Assembling Sergent Sharon couplers


They're pretty, but too fiddly for me. Also the club has standardized on Kadees. Nice stuff though!
 
I will use boxcars with one sergent in one end and a Kadee in the other so I can convert slowly.
 
How you managed to get the ball bearing into it's place in one go, I dun'no, the guy on the videos I watched, dropped bits 4 or 5 times getting them in place. Practice makes perfect I guess. I would need a treble supply of ball bearings I reckon :eek:.
 
The video is OK if you know how they are assembled but instead of the music some verbal or text on what's going on would really help.
 
I was going to suggest an electromagnet (switchable on-off) to apply the ball bearing, but I see that's a no-no to avoid it becoming polarised. A little vacuum device maybe? :rolleyes:
 
I have now mounted Sergent couplers on all my HOn3 stock!
50 of them built, adjusted, painted and mounted .....
It was not all of the locomotives and wagons that were so very easy to modify.
This was due to the previously assembled Kadee couplers.
On two of the brass locomotives I could not fit a coupler in the front, but the scale coupler that was mounted originally works great! It couples cleanly with the Sergents.
The Kadee shuffle is GONE!
:cool:
 
I'd worry about the scale of the details on my locos before I'd worry about couplers. When they come with scale folks that go and pull the scale brake levers to pull the scale pins, I'll worry about scale couplers.
 
I'd worry about the scale of the details on my locos before I'd worry about couplers. When they come with scale folks that go and pull the scale brake levers to pull the scale pins, I'll worry about scale couplers.

Well, my locos are pretty accurate.
:)
But the scale issue isn't the big fish here. The Kadee shuffle was!
To build something for hundreds, or maybe thousands, of hours and then suffer to see your hard work of creating an illusion shattered by cars bouncing back and forth due to bad couplers......
No thanks!
The Kadee 714 is a very, very bad construction....
And with the Sergents the operation gets so much easier compared with Kadees...
Just hold the wand over the coupler and voila! Uncoupled!
 
Wasn't aware of that HOn3 coupler, had to look it up, seems they are using a similar spring placement against the pivot like Sergent, only against the compression when pulling rather than overrun in the sergents. This is probably what's causing the bouncing. Stretching the coupler out when accelerating, then pushing it back when the pull has reduced. The Sergent on the other hand, compresses the spring on the overrun and would release on acceleration. Because the train's couplers are in extension when pulling, the movement in the Sergents, while there, is not noticeable. Maybe also the Sergent springs are stiffer in compression than the Kadee's, further reducing the amount of movement.
 



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