Anyone have tips or tricks on installing Kadee coupler springs. I have run out of four letter words and tossing a brass locomotive at a wall doesn’t seem to help.
Thanks,
HZ
Hope you are kidding here.
Howard,
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Are you talking about the knuckle closure coil spring?
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If so, I only use a #11 X-acto knife blade with the tip dipped in Vaseline. This is my only tip, and it is far from fool-proof.
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-Kevin
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11 blade and a magnifier visor, some put a dab of glue in fixed nub , but have never had to do that. if its the centering spring a foam cradle helps there.
Hi Howard, haven’t done one since I got my cataract fixed, but I have a few.
I take the coupler it off the loco/car and put it in one of those alligator clip holders. I needed good light with the cataract and an optivisor.
If the little prongs on the coupler are still too hard to see, dry brush them with some reefer gray or other light color. You can weather them later.
Take a needle and thread and run a 6" piece of thread through the spring. I leave the needle on the thread and 1-2" of thread hanging out of the spring that’s going on the shank side of the coupler. Too much thread gets in the way. The thread keeps you from crawling on your hands and knees on the floor looking for flying springs.
I am right handed if that makes a difference.
I use the Kadee tool because a 15 blade seems to be more prone to booger up the spring. I “grab” it about 2/3 away from the end that is going in the shank prong. I thread it on the shank prong first. I have never been able to compress and direct it so it also goes on the knuckle prong in one move.
I compress it as much as I can and then put my left index finger finger nail over the end to compress it further and push the body of the spring with my finger tip, inward so the knuckle end of the spring is directed toward the knuckle prong. The tool is no longer critical. The spring either goes over the prong or I start over. If it goes on, gently remove the thread.
Pretty much what everyone else says:
I pick up the (knuckle) spring on the end of an X-acto blade. Usually a No. 16, as it’s blunter and can get more metal between the coils. One thing that can make “grabbing” the spring easier is to put the blade in between the coils near the end, where they’re closer together. The negative on that is that you don’t have much spring left to maneuver that end over the pin.
Anyway, I’ve been doing it for about half a century, and usually get the spring in without losing it. I don’t use any sticky stuff, 'cause I don’t need it.
Years of practice, I guess.
Ed
I turned a pair of cheap train show plastic tweezers into a spring compressor. The tips started out with a flat end about 3/16" wide and were filed to maybe twice the width of the Kadee spring. The top and bottom are filed down to slip between the spring coils. Gives you a firm grip and works 80% of the time.
Ditto what he says except I’m lazy and use my regular Exacto blade (#11 I guess?) and I haven’t been doing it as long as he has (only 35 years or so).
I think what really helps me is to be extremely nearsighted! I still lose one into the great unknown occasionally, but not often enough to worry about it.
Alan
The knuckle springs, like most everyone else I pick them up with the tip of a hobby knife. I can’t really see them clearly either unless I hold the whole thing right up to my face, or use some strong magnification - holding it right up to my face actually works best. It’s easier to have the couple NOT mounted in a car or loco to install a spring. I buy in bulk, and MOST of the pack has the spring installed, so I usually save the missing spring ones for last and only when I have no choice do I put the missing springs back.
As for the various centering springs, I’ve given up on most of those and use the various whisker couplers now. A few special cases still need types that they don’t make in a whisker format, but those usualy have the coil springs instead of the flat pan ones. Whiisker couplers make it so much easier to install in cars that go together like Athearn BB cars, it’s one less thing to try and hold in place while fitting the cover on the box. Now I only need 3 hands instead of 4.
–Randy
The best tool, IMHO, is the MicroMark “Spring Grabber”. It is all-metal and has a ball-tip that’s been sharpened to an edge.
https://www.micromark.com/Spring-Grabber
The best method I use is to put the spring on a flat surface and use a fingernail at the very end to hold it down to the surface. With my other hand I insert the Spring Grabber into the spring as close to the other end as I can. The ball-tip end will hold the spring in place.
