# Coupler Adapter



## BobS (Jun 18, 2015)

Has anyone ever tried to make an adapter for Rapido to Knuckle couplers? i was thinking of cutting a Rapido and a knuckle so that the back plates could be glued together. If it worked, then you could just hook the two different couplers together using the adapter and not have to change out trucks or couplers on the engines or cars.

I am just considering it now, and was wondering if it had been already tried, and, if so, how did it work?


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*Adapter car*



BobS said:


> Has anyone ever tried to make an adapter for Rapido to Knuckle couplers? i was thinking of cutting a Rapido and a knuckle so that the back plates could be glued together. If it worked, then you could just hook the two different couplers together using the adapter and not have to change out trucks or couplers on the engines or cars.
> 
> I am just considering it now, and was wondering if it had been already tried, and, if so, how did it work?


BobS;

The problem I see with your idea is gluing the two pieces together. Couplers are usually made of Delrin, a strong, slippery, engineering plastic. I have tried gluing various things to Delrin, and no glue I have ever tried will work with it. It's like trying to glue something to the Teflon used in pans. Because its formulated to not stick to anything, nothing, including glues, will stick to it. I've heard that there are special industrial glues that will work on Delrin, but I don't know, for certain, if that's even true, and I certainly cant name one. 
Even if you found a suitable glue, If I understand your idea correctly, the two glued-together surfaces would be subjected to the full force of the drag of any cars behind the adapter. Is that right? If so, that would be asking a lot of any glue. 
There are some things that have worked many times. One is to mount a Rapido coupler on one end of a car, and a knuckle coupler on the other end. A few of these adapter cars will let you run cars with either type of coupler on them.
The second idea is to adapt Rapido couplers by cutting one of them back until only a 'T"-shaped piece of the coupler is left. On the other end of the car, the entire Rapido coupler is removed, leaving behind only the box that coupler was mounted in. Once you have two, or more cars set up this way, you can lift the box end of the car slightly and set it down over the 'T' sticking out from the end of the next car in the train. This system helps get rid of the giant, ugly, Rapido, and lets the cars be coupled closer together. This looks a lot better than having huge oversize gaps between cars and those enormous Rapido couplers in plain sight.
This system also guarantees that you won't have an unplanned uncoupling on cars that use it. The only way to get them uncoupled is to lift one end of a car by hand. To some extent, that's true of two normal unmodified Rapido coupler equipped cars too. The close coupling is best used on cars that don't uncouple much. A passenger train that you normally run assembled, or a string of hopper cars or ore cars.

good luck;

Traction Fan:smilie_daumenpos:


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## BobS (Jun 18, 2015)

TF, thank you for the explanation and the time you spent on it. I think I'll just stick to the adapter car idea. I never thought about the Delrin problem. I just figured that 5 minute epoxy would stick anything together. 

I just bought two Kato diesels that came equipped withy magnetic couplers and most of my freight cars have Rapido couplers. I don't mind the look since I don't see all that well anyway, and they do seem to hold the cars together well. I am very new to N scale, and am just finding out about the different couplers available. It seems that some of the trains and individual cars come with one type of coupler attached and a separate, different type of coupler in the box. Nice to have the option without having to make an additional purchase. Some locos also have this option, but all do not. All my locos are Kato and my freight cars are from many different manufacturers. Bachmann seems to be the mfg. that supplies the optional couplers most often. 

Thanks again for your help. It probably saved me a lot of time and frustration.


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## rrjim1 (Mar 12, 2015)

I would also suggest using a few converter cars instead of adapters. IF you plan on doing a lot of switching, then I would suggest converting all you locos and cars to MT couplers and trucks. I did this a long time ago and it made a huge difference, I can run trains, switch and back cars up for hours without any derailments. Not having any or very few problems makes model railroading a lot more fun, IMO. 

There is a epoxy to glue Delrin, (Acetal is the correct name), BONDiT B-45. It is how ever IMO expensive.


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## sid (Mar 26, 2018)

i too am have this isue with couplers and finding out that just sticking to one brand or style is gunna be the way to go. i would like to change out all my trucks for mt trucks but have no idea if they will fit all my cars or how to find out. some say 70 ton others say 50 ton ect . how do i find out what will fit what. i have various cars purchaced from ebaymost with rapido couplers and my new engines all have the knuckle couplers. its kinda frustrating that they (maufaturers ) dont stick with one set of couplers .


