But you didn’t give any exact details as what worked best. Some people just use 1 pair and I have seen 4 pair used.
On curves it seems placement of a larger magnet works best, had some 3/16" ones.
I use four pair of ⅛”D x ⅜”L round Neodymium magnets for my uncoupling. I drill ⅛” diameter holes between the ties against the inside rails. I adjust the magnetic pull of the coupler rods by the depth of the magnets.
I haven’t had any problems with unwanted uncouplings, some have been in place for several years. The price was right three or four years ago, 100 for under $4 delivered.
Mel
My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
Bakersfield, California
Turned 84 in July, aging is definitely not for wimps.
Mine were $20 for 100 but they were 48’s also instead of 42’s. I was just doing some more experimenting oposite poles and using 2 per side seems to be the sweet spot on the straight.
Ok, tried a few brands of couplers and the above worked well on all tried.
Now to perfect the curves if posible.
OK, curves work perfect too with the inner curve magnet moved in 1/8" appro. Next up is trying doubling up on magnets on the curve or adding an extra row to extend the area of uncoupling.
Well I perfected the curved uncoupling, stupid me, if I had to move the inner magnet in, why didn’t I relize I had to move the outer one out more, did just on the other side of the rail with the same setup magnet wize as the straight, works and so dose the delay an d so far no accidental uncouplings.
A little more experimenting, did an offset of the four magnets on a curve (18" radius by the way), so it is as if you used 6 magnet spots but only placed 4 magnets with the side with the pin being 1 and 2 spot and the opposite 2 and 3 spot. hop this makes sense, don’t know how else to discribe it. Get almost as much pull as on the straight this way.
A sketch?
No way to post.
I have a 40" x 12’ switching layout (switchers and 40’ or shorter cars) and I’m a big fan of touchless and delayed uncoupling with KD’s. I started out using the #321’s between the rails (unsightly and inflexible), tried the #308 under track magnets (hassle to install or modify placement), experimented using Harbor Freight rare earth 5/16 x 1/8" disc magnets held apart by a styrene strip with concave ends (adjustable for use on curves).
For the bulk of my uncoupling spots I have settled in on using 3mm cube magnets that fit five wide between the ties and rails quite nicely. When installed there is just the right amount of top clearance to activate the KD’s but not conflict with anything passing over. To install I lay out a long string in a magnetically comfortable order and mark every fifth one with a black marker. When I install them between the ties, one strip at a time, and glue them down the black cubes are all on one side orienting the magnetic pull. I usually use them in 3 strips of 5 but I’ve also played with a 5-4-5 configuration. After install they can be camouflaged with paint or ballast without affecting performance.
I mark the uncoupling spots with power poles, light poles in the yard and white posts. I really like doctorwayne’s idea of a yellow post with a black band or bands in easily visible spots. Another project. Since I usually operate the whole layout from one area the poles act as taller than rolling stock uncoupler locator.
It became a trial and error project with an outcome that I’ve been quite happy with. Now my largest conflict has become projects vs operating time. [:)]
For the magnets I use drill 1/8" hole, done.
I thought this was an information sharing forum, not a contest …
Well, here you go rrebell, a nice pat on the head. You win …
???
Anyway I am still experimenting, strange thing I found out that using two magnets with oposite poles on each side on straight track enhance the uncoupling action but doing the same on a curve makes it not work at all, why? Also found the some non Kadee couplers are less reliable but other are just fine with those used on Proto 2000 being the worst (but then a lot of you would say duh, but I always double check things for myself).
Further experiments have shown that this method of uncoupling is not as reliable on engines that are not Kadee equiped. Still experimenting with new combinations and placements. On a side note, I have learned to paint the magnets so the disappear almost in my WS grey blend ballast.
Still waiting on n52’s out of Canada, I swear I get stuff faster from China than Canada these days.
As long as there is no slack in the train, as slow as you want to. You can even stop, as long as you do not go backward the Kadee couplers will stay coupled.
All of my cabooses have wipers on the axles that provide a little resistance so the train stays coupled.
When just switching with no caboose, very free-rolling cars can still experience accidental uncouplings over 308 permanent magnets when going very slow.
-Kevin
Finally got my N52 magnets and they do work even better. Ended up useing two per side with polarity different on each side with magnets as close as possible to the rails. I also placed each side with the first magnet further from the trip pin by one tie so say each side has three possible spots, facing the magnets looking down the rails the left side would be 1 and 2 and the right would be 2 and 3. The reason for this was to use less magnets and when using an engine it was much more reliable. Also of note is that with the N52 you could uncouple cars wth the magnet under the ballast but not the engine.