what do you use to uncouple?


H

h44

Member
what do you use to uncouple your cars?
i have a dog bone shelf layout with kd magnetic uncoupler bars this is ho scale, some cars uncouple some don't others uncouple at some loactions not others so what do you guys use?
thanks
mark
 
My hands....lol Though I will be buying one of those uncoupleling tools in the near future.
 
I use to love using magnets, but now i like doing it manually with a little orange device, which I don't know who makes it.
 
Uncoupling

Bamboo skewers. Cheapest and easiest to use. I only use Kadee couplers.
Wayne
 
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I hate to reach into the layout with my hands during ops, so I use the Kadee under track magnets myself.
The thing to make them work, and I mean REALLY work, is to adjust ALL the couplers on every car and loco!
Use the graphite powder as well, as it will make a difference.
The most important thing to do, is to only use Kadee's!
I have tried a lot of couplers and not one other brand is better, especially when mixed......
Another thing to consider is to use "scale"-Kadee's, as they actually couple together better on curves.
 
I cut all the trip pins off my couplers so it's bamboo skewers for me also.
All my sidings are close enough to not reach over except two and those we just uncouple and push the cars onto them.
 
I use a skewer or a small flat tip screwdriver depending on which one is most convenient. Magnets won't work for me as I cut the trip pins off most of my couplers.
 
Except for my passenger cars that have the bellows between them, the Rix tool works for me. With the passenger cars, I can't get the Rix between them nor can I get a skewer. Where I uncouple the passenger cars, I have a magnet under the track.
 
Being an extremely lazy person I use under-track magnets. Again, the trick is to adjust every car individually and make sure that your couplers will move loosely in the gear box or they will not correctly snap to the delay position. Also, if the trip pin is adjusted too far to the left hand side of the car the coupler will snap to the wrong side, making it impossible for the action to work correctly. If you make sure that you tune them according to the package you should have no problem. Though as in some earlier posts, only use kadees if those are the couplers you choose because they work so much better. I have one car that I bought with ez-mate couplers on it and they NEVER work no matter how much adjustment that I try. Same w/ the spectrum coaches I have. I am SLOWLY upgrading them to kadee couplers but I can't uncouple the sections that have ez-mates on them using magnets. SO FRUSTRATING!!!
 
Thin bamboo kabob skewers. You can bags filled with them for a couple of dollars at the grocery store. The thin ones I use will usually work between long passenger cars with diaphragms. Usually.
 
I use both Kadee magnets and Rix's uncoupling wands. I have had the same problems as psychobeagle had with the clones when the first hit the market. All my freight cars now have Kadees. Phil
 
We have Kadee under track magnets on the hard to reach sidings, anything else besides passenger car we use the Rix tool on. Gotta love that thing. Mostly every car in my consist are KD equipped, though sometimes I'll cut one in that doesn't have Kadee's and find out later when it won't uncouple. :rolleyes:
 
jeffrey-wimberly said:
If it ain't Kadee it's junk.
Click to expand...

We (dad and I) always put Kadees on virtually everything. BUT, on special trains that you take to layouts, that wont be broken into chunks or into a yard. Staying a unit train.... you cant beat using "dummy" couplers, no moving knuckle, as to never have your train break apart to failure.

And to the question at hand, will eventually be using track magnets in hard to reach sports, but normal close operation, will be bamboo skewers aswell
 
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The local club mostly use bamboo skewers, but I also use the Rix tool when doing a lot of switching. If I ever get around to building my own layout I'll install under track electro-magnets. And I use Kadee for all my couplers, the knockoffs just cause too many problems.
 
I was having a lot of problems with the Kadee magnetic uncouplers until I did two things: Upgrade every car with genuine Kadee couplers and make use of the Kadee coupler height gauge to ensure that couplers are on center and the trip pin heights are correct. One of the best little tools you can buy along with an NMRA gauge.
 
When magnetics on Kaydees don't work, I will resort to an "0-5-0" switcher (a human hand...my own specifically.)
 
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