Lionel fastrack switch help

@Casper posted:

Hello, I changed my layout around and when I finally rehooked everything up my switch is doing this,( I will attach a video below). I’ve also had the switch get stuck to the one side and would not let it go back the other way. Any suggestions would be great! Thank You.

I’ve had this happen, from time to time, and I’ve had to remove the metal shield, on the bottom, to get access to things to free up the rack and pinion gear(s). Sometimes a speck of something gets stuck in the gears, sometimes the pinion gear gets out of alignment. This requires losing the screws that hold the motor and reseat everything. Quite annoying procedure(s) for what they cost. But, then, a lot of moving parts so it’s almost inevitable. If you remove the screws, do not over tighten when reinstalling.

Steve

Really good advice Steve.    Once I could see a speck of something right down in the frogs on the grey sliding piece.  I was lucky to pull that speck out with the switch in place. 

@RideTheRails posted:

I’ve had this happen, from time to time, and I’ve had to remove the metal shield, on the bottom, to get access to things to free up the rack and pinion gear(s). Sometimes a speck of something gets stuck in the gears, sometimes the pinion gear gets out of alignment. This requires losing the screws that hold the motor and reseat everything. Quite annoying procedure(s) for what they cost. But, then, a lot of moving parts so it’s almost inevitable. If you remove the screws, do not over tighten when reinstalling.

Steve

I had a similar issue. It took several "openings" before I realized what was causing the rack to jam. In my case the plastic mount securing the little can motor was not fully tightened allowing the gear to crawl up out of the rack at the far end of travel. Snugging down the two screws in the motor mount corrected the issue.

Additionally, a switch that doesn't get jammed but doesn't change color and return, could have a problem with one of the micro switches that are activated at either end of the rack .

I had a microswitch that was not fully closing when the rack reached the end of full travel. This can be tested by removing the bottom cover and turning the switch by the lantern and listening for the "click" at the end of rack travel.

While a bit crude. I built up the edge of the rack with electrical tape so it would fully close the micros switch. It has worked fine for years.

When I had a lot of Fastrack, as well as a bunch of switches, I used JB-Weld to build up the arm on the problem microswitches, worked great.

Would you be able to show me a picture of what I should be checking once I take the back cover of the switch off? Thank you all for the reply’s!

These two pics show the microswitches with the cover off courtesy @Joe K from about 3 years ago.

So I just check the screws around the area in the photos?

I had a micro switch go out in one of my Fastrack switches - it was on a reversing section so the switch was firing back and forth quite a bit via the non-derail feature. I ordered a bunch of replacement micro switches directly from Lionel - they're pretty cheap and pretty easy to replace.

You can press it with your finger and you should hear an audible "click" when you press it all the way in. If you don't, it may be the micro switch.

Take the cover off, power up the switch from your transformer then observe the behavior while switching.  The black pie piece (rack) should rotate and make contact with the microswitches at each end of travel.  If it travels fully but the microswitch needs a little help change color then the options were JB Weld or tape to build it up some.  Check screws on microswitches to make sure they are snug. 

@Steims posted:

Take the cover off, power up the switch from your transformer then observe the behavior while switching.  The black pie piece (rack) should rotate and make contact with the microswitches at each end of travel.  If it travels fully but the microswitch needs a little help change color then the options were JB Weld or tape to build it up some.  Check screws on microswitches to make sure they are snug.

I have a one of these switches “lock “ one way. I would turn the lantern and it was tight. What I found is sometimes the rack is over traveled just a bit. While there is no fix, you can try to reset very carefully the micro switch . I also found a little grease goes a long way.