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Peco Surface mounted motors : PL11


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Has anyone had this problem before?

 

I ve just installed about 9 Peco SL11 surface mounted point motors in a fiddle yard which will be in the future positioned behind a scenic back board, The motors were chosen as l needed something reliable due to future access issues.

All the motors have been installed as Peco  suggested with the mounting lugs resting against the points, However when three of the points are  swung the point motor operating arm seem to lift up over the lug on the points operating arm, normally resulting in the motor jamming mid stroke and requiring mk1 finger to intervene, From what l can see there is possibly to much vertical play in the point motors mechanism, which is allowing the operating arm to ride up over the point lug.

Has anyone else come across his issue?

 

Bob C

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Hello Bob,

 

I too have used these in my fiddle yard and have fixed them down with just two Peco track pins, one in the 'leg' nearest the operating arm so that the arm is held down as low as possible and will not jump out when operating and one on the other side at the opposite end to hold the motor firmly in place.

 

If this still doesn't work a small dab of superglue on the small point tie-bar spigot coming up through the PL11 operating arm hole will do the trick.

 

Hope this works.

 

Regards,

 

Charlie

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Hi Charlie

 

Thanks for your advice. Currently the motors are glued down with PVA glue, to allow me to change them if required. They are mounted on the same cork base that the points are, so l believe all is square and level. 

I have given thought to a similar remedy as you ve suggested, in that l was contemplating carefully drilling a small vertical hole down into the point tie bar spigot and fitting some kind of "cap" to prevent the drive arm from lifting . However the points are now in situ at the rear of the layout and drilling accurately will be most difficult, so your idea of using a dab of superglue to form a cap sounds most interesting.

 

Thanks again 

Charlie

 

Regards

 

Bob C

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I presume that the problem occurs when the motor is pushing the tiebar.  It suggests to me that there is a vertical mis-alignment between the three troublesome motors and the tie bars.  You could try raising slight;ly, the side of the motor which is furthest from the rail so that the operating lever is aiming marginally downwards from the horizontal when pushing the tiebar.  

 

Harold.

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Hi HLT

 

I had though about that but it also seems to happen when the tie bar is being pulled. At first l suspected an alignment issue so lifted the offending motors and repositioned them, alas with no improvement. The motors were level sitting on the same cork base as the points themselves, and the lateral play in the point motor link seemed sufficient to cope with a fair amount of horizontal misalignment. Lifting the motor on the far side from the point is something l could try however when l initially looked at this there still seemed to be a lot of vertical movement in the point motor link, requiring a fair amount of off side packing.

 

Worth another look though

 

Thanks

 

 

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They do take some getting perfect when on cork or anything like that - with both solenoid & turnout straight onto the baseboard are usually better. I too found they tend to lift off so after trial and error, I  have the end where the wires come out, a bit higher than the tiebar end & also slightly leaning in towards the  turnout  as also suggested by HLT 0109 Harold. And of course have to have both turnout tiebar and solenoid operating lever, perfectly in line.

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I had the same problem, likewise only with a few of them.  Fixed it by fitting a yoke made of thick plasticard strip over the push bar, held down by a pair of pins that were push fits into holes drilled in the baseboard.  The strip is kept high enough gto stop the push bar rising up over the tiebar pin, but too low so as to prevent the tiebar moving freely.  Crude but effective.  Attached photo shows the arrangement, I hope.

P1190596.JPG

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16 hours ago, Sol said:

They do take some getting perfect when on cork or anything like that - with both solenoid & turnout straight onto the baseboard are usually better. I too found they tend to lift off so after trial and error, I  have the end where the wires come out, a bit higher than the tiebar end & also slightly leaning in towards the  turnout  as also suggested by HLT 0109 Harold. And of course have to have both turnout tiebar and solenoid operating lever, perfectly in line.

 

Thanks for that suggestion Sol.

 

I found myself last night thinking more along the lines of Eastglosmog's suggestion, l was thinking of making a small rubber sleeve which could be slipped on to the tie bar spigot to prevent the motor operating arm raising and thereby becoming disconnected. I think some variation is the way to go

 

Thank you once again

 

Bob C

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8 hours ago, eastglosmog said:

I had the same problem, likewise only with a few of them.  Fixed it by fitting a yoke made of thick plasticard strip over the push bar, held down by a pair of pins that were push fits into holes drilled in the baseboard.  The strip is kept high enough gto stop the push bar rising up over the tiebar pin, but too low so as to prevent the tiebar moving freely.  Crude but effective.  Attached photo shows the arrangement, I hope.

P1190596.JPG

 

 

Many thanks Eastglosmogs, l think something similar is the route for me to go. A little bit of experimenting required here, but is not that half the fun!!

 

Once again many thanks for your suggestion

 

Bob C

 

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  • 10 months later...

I looked at this problem here on RMWeb, having a similar problem myself in a section of board where a support beam affixed to the free standing units precluded me from mounting an under board motor.

I just superglued an offcuts of thin springy styrene sheet to the body of the PL-11 body left free over the arm and overhanging at the free end for added stability and longevity.

Quick, easy and cheap

076F48FF-1E8A-46C1-A68D-42433AEB0196.jpeg

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Hi all,

It is not just the lever arm that is flexible. The arm with lugs is also flexible. To help stop this you can glue a strip of plasticard to the baseboard underneath the lug. This will stop it pushing down. So doing both fixes should make the points bomb proof.

Edited by cypherman
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Haven't used these for some years, but I do recall having several on a cork topped layout board once.  One motor out of the lot had the same issue you describe.

Do they still come with the optional mounting plates/ risers?

I seem to remember not using them, as many years later I found them in my box of spares - if you have used them, I would suggest removing them.  Otherwise, any of the above mentioned solutions seem sound.  Best of luck!

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I don’t know if anybody has done this, but I mount my point motors remotely, and link them with a thin brass wire. If you drill from under the points operating lug, they are semi hollow, I drill about .7 mm hole, and bend the wire through the hole with a small bend on the end, to retain it. You can Then mount the points within a reasonable distance and and fit o piece sleeping on the wire at the point end to fill the gap, again with a slight bend. They work great and you can hide them under buildings, platforms or just disguise them as piles of ballast, coal etc. I have even gone under another track in a thin plastic tube to insulate the grass wire,

B

FE3FA59F-A757-40CC-ADB6-30F7015ECA05.jpeg

EEE1A0C4-256F-40BF-AE90-898740102DC2.jpeg

D3DF1EA8-A404-4442-A48D-B8CC196A5A31.jpeg

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