Magnetic electrical connector for LGB Carriages and Trains

thingiverse

This is a small magnetic coupling that can easily clip onto the center buffer of LGB carriages and engines. It automatically links up when the train couples to the carriage, making electrical contact from one carriage to another totally possible. I've used this setup to power lights on carriages directly from the engine without having to rely on track brushes on the carriage wheels. Instructions First, drill out all your "part 1" parts to 3mm to accommodate 3mm magnets. Alternatively, you can use 2mm for 2mm magnets. I used 3mm 1mm magnets in my photographs but plan to also try out 2mm 2mm magnets later. Make one part with the north pole facing up on one side and the south pole facing up on the other. Then glue it onto brass strip as this will come in handy for making more connectors. Get some thin ribbon cable and strip it to make a two-core wire. Strip about 8mm of wire and push it from the recessed side to the flat side. Next, place two new magnets on the tool you've created, ensuring that the north and south poles are aligned properly for your trains. This tool holds the magnets in place and helps prevent mixing up their polarity. Push the plastic part onto the magnets, making sure not to short the bare wires and that they contact the magnets correctly. Fold the wires over the bottom and glue the recess on the back securely (see photo). First assemble the wire through the small hole in part 3 and then back through the bigger hole. Assemble part 3 onto the top of post (part 2). Make sure the magnets are facing outwards, with the wire fitting into the recess in the back of part 2. Adjust the height of the magnets so that they clear the buffer safely. Attach the post to the buffer and connect the wires to your lights etc. You can probably hide the wires more neatly than I did in my photograph. In testing an earlier version, I discovered that they tend to push apart from the bottom due to this. So I've added some extra wire wrapping over the bottom of the contacts to keep them together securely, which eliminates the need for magnets to touch each other for contact to occur. I've made the 123D files available for you to modify according to your needs or to make a post suited to other carriages. Initially, I used early versions with two 2mm0.5mm magnets but found them difficult to fit due to tilting instead of pushing in nicely. Thicker magnets might work better.