emergency substitute for O gauge tinplate insulated pins.

I have used match sticks from the old large stick kitchen matches. 

Bill

yup, have tried them in the past, but found they break off and then........

I'very used jumbo coated paper clips cut down.

I had done this for isolated rail sections, non-derail switch wiring.   Styrene strips.

This sounds a little like a solution looking for a problem.  Just buy fibre pins from any one of 1000 places and be done with it.  

What "emergency" could exist in terms of layout building?  We have to finish the layout because the house is on fire?

SJS

I keep a healthy supply of various radii track, as well as steel pins and fiber pins.  For the just in case situation.  Heck, sometimes when I am at a train show I just buy some pins just to make my jeans pocket feel more useful.  Same thing with rubber tires, tape measures, knives and screwdrivers.  Cant be too handy or have too many of them around the layout or garage.  On the subject of tape measures, I recently went shopping for some more.  Just needed little ones for around the layout.  Prices started at $5.00 and up for a cheap, noname 12 footer.  On the way out of the Lowe's store I saw a package of 4 high visibility Stanley tape measures for $10.00.  They were flourescent green and black.   The package had 1 -25ft , 1 -16ft, and 2 -12 ft.  All four were rubber coated. 

I think this is an interesting approach, but curious if copper wire wouldn't just bend over time if there was any sort of stress on the joint to make the rails uneven, and if no such stress exists, you are just as well off putting nothing in the pin.  I might do this if I need one pin because I lost one or some such, but to build a layout I can't see it.  

Fat Toothpicks....

There is such little distance between the rails. I really think a solid copper wire would be every bit as secure as a piece of plastic. A lot of good suggestions, I especially like the one that said be prepared! Anyway,  thanks for the responses guys. The urgency by the way was a club was putting together a from scratch layout for some county event, don't know any more.

Having a couple O22 switches out in the workshop being cleaned for a friend, I tried another option...

If you have some styrene rod....Evergreen #213, 0.100" dia., for instance...it works just great.  And, if you cut a thin hoop of an appropriate wire insulation you can slip this over the length of rod to function as the spacer to keep the adjoining rail from touching.

OTOH, we (LHS) must have "eleventy-seventy" packets of the correct O insulating pins at the store.  But, as in your case, they're there...and I'm here at home....and if I needed a fix in a pinch, well............

Hey, FWIW....it was handy for me!

KD

 For center rail insulators use square pieces of water bottles or soda bottles.

Fold them into thirds and pinch with pliers.

weed trimmer cord.

For 3rd rail insulators, get some gasket paper at a car parts store.  It is cheap and very durable and comes in various thicknesses.

A cheap replacement for a constant voltage plug for a 022/711 switch is a blue crimp on terminal.  Much cheaper than a Lionel plug and stays on better and you have a choice of the method of connecting to the crimp on terminal.

A toothpick is much stronger than a match stick.

One of the greatest experiences I have in watching you guys is the high degree of Yankee ingenuity. The I will find a way attitude unfortunately is becoming a rarity in our world today.

I will be trying the water bottle option today! and will be checking with our local auto parts store for some thin gasket material. Thanks guys. This was fun.

Hey  Just ask your Wife Or Girl friend. Those little long plastic hair pins they get at the beauty dept. that holds curlers in place works great, one ends thin and the other is thick. Snip off the head and place it in the end of your tubal track, a couple off bucks makes a lot of pins.

servoguy posted:

For 3rd rail insulators, get some gasket paper at a car parts store.  It is cheap and very durable and comes in various thicknesses.

For the insulators, use an OEM type fish paper, widely available, and cut to to size.

Wooden match sticks for fiber pins and nails for steel pins have been used for years.
If you don't have fiber pins, often you can just leave the pin out altogether.

Thanks guys, we are getting requests for insulated track sections to use for switching purposes. I know most of you guys are great Yankee engineers, but many of our customers just don't want to fool around with that stuff, so your inputs are really great. I tried the water bottle thing, but it split on me, next stop the auto parts store. Do you buy rubber or cork or ?

I was always a round tooth pick guy.

Heavy duty swaps work well when cutting off tips of course 

The big problem with all of these solutions for pins is that they only provide one of the functions needed.  For best results, you want a pin that mimics the shouldered design of the originals to prevent the gap from closing w/o notice. A plastic sprue from a model kit can be turned down, tapered, or melted to provide both the locating and insulating functions. Once you get a sample made to fit, they can be duplicated quickly.

Thanks guys, we are getting requests for insulated track sections to use for switching purposes. I know most of you guys are great Yankee engineers, but many of our customers just don't want to fool around with that stuff, so your inputs are really great. I tried the water bottle thing, but it split on me, next stop the auto parts store. Do you buy rubber or cork or ?

Center rail insulators from junk track sections.

Whoops forgot to mention pushed through electrical tape. Remember this was for an emergency. 

C W Burfle posted:

Center rail insulators from junk track sections.

These are made from fish paper, which you can buy & cut to to size if no originals are available. The crimping will cut through many other types, and maybe not right away either, which can be a real problem down the road.

Teeth from a nylon comb.  Not just a short-term solution.  They will last forever.

I used large wire ties when I was using 027 years ago. They can be found in the automotive area in Wal Mart

ADCX Rob posted:

servoguy posted:

For 3rd rail insulators, get some gasket paper at a car parts store.  It is cheap and very durable and comes in various thicknesses.

For the insulators, use an OEM type fish paper, widely available, and cut to to size.

super, will  get some