News and updates.

All future news and updates can now be found on my Facebook page: Here

I have had 90% of the files for the old Sergent Engineering website for months now, but I wasn’t sure how I wanted to reintegrate them back into the current website. I believe I have finally done so in a tasteful and familiar way. Just about all the content that used to be on the old Sergent Engineering site can now be found here in the new and improved Instructions section and in the brand-new FAQ section. A lot of these are almost word for word from the old site with very slight changes where needed. I left a few things that are now not relevant just for archival purposes. All the old tutorials are back in the Installation Tips section. If there is demand I will continue to add to these.

The ordering page is now gone. In its place is a system like the old Sergent website with ordering now being broken up into major product categories in the new products section of our menu bar. Hovering over this will expose all the major product categories we currently have and plan to release in the future. This change was necessary as our product line was expanding and it was getting harder and harder to find what you were looking for efficiently. The Legacy ordering system has now been discontinued, this was where you submit your order on an online form, and we email you an invoice. It hasn’t been utilized since we switched to PayPal and was taking up a lot of space on the page.

We are now offering 3D printed dummy couplers as an “Economy Option” just like Sergent Engineering used to offer years ago. We are also introducing a Rotary coupler. This is very similar to the older Sergent Engineering one, but adapted to work anywhere, a regular compatible shank would unlike the Sergent one. Please know that while these coupler heads rotate the knuckles are non-operating.

We recommend everyone both new and old familiarize themselves with both the Break-In Instructions and the FC87, HC87 and Investment Cast Instructions. This will provide lots of guidance on how to properly assemble and break in our couplers for reliable operation.

All assembly fixtures, uncoupling tools, etc. have been moved to the Accessories product section.

Currently there is a known issue where PayPal checkout doesn’t work on mobile. Please use a computer to place any orders. Also, the menu bar and other website details may not play/display well on mobile. Sorry for any inconvenience.

If you find anything broken with the new website, please contact me at support@prototypecouplers.com so I can fix it.

Happy 2024 everyone!

For those who are looking for diecast EC87KD in bulk. I can offer bulk packs in packs of 100 couplers/50 pairs. However, to fund the bulk packs I need to use a pre-order system. Only for bulk packs. Normal packs will always be a stock item.

I need a minimum of 50 bulk packs pre-ordered to give the okay to my die caster for production. If the bulk pack order goes through expect normal diecast coupler packs to drop from $20 a pack to $10 a pack.

Bulk packs will cost $150.00 USD per pack. As stated above each pack will come with enough parts to build 100 couplers/50 pairs.

No payment is required until we reach 50 pre-orders and I place the order with the factory. Pre-orders can be cancelled at anytime with no penalty.

If you are interested, please email me with your Name, Shipping Address, Quanity, and PayPal Email.

Happy Holidays everyone! I have a few quick updates to end the year.

I will not be shipping any orders between December 23rd 2023 - January 1st 2024 This is to allow me to spend time with my family during the holidays and into the new year. Last day for shipping is Friday December 22nd. Your order must be placed before 0900 EST or it will not make it out with the mail on Friday. Shipping will resume on January 2nd 2024. I will still be accepting orders during my holiday break, just keep in mind they won't ship until the 2nd.

I am out of stock on all F-type couplers. I have ran out of castings for the bottom cover. Expect a restock Spring 2024 when the weather has warmed up enough to cast again.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone who has placed a order and helped keep these couplers going. I wouldn't be where I am now without your support. I feel like it was a very good year for these couplers with well over 100 orders fulfilled, and thousands of couplers sent out to customers. Again I can't thank you all enough.

Looking forward I am hoping to have the S-Scale EC64K ready for production in the spring.

Happy Holidays everyone and I will see you all again in 2024!

BCL87 detail parts are now in stock and ready to ship. These come courtesy of Frank Sergent. I also now have to original design files and will be placing a order for more soon.

The passenger car uncoupling tool MWRY is also now in stock. Frank Sergent sent me his left over parts to manufacture them.

We should have a update on HT1R87K in the coming weeks as we test and finalize parts.

The issues with the Type E compatible shank tooling has been fixed and I am happy to say that we finally can start offering these. For those that don't know, before Frank closed his last batch of EC87K and EC87KB couplers suffered from a defect in the casting where a side wall on the coupler head was missing. The couplers still functioned but they didn't look very good.

After Frank gave me rights to the tooling, I ordered some shanks and they all came with the same defect. I got with the die caster and they found and fixed the problem in the tool. Long story short these are the same EC87K you know and love. No modifications, the original.

We have a very small supply of these available. This first run we could only afford to order 1000~ shanks. These are to be used for EC87KD, SBEC87KD and ES1P87K. All three of these kits are available starting today. But when they are gone, they are gone.

