German Pantograph question

[gavino200]

Below is a picture of my Fleischmann BR 101. The pantographs are not bad. They look quite similar to the prototype. But they go up quite high, and snag on some of the catenarys. Anyone know if it's possible to adjust these so they don't extend up quite so high?

 

[Kiha66]

Not the most helpful, but I was talking to the European modeling club in the SF bay area a while back and I asked about that.  They said most members either glue them at the height they want or they just leave them in the folded position.  Apparently the reason for the excessive height is for the few modelers who use a live catenary so the pantograph will have enough reach to make good electrical contact.

[gavino200]

23 minutes ago, Kiha66 said:

Not the most helpful, but I was talking to the European modeling club in the SF bay area a while back and I asked about that.  They said most members either glue them at the height they want or they just leave them in the folded position.  Apparently the reason for the excessive height is for the few modelers who use a live catenary so the pantograph will have enough reach to make good electrical contact.

 

I agree. Neither option is super attractive. I wonder if it’s possible to weaken the springs, or tighten the hinges, or both. Or replace them with different pantographs.

Edited June 24, 2018 by gavino200

[kvp]

The less destructive option is to tie them down at the designed height with a string. This way they can be folded down, but when raised, they can't go higher than what is set. Then just cut the string to convert back to real catenary mode.

[cteno4]

Yeah I was thinking something similar with a tiny loop of one wire over the hinge tightened down may limit it’s up motion or just make it stiff enough to to spring all the way up.

 

jeff

[gavino200]

7 hours ago, kvp said:

The less destructive option is to tie them down at the designed height with a string. This way they can be folded down, but when raised, they can't go higher than what is set. Then just cut the string to convert back to real catenary mode.

 

Not a bad idea. I'm a little concerned the string will be very obvious. I can borrow some extremely thin string at work and try that. Hopefully it will be strong enough.

[gavino200]

6 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Yeah I was thinking something similar with a tiny loop of one wire over the hinge tightened down may limit it’s up motion or just make it stiff enough to to spring all the way up.

 

jeff

 

Ah, a teeny tiny little splint! Interesting!

[chadbag]

Thin fishing line.

[gavino200]

1 minute ago, chadbag said:

Thin fishing line.

 

I was thinking of 9-0 nylon suture. But I found a better way. See below.

[chadbag]

1 minute ago, gavino200 said:

 

I was thinking of 9-0 nylon suture. But I found a better way. See below.

 

I wouldn't even have known what that was to come up with it 😀   I'll put that one in my internal junk drawer in my mind for future reference.

[gavino200]

I took a closer look and I found a way. It's atraumatic, stable, and easily reversible.

 

I noticed that the main arm lever has a small "counterbalance" (?) piece below the fulrum. As the pantograph goes up this must come down toward the shell. Circle in photo.

 

 

If you put something between the shell and this lower part of the main arm, it stops the pantograph from fully extending. This is a small piece of TORM circuit board. It's .8 mm thick.

 

 

This is a picture of the loco with one adjusted and one un-adjusted pantograph. 

 

 

Basically you can choose any height you want by varying the thickness of the piece you place in. I used clear plastic for the second one. But I'll probably take two little pieces of something and paint them the same gray as the loco shell.

 

The spring mechanism of the pantograph keeps the shim firmly in place. To remove, just lower the pantograph and take it out with a tweezer. 

Edited June 24, 2018 by gavino200

[cteno4]

Nice! Figured you of all people would figure out something clean as the whole thing looks like a couple of finger joints! 

 

Tiny dab of scenic cement will hold the shim in place but still be easily removable w.o damage if needed.

 

kudos

 

jeff