When Springs fly...

[wazzou]

I have more problems getting the springs un-stuck from each other than I do putting them into the couplers.

Yeah, that is definitely always a WTF moment when you see those little bastards commingling.

[peteski]

Kind of hard to describe, but I hold the coupler and bottom box with my fingers so my thumb is on top. I grab the spring with a knife blade and tuck it into the coupler opening. Then I put my thumb down over the spring and pull out the knife. I slide the lid on and snap it shut.

I have more problems getting the springs un-stuck from each other than I do putting them into the couplers.

That is exactly my technique too.

[nkalanaga]

"Drop of what?"  I use a wet finger, when I need anything at all.  Usually the springs go in nicely with just the knife.  And, yes, I use the same technique as Chris333 and Peteski.  Did we all learn before the "assembly tool" was developed?

Now, the 903 couplers are another story.  Even when they first came out I couldn't get them together and working right.  I buy the assembled 905s.  Don't know why the difference, as the design is identical.

And, yes, getting the springs apart is the biggest problem.  Surprisingly, we have the same problem at work - and those springs are an inch and a half long, 3/4 inch in diameter, and made of 1/16 inch wire.  They still come in coiled together in the box.  Others cuss at them.  To me, they're easy to separate, after fighting with coupler springs!

[AKNscale]

Kind of hard to describe, but I hold the coupler and bottom box with my fingers so my thumb is on top. I grab the spring with a knife blade and tuck it into the coupler opening. Then I put my thumb down over the spring and pull out the knife. I slide the lid on and snap it shut.

I have more problems getting the springs un-stuck from each other than I do putting them into the couplers.

This is how I do it too, but with needle point tweezers.

[Billg]

There's a good video on Youtube of a guy assembling 1015's (I think that's what they are, although it doesn't matter).  He uses Blue Painters tape as a 3rd hand to hold the coupler box in place, a #11 x-acto blade to place the spring in the box and a jeweler's screwdriver to settle it in place.  Once the spring is in, it will stay.  All that's left is to snap the top on.  I find this to work as good as any other method (with a little practice and patience.....)

[diezmon]

I'll give the thumb method a try tonight.   Yeah, the assembly jig is pretty much worthless, I this dude's opinion.   Also, maybe a stiff drink before proceeding.

[strummer]

Yeah, the assembly jig is pretty much worthless, I this dude's opinion. 

See, I don't get that. These parts are so small (and light weight), how do you all keep everything "in line" so to speak, so that assembly can be completed?

Without the jig, holding the 2-piece coupler in place inside the box, I'd be lost...please explain how you do it. 

Mark in Oregon

[nkalanaga]

BillG:  With 1015s, you can snap the lid on.  With 1025s, you have to hold it on, no snaps.  I actually have better luck with the 1025s, probably because I've had a LOT more practice.

Strummer:  If you were here I could show you, but I doubt that I can explain it...  Peteski might be able to.   I'll try:

Basically, on a 1025, I put the two pieces together, put them in the box, hold the box and coupler in my left hand (I'm right handed), with my thumb and forefinger holding the end of the coupler shank in the rear of the box.  This allows just enough room to put the spring in, sliding it from the post back under my finger, and tucking it down against the post, with the knife blade.  As long as the box isn't turned over, it will sit there most of the time.  Then, I slide the cover into place, from the front, under my finger, and make sure it's seated properly.  At that point, I have a finished coupler, and can hold it by the middle of the box, knowing it won't fly apart.

To put it on the car, I hold it by the rear, upside down, in my left hand, and put the screw in with my right hand, before moving it to the car.  Holding the knuckle and front of the box, I slide the box, and screw, into place, until I feel the screw catch in the hole.  No, holding the box in place with my left hand, I put the screw in, with a screwdriver, using my right hand.

It took longer to type that than it does to put the coupler together and install it, assuming the hole is drilled and tapped, and the parts are already separated.

1015s are similar, but with there is less to hold onto, as I have to hold the coupler onto the post, which lets it flop a little more.

[peteski]

BillG:  With 1015s, you can snap the lid on.  With 1025s, you have to hold it on, no snaps.  I actually have better luck with the 1025s, probably because I've had a LOT more practice.