This was a feeler order more than anything and the price of the diecast parts is so high because of how small our order was. We priced the parts as low as we could while still making money. If these sell well, I am more than happy to start ordering parts in the 10,000 or 20,000 like Frank did. Which will drive the price of these kits down. But that was a lot of money I didn't have to order that many shanks, knuckles and bottom covers. As it is I have just made enough from the investment cast kits to pay for this small order of diecast parts.

MWRY Passenger Car Uncoupling Tool is also almost ready for consumer sale. I am just waiting on some tooling to help make the blade of the uncoupling tool. Once I have that I will start taking orders for the tool. If you want to see the prototype tool there is a photo of it in the Uncoupling Tools section of the order page.

You asked and we listened. We have brought back the Walthers Heavyweight Tailor Made Coupler. This is slightly different than how Sergent provided them. The shanks are still the same, but how you mount them is different. Previously Sergent provided a spring, screw and spacer to mount the coupler to the car. We only provide a spring. We found that you can reuse the factory screw and spacer and everything seems to work well using this method. Please look at the updated instructions for these as well here.

These kits are made to order and will add a processing time of 3-5 days. HT1R87K are still a ways out as we do not have originals to look at and they are much more complex with the truck revamp. If people really need HT1R87K we would be willing to look into selling the parts needed to convert the coupler but not the trucks. Please reach out if you have interest in that.

You can purchase ET1R87K starting right now, you can find them on our order page.

We are proud to reintroduce the HG87 Height Gauge. We redesigned the gauge based on measurements taken from a original Sergent HG87 gauge. It still looks and feels like the Sergent gauge but we have added improved rail guide slots to help keep the gauge centered on the tracks these slots also prevent the gauge from moving on its own. The part number is now clearly shown on the top of the gauge as well to easily identify it. The front of the gauge now has very minimal instructions on the front. The gauge is also now being 3D printed out of resin instead of cast from tooling resin. The dimensions should not creep if kept away from UV light. Each gauge comes with a set of printed instructions. You can also view these instruction in the instructions tab on our website.

Our diecast shipment came in. Unfortunately, the EC87 Shanks came with the same casting flaw that Sergent's last batch had. It is missing a side wall on the coupler head that is crutial to the assembly of the couplers. The diecaster has identified the underlying problem and is repairing the tooling. When repairs are complete they will rerun the shanks and I will let you all know as soon as those come in!

The good news is, the parts we need to start offering Hybrid Couplers came in. I assure you these parts look fantastic! We also have ENC87KD and SBEN87KD in stock now as we had diecast shanks for those already courtesy of Sergent Engineering. We were missing the bottom covers for them.

Now for a look into our future products. We are working hard on replicating the old Sergent HG87 height gauge. Expect to see this out very soon. We are also actively working on the BCL87 Brass etched cut lever linkage. The design has been made, we are just looking for a manufacturer of these tiny brass parts now. Our first manufacturer backed out on us and has gone radio silent. Last product on the horizon for now would be the Walthers Tailor-Made Type E Coupler Kits. We have these currently made in zinc, and are just trying to devise a way to replicate Sergents fastening method for them. We have identified that we will need a spring, metal tube spacer, screw and two washers per coupler, we are just waiting to see if what we ordered for them will work. If anyone has any original kits for these we would love to be able to take a look at the parts that came with it, please get in contact with us directly at contact@prototypecouplers.com.

That will do it for this update. Thank you all for all the support! It means a lot.

The AFM040C Assembly Fixture is now available for purchase. This fixture is just like the AFC fixture but is used for the shorter M040 shanks. This fixture can be used with Type E, Bottom Shelf Type E, and Tightlock couplers such as the Type F and Type H.

We should have other shank size fixtures coming in the near future.

In other news the website now has a "Customer Images" tab. There you will find some customer submitted images. We also now have a customer submitted instructions area in our instructions page. You can find some great documents other customers have written to help other assemble and modify their couplers.

If you would like to contribute to either of those areas please send us a email at contact@prototypecouplers.com.

We have also updated the style of the website slightly. For those that do not see this update we recommend you clear your browser cache for this site.

We are proud to reintroduce the RS2P87 Metal Pocket for pilot shanks. We are developing these a little bit different than Sergent Engineering did. These are still investment cast however, we print the pocket and pin as one part on our printers to ensure it is one solid part. After printing it is cast and tapped with a 0-80 tap like Sergent Engineering's offering. We worked with Frank during development to make sure that our process was correct.

We are also announcing two brand new products. First is the ET1P87K. This is a coupler designed as a pilot replacement for select Broadway Limited Imports steam locomotives. Fully functional and can swing out of the way like the dummy coupler that comes from the factory. This new pilot coupler can be found under our new "Tailor Made Couplers" category on the order page.

