I have put a few puffs of the graphite here and there and blown off the excess from the ends of the car and underside.
However, even then, when I pick up a car occasionally I see a little graphite spilled out on the drawer bottom. This must be adding to the dirtiness and slipperyness of the track. I don’t imagine graphite is electrically conductive either.
Does anyone use it?
I stopped using it years ago. No matter how sparingly it’s applied there’s always some to shake off onto the track an dgetting it off the rails and wheels is a pain.
Graphite is a good conductor
Indeed it is. It can short out a turnout or crossing really easy.
Warning - Semi-Scientific Content.
Graphite is probably the most common allotrope (physical form) of carbon. (Diamond is also an allotrope of carbon but with very different properties).
Carbon is generally considered a semiconductor but the graphite form can be a very good conductor. Still, you need a lot of stray dust to create a short circuit. I think that you can also burn graphite as very high quality coal but the ignition temp is quite high. Think carbon arc lamps.
END of Scientific Content
I use the tiniest puff from a car door lock graphite application tube. One tube lasts for hundreds of couplers and is cheap.
Karl
Thanks folks. I learn a little every day. Soon I might be able to enter 5th Grade.
Looks like with the info you’ve given me, the stuff is more of a bother (or potentially so) that it is worth as a lube in the coupler boxes.
It’s been my experience that if your Kadee couplers are binding there’s generally something wrong in the coupler pocket. Some dirt or a burr is usually the problem. The plastic parts are very smooth and should slip against each other very easily. 99.8% of my coupler pockets have no lubricant at all. No graphite or oil. If the job is done right you shouldn’t need either one.
Motor brushes are made of graphite, so it is most definitely a conductor of electricity. It would take a lot of graphite, however, to cause an electrical short circuit in a turnout or other trackwork. It is a lubricant, so it can definitely cause traction problems if you get too much on the rail or wheels.
If you’re having any of these problems, you’re using way too much graphite. Rather than “puffing” it into the coupler box, just rub the coupler shank into a very small amount of graphite on a piece of cloth or paper before installing the coupler.
I haven’t used graphite on Kadee couplers for many years (since the 1960’s). As others have written, if you’re having to use graphite, there’s something wrong with the coupler mounting. Perhaps you have the screw too tight if your rolling stock has a screw holding the coupler box cover in place.
Instead of using the Kadee powdered graphite, try rubbing pencil lead onto the coupler shank. Pencils are graphite.
Don’t forget ‘cause and effect’ guys. So many times we try to fix the effect without completely thinking through the cause.
George
No, no guys. I know how to put couplers in. I am finishing up on the upgrades to my 125th car or so. It is just that Kadee SOP according to their printed material and/or video is to apply graphite to every coupler box once it is assembled. I have never done that.
I will only use the Kadee greasem on that ocasional coupler box that tend to hang up. I find that burnishing the graphite into the surface and blowing off the excess will work and not allow graphite to continually spill out.
I use it more for lubricating the American LTD diaphram face plates and in some locksets. I rarely do use it for it’s intended purpose on the coupler box. As mentioned, if the coupler is installed properly there’s no real need for the graphite. I have noticed that the coupler shanks recently seem to have a heavier black paint/ coating. On every coupler I install now, i will gently drag the shank across a well worn piece of #600 wet or dry paper. This smoothes out the flats of the shank and makes a difference allowing the knuckle to move quite freely.
I’m familiar with what the Kadee literature says as well and the use of the graphite is about the only step I don’t follow. I haven’t come across a coupler problem that I haven’t been able to lick.
forget the powdered graphite. just one word NEOLUBE !!!
it is a solution or slurry of graphite in alcohol. just paint in on and when the alcohol evaporates, you have a thin coating that is slicker than snake snot. the product has been discussed in these forums before. just do a search over on the right side of the page.
grizlump