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The thing does not look right to me. Anyway try to twist a #18 and tin lightly on the end only,see if it fits in. You also might want to pose the question to the people over at Atlas.

 

Dale H

I wonder just how much current that switch can really handle.  I suspect/guess the switch is a sliding contact on a printed circuit card.  So would depend upon how heavy the copper layer is plus trace widths and what kind of sliding contact metal is used that won't lose its springiness when high current flows (sustained short circuit) through it and things warm up. 

 

If it was for high/heavy current I would think Atlas would use larger screws or clamping/compression plates to anchor heavier gauge wires like the poster is wanting to use.

 

My 2 cents. 

I bought most of my Atlas electrical components back when HO engines drew over 2-3 amps. Those motors were 3 pole straight stack armatures and they really took a lot of power to get going. The Atlas Controllers/Selectors/Connectors were much larger than the ones being made currently. Atlas changed them over 10 years ago-- once the motors became 5 or more pole types with skewed armature stacks that reduced cureent draw well below 1 amp. In all that time, they have NEVER changed the size of the screw connections. RRman is correct in his supposition-- that is exactly how the components are made. The spring metal contacts is what fails in the Atlas "pushbutton" switch controllers. eventually, they can lose the spring action and then the circuit stays on, causing the switch machine coil to overheat and burn up.

Todd

 

I think Sam is a retired EE and makes a good point.

 

if switching heavy loads you may want to use relays,described here.

 

www.jcstudiosinc.com/BlogShowT...=635&categoryId=

 

This way you could use Atlas switches and #22-#26 wire with no problems since they only carry current for the relay coil. 

 

Dale H

My experience was that they did not handle the high current and voltage of O. They worked at low settings only.  Eventually tore them out and everything was fine.

I have 3 Atlas "heavy duty" A-B selector switches on my layout and they work fine.  To attach 16 gauge wire, I cut one of the "spades" off of a spade connector and trimmed back the other spade to get the U part of the spade to fit under the small screw.

As i posted above The atlas is sized for a 0.218" spade lug. So all that you need do is file/dremel off 0.05" from a standard #4 lug(which is 0.25" wide). Easy to do.

I did the same but lost the instructions that comes with that switch and do recall how I hooked power and ground to it.

Anyone scan and post it?