Our second new announcement is the DGB160. This is a resin draft gear box designed to allow you to run narrow shank couplers on your N-Scale cars. This part is designed to be a replacement for Micro Train Lines 1025/1029 Draft Gear Boxes. This part was commissioned by long time Sergent Engineering customer John Niemeyer, and is being offered for sale for anyone who wants to try them out. Initially these will be made to order until we have a good idea of how well they sell. Lead time is one business day for these.

All three of these new products are available to purchase starting today!

The MS uncoupling tool has received some updates. Frank sent me the tooling and his old parts to manufacture the MS tool. This means starting today all MS uncoupling tools will be made identically to Sergent Engineerings. Using 100% same parts, tooling, and techniques. The only difference is the label around the tool. The photo on the order page has been updated to reflect this change. Same Sergent quality with no price increase!

Finally, we have spent some time and revamped the website to add PayPal integration. You will notice a new "View Cart" button on the navigation bar now. You can use this to view what is currently in your cart, adjust item quantities, and checkout. On the order page every in stock product now has a "Add To Cart" button. You can use this to add any in stock product you want to your cart. The order form is still available in case there are issues with this new system, or you feel more comfortable sending the order form instead. You will notice this new system functions in a very similar manner to Sergent Engineering's order process. So previous customers will be right at home with this new system. If you have any problems with the new checkout please get in contact with me. My email is at the bottom of the webpage.

A note on shipping charges. With the new PayPal integration we have setup a new shipping price policy. We have split shipping into three cetagories. Customers east of the Mississippi River will be charged a flat $5.00 USD shipping charge to cover postage, and packing materials. Customers west of the Mississippi River will be charged a flat $7.50 USD for the increased postage cost, and packing materials. International order are a flat $35.00 USD. This should all be handled automatically during checkout.

We will ship to: United States of America, Canada, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Virgin Islands (British)

If your country is not on this list and you place an online order. That order will be refunded in full, but no shipment will be made. Thank you for understanding.

Frank from Sergent Engineering was kind enough to send us a shipment of some of his old stock. Most of this was die cast Sharon parts. We now have the parts needed to make RC87K, RNC87K, RNB87K, and RS1P87K. These couplers are unique in that, the only parts we would be able to investment cast are the shanks. Everything else is either much to small or is designed in a way that would not work well with our casting process. So, die casting is really the only option we have for Sharon's. In addition to the Sharon parts, Frank also sent us lots of springs for both Type E and Sharon weights. All couplers are now shipping with springs! Assembly fixtures for Sharons are also now available.

For right now I will not be offering bulk packs. This is mostly because I don't want to run out of die cast parts faster than I can get them in. I don't have any parts coming to replace what Frank sent me, so I want to make sure I can keep them stocked as long as possible. Bulk packs will come to die cast kits eventually.

Sharon kits have had a price revision in response to the parts we have received.

A huge thanks to Frank from Sergent Engineering. I can safely say without him none of us would be where we are now!

After countless attempts at making the AFC assembly fixture out of zinc. I decided to cut my losses and make them out of resin. Franks was made out of a two part tooling resin that was poured into a mold. Mine are simple 3d printer resin that has a low shrinkage rate. These jigs shouldnt change in dimention if kept away from UV light sources. Since they are 3d printed I can offer them at a much lower price to you. Fixtures are all $5.00 USD a piece. They fit standard shank lengths of Type E and Double Shelf. Tightlocks and Sharons wont work. More assembly fixtures are coming as I have time to design them. If you are putting a lot of couplers together why not pick one up and try it out?

Should have another post coming this week so stay tuned!

We have officially announced our presence to the community and are ready to start filling orders. For those who may have missed it here is the announcement:

Hello everyone,

It is my great pleasure to announce to all of you that I am making Franks couplers in zinc! Yes, you read that right zinc just like Franks original couplers. These are 3D printed in wax then investment cast just like Frank’s specialty couplers were. In fact, Frank helped quite a bit in helping me get setup and understand his process. What this means for you is you can get couplers that follow his same procedures. The only change to these couplers is that I decided to close off the hole in the top of the shank for the alignment pin. Now you don’t have to fill it to get rid of that hole. All couplers are sold as a pack of 6 couplers/3 pairs. All couplers use a diecast knuckle with an investment cast top shank and bottom. They are cast and machined by hand, then cleaned and dried. The process start to finish for a run of parts is 36 hours. So, for a complete coupler that is 72 hours of work that is involved to make the top shank and bottom. Those familiar assembling Frank’s tight lock couplers will be right at home as the process is much the same, but those who are only used to diecast couplers will need to add a few extra steps to insure smooth operation. The instructions for assemble are located on our website and each order will come with a QR code you can scan with your mobile device that will link you direct to the instructions.

