Point control by wire in brass tube

[Rob K]

I am a few weeks away from being ready to install some009  points and setting up wire in brass tube to operate them. It will be my first time.

Any general tips, please

Should i put the tube in a recess in the cork I am covering the baseboard in ? Glue the tube down ? Cover it with another layer of cork ?..and Finally how do I finish off the wire, can I get some sort of stopper or something /
Apologies if this question should go elsewhere or if it has been asked before

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

What I did with both plastic and brass tube.

 

Slotted the cork in as straight a line as possible between the turnout and the slide switch which I used for operating.

Laid the tube in and covered with a dribble of PVA glue and sanded it smooth where necessary once it had gone off.

I left the ends open, as long as you are careful when ballasting the turnout you should be OK, for extra security maybe a bit of vaseline on the tube end to prevent glue ingress.

Carry on building the layout and ballasting the track without an extra layer of cork.

 

Mike.

[JamFjord]

Mike has what sounds very much like the solution. I haven't done this myself (yet) but James Hilton briefly touches on wire/rod point control in the thread about his Pont-y-Dulais layout - brass rod and styrene tubes, with little pull knobs mounted in the view frame. Simple and effective. I have a fuzzy recollection that there's more detail on his blog, but here's a link to the thread: 

 

Edited March 2, 2023 by JamFjord

[Steve Hewitt]

Be careful with Brass tube if you can't keep it straight.  It loves to kink and trap the wire. 

If possible I'd recommend silicone or PTFE tube. Avoids lubrication in use.

Electrical wire terminations can be useful - sort of thing you find on display in car accessories shops. 

 

Steve 

[Rob K]

On 02/03/2023 at 00:37, JamFjord said:

Mike has what sounds very much like the solution. I haven't done this myself (yet) but James Hilton briefly touches on wire/rod point control in the thread about his Pont-y-Dulais layout - brass rod and styrene tubes, with little pull knobs mounted in the view frame. Simple and effective. I have a fuzzy recollection that there's more detail on his blog, but here's a link to the thread: 

 

I can't see the " little pull knobs". Where would I get these, and how do I attach the bit of wire that will be poking out of the tube ?

 

[Geoffrey]

I use wire in tube but at the end of the baseboard I just bend the wire upwards about a centimetre (maybe a bit more).This enables me to hold the wire and push or pull as required.You can cover the end with a bit of tape to make holding it easier.

[CloggyDog]

My preference is KS #8149 1/16 square brass tube with 0.9mm wire within. 

 

I inset the tube into my trackbase of 2mm eva foam sheet (cheaper/better than cork, imho). Keep the run straight and at right angles to the track. 

 

At the point end, the wire is bent up to engage into one of the holes in the tiebar. At the other end, it runs through the fascia and I use a section of 'chocbock' as the handle. 

[JamFjord]

23 hours ago, Rob K said:

I can't see the " little pull knobs". Where would I get these, and how do I attach the bit of wire that will be poking out of the tube ?

 

 

I can't tell you for sure, as I didn't build the layout, but here's a photo from James' blog that shows one of the knobs that is attached to the rod - if you zoom in you can see it a bit better.

https://paxton-road.blogspot.com/2020/06/pont-y-dulais-shed-progress.html

 

They just look to be glued to the end of the rod, and having operated the layout (it's now owned by my mum) that does indeed 'feel' like the case. As to where you get them, no idea - they could well be handmade from wood? I don't think it would be too difficult to repurpose something of a suitable size by drilling an appropriately sized hole with a pin vise that you can glue onto the end of the rod - maybe something like this?

Dolls house 3mm wooden door knobs

Dolls house 4mm wooden door knobs 

Dolls house suppliers have all sorts of interesting (out of scale) bits and bobs that can be repurposed.

 

Hope that helps a little - good luck with putting this together and I'd love to see whatever solution you end up using :)

 

Edited March 8, 2023 by JamFjord

[doilum]

Sadly no longer available in scrapyards but a a car choke cable is near perfect from the task. Easily available from classic car people.

[Rob K]

On 08/03/2023 at 09:58, JamFjord said:

 

I can't tell you for sure, as I didn't build the layout, but here's a photo from James' blog that shows one of the knobs that is attached to the rod - if you zoom in you can see it a bit better.

https://paxton-road.blogspot.com/2020/06/pont-y-dulais-shed-progress.html

 

They just look to be glued to the end of the rod, and having operated the layout (it's now owned by my mum) that does indeed 'feel' like the case. As to where you get them, no idea - they could well be handmade from wood? I don't think it would be too difficult to repurpose something of a suitable size by drilling an appropriately sized hole with a pin vise that you can glue onto the end of the rod - maybe something like this?

Dolls house 3mm wooden door knobs

Dolls house 4mm wooden door knobs 

Dolls house suppliers have all sorts of interesting (out of scale) bits and bobs that can be repurposed.

 

Hope that helps a little - good luck with putting this together and I'd love to see whatever solution you end up using :)

 

Many thanks. I can see them now and get the idea

I will be posting some photos of my next stage before long. Just been gluing down the cork base and left a 1mm nick for the tube

I now need to pluck up courage and buy a Dremel

Hand held drill is in the post

[Rhys]

Sorry I'm a bit late to the party here.

Might I suggest using thin piano wire and curtain rail?

Requires a bit more cutting into the baseboard but quite flexible and bomb proof (one of my now departed friend was using it in the mid 1980's and as far as I know its still going strong). The curtain rail can't kink or crimp.

 

Heres an example from my layout, which also uses DPDT microswitches to route power to the point frogs. Track is hand laid 9mm gauge.

 

Edited March 14, 2023 by Rhys