Pantograph adjustments

[weave]

Hi all,

Can't remember if I've asked this before or read it here or somewhere else but is there a way of making a pantograph stay at a fixed height.

Thought about Veissmann proper stuff and have a few bits but, as times are hard, thought I'd just go with the dapol catenary masts and forget about the wires.

Have found the link about spacing but all my locos have pantographs of different heights, some of which are stupidly upright which would be fine with wires but would obviously catch on the mast without. Read somewhere about adjusting the springs but that is far too fiddly for me if my coupling springs (should call them pings) fiasco is anything to go by.

Also can't see springs on the 3 I have with me at the moment. Can you glue them? If so how?

Know would be a prob to put back in the box but I don't like electrics running round with the panto down. Looks wrong.

Thanks for any help and I apologise if have asked this before but my memory is shot at the moment.

Cheers weave

[weave]

Mean't to say that the locos are all continental, Minitrix, Kato, Piko etc as might make a difference.

Thanks

[Sprintex]

Need to do this myself but haven't got round to it yet.

All I was planning on doing is making a simple height jig out of a few small bits of wood, two uprights and a 'roof' like a bridge, place that over a piece of track and place the loco under. Let the pantograph up on its spring so it hits the bridge and put drops of superglue on all the hinges

Obviously getting the two uprights the right height is the key but at least then you know all panto's will be at the same height


Paul

[weave]

Thanks Paul,

Thought would be something simple like that but didn't want to start covering the pantos in glue and they not work (visually) as they seem to be expensive to replace.

Need to find the dapol masts in the chaos that is our loft, work out some heights and start sticking. Also need to think about storage as they obviously won't fit in the box anymore.

If you see extortionately priced continental loco boxes on 'ebay madness strikes again', that's me!

Cheers weave

[RicardoFig]

An "up" to this old topic. 

I am also looking for a way to get the pantograph up with a fixed height, and i recall passing on a small web store (probably german? swiss?) with small transparent plastic pieces to fix the pantograph, but i did not save the url.


Anyone has got any clue, or how to do it?


Thank you,

[weave]

Hi Ricardo,

Blimey, it's been 6 years and still haven't got much further with layouts let alone pantographs .

I therefore still don't know the answer but glad you brought the subject up again as hopefully might be attempting something soon so will be interested in any new ideas/suggestions.

Cheers weave 

[PostModN66]

I am not at home at the moment so can't check, but I would try cutting small rectangles of different thicknesses of plasticard and placing them at the base of the pan, underneath the spring, to limit the upwards motion.  The advantage of this over glue is that it is completely reversible.

Pretty sure this would work....

Cheers Jon 😀

[swisstrains]

The device you're probably thinking about is called a "pantofixer". Appears to work quite well but only available for a small number of loco types.

[swisstrains]

I am not at home at the moment so can't check, but I would try cutting small rectangles of different thicknesses of plasticard and placing them at the base of the pan, underneath the spring, to limit the upwards motion.  The advantage of this over glue is that it is completely reversible.

Pretty sure this would work....

Cheers Jon 😀

Yes this will definitely work on some pantographs. Arnold used to provide a metal shim with some of their locos that did a similar thing.

[ntpntpntp]

In the good old days Arnold locos with Sommerfeldt pantos were fitted a way of limiting the height so that the panto could run under Arnold's catenary system without actually touching the rubber "wire".   The limiter could be removed to allow the panto to fully extend if you wanted it to run on live wire such as  Vollmer / Minitrix.

For a single arm panto a screw which was long enough to limit the travel of the bottom part of the single arm panto was used, and a washer could be added or removed to adjust the maximum height.

For a diamond panto a metal plate was fitted in the bottom of the panto which prevented the bottom of the panto arms fully lowering. You remove the plate to allow the panto to extend fully.

Here's a diamond panto before (ie. with the metal plate still in place)...




... and after removing the plate




Here's the plate removed from the panto




So... my point is that so many models use Sommerfeldt pantos it's probably possible to use the same techniques with other brands.

[swisstrains]

If you have a steady hand it's possible to tie a piece of very light fishing line (or similar) between the underside of the pantograph head and its base frame to act as a restraint. Works on scissor and single-arm pantographs and is hardly visible at normal viewing distance. Also panto can still be lowered and clipped into position.

[RicardoFig]

The device you're probably thinking about is called a "pantofixer". Appears to work quite well but only available for a small number of loco types.

That's correct!

Thank you