Electrical coupler for LEGO trains - Building instructions

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Before you start

The parts list as well as tools list can be found on the design page. The wiring is explained there as well.

Printing the housing

We start by printing the housing.
I use a bambulab A1 mini with a flat build plate as well as a 0,2 mm nozzle. The layer heigth is set to 0,06 mm, material in use is PLA.
My printer takes around 1,3 g of PLA and 70 minutes to print the housing for a coupler.

Different print settings will likely work as well, but I did not test them. The 0,2 mm nozzle does some heavy lifiting in terms of print quality, and I can not recommend using a bigger nozzle. With that restriction, different materials might not be easy to print.
Printing this coupler in resin should work as well. Allthough I did not test this with this specific design. The clips on the centering devices might cause issues with very brittle material. You might end up glueing them in when using a resin printer.

Two housings and the magnet Step 1.1: Place the objects on the print bed as seen above

The magnet is inserted into one of the housings Step 1.2: Slice the files. You can see the small nozzle doing magic here. The thin walls work best when printing slow and fine

Closing process of the housings Step 1.3: The print job is done

Closed coupler Step 1.4: Remove the centering devices from the rafts. I recommend using a paper towel to remove the parts, so you do not end up touching the build plate with your greasy hands

Coupler connected to a Plate, Modified 2 x 3 with Hole, Item No: 3176 with a Technic, Pin 1/2 without Friction Ridges, Item No: 4274 Step 1.5: Remove the other four printed parts and the rafts

Coupler connected to a Plate, Modified 2 x 3 with Hole, Item No: 3176 with a Technic, Pin 1/2 without Friction Ridges, Item No: 4274 Step 1.6: Overview of the printed pieces

Coupler connected to a Plate, Modified 2 x 3 with Hole, Item No: 3176 with a Technic, Pin 1/2 without Friction Ridges, Item No: 4274 Step 1.7: Clip the centering devices into the upper housing

Coupler connected to a Plate, Modified 2 x 3 with Hole, Item No: 3176 with a Technic, Pin 1/2 without Friction Ridges, Item No: 4274 Step 1.8: All done! The housing can be put to the side for now.

Preparing the wire harness

Assembly of a pogo pin contact.

Brown wire with crimped pogo pin Step 2.1: Cut 25 to 28 mm from the cable.
Brown wire with crimped pogo pin Step 2.2: And seperate two wires from that. We'll need these two to connect between both the VCC and GND connectors from one side to the other.
Brown wire with crimped pogo pin Step 2.3: In case you're using a flat ribbon cable, seperate the ends of the cable a bit to help working on it.
Brown wire with crimped pogo pin Step 2.4: Remove 7 to 9 mm of insulation from the two short wires as well as VCC, GND and the C-wire that you want to have on the fixed side for this very coupler.
In case this will be a front facing coupler, this will be C1.
In case this will be a back facing coupler, this will be C2.
Brown wire with crimped pogo pin Step 2.5: Crimp the wire end ferrules on the wires. The C1/C2 wire will have their own wire end ferrule. The VCC and GND wires will share the wire end ferrules with their extra cable that connects to the other side of the coupler.
Brown wire with crimped pogo pin Step 2.6: Remove 5 to 7 mm of insulation from all the other wires and crimp the pogo pins to the wire.
Brown wire with crimped pogo pin Step 2.7: Shorten the wire end ferrules to 5 mm length.
Brown wire with crimped pogo pin Step 2.8: Crimp the steel cord capes on the wire end ferrules.

Assembly

Assembly of the whole thing.

Stripped blue wire with lots of copper foil around it Step 3.1: Prepare the housing and the wire harness.

The assembly inserted into the coupler Step 3.2: Clip both parts of the housing together and secure it with the technic pin 4274.

The copper foil on the coupler side is flattened Step 3.3: Push the contacts into the housing. Starting with the pogo pins works best for me, but there is no fixed order.

The fixed contact is glued into the coupler Step 3.4: Push the clips in from the side to secure the wire harness to the housing.

The fixed contact is glued into the coupler Step 3.5: All done! At least for the coupler.

The other side

of the cable....
In case you want to add a PF connector to the other end of the wire.

Stripped blue wire with lots of copper foil around it Step 4.1: Cut the housing on the connector. This seems weird, I'm well aware. But we're using larger wires than the connector is designed for. If we would not do this, the connector would not be able to close fully, and thus would be bigger than two plates.

The assembly inserted into the coupler Step 4.2: Place to cable into the upper part of the connector. Make sure of the clips only cutting the intended wire.

The copper foil on the coupler side is flattened Step 4.3: Close the connector. Mine need some extra help in that regard.

Before you use the new coupler

Always check the insulation as well as connections of the whole cable. This is a safety meassure you shall not mess with. The fixed contact is glued into the coupler Step 5: Check the insulation as well as connections of the whole cable

Have fun with it!

Mounting the coupler to the train.

Electrical coupler on a tender Electrical coupler on a tender Step 22: mount the coupler to your loco / tender / wagon / coach.

A loco and a tender are connected with the electrical coupler. Lights are on. Step 23: have fun with the coupler!

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