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Post by cucominer on Aug 1, 2023 17:45:14 GMT -5
I don't have a permanent layout yet, but just today I abandoned my loop with spur for a temporary switching layout. I have a Rokuhan shorty fitted with the MTL compatible couplers. I appreciate how well they work with the MTL couplers. They couple with no needed intervention from me, whereas the AZL and Full-throttle couplers need a little push by hand to join them. All easily uncouple with a little pick whittled from a long wooden sandwich "toothpick". Coffee jitters complicates things a little. I was pretty certain until today that I'd be refitting my cars with MTL trucks and couplers, but I don't think it's necessary. If you run a layout with a lot of switching, do you work the couplers by hand or do you use magnets?
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Post by BAZman on Aug 2, 2023 10:42:55 GMT -5
For the AZL couplers, bump and pick. I use a straight metal ‘dental pick’. I also made an uncoupler using a red coffee stir stick with the end cut at an angle. It will look like a shovel. Drill a hole in a wooden dowel and insert so about 1cm/1/2” is exposed. For MTL, the stock uncoupler work reasonably well. It’s a bit easier with the plastic wheels (the rolling resistance makes all the difference. I built my own uncoupler using 1/8 ‘stick’ magnets from HomeDepot/Lowe’s blister pack. I had an article in Z track magazines a few years ago as I use flex track. $8 makes a lot of them.  |
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Post by highhoods on Aug 7, 2023 15:42:27 GMT -5
Jeff, I hadn't thought about using strong magnets. I'm thinking of converting over to metal wheel sets. Do you think the magnets would have a problem with those? Love the Atlas flex.
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Post by cucominer on Aug 7, 2023 23:24:22 GMT -5
Another observation tonight is that when pulled by my Rokuhan Shorty, my train of MTL cars doesn't seem to have as much of that "MTL bounce" that everyone talks about. But, when I pull the same cut of cars with my AZL GP7, I notice a pronounced bounce in my train. That said, I also find myself having to tap my Geep to get it to move, so I'm wondering if there is an issue with contacts somewhere that's causing it to cut in an out, making that "MTL bounce" more prominent. (The Geep has been stored for several years. I've cleaned the wheels, but I'm wondering if there are other contact points that need some attention)
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Post by domi on Sept 1, 2023 13:20:23 GMT -5
I don't have a permanent layout yet, but just today I abandoned my loop with spur for a temporary switching layout. I have a Rokuhan shorty fitted with the MTL compatible couplers. I appreciate how well they work with the MTL couplers. They couple with no needed intervention from me, whereas the AZL and Full-throttle couplers need a little push by hand to join them. All easily uncouple with a little pick whittled from a long wooden sandwich "toothpick". Coffee jitters complicates things a little. I was pretty certain until today that I'd be refitting my cars with MTL trucks and couplers, but I don't think it's necessary. If you run a layout with a lot of switching, do you work the couplers by hand or do you use magnets? On my side, I like ‘’hand free’’ maneuvering. So I’m swapping all AZL couplers on my rolling stock with MTL samples (on my freight cars I didn’t bother, I swapped AZL trucks with MTL ones), and for uncoupling I’m using magnets, see electromagnets (indeed Kadee #309 initially released for HO, that work well with Z). 😉 Another observation tonight is that when pulled by my Rokuhan Shorty, my train of MTL cars doesn't seem to have as much of that "MTL bounce" that everyone talks about. But, when I pull the same cut of cars with my AZL GP7, I notice a pronounced bounce in my train. That said, I also find myself having to tap my Geep to get it to move, so I'm wondering if there is an issue with contacts somewhere that's causing it to cut in an out, making that "MTL bounce" more prominent. (The Geep has been stored for several years. I've cleaned the wheels, but I'm wondering if there are other contact points that need some attention) If your loco has been stored for a few years without running I guess you have to run it light for a while in order to ‘’break it again’’, as if it were brand new. I encountered the same issue 2 days ago with a MTL Geep and two MTL SD40-2 that hadn’t been taken out of their boxes for one year.. After a few laps, everything ran ok.🙂 Dom |
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Post by highhoods on Sept 4, 2023 17:30:32 GMT -5
I have heard several folks say they have replaced their AZL trucks with MTL and then replace with Will's Wheels for less cleaning and better rollability. Haven't had a chance to test it yet.
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Post by BAZman on Sept 15, 2023 1:08:47 GMT -5
I had tested the permanent magnet with AZL & FT’s truck only, to check for interaction. There was so little, VERY little with my light finger, then slow rolling the truck only (by lifting one end of the solid test track, just enough to SLOW roll, on several trucks and cars.
I only use MTL for the Time Saver switching puzzle so leave the MTL plastic axles to give the cars some meniscal friction to lower false uncoupling while leaving the car and loco separation.
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Post by domi on Feb 3, 2024 12:19:29 GMT -5
I have heard several folks say they have replaced their AZL trucks with MTL and then replace with Will's Wheels for less cleaning and better rollability. Haven't had a chance to test it yet. When I swapped AZL trucks with MTL trucks on my AZL freight cars, I indeed put Will's metal wheels on these trucks. Perfect for me. Dom |
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