hi to everyone. i have been away from modeling ho for about 15+years and i don’t know anything about kadee couplers. i have been trying to instal these da things ut between my big fat fingers and the eyes are not what there where. anyone have any easy shortcuts to get them working. I have 3 new poroto E units waiting to go. track is down but horn hook couplers and kadee just don’t work well…
thanks to all
conrad
conrad,
Do yourself a favor and buy yourself a pair of Optivisors (magnifying binoculars) - the ones with the leather adjustable strap. Mine is made by Mascot (2.5X power) and I use them for everything from kit building to painting to installing small parts.
Your other indispensible friends are a pair of needle-nose and broad nose tweezers.
Tom
Can you get them in and the E’s wont stayed hooked up or you cannot get them in? If they will not stayed lashed up and coupler height right it may be your bench. E’s with there 6 alxe truck are pickey, the center wheel act as a pivot and will cause the couplers to come un hooked.
Is your coupler a screw down top or a push down top or should I say bottom? I have 5 of the E’s and screw down is not that tuff. I use a magent on my screw driver to pull the screw and use my finges and bad eyes to drop in the brass coupler pocket. I uses a screw driver to lift the truck and tilt to the side.
On the press on tops I normaly pull the plactic pin that holds the coupler box to the chassis. Hard part is getting the thin brass spring strip seated again if you don’t lose it in the noteches (spell chack) that holds it.
Let me know if you need PIC, I think I have some.
Cude Ken
That is why I converted to 148’s and stopped using the number 5’s among other reasons. The whiskers dispose of the need for the brass spring plate.
I second the Optivisor suggestion and the needle nose pliers & tweezers. These belong in any model railroaders’ basic toolbox. I also suggest a pair of good small phillips and flat-head screwdrivers.
The Optivisor is the single best investment in my enjoyment of the hobby. And I’ve been using them for 20+ years. Even with big fingers, it helps a lot when you can see what you’re doing up close.
Alternately, you can buy preassembled Kadee # 5’s.
whiskers are great, and magnetic screwdrivers help with them tiny screws. I keep my jewelers screwdrivers on a magnet to keep them magnetized.
[#ditto] On the Optivisor and 148’s. Kadee no.5"s were the standard for years but the 148’s with the whiskers are a vast improvment in their product. Especially for the fumble finger impaired (me).
I myself need one of those Optivisors, I think one Hobby Shop actually has little lights LED’s that go on them as well… anyone think those are any good?
I have a Optivisor and it took a little getting used to.
thanks to all of you for your help… i now know where to go for info and advise. i have 3 tracks up and running (one with only a e-a&b going around)
hope to have a 4th track with some kind of a yard with in a few weeks.
take care and thank you again
conrad
Make sure you stick with Kadees and not with those [soapbox] Mchenry couplers!
[#ditto]
I have used all of the clones and none come close in reliability.
Check the Kadee web site for conversion information. I seem to recall that Proto-2000 E8 units have used three different coupler arrangments over the years. There is also a difference between the E6, E7, and E8s. I don’t think any of them use a standard Kadee #5, but things like #23, #26, or #33. Kadee made a special set #453 for one of the early productions. There is also a #455 for close coupling. Having the proper coupler can make a conversion job much easier, instead of trying to force one that doesn’t really fit. The correct type usually operates better too.
The large magnification device is still a good idea regardless.
Heavily[#ditto] that: the centering springs for the 30 series couplers are pretty small and a little tricky to work with: some sort of magnification is a must (my preference is the Optivisor discussed above).
Jim
need more help…
where do i find the OPTIVISOR???
is the 148’s mentioned as a replacement also made by kadee.
thanks again you guys are great
conrad
Yes, the Kadee #148 is also called the “whisker”. It is the same size as Kadee #5 but has built in springs. A Kadee #5 uses a separate brass plate with double finger “springs”.
I used Kadees for years, and would have switched to the scale sized ones except that after 50 years of model railroading I switched to rail simming on my computer, many advantages. I’m posting here because of the Optivisor. It never apealed to me because of its size and limited periferal vision, I know it flips up but… I don’t need a prescription to correct my 68 year old eyes, so I buy cheap “reading glasses” at wherever they’re the cheapest. I can see well up to 18" so at my work bench I have three pair and the strongest I think are about 425. I don’t know what that number relates to but at that strength I can see very well at about 4". I usually get the small lenses so that I can look away to get a tool or something. Besides railsimming, I love to Build On3 car kits. In that scale you can add a lot of minute details, and the glasses are the cats behind for that kind of work, and they’re cheap.
George
I don’t know about the optivisor proper but magnifying lamp on a swing arm is on sale at Harbor Tools for $7.99. I’ve had these and one must be careful with the plastic joint where the lamp meets the arm because they break easily. Lot Number is 31679.
Just go to Garden scale railroading, no more need for maginifiers.[:)][:)]
Just a matter of preference–my wife already had a lighted magnifier like Gandy Dancer describes in her sewing room (aka my temporary MR office)–I just prefer the Optivisor. I got mine through MicroMark only because I was ordering other things from them at the time–I’m sure you can probably find a little better price if you look around–I just now googled it and you’ll find a multitude of places to comparison shop.
Jim