Micro Engineering Turnouts - Thumbs up!

[mike_lawyer]

Nickelplate, one thing I noticed with an NMRA gauge is that for the diverging route, there is a tightness on the straight point that is opposite the diverging rail such that it is very slightly out of gauge straight out of the box.  You noticed the same thing a few years ago in another thread:

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=44798.0

In the thread, it states that you tried solving the problem by filing the divergent rail straighter.  I was thinking of maybe using a file to widen the point rail some.  Did the straightening of the divergent rail work for you on your turnouts?  Did you try filing the point rails as well?

Mike

[nickelplate759]

@mike_lawyer - filing the inside of the diverging rail was enough to fix the problem.  Filing the point is much harder, and it's fragile.

[peteski]

I just dunked the wire end in a tube of Walthers (Hobsco) Goo and stuck it in the brass tube.

LOL, if it works for you . . .
I just like whatever I bond together to survive nuclear attack.  I know it is just me being me. Sometimes that bites me in the butt (like when I have to take things apart for some reason), but that is a rare occurrence.

[mmagliaro]

Goo works GREAT for things like this.  It may not survive a nuclear attack (LOL, Peteski!), but a wire with Goo on it shoved into a brass tube becomes very hard to budge, much less remove, in only a few minutes.  Once it has been in there 24 hours or so, it becomes downright unremovable unless you resort to extreme measures like heating it up with a soldering iron. Goo is amazing stuff.

[mike_lawyer]

Well, I made my first error tonight with these ME switches.  Now I see why people say these are delicate.  I tried filing down the diverging rail to get one of the switches in gauge, but in doing so, I must have filed off the the tops of the little tabs that hold the diverging rail in place near the points and it came loose.  Not sure I am going to try and salvage it, I have plenty on hand and can just replace it.

Does anyone have some advice on filing the divergent rails without reaching the tabs?  Also, I did find that the point rails are very delicate, such that trying to file them extensively can cause them to come out of the rail joiners. 

Getting these turnouts in gauge before installation is going to be a challenge I can see.

[mmagliaro]

Best advice is to use a file that has a smooth bottom edge and teeth only on the sides.

Look for a "knife" type jeweler's file.
https://www.grobetusa.com/grobet-usa-18cm-knife-needle-file-cut-0-item-no-31-56201/

You don't want an "equalling" file, because those have teeth on both sides and both edges (and is how most
"hobby" jeweler's files are made.

Note how the fat edge has no teeth on it.  You can file the side against the rail, with that smooth edge on the bottom, so it
won't damage the ties or tabs that hold the rails in place.

And yes, my go-to brand is Grobet.  Cut 0 is the coarsest.  You probably want a 2 for this work.  A 4 will work and will make a very smooth finish, but is pretty fine and will take more time.

[nkalanaga]

Crimp the tube around the smaller wire as well and it shouldn't ever come loose.  After all, nobody's going to be pulling on it.

[mike_lawyer]

Best advice is to use a file that has a smooth bottom edge and teeth only on the sides.

Look for a "knife" type jeweler's file.
https://www.grobetusa.com/grobet-usa-18cm-knife-needle-file-cut-0-item-no-31-56201/

You don't want an "equalling" file, because those have teeth on both sides and both edges (and is how most
"hobby" jeweler's files are made.

Note how the fat edge has no teeth on it.  You can file the side against the rail, with that smooth edge on the bottom, so it
won't damage the ties or tabs that hold the rails in place.

And yes, my go-to brand is Grobet.  Cut 0 is the coarsest.  You probably want a 2 for this work.  A 4 will work and will make a very smooth finish, but is pretty fine and will take more time.

Thanks Max, I purchased four Grobet 16 cm files with cut 2, including the knife blade you recommended.  Looking forward to receiving them, finding really good jewelers files is key to this type of work.

Mike

[Sokramiketes]

Other options for thick benchwork include a rotating crank wire (run up through a brass tube just to the side of the throwbar hole) or a boden wire setup (fine wire in a surgical tubing carrier, push pull cable style).  The horizontal mount from Circuitron includes the latter, and may help implement option 1 too. 

[rodsup9000]

Other options for thick benchwork include a rotating crank wire (run up through a brass tube just to the side of the throwbar hole) or a boden wire setup (fine wire in a surgical tubing carrier, push pull cable style).  The horizontal mount from Circuitron includes the latter, and may help implement option 1 too. 

This is what I use for servos
 With foam, you could heat the tube a little and shove into foam

 






 Make the bell crank out of .025" music wire







For servos, I just bend 90 degrees.



 

[mmagliaro]

Thanks Max, I purchased four Grobet 16 cm files with cut 2, including the knife blade you recommended.  Looking forward to receiving them, finding really good jewelers files is key to this type of work.

Mike

You will not be sorry.  Grobet files are as head-and-shoulders above move "hobby" files as Precision Twist Drill wire drills are above hobby drills.  Just make sure you always file by stroking in only one direction, never saw back and forth.  That's a quick way to load up the file teeth and make them useless.

[mike_lawyer]

What is mind-boggling is that we cannot get turnouts in Code 55 that, out of the box, are in gauge.  I was looking at the new Walthers Code 83 turnouts in HO scale, and those are awesome, almost to the quality of hand-made turnouts, with solid point rails:

https://www.walthers.com/code-83-nickel-silver-dcc-friendly-number-6-turnout-right-hand

It's too bad we can't get that kind of quality in N scale.  Seems there is a market there, but no one is exactly filling it.  I like the ME turnouts, but there is some filing necessary to get them in NMRA gauge sometimes.

[mike_lawyer]

I spent some time yesterday working on filing and installing my ME turnouts.  I really like them a lot.  It takes a little bit of filing to get everything in gauge over the divergent route, but I am happier with them than with Atlas C55 switches in that the frog and points are solid nickel-silver rail, not plating.  While they take a bit of tweaking, I have found them to be closer to in gauge than the Atlas turnouts.

[diezmon]

Hmm.. where does one find these elusive turnouts?  I really like them too, but every time I look they're out of stock, or back ordered. 

[mu26aeh]

Hmm.. where does one find these elusive turnouts?  I really like them too, but every time I look they're out of stock, or back ordered. 

ME was recently bought out and new ownership is trying to get product back out to market.  HO items are getting shipped out but N scale hasn't shown up except for what was in stock at time of purchase.  Shop I work at did have some but website is not showing anything currently.