Strummer:  If you were here I could show you, but I doubt that I can explain it...  Peteski might be able to.   I'll try:

Basically, on a 1025, I put the two pieces together, put them in the box, hold the box and coupler in my left hand (I'm right handed), with my thumb and forefinger holding the end of the coupler shank in the rear of the box.  This allows just enough room to put the spring in, sliding it from the post back under my finger, and tucking it down against the post, with the knife blade.  As long as the box isn't turned over, it will sit there most of the time.  Then, I slide the cover into place, from the front, under my finger, and make sure it's seated properly.  At that point, I have a finished coupler, and can hold it by the middle of the box, knowing it won't fly apart.

To put it on the car, I hold it by the rear, upside down, in my left hand, and put the screw in with my right hand, before moving it to the car.  Holding the knuckle and front of the box, I slide the box, and screw, into place, until I feel the screw catch in the hole.  No, holding the box in place with my left hand, I put the screw in, with a screwdriver, using my right hand.

Even I'm not *THAT* crazy! 
When I assemble 1025s I take the easy way out - I have hot soldering iron (with a fine tip) ready within reach and as soon as I put on the couple box cover and make sure the coupler is working properly, I weld the cover on, just like MTL does at the factory with the 1023s.  THen, since my weld is not  as small or clean as the factory ones, I trim it using a hobby knife with a fresh blade.

[strummer]

Well, if you guys can do it without the jig, then more power to ya. 

I just find that by using the jig, it frees up both hands; one to hold the knife with the spring, and the other to hold the tweezers to hold the spring in place while I withdraw the knife!  I can then use one hand to grab the box cover and put it in place, and hold the soldering pen with the other to affix the cover.

But that's just me.

Mark in (wet) Oregon

[nkalanaga]

Peteski:  I've never glued, or soldered, my couplers, for several reasons.  I don't have a workbench, having started in a small trailer, and don't like to use a soldering iron on my bed.  My "workbench" is a piece of ceiling tile on the bed, with me on kneeling on the floor.  I could have a real bench today, but never thought it worth spending the money on.  The bed has worked fine for almost 50 years.  Yes, it's the same bed, although the mattress is replaced regularly.

Second, I'm more likely to burn myself trying to "solder" a coupler than I am to lose the parts of the coupler.  Once it's screwed down it can't come apart.

Since I didn't have the soldering iron or the jig when I started using 1025s, way back in the early 70s, as a teenager, I learned to assemble them "my way".  Yes, it may actually be the hard way, but I'm used to it, and it would take me longer to learn a new way, at my age, than to keep doing it.  It's like the guy I saw once making stone spear points.  It took about 15 minutes each.  I could bang rocks together for a week and never make a usable point.  I doubt that he could put a 1025 together!

[diezmon]

See, I don't get that. These parts are so small (and light weight), how do you all keep everything "in line" so to speak, so that assembly can be completed?

Without the jig, holding the 2-piece coupler in place inside the box, I'd be lost...please explain how you do it. 

Mark in Oregon

maybe I got a lemon?  When I put the 1015 box in the jig, it's tight and squeezes the sides together, making it almost impossible to snap the lid on.  I broke the first lid, trying to get it to snap on. 

I've since tried the forefinger/thumb method, which I now prefer 

[strummer]

Hmm...sounds like the spring on your jig is too strong, but since you came up with a method that works for you, then all is well. 

Mark in Oregon

[atsf3751]

I use pretty the same method as Peteski including the old soldering iron. I do hold it with small tweezers when heating so I don't burn myself. They are much easier to install if you don't have to worry about them coming apart while doing so. Having done hundreds of these over the decades, it is a fairly simple matter now and if I do lose a spring, not a problem because I have hundreds of them spare. It only takes a minute or two so I build them as I need them, it takes longer for the iron to heat up.

There are several members of my club that use body mounted Z couplers on their N Scale cars and engines. True Scale couplers will mate with them after a little surgery, put them together and you will see what needs to be done. Once they mate with a Z coupler, they will mate with an N coupler. Since we don't use the magnetic uncoupling feature, some are replacing their Z couplers with True Scale.

[djconway]

I made myself a small tool to weld the covers. Basically a pen shaped piece of plastic with a loop of high resistance (tungsten) wire at one end, connected to a normally open spring switch with a 9 volt battery.  Let's you hold the cover in place while you weld it. A little cleaner than a soldering iron, and I don't burn my fingers.