Jon Gwinnett Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 And it was all going so well. My little shunty plank (switchy plank since its American?) has been keeping me happy, so much so I decided to "improve" it by painting the baseboard sides and the track. Â Woe is me. It now looks much better, but the track no longer works, or at least not all of it. I masked the tips of the point blades and their stock rails, I've cleaned the rail heads, but the diverging route from the first switch no longer works. What have I done? Â I realize this is probably some sort of newbie mistake but I haven't had this problem before. The straight route through the turnout still works fine, its only the diverging route that doesn't . On close examination, the loco stops as soon as the rearmost axle meets the insulating gap in the middle of the frog, suggesting there is no power past the frog on the diverging route. Its not tripping off the dcc controller, so i don't think there's a short. Â Advice, suggestions or mocking laughter all invited. I really want to fix this. Unfortunately the track is firmly glued down now - lesson number one for next time i suspect! Â Help! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brossard Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Jon, you mention DCC so I assume that's what you are doing. I should say right off that I haven't used code 83. Are we talking Peco? Sounds like the turnouts rely on the blade contacting the stock rail for power - I would say this is a bad idea. Even without painting, this contact would deteriorate as the track tarnishes and dirt accumulates.  You can make the turnouts DCC ready by: a: bonding the closure rail to the stock rail. Clean off a small area of both rails and solder 22 or 24 gauge wire droppers to the rail (outside, you don't want flanges hitting the solder). Drill holes and drop these below the board, joining them together and to the power feed for the turnout underneath. b: isolate the common crossing by removing the jumper from under the isolated gap between closure and wing rail. Here, I'm assuming the turnout follows standard Peco construction. Do this by drilling a small hole (with a pin vice) adjacent to the plastic isolation gap. Feel around with a small screwdriver and push the jumper out. Bend it well out of the way, you don't want it springing back. Drop a wire from the crossing (the vee and wing rails should be live) under the board and connect to a switch which changes crossing polarity. This be from a point motor or a manual point lever. c: the rails coming off the Vee will need to be isolated - cut through metal joiners if needed and fill with plastic strip/glue, trimming to shape after all is dry.  For even more details on DCC wiring:  http://www.brian-lambert.co.uk/DCC.htm  Your description is a bit vague so I've made a ton of assumptions. If my assumptions don't apply then ignore.  John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave1905 Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Sounds like you got paint in the rail joiners or the hinges to the point so its not conducting electricity anymore. This isn't a "DCC friendly" issue, its just an electical oops. Â Get a voltmeter or grain of wheat bulb (for track voltage) and work your way along the switch testing each part of the switch. Test the rail between teh joint and the frog, the frog, the heel of the frog and the hinge of the points, the points, etc. Â The frog itself may be dead by design depending on the brand of the switch. Once you find the offending piece of isolated rail, you can solder a feeder to it from either the bus or the piece of rail that is supposed to be feeding it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Gwinnett Posted November 23, 2011 Author Share Posted November 23, 2011 Thanks John. Â I recognise that relying on the point blades will be an issue over time but this is a quicky not a lifetime epic. It was all working fine before painting - I've been running it happily for a week without probs. So I suspect I've got paint somewhere I shouldn't have, just can't figure out where! Â Thanks for the suggestions though. Â Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Yep - first up Jon, did you modify the points before you put them in, and is it only fed from the 'lead' track? And - insulfrog or electrofrog.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brossard Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 I wouldn't expect that a hinge would stop conducting if the surface was painted. I've done lots and never seen this. Peco Code 83 are electrofrog (from the pictures on Peco's site) but Jon still hasn't told what he's using. Â I had a code 75 point have a hinge become so loose that it wouldn't conduct any more. My fix was to solder it rigid. Tortoise motors with 0.032" op. wire have enough muscle to move even these blades. Â John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Gwinnett Posted November 23, 2011 Author Share Posted November 23, 2011 Apologies for not supplying enough data! The points are unmodified Peco code 83 insulfrog. I think this means the track beyond the frog is fed by the embedded jumpers underneath. Â Its powered (fed) from the toe end only - there's no dcc bus just one power feed in the main track. (Remembering that this was meant to be a minimum effort job from my sickbed!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Jon - easiest option then is pretty much as Dave says - connect the dead rail on siding 2 from the relevant live one on siding 1 next to it. Â And whilst I hear you 'minimum effort' thought, whilst you've got the iron and wire out it might be as easy to jumper both rails on all three ends which ought to near bulletproof it! Â Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Gwinnett Posted November 23, 2011 Author Share Posted November 23, 2011 Good plan. Clearly my soldering avoidance plan is doomed! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave1905 Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 When you solder the jumpers its important to keep track of which ones are connected to which rail or you will end up with a very hard to detect short. Don't ask me how I know this. 8-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Gwinnett Posted November 25, 2011 Author Share Posted November 25, 2011 Jumpers added and problem solved - thanks chaps. One occasional short, probably due to loco wheels being wider than the insulfrog part of the points (a touch of nail lacquer should sort that) and one spot where stalling still occasionally occurs - probably due to dirty track after all the fussing about. Â But the key thing is it works again! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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