Rumors of Protomate’s demise are greatly exaggerated!

[Chris333]

Pretty sure FUD or resin is just for size and function testing purposes. 

[learmoia]

@learmoia , I will take that as a compliment!  Hoping this pic serves for the Protomate to Protomate coupled.  If not I will mount another one onto another car for an on-track pic.

I saw that...

I meant car to car... visual distance between coupled cars.

[Lemosteam]

Will you be doing a test like Trainworx did with multiple locos hooked up to a concrete block? I'd be interested to see how well FUD or a resin print would hold up compared to a delrin casting.

@GhengisKong , watch this video at ~55 seconds. The FUD coupler I have ther is about 1/3 the size of the Protomate. It withstood a 1,5+ pound pull force before the hook let go.

I will do some pull studies soon enough, but again, this is just for testing.

[Angus Shops]

Will you be doing a test like Trainworx did with multiple locos hooked up to a concrete block? I'd be interested to see how well FUD or a resin print would hold up compared to a delrin casting.

Ooh, proto operation opportunity: broken knuckles!
Seriously, these look really good, and an example of simplicity. But the idea of retrofitting even my modest fleet is daunting.
Geoff

[GhengisKong]

Ooh, proto operation opportunity: broken knuckles!
That unironically is a fun thought. Would make sessions last longer, too.

[muktown128]

I have even dipped part in Max's black juice (for the LIFE of me I cannot remember the name of that stuff!)

Neolube.  I got 2 jars from Max, but they weren't labeled.  A quick search of "max graphite alcohol" got me the answer.

[Lemosteam]

@learmoia , here ya go!

Like all couplers, placement relative to the end of the car is everything.

[Maletrain]

Neolube seems like a good idea for blackening couplers, since it is actually a graphite lubricant.  But, it does wear off, and white material showing through won't be easy to miss, visually.

What is the plan, once the mechanicals get refined?  Are they going to be a product of various 3D printers, or is there a plan to get them mass cast in Delrin? 

They look so easy to assemble, I would think they could sell well in unassembled form, which would save a lot of hassle in making them available commercially.

[Mark5]

I am hoping that (as Chris suggested above) that the actual production will be injection molded in some type of durable plastic.

[Lemosteam]

Here are two Protomate installed on an MT Diner, right (needed a spacer due to the raised edge under the passageway) so I added a spacer to the M5 Pullman sleeper as well, left. Gap at diaphragm is approx. 2.7mm using original mounting holes in the car body.

[sd45elect2000]

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These are a wide swing Van Dorn coupler. I just started using the MT Tru Scale couplers with the long shank without the coupler pockets, but they are still a little short. I don't need automatic coupling so I melted the Tru Scale couplers together to form essentially a dummy coupler. They do not uncouple on tight curves. Any chance to adapt your couplers to this application? Maybe a little longer shank?

[robert3985]

Would the Z-sized version still be compatible with the other N-scale couplers?   If yes then is there any other intrinsic benefit to having the larger N-scale size, or does the Z-size serve both scales equally well?

Granted, that seems like a pretty big 'if', but I figured I'd ask anyways.

Ed

Excellent question Ed! @ednadolski

Although I like several features of the Protomate (no slinky, more scale appearance, auto-centering) there are several things I don't like. 

First, compatibility.  If the large size is a result of the Protomate being engineered to be compatible with MTL regular N-scale couplers, and most of the cloned knuckle couplers out there, my philosophy is the same as it was when I was converting everything from the Rapido coupler to Kadee N-scale couplers decades ago....I didn't give a damn about compatibility, just looks and function with each other.  If I needed compatibility, then I built "transition cars" which MTL is doing to promote use of their TSC.

When looking at the CAD drawings, I don't see an actual "need" to have the spring's whiskers evident on the outside, front face of the "draft gear box" unless (once again) compatibility with existing N-scale coupler pockets is of paramount importance.  Offhand (and I could be wrong about it, but I don't think so) it looks as if the spring could be rotated 180 degrees (with accompanying rotation of the centering/closing mechanism) so that the whiskers/keepers/bearing surfaces could be relocated to the inside of a narrower, longer, more prototype appearing draft gear box, using a flathead 00-90 screw to mount it to the car/engine chassis instead of using an extra hefty plastic snap-together protocol. This would also benefit the appearance by making the visible draft gear portion of the coupler more prototypically proportioned.

If the proposed Z-scale Protomate coupler version (meaning actually scale sized) were robust and had a more prototypical looking draft gear box in various common styles that necessitated removal of some or all of the previous obsolete draft gear boxes, drilling a properly located hole and attaching the new Z-scale (or Scale-Sized) coupler/box combination with a little 00-90 screw, I would buy enough to convert my entire roster of cars and engines.  I still don't give a damn if the proposed Z-scale coupler version has ANY compatibility with other brands of couplers I may have during my switch-over.

What I care about is no-slinky, scale size and appearance (both coupler and draft gear box), function and durability.  Notice that "compatibility" isn't mentioned. Throw in various sized draft gear boxes and injection molding in a slippery brown and black engineering plastic...then we've achieved N-scale coupler Nirvana......ohmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm   

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[DKS]

http://davidksmith.com/protomate.htm

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Neolube.  I got 2 jars from Max, but they weren't labeled.  A quick search of "max graphite alcohol" got me the answer.

But I like "Max's Black Juice" better.

[Cajonpassfan]

But I like "Max's Black Juice" better.

Yea, me too😎