First Hand Laid O-Scale Switch

Very nice work.

Outstanding! 

I am curious.  How long did it take you to build it?  Looks really good, nice work.

Orrin

Tom Burke,

    Great job, have you tried running any Tin Plate thru your custom made switch?

PCRR/Dave

WOW!!!

Some "how to" information to go with your excellent photos would make a terrific thread.

Nicely done!

Don

Hi:

A Quick re-cap on what went well and what I need to improve on.

1 - Spent about 4 days on this switch.  The next ones should go much faster cause I smarter now.

2 - Have a good NMRA track gauge.  Check often and recheck.  Do not rely on your 3-point gauge as it won't tell you if you are too wide or too tight.

3 - Best to have a 1" wide belt sander attachment on your disc sander.

4 - Be sure your tie plate profile match the lower web of your track or else you can't keep the plates from twisting.

5 - I chose to not build hinged points.  Transitions are much smoother but a little more effort is required of a switch machine.  My points default to the center (neither point snugs up against its mating stock rail).

6 - Make a frog soldering fixture.  This makes soldering much, much easier with no loss of precision.  I never paid much attention to the angles until I read about a couple of simplified examples in the May and November MR 1955.  I also watched a lot of u-tube "how to's".

7 - Take your time and expect issues that will need correcting.  Again, Gauge is critical.  Use your measuring gauge frequently.

8 - I purchased a printed circuit board with a glass substrate.  I couldn't cut, score and break or shear the stuff.  It was not Phenolic based.  Big mistake.  I instead opted to use a tie for the ground throw.  I inserted a metal tube in the center for the switch machine wire and embedded small nuts underneath so I could bolt 2 brass tabs that could be removable.  The tabs then get soldered to the points.  

9 - I chose to build directly on ties rather than soldering without ties.  

Thanks...

Oh yes, 

I nearly forgot...   When you remove the bottom flange web where the points will hit the stock rails, be sure to remove it all.  Big trouble to even leave a slight web left.  File or sand it completely off and even undercut it to be sure.  With any remaining where the points touch, will leave a gap.  If you already spiked the stock rail, you will be removing it.

Tom, that is the fanciest hand laid switch I've ever seen in any scale, and I've done quite a few myself over the years. I can see why it took 4 days, with all the tie plates and spikes in every tie.

Your tips are pretty much spot on, though I was never one for jigs when doing switches. Typically, I just lay the stock rails where I want them to go, and gauge everything off them. The frogs just fall into place from there.