N-Possible Coupler Announcement (Nashville 2022)

[peteski]

First of all I think that the demand for these couplers is being greatly overestimated.  At least for quite some time. It is currently a niche product. I will again mention: how many very serious N scalers will want to convert their entire fleet of rolling stock?

Second, while I was surprised that these will all be produced using 3D printing, think about the technology:  How many of those tiny couplers can be set up tightly packed on the build plate of even a typical hobby-grade SLA printer?  Probably several hundred. They are not very tall, so the printing of a batch will not take a long time.  Then imagine having 10 of those machines working in parallel.  We are talking of thousands of couplers made at a time.  How many couplers come out of a typical injection molding machine at Micro Trains?  Probably not many at all.

I suspect the bottleneck will be the support removal and assembly (if assembled couplers are offered). Of course packaging will also take time (especially if it is a one-man or a family-type operation).

[ednadolski]

I suspect the bottleneck will be the support removal and assembly (if assembled couplers are offered). Of course packaging will also take time (especially if it is a one-man or a family-type operation).

I'd be willing to do my own de-spruing and assembly, if that were a path to getting parts more quickly.

Ed

[Chris333]

You could probably print 2000 of these in less than an hour.

[robertjohndavis]

I will again mention: how many very serious N scalers will want to convert their entire fleet of rolling stock?

I am already replacing wheel sets on 400+ freight cars, why not couplers?

I will need to test them first but if they work as good as they look, it will be hard to resist.

[peteski]

I am already replacing wheel sets on 400+ freight cars, why not couplers?

I will need to test them first but if they work as good as they look, it will be hard to resist.

Absolutely!  You are one of the few, the proud, prototype modelers.  But how many more are out there, besides the elite you see here on TRW?  Hundreds? Thousands? I don't think I'm wrong in my assessment of the countrywide number of N scale modelers who will want to modify all of their rolling stock.

Also, are you planning on buying 400 pairs of these couplers in a single purchase?

[turbowhiz]

The plan in the beginning was to injection mold the parts. From Acetal/Delrin. Just like any other coupler… I was firmly of the opinion that “3D printed” couplers would not be suitable at all for production. I had made many. And Delrin with its low friction co-efficient was seemingly ideal. I am well aware of the costs of injection molding tooling, and was fully prepared to make that investment.

But through a twist of fate, I was destined to discover that “3D printed” couplers are actually superior to injection molded couplers, at least at true to scale sizes. It was a journey and didn’t happen in a day.

A combination of better design (which would apply to injection molded parts with THIN walls, but they present challenges…) and more rigid material along with absolutely no draft angles contributes to exceptional edge handing. When comparing my original TSC derived prototypes to my production parts there is no comparison in terms of how well they stay together on edge under stress. And TSC’s are advantaged with a shorter shank length according to their forward pivot. The TSC comparison is a perfect head-to-head comparison of the materials and production methodology. The appearance speaks for itself. And, the resin couplers are demonstrably at least 25% stronger than traditional plastic designs in destructive testing too.

It is also difficult to injection mold parts with the tolerances I needed and the detail I wanted. Super thin walls. Lots of detail requiring undercuts. Super fine features. It would be beyond what is being done in at least the MRR hobby space at present. And after all that, regardless, the parts would be inferior. If these sell in life changing qualities, I’m scaling the 3D production accordingly. I don’t ever see injection molding scale couplers, quite simply because I can produce superior product using a different process. I can’t imagine any circumstance I’m selling more couplers then can be readily produced with additive manufacturing, but I suppose I’d love to be proven wrong. No small part of this being viable however is because the parts are SMALL. 

I expect to see more and more of this technology finding its way to the mainstream manufacturers as it improves. I likely couldn’t have done this even two years ago, but now…

The product delay at this time is all about my suppliers delivering me the metal parts at scale, specifically the box adapter shims, and nothing to do with producing the coupler parts at scale. That’s not even close to being the most limiting factor in volume production I have.

