Has anyone ever used any couplers from this company? I bought some a few months back from a looks standpoint. They REALLY are fantastic in detail. They even have "AAR" molded on the top part of the coupler. But in putting them together I noticed 2 problems. 1st,they're supposed to fit Kadee coupler boxes. I have a Kadee box from an old Weaver car. When I tried to put the coupler in the Kadee coupler box,I found the post in the coupler box&the round mounting hole on the coupler,are the same diameter. I opened the coupler hole up with a knife until I finally got the coupler to fit over the Kadee coupler post,but it wouldn't move side to side & I already had opened the mounting hole up enough to make it weak as far as pulling power. I thought I had an old,as far as model is concerned,coupler box,so I didn't give it much thought.
I purchased some new couplers from Protocraft later&they've got a scale coupler box of their own,so I thought the San Quan coupler would fit right over it-SAME PROBLEM!!!!
I also put the coupler parts together&found when the "pin" is "pulled" the coupler knuckle opens&the latch pin drops down,I think it even falls behind the knuckle,without being able to actually see what's going on inside. So you can't close the knuckle without raising the latch pin manually 1st. Even when you pull the pin back up&push the knucke closed,the pin won't fall into place.
I sent emails to San Quan about both problems&was told they'd look into the Kadee coupler box mounting problem. To date there's been no response. Regarding the inability to couple properly,I was told to be careful when trimming up the flash on all parts to make sure I didn't cut off something I shouldn't. The instructions included,only show the parts,there's no instructions or warnings to be careful regarding any parts,so you have to look them over carefully&do what you think.
I'm all new to O scale,so I could've trimmed something in the installation process I shouldn't have,but I don't have the slightest idea what it would've been.(?)
The couplers from Protocraft are expensive,but are all metal,are assembled&work flawlessly!!!
The only thing with these couplers is in their design. The "lightening holes," on the non knuckle side,come from another era of coupler evolution. They're not modern era.
So at present I have a modern era coupler that works VERY poorly or not at all&a coulper from another time period that works flawlessly. How about couplers for the modern diesel era&safety shelfs to go along with them? O scale hasn't addressed the modern era modeler yet.
I thought when I moved up to O scale,I'd have everything I had in HO,plus more because of the larger size&the ability to work in more prototypical detail-shame on me for not researching better.
Thanks to everyone in advance for your replies.
Alan
