Hi try to vacuum the area you have cleaned

David

Hi

I've had similar problems, look at the point on the blades where they are milled down to half width, sometimes the milled corner hits the stock rail before the blade proper and this contact is insufficient to carry enough power across the point. It can be sorted by carefully bending the blade so the toe hits the stock rail first.

Off topic but the subject line made me smile.

We used to live on the side of a hill in a house where I built a pond.

Each year around March we'd see hundreds of frogs coming up the road to visit the pond. I used to put out signs to warn traffic about them.

Hi

I've had similar problems, look at the point on the blades where they are milled down to half width, sometimes the milled corner hits the stock rail before the blade proper and this contact is insufficient to carry enough power across the point. It can be sorted by carefully bending the blade so the toe hits the stock rail first.

Thanks for the idea, I think if I try really hard I may be able to carefully bend the blades, now were is my 2ld lump hammer and bolster?

Well track rubbers do shed bits of rubber which could be interfering with the blade contact. Those of us who build our own trackwork use a different method where the blades are bonded to the stock rails but insulated from the crossing ( aka Frog). The crossing is supplied via either contacts on a point motor or a microswitch operated by the tiebar mechanism.

Some people modify Peco points to the same electrical method.

The advantages are no issue with blade contact and also no problems with shorts due to wheels touching the back of the open blade (sometimes an issue with DCC) .

If you have available contacts you can add a switched supply to the crossing to act as a back up for the blade contact on Peco turnouts. This helps but does not resolve the shorting issue.

Don

Sounds complicated, and it would involve the dreaded soldering iron Maybe DCC is a way to go but Im not sure

Hi try to vacuum the area you have cleaned

David

Me use a vacuum cleaner, any they not for the Girlies to use LOL only joking

There's quite a lot about re-wiring Peco points to improve reliability on this site: http://www.wiringfordcc.com/switches_peco.htm

 

Usually, a bit of attention to the ends of the moving blades is enough to get decent contact - make sure there's no grit in there and spray with switch cleaner.  My old Hornby-Dublo points have extra spring tabs that slide below the rails, to improve contact.

 

I know what you mean about vacuums - remember that nature abhors a vacuum 

 

Mike

Hi

Ive had the problem before. It pretty much always turned out to be the little horizontal tabs on the point blades not making contact with the underside of the main running rail.

If you clean them then GENTLY bend them up until they just prevent the point blade moving all the way and then push them down a tad, I find you get a reliable contact and so a good current flow.

Sounds a bit more Heath Robinson than it actually is.

 

Hope it helps

 

Chas

Hi Ive had the problem before. It pretty much always turned out to be the little horizontal tabs on the point blades not making contact with the underside of the main running rail. If you clean them then GENTLY bend them up until they just prevent the point blade moving all the way and then push them down a tad, I find you get a reliable contact and so a good current flow. Sounds a bit more Heath Robinson than it actually is. Hope it helps Chas

Chas I think I might give your suggestion a go I have just got home from work and I feel the need to do some modelling