupler/#machine
Neal
There's been a perfect one around for years, super cheap too.
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
I didn't see it on the Sergent web site either, but I did watch the video from BDD, above. Cool, but I think I'll stick with my wood skewer. Not every place I drop cars has the room for my big clumsey hand to get into and manipulate a tiny wire.
My same thoughts with the magnetic air hoses. Too much tiny stuff for me, but I do like to add details to cars and locos.
Mike.
My You Tube
I dont see anythin either. rrebell may be confused.
Since this thread is alive again, I figured that I would post the video I found a while back. (It took me a bit of time to find it again, and this time its going to the bookmarks folder!)
https://youtu.be/c9w3185rx_g
Sergeant couplers use a ball bearing to act as the coupler pin. They have no concept of "top operating" or "bottom operating" (well, other than that you uncouple them by the uncoupling wand magnet pulling the "locking pin" ball bearing up). And, really, the bottom couplers just have the linkage flipped over (well, in simple terms, obviously there are some other physical differences in the pins/internals, but not so much that it matters for us, where the couplers don't even work the same way).
-Dan
Builder of Bowser steam! Railimages Site
ok dad
So, back to the coupler. Anybody gonna try to make a bottom operating sergent coupler? and a working brakeman to go with it? guys? guys? guys? anybody still here?
Hey kids get real. We are boys playing with toys. Sigh.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Real railroads also don't have "the hand of god" reaching down to uncouple cars, nevertheless it still has to get done somehow. Whether a modeller prefers hands-free or hand operated uncoupling, I don't see any need for critisism.
Do you consider sound on locomotives "toy-like"?
rrebell That is realy amazing. The reason I asked the question is we are getting super scale cars and some things scale and others don't. I have a few cars even that have scale thickness grab irons, they are thin but hold up well as they are made of a realy stilff metal.
That is realy amazing. The reason I asked the question is we are getting super scale cars and some things scale and others don't. I have a few cars even that have scale thickness grab irons, they are thin but hold up well as they are made of a realy stilff metal.
Seems like we are trying to get MORE TOY LIKE with every passing day!
Remote Uncoupling - GEE! - The real Railroads don't even have that.
If I didn't know better - I thought this was the Classic TOY TRAINS Forum! ;-)
Whats next - SOUND CARS (OH! wait a minute we already have those)!
Pretty soon we are going to just run ROUND & ROUND just like my old LIONELS 3 Rail
(Dang - They already do that) - SO I GUESS - we need the Remote Uncoupling and the SOUND CARS and TALKING ENGINES
We might as well go back to 3 Rail - Reverse loops are a whole lot easier with that !
WHO Needs SCALE - when we have all this? ;-) ;-)
BOB H - Clarion, PA
big daydreamer I don't mean to crash the party, but http://youtu.be/c9w3185rx_g There is nothing really new here, it works just like the real thing. You could probably even add in roffez' actuator to make a super realistic and convienent uncoupling system. Note that freight cars usually have bottom operated couplers IRL. If anyone has info on how bottom operated couplers actually work please share!
I don't mean to crash the party, but http://youtu.be/c9w3185rx_g
There is nothing really new here, it works just like the real thing. You could probably even add in roffez' actuator to make a super realistic and convienent uncoupling system.
Note that freight cars usually have bottom operated couplers IRL. If anyone has info on how bottom operated couplers actually work please share!
The former is my development. It uses a tiny actuator to pull the knuckle - easy retrofit solution, works great:
And here in action - it's european stock but works on US as well:
See also www.precimodels.com
HO DCC operated uncouplers:
http://precimodels.com/images/pdf/DCC-Uncoupler-Kit-HO.pdf
http://www.rr-cirkits.com/coupler/uncoupler.html
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
I really don't believe that we have reliable and affordable technology to do this at this point. I suggested possibilities of a DCC uncoupling, however after added thought conclude even DCC would be too great an expence and a total pain. Operations, especially on a fast clock would have to supply all train orders to have an address for each car in the consist (or at least the ones to be set out) The address would have to be set (figure which/ A or B end) and then uncouple. I outlaw many times even when fumbling about w/ a skewer.
Now if some sort of device (infared, laser etc could be used as a triger, then pointing at the car would allow an uncoupling, that may work---Say "Star Trek"
But for now, I will use the skewer and keep those Kadee's in fine working order, especially on over a couple hundred cars.
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
I made working ones in G for one of my Porter locos and a couple small cars . In theory it was great in practice in was a pain. Lifting the levers would often derail the car. It was tricky at best. I might have gotten the hang of it eventually but I soon started used link/pin couplers couplers on everything. On my G harbor layout I will have knuckles again so I may yet return to working drawbars once again.
I can only imagine how troublesome they would be in something as small as HO.
Here you can see the ones I built.
