Sunday, September 11, 2022

Home made uncoupling tool

This is another post in what seems unintentionally to be a series of "home made" posts.  As I work with the layout these things just come to me.  In this one I will show how I made an uncoupling tool from scraps of styrene.

Over the years I have purchased a few packages of the RIX uncoupling tool.  They come two to the package and do the job.  The tips are a bit fragile and I have broken several off.  I was down to my last one and about to buy another package when it occurred to me that I might be able to make something similar and perhaps sturdier. 

Shown below is one of the ones I built next to my last RIX tool.

Here is a list of the materials used:

  • Evergreen 214  (.125" OD rod) 
  • Evergreen 226  (.131" ID / .197 OD tube)

One end of the rod was shaped into a flat point with sandpaper.  A short section of tube was glued to the rod to act as a stopper when the tool was placed in a holder and a larger section was glued to the other end of the rod to be a handle.  I also make holders for the uncoupling tools from the same size tube.  These are simply glued into position with E6000 adhesive.


 



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