Super-Snap switch issues

Short answer, yes.

Long answer - Ugh. I bought several of the first run of the O72 and had to fix a myriad of problems, of which other people claim did not exist. Why did I keep them? Because at the time there was nothing better for tubular track. I bought some of the Ross tinplate switches but their switch machine is not conducive to running on bare floor.

I don't have any in front of me, but one of the problems is one or both of the removable sections near the frog needs to be isolated, and one or both are  not, at least for the first run. I think all I did was unscrew it, file it down a bit, re-install, and voila. It needs to be isolated because some times it is touched by a outside rail, and some times a center roller is touching it.

The second issue was a real bear to find. The solution is you need to put a piece of tape over one of the points, the rails that move. Otherwise at some point a center roller is touching it at the same time the BACK of the wheel of an engine is touching it. The engine needs to be long enough, so maybe a GP-7 would be fine. I bought some of these switches from a forum member and he had put clear tape over it, much better than my black electrical tape. As I recall, it is the point that is not against the main outer rail when the curved path is taken - you need to put the switch on the curved route to install the tape. As far as I recall, the problem does not exist when the path is straight.

I also had problems with the mechanism, but I can't recall. I also soldered a wire to the outside rail to the post that is supposed to have ground connection. Then another mod I made was to expose the underside of the center rail and solder 14 gauge solid wire to each of the three pieces, that way you can transfer ac power thru it. I found this by placing a lighted caboose on the track and measuring the voltage drop across the layout and what-do-you-know. You might not need to do this if you have a permanent layout and can put feeds all over, it was pretty time consuming.

I think I also had problems with the way they wired the isolated sections, just ran a thin black piece of wire to the sections.

I removed the snap track connections and installed them with metal or plastic pins as need be.

Sullyman, are your problem switches by chance right-handers? In the last 2 years, I've gone through probably 50 of these switches, and every right-hand switch has the same issue: no air gap between the curved lead and the frog. This has only been on the right-hand switches; no issue with all the left-handers. If you have a continuity meter, put a lead on the curved lead and the frog. If you have continuity, there's your problem. Do the same test on a left-hand switch, and I guarantee you won't have continuity, which is the way it should be. IllinoisCentral is right: a piece of tape over the entire length of the curved lead solves the shorting issue. In the photo below, the screwdriver is pointing to the rail that needs the tape. Good luck and keep us posted. 

John