Del Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Having seen the Ratio signal control it in the latest Model Rail, I wondered if it could be used to control points. But then I found out they do a different point control kit. It's very cheap (less than £3 per unit) and seems very simple to build and use. But is it quite robust? Has anyone got any experiences of it, whether good or bad? I see on the old RMWeb that smudgeloco was going to investigate it... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smudgeloco Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Hi Del, indeed I was. I did purchase a set, and took a good look at it. I thought it had some merit, but like you, I was concerned with-it's robustness. I also thought it had to many parts to "go wrong." In fairness though, I did not test one in situ. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ELECTRIC MIKE Posted July 4, 2021 Share Posted July 4, 2021 An old question that I wonder if anyone has answered? I'd be needing 20 units. Thoughts? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grovenor Posted July 5, 2021 Share Posted July 5, 2021 Try one properly before buying the rest. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crewlisle Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 I always ask myself why do modellers waste money on things that just cost a little time & very little money to make? Whilst the Ratio signal or point control kit 'does what it says on the tin', if you have a lot of polnts or signals to control, the £4.15 per unit soon adds up. On my DCC layout 'Crewlisle' I have 29 live frog points (25 operated by standard Peco solenoids with no polarity switches or frog juicers) the other 4 operated by the method described below along with 5 multi-arm Ratio semaphore signals from the inside of the operating well. All I use are lengths of 1.5mm steel rods bent as cranks to operate the individual arms or points from the underside of baseboards. Pull/Push for the points as the ends go through the point tie bar; turn for the signals as there are small cranks soldered to the ends under the signals. Wooden blocks or pieces of ply are glued to underside of baseboard as supports. I also have a 7 doll gantry at the entrance to the terminus, but operated by 'big hand from the sky'! I will be at Warley in November (fingers crossed). Come across & have a close look how effective & simple it is. And cheap! Peter 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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