1. Home
  2. Model railroading in the UK
  3. Points/Turnout issue

Points/Turnout issue

Got a bit of a dillemma to fix on my turnouts/points.

Track all laid in HO, points motor installed (Surface) on one side the other side tie-bar is of course free with the small raised pin in case the surface motor is used on the other side. All the scenery is down on that section, however I need to put a microswitch on the other side so the tie-pin pushes against it and when set to 'curve'/turnout the microswitch is pushed by pushing the pin against the metal microswitch lever and holding it 'on' until the points/turnout resumes to straight again.

All my points with this arrangement work 100% fine, no problems, except this one!

No matter how I try and fix the microswitch and get the lever of the microswitch to push to on when the points flip to curve the microswitch spring (sealed unit) is too powerful and pushes the points back to straight!! With no microswitch, points action is firm/direct and clicks into place, true its not a snap click, but its still secure and doesnt bounce back or slip, only when I start trying to put the microswitch on.

Points are 'Hornby Left turn', work fine and motor (surface) sets them every time flawlessly, how on earth can I get something to not enough too much resistance that it allows me to wire up the 'on' on a switch. ?

I only have the small raised stud/pin on that tiebar, I have thought of wires, contact leaves (?) but cant seem to work out how to mount them (like on a pinball table set of contacts).

Any help on this would be most grateful, I could swap the points over for a replacement, but it would mean uprooting the track (and its in a circuit oval) thus destroying scenery and loads of other knock on things to re-fix, but its not the points they are fine, its just finding an alternative in this instance to come up with an alternative way to make 'contact' when set on a switch without using a microswitch that seems to be pushing back the track after pulsing or setting.

Hope you can help!

Reply to
Chris King
Loading thread data ...

Three things come to mind.

a) Try using a different micro-switch. Could be this one is at one extreme of specs, you want one closer to the other extreme (weaker spring).

b) Try extending the lever of the switch, that will multiply the force exerted by the turnout 's throwbar, albeit at the cost of longer throw-bar travel.

c) Can you fit contact to the throwbar in lieu of the microswitch? These are usually mounted below the table, but you could use a fine, stiff wire to extend the throwbar into a plate-layer's hut or into the scenery or whatever, to hide the contacts.

I expect there will be other suggestions.

Good Luck!

Reply to
Wolf K

Chris,

As Wolf suggests, a different style of microswitch might help - one with a lever which reduces the operating force required like in this example from Rapid

The longer the lever, the less force required to operate the switch but the knock-on is that the longer the lever, the more travel required to operate it. So it is a bit of a balancing act and you might have to acquire one each of different lengths of lever to get the one that works best.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Guthrie

[snip]
[snip]

Small (tiny?) magnet and reed switch?

Don.

Reply to
Don Petter

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.