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## BobS (Jun 18, 2015)

I have a bunch of freight cars from different manufacturers. Some come with both types of couplers. This happens a lot with Bachman cars and some atlas cars. They may have knuckle on the cars with Rapidos in the box. It's a crap shoot. I don't intend to change to one or the other in total. I'll take one car, and where I need to make the change, I'll change one end of the car to match the coupler ended to hook up to the next car. this way, you won't be able to change the order of the cars, and many will say this is a fopah, but I don't much care. I'm not a rivet counter, and as long as I can pull my consist around the circle of track, I'm happy. I bought some knuckle couplers in both 50 ton and 70 ton models (Bachmann) off eBay for a few dollars. I think I should have enough to do what I want to do in the long run.


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## Yellowstone Special (Jun 23, 2015)

I'm also getting into N scale and to avoid this issue, purchase only cars with knuckle couplers, so have all rolling stock with knuckle couplers. My Kadee, Micro-Trains, Atlas, and Intermountain freight cars so far, are all compatible.

My passenger cars are all KATO, so of course are all compatible.

I also have only steel wheels. If a car I get has plastic wheels, they're replaced with steel ones.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*Coupler types*



sid said:


> i too am have this isue with couplers and finding out that just sticking to one brand or style is gunna be the way to go. i would like to change out all my trucks for mt trucks but have no idea if they will fit all my cars or how to find out. some say 70 ton others say 50 ton ect . how do i find out what will fit what. i have various cars purchaced from ebaymost with rapido couplers and my new engines all have the knuckle couplers. its kinda frustrating that they (maufaturers ) dont stick with one set of couplers .


sid;

The variation in coupler types is largely due to patented designs. Early N-scale cars all came with Rapido couplers because Rapido company allowed their design to be used as a standard. The couplers held cars together well, but looked awful, and were difficult to uncouple. Meanwhile Kadee/Micro-Trains had an excellent knuckle coupler that could be uncoupled by a magnet, and even pushed, still uncoupled, to another spot. These knuckle couplers soon became the favorite type among modelers, and they still are today. Micro-trains had patents on their coupler design, and no other manufacturer could legally use the knuckle design. Now that the patents have run out, other manufacturers are making their own versions of knuckle couplers and equipping new production cars and locomotives with them. In theory, all knuckle type couplers are compatible. In reality they are not always able to work well together. Some do, others don't. The Micro-Trains coupler is still widely regarded as the best, and many modelers use only Micro-Trains couplers on their cars & Locos.
The easy way to convert an N-scale car to Micro-Trains couplers is to replace the original trucks with Micro-Trains trucks; with their excellent couplers already attached. This is what you said you would like to do. 
While there are many types of M-T trucks out there, they can be simplified into a few basic types. 
For passenger cars, the six wheel trucks would be appropriate for older "Heavyweight", riveted, all-steel, cars used from the late1900s up to the advent of lightweight welded streamlined cars of the 1950s up to the present day. These streamlined cars used four axle trucks. So for passenger cars you have two basic choices based on the type of car. Six wheel trucks on older heavyweights and four wheel trucks on the newer streamlined cars.
Freight car trucks can be boiled down to three basic types. Again the type of truck is dependent on the era in which the car was used. Very old, civil war/wild west era cars would use Micro-trains Archbar trucks. From about 1920 up to 1960 The M-T Bettendorf trucks would be appropriate. Modern post 1960 cars use roller bearing trucks. 
The "50 ton and 70 ton" types refer to the weight capacity of the real full size truck. I don't know if you want to get that technical. Personally I'd just pick the truck type that fits the era you are modeling and use that same truck on all cars. 
Micro-Trains trucks are sold in pairs with adapters and kingpins to fit different brands of N-scale cars. The directions packed with them explain how to use the adapters. Incidentally the "Archbar", "Bettendorf" and "Roller Bearing" designations are strictly about appearance. Underneath, they're all the same basic design, and any of the three will physically work under any car, they just might look a bit odd.

good luck;

Traction Fan:smilie_daumenpos:


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## sid (Mar 26, 2018)

Thank You that clears it up quite well. now im not so confused about it. .


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