I have a piece of K&S .016 brass stock that I can score and bend with a small needle nosed plier, but cannot do much more than that. I picked up a K&S brass sheet that was thinner, .010, but haven’t opened it because I am not sure if it is thin enough to cut more easily. The shop I stopped at has a still thinner piece, but I was thinking it might be too thin. I want to refabricate wheel wipers to replace corroded ones from an old AHM diesel. Does anyone know how thin the stock should be for this- is the .010 size okay, or should I get the thinner stuff- I think it’s .005. I am afraid of using so thin a piece that it will act more like foil than a metal strip, and be therefore more susceptible to wear from current going thru it? Any ideas or comments would be appreciated. Cedarwoodron
Try Kadee HO coupler springs. Two wipers from one spring. I and others have done this.
Rich
Cut sheet metal with shears, tin snips, scissors. Don’t use the wife’s scissors, she will be enraged.
For wipers, you want phosphor bronze rather than brass. Brass isn’t springy enough to make a good wiper. I got my bronze years ago as a roll of door weatherstripping. You probably have to go to someplace like McMasters Carr to get it now a days.
Another option is phosphor bronze sheet. You can cut your pickups from this and fit most any size or configuration. Phosphor bronze is muck more springy than brass and makes better contacts. If I am not wrong Kadee springs are phosphor bronze. You can get small sheets of it from MicrMark.
Joe
Even .010" is pretty thick for wheel wipers, Ron.
I’ve recently been adding all-wheel pick-up to some brass locos, and use re-bent centering springs from Kadee #5 couplers.
There’s a bit of a how-to HERE, with photos.
To cut apart these phosphor bronze springs, I use an X-Acto or utility knife. Working on a hard surface, such as glass, simply press down firmly at the place where you wish to make the cut, making sure to restrain both pieces, as they’ll otherwise take flight. You should be able to make at least two wipers from each spring, and extra springs can be bought separately.
To cut similar material from sheet stock, use the same procedure, or, if it’s thicker, use a blade to scribe the material at the place where you wish to make the cut, repeating several times (the thicker the material, the more passes are needed, usually). Then use pliers to bend along the scribed line - most material will fatigue after a couple of bends back-and-forth, although you may have to clean-up the edge with a suitable file.
Wayne
Thanks for the tip on scoring the sheet, guys. That’s helpful. K&S also sells phosphor bronze sheet, .008, #5064.
The Kadee thing is very handy and good to have as a backup or easy first shot when the install presents some low-hanging fruit.
Most wipers I install are on brass HOn3 locos, so space is at a premium, as well as low drag. I typically use a small piece of skinny PCB tie material (Clover House is one source) to provide insulation and a mounting interface between the wiper and wire. For the wiper, I use Tichy .010 phosphor bronze wire, #1101. A friend uses the .008 Tichy wire instead for an even lighter touch.
Cedarwoodron
I use plain old tin snips to cut whatever sheet metal I am working with, be it brass, lead etc. I find that with a little practise I can cut very small pieces if necessary. The downside to using tin snips is that they tend to make the piece curl as it is being cut, but that is easily cured with a pair of flat bladed pliers.
However, as almost everyone has suggested, brass is not the best material for your purposes. I too vote for phosphor bronze! I have used .015" wire with great success, and I have also used the Kadee coupler box springs, which are phosphor bronze, to do the same thing. In your case I suspect that you might be trying to duplicate the original wipers which would likely make .005" or .010" sheet the best bet. If the wipers prove to be too complex to duplicate with sheet stock, then .010" or .015" wire should be a good subsitute.
Dave
Being an electronics engineer, the suggestion of phosphor bronze is correct. Like Mike, I am into HOn3 as well and everything is smaller and tighter. In addition to trainshows, I go to Hamfests which are electronic fleamarkets. I get ultra thin, copper surfaced, G-10 fiberglass printed circuit board material for mounting the wipers, once you cut the board to fit your application.
Recently, I have found that the tiny, but now older and common surplus 5 volt circuit board mount relays are ideal for inner wheel wipers. Each relay, DPDT, contains 4 thin, phosphor bronze contact arms with gold plated pure silver buttons or tips. The relays run about 25 cents each or if on an old discarded board in a $1.00 bin you may find as many as 10 relays for your buck. Just bust into them and liberate the little arms.
Richard
I forgot about the phosphor bronze as I have used it. I have a lot of 0.002 thick I cannot even give away.
Rich
Doc,
Thank you for posting your link. Very good information. I have a few Rivarossi Budd units that I’d like to install “blue-white” LED strips in the inteiors that imitates florescent lighting and want to gauge if I can install my own before spending $35-$40 for one lighting kit. One of the challenges will be electrical pick up from the trucks to the LED lights on the ceiling. [;)]