Atlas iron ore car improvements questions

[woodone]

Give me some dimensions and I could make them out of brass- +or- .001.

[MK]

Here are the photos....

Ore car quad











These will be lettered for the DM&IR one day. The end cars have Z scale 905 couplers and all have FVM wheel sets.

Thomas

How small of a radius can they handle?

[sd45elect2000]

If you're asking on mine, it's the exact same adapter just with a draw bar instead of using couplers.



Jason

I assume these are crewed to the car ends through the holes provided?

Randy

[wcfn100]

I assume these are crewed to the car ends through the holes provided?

Randy

No, just glued.  Screws cost money.   The two holes are just an extra option.  The idea is to drill a .020" hole and used some rod.  I was thinking that styrene rod could get welded to the plastic under frame in a shallow hole and maybe mushroom the tops to secure the box.  Or maybe just a bunch of super glue. 


Unless you have a ton over vertical forces, I don't think the holes will ever be needed.


Jason

[C855B]

I assume these are crewed to the car ends through the holes provided?

Not necessary. Like Jason said, CA does the trick. There's plenty of surface area for a strong bond, plus there is a lip on the other side which "hooks" the car against pulling forces. I've been running a 40-50 car train of these for two years without anything letting go.

[nkalanaga]

 A 0.020" hole is almost perfect for #24 wire - which is common in "old fashioned" computer and phone cables.  Or, you could buy a lot of 0.020" brass rod at the hobby shop for the price of screws.  Either would hold just as well as screws, when combined with CA, and wouldn't require a tap, or have a visible head.

Thomas:  I like your drawbars.  The same idea was used 40+ years ago, but back then the coupler pockets on both ends were intact.  That meant that the cars were permanently coupled.  You've hit on a much better solution by trimming the "receiving" pocket so it just hooks over the drawbar.

[keeper]

How small of a radius can they handle?

They are going through 9 3/4" radius with no problem. Although I wouldn't push them through tight curves for a long time. The 905 coupler doesn't like it,
but it might be possible that the quad is a bit too heavy, because I added weight to each car and the body extension is quite heavy as well.

Thomas

[keeper]

Thomas:  I like your drawbars.  The same idea was used 40+ years ago, but back then the coupler pockets on both ends were intact.  That meant that the cars were permanently coupled.  You've hit on a much better solution by trimming the "receiving" pocket so it just hooks over the drawbar.

Yes, I should have mentioned it. I found the description for this idea somewhere on the internet and adjusted it to my needs.

Thomas

[sd45elect2000]

Most of the cars I bought were sans trucks and couplers ( as well as paint) I don't have the old rapido trucks to modify. I do like the concept however.

Randy

[keeper]

I can take a look if I still have some if you like.

Thomas

[sd45elect2000]

I can take a look if I still have some if you like.

Thomas

I have hundreds of micro trains trucks I would like to use up. I bought them for this project many years ago.

In other news I have 18 completed cars as far as paint and lettering.. I'm not making rapid progress on the fleet of 125..now off to work...

Randy

[nkalanaga]

You could use the same idea with MT truck-mounted couplers, although uncoupling would be a little less convenient. 

Make a drawbar with two loops, that fit over the center post of the coupler boxes, and is the same thickness as the existing coupler shank.

Open the boxes, and remove the existing couplers, the top just slides off.  Place the drawbar over one of the posts, and replace the cover for that one.  Place the drawbar over the other post, but leave the cover off.  Under normal use it should stay there, but it can still be removed if desired.  As long as each car had one of each style, they could all be uncoupled if needed.

For more positive coupling, remove the pivot post from the "loose" end, make a hook on the end of the drawbar, and drop it through the hole in the draft gear "floor".  If the hook was slightly curved it would stay while being pulled, but might not work as well pushing.

But for that much trouble, I'd just body-mount the drawbar, with a hole on each end.  If you want to be cheap, a common sewing pin would make a good pivot post, and one pin could do both ends.  You don't need the point.  Use the head and shaft for the permanent end, and a piece of shaft for the loose end.  Make sure the head was tight enough that the drawbar couldn't sag, and it would work fine.