Have fun with your trains
Yeah, thread is a little old.
http://www.precimodels.com/en/
Honestly, I don't think that it is technology, scale or ingenuity but logistics that keep this from being viable. My ham fist are way to big to actuate a lever on each car and would only lead to damage to the surrounding scene. Using some type of tool would also seem counter intuitive, we already do that from overhead with Kadee's and Sergent couplers
Chris Ballinger
Modeling the Clementon Branch of the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines in HO scale
The modified Sergeant coupler sounds like it might have merit, and I applaud anybody who can do it successfully. I suppose the project would involve scale Carmer levers as well as those operated by steel rods from the top and/or bottom. It might be a problem finding wire that is small enough in diameter to represent a real cut lever, yet strong enough to do the job. Maybe stainless steel would work.
At my age, I have too many pending projects to spend time and effort on this one. If the initial experiments were successful, I'd feel obliged to convert the whole roster (which is sizeable), and that means those other pending projects would be pushed farther back, and would probably never be completed.
This is a project for someone with a very limited roster, and I suspect it would appeal to somebody who also wants to run scale wheels through individually-constructed scale turnouts.
Kudos to the one who can do it.
Tom
cmrproducts Train Modeler bogp40 The details of such a "contraption' would be grossly out of scale and clunky at best. I don't see much reliability in it's operation or unwanted uncouplimgs. DCC decoder uncoupling, maybe, but somewhat $$$ YES,YES,YES--DCC uncoupling. I have with MTH loco and have looked at adding by building myself. There is one company that will convert a car for you, but it needs space. Some ideas with music wire too. Kadee has them for the bigger scales I think. If so, would be nice if they did for HO. Richard Richard Would you not have to put them on every car! I know when having an OPs Session - the car that needs set out isn't the one behind the engine - so that means EVERY CAR would need working couplers on each end as not having them on both ends - my luck would be two cars with the auto uncouplers on the other end! Really sounds like a O Scale TOY project - as I could sure spend the money trying to equip my 1200 car roster some place else! BOB H - Clarion, PA
Train Modeler bogp40 The details of such a "contraption' would be grossly out of scale and clunky at best. I don't see much reliability in it's operation or unwanted uncouplimgs. DCC decoder uncoupling, maybe, but somewhat $$$ YES,YES,YES--DCC uncoupling. I have with MTH loco and have looked at adding by building myself. There is one company that will convert a car for you, but it needs space. Some ideas with music wire too. Kadee has them for the bigger scales I think. If so, would be nice if they did for HO. Richard
bogp40 The details of such a "contraption' would be grossly out of scale and clunky at best. I don't see much reliability in it's operation or unwanted uncouplimgs. DCC decoder uncoupling, maybe, but somewhat $$$
The details of such a "contraption' would be grossly out of scale and clunky at best. I don't see much reliability in it's operation or unwanted uncouplimgs. DCC decoder uncoupling, maybe, but somewhat $$$
YES,YES,YES--DCC uncoupling. I have with MTH loco and have looked at adding by building myself. There is one company that will convert a car for you, but it needs space. Some ideas with music wire too. Kadee has them for the bigger scales I think. If so, would be nice if they did for HO.
Richard
Would you not have to put them on every car!
I know when having an OPs Session - the car that needs set out isn't the one behind the engine - so that means EVERY CAR would need working couplers on each end as not having them on both ends - my luck would be two cars with the auto uncouplers on the other end!
Really sounds like a O Scale TOY project - as I could sure spend the money trying to equip my 1200 car roster some place else!
Those objections about cost/conversion were said when DCC came out and again when sound came out. It seems that the market will absorb costs beyond what seemed reasonable. I preferred paying $35 for a BB Athearn loco and upgrading it myself, but now I pay $350 for a DCC/sound loco(still upgrade sound though), 20 something years later. One reason I am moving to brass, but that's another story in itself.
1200 or a lot of cars(whatever that qty may be depends on the owner's perspective) sounds like a crazy number. But there are many who would do it, for example myself over a period of time. Also, as we are now paying around $100 for a psgr car it seems possible that for a little more we could get DCC uncoupling--they already have power pickup and we're putting in DCC for lighting anyway. I base that "little more" on MTH experience. MTH's DCC uncoupling is not perfect, BTW.
If Kadee or someone came out with a conversion kit for say $30 or so, I'd be all over it. Also, for those modeling more modern time periods that means more unit trains, so the conversion wouldn't have to include all of the cars. Think about this, if you bought 1200 cars today, you could spend as much as $60,000 and hopefully being like DCC where costs came down with much higher production rates, you could add DCC uncoupling for another $10,000 or so as an option from the OEM. I'm obviously speculating here, but the theory held true for DCC and sound in the past.
As far as DCC addresses, that's where car numbers can help and since I use a dual knob Digitrax throttle, it really isn't a big deal and adds realism. Of course we use computer control too and that can help. We're putting DCC on our turnouts more and more too.