Been installing Caboose Industries groung throws and even though I will at some point power the frogs, I like things to work as well as possible before I get to that stage. All was going well, had a bit of a problem with a high level one but did get it right when I got to one that just did not put enough presure to transmit power, this was a 202S, the easiest to install. After looking for all the things typicaly wrong and nothing worked, I noticed that the rivit area on the throw bar was very loose. This has never happened to me before and I have installed many dozens before. What to do, turnout was installed and sodered. Took a chance and hit the rivet with a drop of CA, it worked and I didn't glue the bar to the cork either. Now what my question is are there other tricks others have come up with to fine tune the Caboose ground throws.
rrebell...Now what my question is are there other tricks others have come up with to fine tune the Caboose ground throws.
If there are any, I've never had need of them, as installing those ground throws is pretty easy and quick.
While I've used them on my entire layout, other than one Tortoise under a bridge on a wye used for turning, I recently had to remove some due to the partial upper level of my layout making them hard to reach.I replaced them with a variety of options, using Fulgurex (PFM) motor-driven switch machines, Rapido's RailCrew machines, and the Bluepoint manually-operated ones.That prompted me to eventually remove all of the Caboose Industry ground throws, other than those in the staging yards. While I've never had a problem with any of them, their out-of-scale appearance began to bother me. I replaced them using a homemade spring made from piano wire, then installed Central Valley switchstands, which have a positionable target - useful mainly for photography purposes...
The Rapido ones were a bit of a mess to install, as they're on a portion of the layout that's pretty-well "finished"...
It appears that I don't have a picture of the finished installation, but perhaps I'll add one later, showing the moveable target.
I'm going to be selling the removed Caboose Industry ground throws (45 of them, (all sprung, in both HO and N scale - all suitable for HO) plus two of the ones with electrical contacts) on my "home forum", with the proceeds to support its continuation, but if you're not a Member there, too, not much point in even looking, so I hope this won't be considered an ad.
Wayne
I've had problems with an un-sprung Shinohara turnout on my HOn3 line. The ground throw just would not apply a strong enough pressure to do a full transfer. I think they do make a Caboose ground throw with a spring... I also had headaches about the insulated gap issue. Anyway, I changed the turnout for a sprung (unifrog) Peco and that fixed the problem and the electrical headaches as well.
Simon
EDIT: I just looked up the 202S, and it is sprung, so I guess you can ignore my comment!
actually you're not 'tuning' the throws ... you are doing the work on the turnouts ...
Here's the Rapido RailCrew turnout motors completed on a crossover....
I use only one of the supplied momentary-contact switches to power both of these paired turnouts, as both need to be aligned either for straight-through operation or both for use as a crossover.
Power is supplied through a wall-wart, for both the Rapido and Fulgurex machines.
This one was the most difficult to install, as it's both behind an immoveable structure, and blocked by a lot of other nearby details, in addition to being a fairly long reach...
...so the dead-end track to which it allows access wasn't used all that much once the upper level was in place.
Once the siding became easily accessible again, I scratchbuilt a couple of structures and resurrected an old Revell fuel tank to create a servicing area for the Northshore's "BEE"...
I don't recall the source of the wooden knobs shown in the photo below, but they work well with the BluePoint switch machines, through connections made with .032" piano wire...
Thought of doing the spring but using a Shinohara, they have a rather large rivet hole on the throw bar.
I have a couple of those Shinohara curved turnouts, one with two fairly large holes in the throwbar, and a smaller one between them - I probably drilled it to accept the spring, which was made from .030" piano wire.
The other one has one hole in the throw bar, and yeah, it's a pretty good size. I'm using one of the Fulgurex machines on it, and the actuating wire is .030". However, the hole is big enough to accept .039" piano wire, which isn't too difficult to bend into a suitable spring.
As a matter of fact, the two turnouts shown in my first post use .039" piano wire for the springs. Those turnouts are from Atlas, so it should be do-able for the Shinohara, too.