MicroTrains couplers - Unassembled

[djconway]

So, you can "earn" $3.30 per hour assembling couplers

time out -- Lets do the math
2 pair of assembled $9.09  --> $9.09 / 2 = $4.55  (4.545)  per coupler
10 Pair of un-assembled couplers $12.49 --> 12.49 / 10 = $1.25 (1.249) per coupler

So 10 pair in an hour = ($4.55-$1.25) X 10 = $32.95
I think a savings of $32.95 is worth an hour of my time.

[Cajonpassfan]

So, you can "earn" $3.30 per hour assembling couplers, and you get TV "benefits".  And, you don't have to pay Uncle Sam any taxes on those "earnings", which makes them worth more like $4.90 per hour, depending on your marginal tax rate. Of course, if your significant other is not sympathetic to model railroading, that might be viewed as spending $12.49 per hour to fiddle with your hands when you could just be relaxing and watching TV.  "Economics" has a lot of non-objective aspects.

Umm, I said about $3.30 a pair, not an hour. So 10 of them would be....drumroll!, ummm 33 bucks...
Otto K.

[C855B]

... an hour ...

Does that include the added 45-60 minutes of crawling around on the floor with a magnifier and flashlight chasing after escaped springs once you realize you have exhausted your supply of spares?

Just sayin'. 

[CRL]

If it gives you satisfaction to assemble your own couplers, then that’s time well spent. If you’d rather be spending time enjoying some other aspect of the hobby, then purchase your couplers pre-assembled.

Having the assembly jig is almost a requirement if assembling more than just a few couplers unless you enjoy frustration.

[Maletrain]

time out -- Lets do the math
2 pair of assembled $9.09  --> $9.09 / 2 = $4.55  (4.545)  per coupler
10 Pair of un-assembled couplers $12.49 --> 12.49 / 10 = $1.25 (1.249) per coupler

So 10 pair in an hour = ($4.55-$1.25) X 10 = $32.95
I think a savings of $32.95 is worth an hour of my time.

My bad!  I was the one that posted $3.30 per hour, when I meant to post $33.00 per hour (and $49.00 per hour with after-tax considerations).  At least I got the $12.49 per hour right as the cost. 

I fixed my post, so that others won't be bothered with thinking it through, correctly.  But, I figured I should explain that the quoted mistake was mine, not Otto's.

[Ike the BN Freak]

I've whipped through and assembled 10 pairs in about an half hour to 45 minutes, but normally I'm watching some show at the same time. If I wasn't also watching TV, I can probably do them much quicker.  And I don't think 1015s are that hard, esp being they have the snap lid.

[nkalanaga]

For me, 1025s are even easier to assemble, but I always do them as needed.  That way I don't h ave to get out the soldering iron and weld the boxes, which saves both time and fingers.

But, yes, both the 1015s and 1025s are definitely worth buying unassembled.  I've been doing that since the early 70s.  The Z/Nn3 903/905, on the other hand, I never could get to work right.  So I bought those assembled.  They're nothing but a smaller 1025, and I never could figure out why I had trouble with them.

[Chris333]

Do the assembled couplers still come with raw bright trip pins? I know on the "kits" they are blackened.

[djconway]

Do the assembled couplers still come with raw bright trip pins? I know on the "kits" they are blackened.

The recent ones are black.  But back when they were not I would remove the trip pin a d run it through a candle flame.

[UP4-8-8-4]

I just buy the 1015-10 pack's and keep in stock and assembly them by hand using only needle nosed tweezers. 
Never have lost a spring, YET !
Once together I add a light touch of Krazy Glue to the edges.
Did buy the assembly jig, but after several try's with no success, it was never attempted again.

[peteski]

I just buy the 1015-10 pack's and keep in stock and assembly them by hand using only needle nosed tweezers. 
Never have lost a spring, YET !
Once together I add a light touch of Krazy Glue to the edges.
Did buy the assembly jig, but after several try's with no success, it was never attempted again.

I do what MTL does to their assembled 1023/25 couplers: I weld the lids to the box using soldering iron,  then trim the weld flush with the top of the lid using a sharp hobby knife.

[UP4-8-8-4]

I do what MTL does to their assembled 1023/25 couplers: I weld the lids to the box using soldering iron,  then trim the weld flush with the top of the lid using a sharp hobby knife.

Read about using the soldering iron to fuse the two sections together.
Almost went that route, but it seems even with Krazy Glue, you can't get it apart --------------------- ( ;

[peteski]

Read about using the soldering iron to fuse the two sections together.
Almost went that route, but it seems even with Krazy Glue, you can't get it apart --------------------- ( ;

I'm surprised as usually nothing adheres well to Delrin (POM) plastic.  Personally I would also be worried about the glue wicking into  the box, fouling the coupler shank or spring, but obviously it works well for you.

[nkalanaga]

"assembly them by hand using only needle nosed tweezers.  "

My technique is different, but just as simple.  I use pliers to put the pin in, but everything else is done by hand, except for picking the spring up.  For that I use an X-Acto knife, a trick that's been around as long as couplers with coil springs, and possibly longer.  It may have started with sprung trucks in HO, or even O.  I don't remember where I first read it, but it was long ago.

[BruceStikkers]

I have assembled a lot of them but it got a lot easier when I took a small scrap of 3/8' plywood and cut a 1/2' deep slot in one end. Then I take the uncoupling pin and put it in that slot to hold the assembly while I put it together. That made it much easier.

Bruce Stikkers
St. Joseph, IL