An Exacto #11 blade in the small holder, bright light and an Optivisor always works for me. As I convert cars to Kadees, I put all the couplers with missing springs in a box. When I accumulate 5 or 6, I put new springs in them. Using the thread method is a go way to start. Once you master the task, you can do it without the thread.
Hello all,
I’d definitely feel safer with contact cement over any CA.
Great tip. I’ll definitely try it.
Thanks for the suggestion.
I have actually found Kadee springs on a carpeted floor and on a linoleum floor! Yes!
I checked, and shockingly, this counts for nothing in the NMRA Achievement Program.
Dave Nelson
That’s the tool I use too. And, you don’t have to worry about the spring slipping off. The only other suggestion I would make (althouth I haven’t done this myself), is to use some kind of enclosure while engaging the Grabber so you don’t lose the spring if it scoots when engaging it with the Grabber. and, yes, at my age an optivisor helps as well.
As suggested in recent threads here (and probably earlier, but I wasn’t reading), consider doing the spring installation inside a Baggie to keep the spring from having its fling. This is a useful consideration almost any time that dropping small parts or giving them sudden acceleration with slipping or springy hairspring tweezer tips is a possibility…
The Xacto #11 blade has always worked for me; I get the springs on most of the time but sometimes they go flying.
Of course, you could always pay someone else do it for you; thats what people do who have the means such as paying someone to change the oil in your car for example. When I was a starving college student, I changed my own oil, now I take it to Jiffy Lube.
May I concur about the Xacto blade and add…
I place the blade tip close to one end of the spring. Then I put the long end of the spring on one of the nibs, compress it and slide the short end on to the other nib.
In may later years a magnifying visor has certainly helped, but not absolutely necessary (yet).