The lack of magnetic uncoupling support in the scale coupler is specifically a design choice; My patent split spring mechanical design supports it perfectly without slink. But incorporating magnetic uncoupling into a scale head design seems very counterproductive, as it compromises both the head mechanics (buff alignment! That changes the operational game SO much...) and the appearance (big ugly trip pins and extra slack space). And on balance, it seems way more people don’t use magnetic uncoupling then those that do. So why compromise the whole product just for a feature that only a small percentage actually use.

Bulk qualities are in the cards well within the first year I expect. They will make my life a whole lot easier in fact; But at this point I just need to get some product out the door, and I figure people need to try before they commit at scale, and I need to get production and education ramped up.

I understand peoples concern about product availability; I fully appreciate that. But I will say that the production process of making couplers using additive manufacturing (aka 3D printing) actually means that the likelihood of reliable availability is in fact higher, then say I dunno, some tooling being lost someplace in China, or waiting for queue for the next production run years later. I intend to reliably produce these parts for the long haul. If for whatever reason I can’t produce, i.e. I get run over by a bus, any number of others could pick up the ball on this. It also opens up the possibility of very cool low volume product, i.e. Atlas Shay couplers. I’m going to suggest there isn’t a more adaptable coupler spring mechanism then mine, bar none. Having the flexibility to produce specialized variants with relatively low upfront costs will let that shine.

[turbowhiz]

I'd be willing to do my own de-spruing and assembly, if that were a path to getting parts more quickly.

Ed

I expect that is the form that most will want. Spring mounting is unquestionably easier then assembling traditional MTL couplers.

[turbowhiz]

Absolutely!  You are one of the few, the proud, prototype modelers.  But how many more are out there, besides the elite you see here on TRW?  Hundreds? Thousands? I don't think I'm wrong in my assessment of the countrywide number of N scale modelers who will want to modify all of their rolling stock.

Time will tell how this goes… But I was honestly surprised how many people who didn't know of my existence (clearly NOT on TRW) before they came across my booth were looking to buy some on the spot. They ARE that good. Existent N scale couplers are pretty lacking, both mechanically and ascetically, and even non-hyper prototype people recognize that once they're presented with something superior.

I will say, confidently, that my spring mechanism is superior to all others, which enables a truly functional scale coupler that is not only uncompromising in appearance but also operates demonstrably better. The appearance difference is very much akin to Rapido to MTL… Maybe not quite that stark, but awfully close. As my non-train oriented wife says, once you see it you can't unsee it. I didn’t see very many Rapido couplers on trains in Altoona….

[Sokramiketes]

If for whatever reason I can’t produce, i.e. I get run over by a bus, any number of others could pick up the ball on this. It also opens up the possibility of very cool low volume product, i.e. Atlas Shay couplers. I’m going to suggest there isn’t a more adaptable coupler spring mechanism then mine, bar none. Having the flexibility to produce specialized variants with relatively low upfront costs will let that shine.

I assume you have some design protections in place.  But are you saying that if and when that changes, the design will be divert to open source so it can continue on as a viable coupler solution long term? 

[wmcbride]

Time will tell how this goes… But I was honestly surprised how many people who didn't know of my existence (clearly NOT on TRW) before they came across my booth were looking to buy some on the spot. They ARE that good. Existent N scale couplers are pretty lacking, both mechanically and ascetically, and even non-hyper prototype people recognize that once they're presented with something superior.

I will say, confidently, that my spring mechanism is superior to all others, which enables a truly functional scale coupler that is not only uncompromising in appearance but also operates demonstrably better. The appearance difference is very much akin to Rapido to MTL… Maybe not quite that stark, but awfully close. As my non-train oriented wife says, once you see it you can't unsee it. I didn’t see very many Rapido couplers on trains in Altoona….

There is also a potential market in the UK for your coupler since many UK modelers use Kadee couplers.

But the Brits can fend for themselves right now since we here are all anxious to buy yours!

[robert3985]

Frankly, with the development of reliable and precise 3D resin printers over the past roughly two years, and even moreso, recent 3D UV resins that mimic or exceed the structural strength and detail resolution of ABS plastic, I'm not surprised that these couplers are 3D printed.

