I have been pondering how to do these. Where I’m stumped is that if I make it fit a Kadee #1 scale box, then I don’t have the height to make the shank as thick as it seems like it should be - and hence, not as round as the prototype.
There’s also not much room to fit a screw in to hold the shank together. I guess I’d try to solder it together, but I don’t know that doing so would not fix the head at the same time.
Just thinking out loud for now I guess.
Burl great idea. Don’t know if this will help but lionel made one and if you could find one and up scale it. Keep up posting about this. would love to put some on usa 70 ton and make a rotary dump.
What about a one piece shank with a through hole, and a slot and e-clip on the coupler?
If I use an e-clip and a one-piece shank, the shank could not be cast with a hole, it would have to be drilled out - which is do-able. My questions would then be: 1) how hard will the e-clip be to put on? We’re talking about a 2mm clip, in a not-so-convenient location. 2) How much stress can the e-clip take before it shoots into outer space?
How do the 1:1 guys do it?
Bob McCown said:
What about a one piece shank with a through hole, and a slot and e-clip on the coupler?
instead of a slot why not a grove and a c clip?
David Maynard said:
How do the 1:1 guys do it?
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C-clips don’t look like they come small enough to do what I’d need. And don’t they take a special tool to install?
i have seen some in watches and all you have do is push them on.
Thought - on the shank a split collar that would slip over the shank and then “crimped” down or soldered onto the shank. Less issue if soldered of the solder getting into the shank and immobilizing the rotation of the shaft.
Richard, the picture you posted are e-clips. C-clips have two holes and no middle tab.
I think soldering would be possible the way I have it drawn right now if I tinned one side, then clamped & re-heated. I have much better luck controlling the amount of solder that way.
I just thought of this though: my trip pin relies on gravity to make it fall in place when the knuckle is pushed in. If its upside down, and the knuckle is bumped, it will uncouple. Not sure how I’m going to get around that right now…
Huh, maybe some kind of spring on the pin. Or maybe some kind of keeper that will only allow the pin to be pulled when the coupler is upright. Like a collar with an opening at the top kinda thing.
I do agree with the soldering idea. A thin film of grease on the coupler, pre-tin the faces of the shank, assemble and heat just enough to bond the shank halfs together.
I’m kind of leaning towards an internal spring that encourage the pin to stay in the down position. It would be tiny though. I’m thinking the knuckle spring from an HO coupler might work.
I have been looking at spring specs, and here is what I’ve come up with:
Lift pin in the down position:
Lift pin in the up position:
This would be using a Kadee #622 (IH# HO-1) spring to keep downward pressure on the lift pin.
The patterns came in today:
(http://burlrice.com/_LS_Coupler/rotary_pattern1.jpg)
(http://burlrice.com/_LS_Coupler/rotary_pattern2.jpg)
Very nice. Looking forward to seeing more as this progresses.
They have them in O scale and they’re almost as big as G. So if your design doesn’t work out for some reason, you could just look at a MTH or Lionel rotary coupler for it’s design. The MTH one uses a dummy coupler on a long shank. There’s some kind of round disk trapped inside a housing with spring pressure keeping the coupler on detents at the right position.
(http://www.largescalecentral.com/public/album_photo/85/dc/01/1d9aa_3824.jpg?c=10b9)
(http://www.largescalecentral.com/public/album_photo/89/dc/01/1d9ae_b6cf.jpg?c=4f87)
Two things… Nope, three things… casting your own couplers is AWESOME!!!
I see the drawhead, pin and draftgear, but I’m not seeing a knuckle?
We need to get a half dozen of the knuckles, rip them open and litter them around the too of your hills 
Whats the price on something like this?
Burl we are waiting to see how they look together!
Also how you feel on there fit and are they working to your expectations?
