SandyR
Near Lake Ontario in NY
Brakeman
Posts:95
Send Message
 | | 09/19/2008 8:47 PM |
| Has anyone found a substitute for the little LGB track magnet that triggers the bell or whistle sound in sound-equipped engines? I thought that a refrigerator magnet, placed beside one rail, would work, but not so. Perhaps it wasn't strong enough. The LGB magnet would pick up six or seven paper clips at once; the reefer magnet would only pick up three or four. My plan was to place several magnets five sections apart, for a series of whistle sounds.
SandyR | | | |
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Greg Elmassian
1st Class Member
Carlsbad (San Diego), CA
Engineer
Posts:1632
Send Message
| | 09/19/2008 9:27 PM |
| I thought radio shack had some of those small super magnets?
Regards, Greg | |
Be sure to visit my site, lots of technical tips and modifications, and you can search for topics and key words.
Click here for Greg's web site | |
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Curmudgeon
Conductor
Posts:503
Send Message
| | 09/19/2008 11:00 PM |
| You need the specially polarized non-refracting optically neutral magets.
These are encased by the old LGB folks in a harmonious-focusing array of dense particulate plastic to channel the magnetic waveforms in a pattern specific to the reactive qualities of the super-conductive reed halves in the contacts.
They are very hard to come by any more.
However, I have used the magnets for door and window alarms, removing the magnet from the case.
See how one of those works. | | | |
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Dan Pierce
1st Class Member
South Eastern MA, USA
Foreman
Posts:391
Send Message
| | 09/20/2008 5:53 AM |
| A club member uses the Radio Shack magnets in the following manner.
A sheet rock screw through the ties and hten glues the magnet to the head of the screw.
the glue keeps the magnet in place. Use a short sheet rock screw.
(sheet rock screws have a flat head!!) | | | |
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SandyR
Near Lake Ontario in NY
Brakeman
Posts:95
Send Message
| | 09/20/2008 7:40 AM |
| Curmudgeon, that's a great suggestion about the door and window alarm magnets (and I didn't understand a word of the explanation of the LGB magnets, but it was sure impressive to read! My bad!)!
Dan, that sounds really workable; the sheet rock screw through a tie also would control the height of the magnet, and thus its distance from the whatever on the tender (or is it on the locomotive?).
I'm strictly a plug-and-play type of person; guess it's time to get educated!!
Thank you both.
SandyR | | | |
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Madstang
1st Class Member
Bellevue, NE
Foreman
Posts:212
Send Message
| | 09/20/2008 7:55 AM |
| I've always Radio Shack magnets and they work fine.
bubba | |
Bubba'sPlatte River RRBellevue, NE | |
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SandyR
Near Lake Ontario in NY
Brakeman
Posts:95
Send Message
| | 09/20/2008 8:12 AM |
| Radio Shack it is, then! Thank you for the help.
SandyR | | | |
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Del Tapparo
1st Class Member
Fort Collins, Colorado
Foreman
Posts:249
Send Message
| | 09/20/2008 9:09 AM |
| | Radio Shack 1/2" diameter disk magnets. Dirt cheap. I glue (CA) a stack of two of them on a strip of styrene that fits between the ties and under the rails. Glue the magnets off to one side of the strip. The styrene strip goes under the rails to keep a metal loco from picking up your magnet as it passes over it. The strip is easily moved to various locations and can be flipped around easily for left side or right side placement. | |
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SandyR
Near Lake Ontario in NY
Brakeman
Posts:95
Send Message
| | 09/20/2008 7:00 PM |
| Yippee!! Thank you Del, for the how-to (in words of one syllable for old folks like me)...
SandyR | | | |
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James Kuhns
Brakeman
Posts:15
Send Message
| | 09/21/2008 11:59 AM |
| The magnet solution that works for me is found in some shower curtins. The quick way to use them is to double back sticky tape the magnets to a tie. May not be complicated enough for some people but it works for me. I now use a urathane glue and attach the magnets to a piece of plastic wood that goes into the space between the ties. Almost invisable and I can easly move them aroud the railroad to vary where the sounds occur.
James | | | |
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