Minimum Gauge

[RichUK]

Evening all - I've spent most of the weekend trying to sort out my DG Couplings. I am having real problems getting the wire loop to work!

It's probably a combination of only having two hands, both with large fingers, when what is probably needed is three pairs with small fingers!

I am bending the wire (florist wire as aquired from Steve and the garden centre) using the DG jig and can get that bit okay, but as soon as I fit them they come out of shape.

This I can then fix with pliers and all looks okay, except that they keep falling off the coupling.

In this picture (not mine by the way!)



Is the piece that goes through the "eyes" (The bit in the red circle?)
physically fastned to the dropper or is it bent up/down to stop it moving back through the "eyes"?

Does anyone have a photograph of a DG coupling, using steve's method, taken from the direction of the arrow?

It is so frustrating trying to get these things built, but I need to get some couplings made so I can continue stock building.

Cheers
richard

[Steve Bennett]

Here is an overhead view which might help. I have compressed the back end of the loop slightly, so the part that acts as the pivot can be seen more clearly. In its normal poition, the pivot part would be flush with the outside edge of the loop and the part that bends down as the dropper goes over this and elso prevents it from coming out of the coupler.

Will do a full step by step of bending the loop, but wont be until tomorrow.



Edit ; ooops, forgot the pic .
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Steve Bennett
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http://www.pepper7.co.uk

[MatthewJBrown]

How do DG couplings compare with Kadees, in terms of operational ease and reliability? I know the Kadee is a bit more work to install.

Since my project is American and likely to be too new for link-and-pin I feel that I'll probably be using Kadees to emulate knuckle couplers, but was curious anyway.
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Matthew J. Brown

[Steve Bennett]

No such thing as too new for link & pin Matthew, they are still used all over the world, even in the good ol US of A .

I use Kadee couplings on US HO scale and if I was to do On30, I would probably use them. Thats about it though, for most everything else, they dont even get a look .

DG's are easier to fit if there is no built-in coupler provision, more reliable in operation, no stopping over a magnet to uncouple and a lot cheaper, to name a few reasons why I use them. Not everyone will like them, especially learning how to assemble them (hey Richard ), but in use, they are far superior in my opinion.
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Steve Bennett
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http://www.pepper7.co.uk

[Steve Bennett]

DG Coupling Loop Bending In Easy Steps

Hopefully this will illustrate how easy it is to do this task, not as difficult as soldering, as per the instructions and a lot quicker once you have done a couple. This technique is intended for use with a soft steel wire, it will work with the hard wire supplied with the couplings, but that is really making life difficult for yourself. It is also a lot easier with the Jig supplied by the couplings makers, but a block 7.5mm by 5mm will do the job

To start, thread the wire into the hole in the jig to retain it, then wrap the wire once around the jig, going past the retaining hole and then bending the dropper down, as shown in the pic below, leave the dropper overlength at this stage.



Now snip through the wire where shown and slide it off the jig.



You should now have a piece of wire that looks like the one below.



Straighten the bend where indicated above and you should now have this.



Using tweezers or pliers, tidy the loop making it rectangular in shape, you should now have this.



Not essential at this stage, but it will make life easier when it comes to mounting the loop, cut off the excess from what will be the pivot bar which passes through the coupling as shown here, if you do it flush with the outside of the loop, this will give a neat finish on completion.



You should now have this.



Next stage ruins your nicely squared off loop, but you need to open it out a little, in order to thread it through the coupler body, like so.



Once threaded through, simply squeeze back into shape and the loop will now be fixed into place. I have squeezed this a bit tighter than normal for illustration purposes, the pivot bar doesnt need to come out further than the edge of the loop.



Turned back up the right way, the loop should fall nicely into place.



As I mentioned at the beginning, the dropper wire is left overlength all the way through construction. This is best left this way until the coupling is installed on the wagon, then it can be trimmed so that it just clears the top of the rail, which will give the best performance.

Well that is all there is to it , I hope you were able to follow it ok, it really is easy once you know how .
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Steve Bennett
Sidelines
http://www.pepper7.co.uk

[RichUK]

Thanks Steve, thats excellent! I have even managed to make one tonight that looks okay and stays on.

I think my problem was that I was wrapping the wire round twice and in picture two, I was cutting the loop from the jig on the corner bend, not along the side which now gives me plenty of "overhang" to fiddle with.

I will probably spend the next couple of nights building them, so will post a progress report on Wednesday!

Cheers
Richard

[Steve Bennett]

[Steve Bennett]

Have had it brought to my attention that there is nothing about fitment of the couplings in this thread so here is my preferred method copied over from another thread

For fitting the DG couplings to cars/wagons, I dont use coupler pockets, just a simple modification of filing a shallow slot in the end beam to allow the coupler to be inserted. First pic shows the car on the left with the slot in the end and the one on the right with the coupler inserted.



Here is a closer view of the installed coupler, pretty unobtrusive and to my mind anyway, doesnt look like it needs anything else.



To actually hold it in place, glue can be used, but I prefer double sided sticky tape, which is less permanent and if needed, the coupler can be fairly easy to remove. The coupler is simply affixed to the underside of the floor of the car. It is a big help if all your stock has the floor at the same level of course, if using this method . Also shown here is a simple wiper made of wire which bears gently against one axle, just to give a little friction to prevent accidental uncoupling over the magnet which does attract the steel tires of the wheels (useful for Kadee users too)



The same or similar method can be used on a loco, but I prefer to mount them in a coupler pocket. The reason for this, is that it allows a bit of movement in the coupler, both sideways and vertically. The stem of the coupler is cut to size, then inserted into the pocket and a pin down through, holds it in place. Again, easy to remove, if required and simple to switch over to link and pin if desired.


_________________
Steve Bennett
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http://www.pepper7.co.uk

[gfadvance]

Thanks
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Gordon F