Stripped out screw holes on loco body


SilverBlade

SilverBlade

Member
{I'm not going to flame Atlas. I'm not going to flame Atlas. I'm not going to flame Atlas. Calm. Deep breaths. ...OK...}

So here I am replaceing the Accumate couplers on my Atlas dash 8 for the second time because the trigger pins are too low and because you can't bend them without breaking them off - although I'm not going to flame Atlas about it even though I am VERY DISSAPPOINTED!!!

...calm... ...breathe...

<ahem> Yes. But, you see in my novice inexperienced way I've managed to strip out the screw hole to srew down my 4th (because the 3rd one broke before I even got it on there) coupler.

"Dude, why bother?" You ask. "Just replace it with a Micro Trans? They have longer screws anyway and you may be able to dig past the stripped out part and get into some fresh plastic."
Ah good point. Because the hole isn't actually deep enough for the Micro Trains screw. And if i try to deepen it with the MT tap set I just ordered it will go through the other side and come out through the back sill deck of the train.
​
"Dude, can't you just glue the thing in?" you ponder out loud.
Given that there is no flat surface to glue it to, and given that the last time I tried that I just gummed up the coupler, I don't think so.
​
"Dude, what if you went to the next screw size up?" you offer realizing my conundrum.
Sure, I'll try that. But these aren't exactly common screw sizes. You don't find them at Lowes. Does any body know what size screws these are to begin with and what the next logical size up would be? And where would I go to find it?
​
"Dude, there's something else you can try that you haven't thought of. Here's what I'd do..." the sagely old timer says as he tries to save me form my own inexperience.
I am listening intently...!
​
 
Think calm thoughts. Ooooommmmmmmmm. Be one with the screw hole.
Put a drop of medium thickness CA in the hole, slide the coupler in place, and put the screw in. Walk away until the CA hardens, then put the body back on the frame.
 
I would have suggested the same trick but with good old fashioned Testors airplane glue. Makes it easier to get the screw back out of you ever have to. I used to have to do this all the time with the old Aurora HO scale slot cars.

I'm an HO scaler, but I have the same issue with Atlas. Such great stuff and they furnish such lousy couplers! That's the first modification I make. Accumates out, Kadees in. :D
 
Yeah... <SilverBlades mood lifts as brilliant sun beams break through dark clouds and a glimmer of hope appears>

Um, newbie question: I know what Testors is, but what's "CA"?
 
Are you trying to screw into metal? If so, I would fill the hole with JB Weld, then drill it and tap it.
 
Cut the head off the screw, epoxy the rest of the screw into the hole, and use a nut to hold the coupler on.

Bruce
 
Hmmm....interesting...I never knew there was more then one meaning to 'screw hole' ... n this is a new one!! haha
 
I drill the hole bigger, CA a piece of styrene in it. Drill, tap. I even do this in metal frames when moving couplers back on the BB F-units.
 
Yeah, I'm an N scaler. I have size issues. I'm undercompensating for something. The whole world treats us like a second class railroaders, you know. Yep, walk into my local shop and there's just shelves and shelves of really cool stuff I can't use. My stuff is in a case in the back. Then there was that other shop owner. The one who told me he'd go broke trying to sell to people like me. ?!?!? Warehouse workers? Red heads? Republicans? ... Oh, I get it. N scalers.

We have problems screwing our locomotives to. I ... I ... I mean we can't get our tiny things to go into really tight holes! OH THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEAN! Uh, I can get it in, I just can't make it stay up. Ahhh! Oh forget it! I said I had issues, didn't I?
 
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