Some modelers like them and some don't. I am one of those that do like them and use them on my layout. However, I've come to find that I'm getting tired of making Kadee rich by buying their under the track uncoupling magnets at close to $5+ each for them. So, I decided to come up with my own home made uncoupling magnets. I'm sure maybe some one has thought of or come up with this idea before me. Ever since I found a couple packs of small round ceramic magnets, that I can't remember if I got them from the local Hobby Lobby or Michael's or some off brand craft store that I visited with my wife in the past, I've wanted to experiment with them. What I've com up with is an uncoupler that may cost no more than 50 cents a piece and probably less, that's quite a savings if you happen to have an extensive layout with multiple industrial spurs.
Materials used:
1. Angel Craft ceramic magnets 5/8" round by 3/32" thick. I have found a different version of ceramic magnets at Hobby Lobby and they are 3/4" round by 3/16" thick with a brand name of Imagination Station with a cost of $7.99 for 50 pieces which will make 25 uncoupling magnets.
2. .100 X .100 by 1/2" long square strip styrene
3. 1 sheet of 22 gauge sheet metal 6" X 18" from Home Depot. this was used to make the reinforcement for the magnetic field and it did make a difference. they were too weak with out the sheet metal reinforcement.
The photos below shows the final product installed and not installed.
The photo below shows the magnets that I had bought years ago and finally decided to experiment with. The brand name is Angel Craft and I did some searching online to find them but was unable to locate to figure a price for the uncoupler itself. There was 16 discs to make 8 uncouplers. I had 2 packages and as you can see I can make 3 more. 😁
Since I have not been able to find the Angel Craft magnets and can't remember where I got them, here is the magnets I have bought from Hobby Lobby. I have not built an uncoupler with these as of yet so I don't know how strong they will be or if they will need the sheet metal reinforcement or not. They are a little wider at 3/4" and a little thicker at 3/16".
Here is the sheet metal used. I used tin snips to cut a strip 1 3/8" long by 11/16" wide for the Angel Craft magnets. The sheet was purchased for $7.51 from Home Depot.
To determine which side the discs needed to be face up for the best performance, I held the magnet faces together on both sides. The faces either attracted each other or repelled each other. I found the faces that attracted each other are the faces that need to be positioned face up. I marked them with a fine point permanent marker, just in case they got dropped, too close to other magnets, or metal and slapped themselves together. The strip styrene was used to space the discs apart to get them to draw the coupler trip pins to either side.
The only draw back with these is the margin of error in car placement is tighter for uncoupling because of the smaller surface area as compared to the Kadee magnets. I tried to locate some small inexpensive rectangular magnets that better simulated the Kadee magnets with out success. I did locate some larger rectangular magnets and experimented with them but they were too powerful and forced the couplers open if the cars just rolled over them.
These homemade uncouplers work fine for HO but I'm not sure how they would perform for N scale. I have seen quite small discs that may be useful for N scale. Maybe this will inspire some one modeling in N scale to experiment.
I have a video on my YouTube channel that shows how these uncouplers perform. Here is the link:
