Hole size for Point Motors

[The Bigbee Line]

I have some cobalts to fit. What size holes have people used?

I have 20mm of base to go through. 
 

thanks in advance. 

[brossard]

When I did mine, I had to excavate through 2" of foam.  (That is a story for another day).  Suffice to say I chose to make a slot 1/4" x 1".  I know from experience that you want to be generous and be careful not to have the operating wire foul anywhere.  When the time comes for ballast I reckon I can close up the size of the slot with, say sandpaper.

 

John

Edited May 12, 2020 by brossard

[The Bigbee Line]

John,

 

Thanks for the information.  I was planning a fabricated 'slot guard' of dark plastic, made from scrap, to provide a smooth surface for the hole.

 

I've stripped one point to get the blade ends fettled, the peco square box removed and some wires soldered to the bottom of the fish plates that form the hinge.

 

I will be using the gaugemaster DCC switches to set the polarity of the frog, that will stop shorts when driving the wrong way against points...

 

More progress later...

 

 

 

 

[brossard]

Interesting that you are modding Peco points.  I've done the same:

 

 

Peco in the middle.  Timbers around the switch removed and replaced with clean ones.  I used JLTRT (now MM1) tiebars to reset the blade gap to something more reasonable.

 

I did notice that the blades are a loose fit in the joiners so I soldered these.  My concern is that over time with tarnish, wear, paint and dirt, these will stop conducting.  If you are using Tortoise (as I am) or Cobalt, these have the muscle to move the blades.

 

John

[The Bigbee Line]

Here is the “sub-roadbase”. With 5 countersunk holes for wires. The countersink gives a little wiggle room. 

 

Plus a nice big hole for the operating wire. 
 

 

There are a couple of wires to the blades. Soldered under the fishplate that acts as the hinge. 
 

 

The wires run down the various holes. 
 

[The Bigbee Line]

I found a 1 amp regulated supply and tested the 4 motors I had in my secret store (secret because I could not find them...)

 

So I found a suitable thickness piece  of ply.  Cut the ply into a square and screwed the motor on with a piece of card as a filler as the base of the motor is not quite flat.

 

I needed a switch for testing and found a maplins 4 pole changeover switch.  2 poles were used to create a changeover switch.  2 of the 4 motors were fine, the other 2 moved a little when powered up.  However once wired up, I cycled the motor and once it started moving it improved with every cycle..

 

 

I will use this switch to operate the 2 sets of points that are the connection to the goods yard incorporating the trap point.

 

Fine tuning the position is required, so I'll make some slots to allow adjustment to the sub-base..

 

Here is the current mounting