Then I take the spring and put the end away from the Grabber onto one of the Kadee knuckle spring spikes, then compress it with the Spring Grabber tool. Next is to move the Grabber so that the last loop of spring is over and surrounding the opposite Kadee knuckle spring spike. Last, just pull the Spring Grabber out, making sure that the spike scrapes the spring right off the Grabber.
This works almost all the time, first try, for me.
I’ve used screwdrivers and X-Acto blades, but neither will keep the spring from falling off the blade if you mis-align it just a smidge. The MicroMark Spring Grabber is far more forgiving. The spring really stays on the tool quite well (I’ve also used it to insert springs in brass locos, freight trucks, etc.).
I’ve also used both of Kadee’s own spring picks, and while usable, they aren’t as good as the MicroMark one. The red Kadee pick is flawed in that the metal probe is actually made of sheetmetal rolled into shape. This leaves a ridge that makes it more difficult to insert into a knuckle spring. The yellow plastic Kadee pick is easier to insert, but springs fall off easier. Also, the yellow pick can easily be marred or damaged due to it’s soft plastic material it’s made out of.
HZ,
Takes some practice…a lot of patience…I just use a #11 xacto blade, starting with the longer pin first…the one not on the moving part of the knuckle…piece of cake, LOL. I have Glucoma and must use a magnifier…which is a swing arm 8’’ lighted round one.
If You want a real challenge…try soldering that same spring to electrical pick-ups. They are made out of bronze and make great pick-ups, they never lose their springiness or conductivity. I used them on some Walthers pass. car roof pick-ups for the light bars. Only needed one hand to solder it…I cheat and use Silver bearing solder paste…the paste holds the spring in place, to solder…works like a charm…did ten of them. (that’s 20 springs) I doubled the spring on a few.
Take Care! [:D]
Frank
i just use a small screw driver to hold the spring. the kadee Dual Tool looks like a small screwdriver.
it’s easy to get it on the one tit. the hard part is getting it on the other.
with both hands free you can use a pointed tool to align the other end.
It’s pretty simple to do but nobody seems to describe the proper technique. There is a tool made by Kadee called a spring pick but I find that using a exacto knife works fine. The trick is to put the blade near the end of the spring, not in the middle. Then put the long end of the spring onto the ridged part of the couple and then slip the short end (where your blade is) onto the knuckle part. It’s really pretty easy. The hardest part is finding the spring if it goes flying away. The trick to that is just don’t worry about it and use another spring. That’s why they give you several extra springs.
I’ve been having good success for over 60 years using a #11 blade, in its handle, with the sharp side of the blade inserted into the tight coils near, but not right at, the end of the spring. It’s certainly a lot faster than shown in the video, perhaps 10 seconds per coupler.
Wayne
Hey folks…many thanks for the fine tips. My problem is my age and I hate wearing a magnifier… although I do have one.
HZ
Hello all,
I remember reading a person took a piece of thread and put it through the spring so when the “flying spring” moment came the spring was not lost.
The Kadee Dual Tool has worked well for me.
Some folks have suggested applying a drop of medium CA to the shank side of the spring after installation/replacement to hold it in place.
I’ve never had a steady enough hand to do this and I don’t loose that many coupler springs.
Hope this helps.
If you have a problem with springs springing free, contact cement is a better choice, as ca can migrate to other areas and render the coupler useless if it gets into the moving parts.
Simply apply a tiny dab of contact cement to one of the spring-mounting nubs, let it dry for several minutes, then install the spring. When I first started using Kadee’s K-type couplers in the mid-'50s, my dad had done all of them in that manner and some of them are still on some MoW equipment, minus the trip pins for the remote mechanical uncoupling, which was a standard at that time.
Wayne
When I install the resistance spring for sergent couplers, I use a tooth pick to pick up the spring by sticking the toothpick into the end of the spring. I then slide it into position with the toothpick and using the back of a #11 blade, I carefully compress the spring and put it into place.
I did the same thing with Kadees.
Does still require good vision or magnifier.