MS uncoupling wands have also been made. These wands are faithful recreations of Frank’s MS wand. I used the same manufactures and materials when I could. The magnets are the same, the brass tube and wire is the same. The only differences are I use a custom piece of shrink tubing to hold the wire onto the tube where Frank used some kind of adhesive label, I haven’t been able to source. He also used some sort of plate metal or plastic sheet over the magnets to help space them further away from the balls in the couplers. I couldn’t find the same material, nor do I have anything to cut them with, so I have opted for chipboard in the same thickness. Other than that, these MS wands are identical.

I am also excited to inform everyone here that I also have gotten permission to make use of Sergent Engineering’s diecast molds. This mean I will be able to sell original Sergent parts. These parts come from the same manufacturer Frank used. I have spoken with the manufacturer and the defects found on the last run of EC87K shanks will be rectified before manufacturing begins. I have placed a small order (as much as my personal budget would allow) of die cast parts, roughly 1,000 couplers. These are due to come in 10 weeks from now so late July 2023. After I receive them, I will make them available for sale on my website as long as there is stock. If these sell well, I expect to make a full-size order for 10,000-20,000 couplers. I am not receiving these parts at the same price Frank was getting my price is much higher since I only ordered what I could afford. There for the first initial runs of die cast couplers will be more expensive than I would like, but I plan to lower the price when I can start ordering these in a large quantity. Bulk packs will initially not be offered because of the lower quantity available.

Now for the downsides, at this point in time I can only sell a limited number of couplers. This is because of the small supply of die cast knuckles I have. I am not sure how soon I will run out but when I am out, I will be out until the die cast order comes in.

I have gotten in contact with Frank’s suppliers for balls and springs. I have been able to order the same balls Frank used, but the springs are a larger investment that I couldn’t afford and still be able to make the die cast part order. So initially no orders will come with centering springs. This might be disappointing news to some of you, but I promise when I am able to, I will make a large order for springs. In the meantime, I have been told by one of my testers that a spring out of a Kadee coupler can be used in a pinch.

Sharon style couplers will be out of stock for the foreseeable future. Frank had all the parts for Sharon couplers diecast. I have access to said tooling but could not afford to add those parts to this initial order. I can cast the top shank and bottom of the Sharon’s, but the investment casting processes does not make knuckles very well. I have no supply of die cast Sharon knuckles there for I cannot in good conscience sell investment cast Sharon’s I don’t think the investment cast knuckles would meet the level of quality you all have come to expect or deserve. Eventually I would like to place an order dedicated to Sharon parts or at least the knuckles but my finances have been stretched extremely thin as it is trying to bring Frank’s couplers back.

PayPal integration is not available yet on the website, all order have to be submitted to me either through the website form on the order page or a direct email at sales@prototypecouplers.com When I am confident that I can keep parts in stock I will integrate PayPal directly into the site for online ordering.

My resin couplers will be phased out as I concentrate my efforts on these metal ones. In the coming weeks the link to those resin couplers will be pulled and become unavailable to purchase.

Lastly, there are not jigs available yet. I am working to find the best way to make the jigs, I am currently toying with investment casting them to avoid any dimension creep. I do know the exact casting resin Frank used for his jigs, but I am unsure if that’s the same road I would like to follow. I am currently making mold for AFC jigs if these turn out good expect to see them in stock available to order on the website soon.

Please bear with me this is all rather new to me and a very different experience from my career as a carpenter, I am learning as I go and I am always working to improves these, sometimes it’s a small tweak here or there other times it’s a much larger tweak that scraps a whole batch of couplers. I am sure there are still adjustments I may have to make here and there, but if I don’t start offering these for sale, I am afraid I won’t be able to afford to keep making these.

Pricing is as follows: All investment cast couplers: $15 per pack All diecast couplers on this initial order: $20 per pack Shipping will be included in the final invoice depending on order size and location. If you need these assembled before delivery please specify in your order I have a individual who is eager to assemble these for those that want them assembled.

I am not looking to get rich on these, but these are the prices I have determined will let me turn a profit just enough to keep ordering more die cast parts, and material to make investment cast parts.

Website for ordering: www.prototypecouplers.com

Regards,

Alexander Woychosky

Prototype Couplers

Now for some photos:

We have just placed our first order for die cast parts from the same die caster that Sergent Engineering used. What this means for you is original Sergent Engineering parts are on their way. This differ from our current investment cast parts. Our investment cast couplers eliminate the hole going through the entire shank this adds strength and prototypical accuracy to the couplers. Die cast parts will still have this hole through the coupler that will have to be filled by the end user if desired.

It will take 6-20 weeks to see these parts, please be patient we will update this page when the die cast couplers are available.

Our website is officially released. Here you can place orders, view instructions, and find the latest news on our products.

Check this page frequently for updates on production of our products.