Looking at buying MicroMark grab iron Item ( #:84745) bending jig. I have so many plastic hand rails (the vertical ones alongside the cab doors) dislodged, broken or missing on locos that I am beginning to replace with proper wire.
However, the jig is more expensive than I remembered; yet it looks to be useful. The largest size made, though, seems just exactly the right size for an HO cab long handrail beside doors etc.
Anyone out there have it and use it? Homemade good alternatives?
Thanks.
I have one, it works great. If you do any amount of kit or scratch building it is worth every penny.
It is a very well made little tool.
Respectfully, I would like to ask, why do have trouble with the plastic railings? I have a large fleet of Proto units with them and never had any great amount of problems. But, I will confess, I don't transport or handle my equipment much. It is on the layout operating or carefully stored.
Sheldon
You could easily make your own jig by drilling suitably-placed holes in a block of brass or aluminum, then scribing perpendicular lines from the holes to the block's edge. Make a bend in the wire to form one mounting leg, slip it into the appropriate hole, align the soon-to-be-handrail with the scribed line, then bend once again, over the edge of the block, to form the other mounting leg, then cut if from the balance of the wire.Depending on the material, an easy way to cut wire is with an old (well-used and perhaps abused) X-Acto #11 blade. Working on a hard surface (I use a sheet of glass), and while restraining both the grab iron and the balance of the wire, press down firmly using the heel of the blade. This will give a clean, straight cut on brass, phosphor-bronze, and stainless steel wire up to about .020" in diameter. For larger diameters of these materials, simply use the blade to roll the wire back and forth several times, while at the same time pressing down firmly. This method will also work for .012" and .015" piano wire, but the blade will wear out even faster. In all cases, be sure to restrain or cover the material on both sides of the cut, as loose short ends can fly anywhere.
For diesel handholds and grabirons, I generally didn't bother with a jig, as most need only a dozen-or-so and usually of different sizes - they're fairly easy to size accurately working directly on the locomotive.
Most freight cars use standard size grabs which are available commercially (and actually cheaper than fabricating your own from wire), but for cars with unusual lengths or styles (like a straight grab with one end in a drop-style) a jig can be useful.
Wayne
Thanks, guys. Those are both good pieces of advice.
Yes, I have 136 locomotives....56 Proto 2000....
My hobby is to find the best deals in new old stock or as close to new condition as possible on Ebay, and add decoders. Unfortunately, the grab irons take a fair bit of handling as I install decoders and move locos on and off the layout.
True, though, the locos that are bought NIB do not require the attention to detail that the others do. And, of course, it is only the cab units/ F-style units that have the vertical handrails down the cab sides that take the most wear and tear.
I have one (the MicroMark bending jig) and it is very handy for replacing those fragile plastic irons so often found on today's detailed models. Works well, though sometimes the increments in the width are not exactly what you might need for a particular grab. In that case, you can always fudge by eyeball... The jig is tough, and solidly made. A quality product.
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Gary M. Collins gmcrailgNOSPAM@gmail.com
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"Common Sense, Ain't!" -- G. M. Collins
http://fhn.site90.net
Looks like I may have to wind up purchasing one of these jigs as I have a number of P2K E-units (older run) with broken or missing handrails and grab irons.
I remember a while back reading on a forum that the suggested thickness of brass or aluminum wire for handrails and grabs on HO locomotives is .012
Is this correct?
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
I use .012" wire for grabirons, which translates to just over 1" in HO scale. but for cab unit handrails, I prefer .015" and like to form them from either piano wire or stainless steel wire - the former seems to hold paint better than the stainless.
Doc,
I appreciate your information, Thanks! I'll look for the .015 piano wire on my next trip for model railroading supplies. Hopefully there is still a musical instrument supply store in my area.
Try a hardware store. They usually have spring steel wire in sizes down to .010".
Thanks!
Good to know of options. I had not considered spring steel wire.
doctorwayne You could easily make your own jig by drilling suitably-placed holes in a block of brass or aluminum, then scribing perpendicular lines from the holes to the block's edge.Wayne
You could easily make your own jig by drilling suitably-placed holes in a block of brass or aluminum, then scribing perpendicular lines from the holes to the block's edge.Wayne
Looking over the comments I see doctorwayne had the best idea, and that the commercial jig was not exactly accurate....so I followed the doctor's advice.
$7 piece of aluminum square stock from the metal shop. [Larger than necessary but it was already lying around the shop floor and I use the surface for a bending anvil.] Phosphor bronze .10 gauge from the LHS is the most accurate size for HO handrails (they tell me).
As doctorwayne says,...drill accommodating holes at the right distance from the edge for cab handrails and rear handrails etc. I drilled about 3/8 in and this gives me a bit to bend for offsets left and right.
Step two. It isn't rocket science, but I thought I would show you.
You guessed it...Step 3.
Step 4 is the trickiest, as all hand rails are offset vertically (on my P2K locos anyway) and I need to use my tiniest tweezers to grab the bronze rod and bend sideways and then in for the fit to the shell.
But the result is ok,.....at least compared to having missing or warped plastic handrails, eh.
Now a dab of CA and a lick of paint.
Being a guitar player, I have a free source of used wire that goes down to .008" (8 gauge). Bending my own grabs from used guitar strings, to me, looks more scale then commercial grabs (too thick) and the price is free for me. If you know a guitar player and bend your own grabs, ask them to save their used strings for you.
Won't be able to beat the price!
Chris