I'm in the process of developing N-scale detail parts for commercial availability and using my 8K 10" printer, I literally fill the build-plate completely full of N-scale detail parts, and depending on the size of the part, what orientation they need to be printed in and how I'm planning on packing and shipping them, I can easily get over 1,000 parts (without a single failure) in a single run of 1 hour and 45 minutes...then another 30 minutes to an hour to thoroughly drain, wash, remove and cure the parts and quality check them. 

While I'm doing the post-printing procedures, after stirring my resin, I can start another run of a different part that will take another less-than-two-hours to print on an additional build plate...and I could do that easily all day, using print time/drain time to do whatever I need or want to do.

Here's a good example.  Over 1000 Kobo-style Ditch Lights/MU Hoses for Excursion Version Kato E9's (in UP or Pennsy) with a right/left part for each two-part "kit"...that's over 500 "kits" per 1hr 45min run with 1/2 to a full hour of drain, wash, remove, cure and quality check...and total cost per run of excellent quality resin at $44 per kg, being right at $1.55 (including drainage, supports and raft). 

Dividing the resin cost by the number of parts per run...I'll round that off to 1000 parts/run...the material cost of each two-part "kit" is a mere .31% of a cent...or roughly a third of a cent in resin cost.

Photo (1) - My Kobo-style Ditch Light/MU hose 2-Piece kits (over a 1000 parts) on my printer's build plate draining:


Photo (2) - Close-up of an individual raft after draining, washing, removing and curing:


I'm not factoring in the equipment costs, which, even with the most expensive of consumer-grade 10" 3D printers and Wash & Cures, should be well less than $2,000...even with extra build plates, extra resin vats, and an extra LCD screen.  However, I don't see any need for the most expensive consumer-grade equipment...just "good" equipment, and not that which uses proprietary resins...so the beginning 3D printing equipment cost should be considerably less than $1000.

For these couplers, I am going to venture a guess that the springs and metal parts, along with packaging, all cost considerably more than the 3D detail parts of the N-possible coupler, and for a four or five piece coupler kit doubled to ten parts for two couplers per car or engine, since the parts are so tiny, that you could get, minimally 100 to 125 complete two-coupler kits on a single 10" build plate...in less than two hours, for around $1.50's worth of quality resin.

And, I completely agree that with the right resin choice, tiny N-scale 3D printed parts can be just as durable (maybe even more durable) than equivalent ABS or Engineering Plastic injection-molded parts, which I'm very happily finding out with my line of UP Snow Shields for E9/E8's with verrrry fine mounting brackets, which are also quite difficult to break.

So, I am highly anticipating the actual introduction of these couplers to see what's initially made available...because if they live up to what the OP is telling us, I'll be converting ALL of my fleet of engines and cars to these.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[wazzou]

@robert3985

Where are you with the cross-arms and insulators? 

[robert3985]

@robert3985

Where are you with the cross-arms and insulators? 

They're supported and ready to test-print.  I'll be doing a test-print in grey resin within a week, then a full run when I change resin to "high-clear".  I've been delaying in order to get some etched parts for these, but I've decided to just print the cross-arms with clear insulators, and the customer can provide 1/16" wooden poles and wire supports for them...utilizing Tamiya Clear Green or Clear Blue to tint the clear insulators since prototype photos show several colors of insulators were more than likely to be on the same cross-arms.  I'll be testing them for durability and construction techniques before offering them for sale...maybe another month??...plus product shots taken on my layout.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[OldEastRR]

How durable will these crossarms be? Lineside poles face hazards from derailments, GHA, and track cleaning by hand. Using brass rod for the pole would avoid any pole snapping, I guess.

[Jimbo]

The product delay at this time is all about my suppliers delivering me the metal parts at scale, specifically the box adapter shims, and nothing to do with producing the coupler parts at scale.

BUT earlier you said:

The spring was the last supplier component to fall into place, even though I'd sourced it first.

Any idea when we will actually be able to purchase these?  Have you established a distribution network yet?

Thanks,

Jim