Fast Tracks

Evening all...

I've built about 12 or 13 turnouts, some stub; some point, but I'm inconsistent on a pointy frog. Some times I make one (a few) perfect and other times I end up tossing them. Across all the "test wheels" run smooth, but sometimes it just doesn't look right.

I even resorted to building the frog points last and in place just to make sure I get a good alignment and at the right spot to avoid a bump or a dip. It did work, but was tedious. Any suggestions?

Maybe I'm too picky. The FastTracks system works very, very well and I'm quite happy with the investment, just want a sharper frog point.

Thanks
Gordon Patton

Gordon,

Any chance for a picture showing what you "point" is

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Paul Bender

Everybody can shovel, firing is an art

📷 Image no longer available Originally hosted at i279.photobucket.com — the host went away before this archive was made.

Firing this train was more fun then hard labor © R. de Water

First off, a slight bump thru the frog is completely normal.

Watch this video starting at 3:10. Tim explains this very clearly:

http://www.handlaidtrack.com/videos-a/144.htm?video=boUNeUukmZE&title=Installing%20The%20Frogpoints

Secondly, and this is just my personal experience thus far (and note i'm using the HO fixtures) I have found a couple things.

Get yourself one of those head band magnifier like this

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I have found this helps a lot getting the rail properly aligned on the point/frog form tool in preperation for filing. Note I also use the frog helper tool) Then I use the magnifier when lining up the two halves dead on equal in the frog helper.

Also, it is very important you solder the wing rails very carefully and dont let the solder wick underneath and onto the opposite side where the frog point is going to go. (I've done it) The frog rail will sit on top of the solder and not sit flat on the PC ties. I also am careful to file the frog point flat on the bottom of the rail (Only file enough to knock off any solder, not the rail!) after I solder the frog halves together.

Personally, I have found the most critical thing is to get the wing rails right ESPECIALLY the bend (where they will align with the frog) I spend a lot of time forming the wing rail so it drops in the fixture nearly flawlessly on it's own..NO FORCING! I have also invested in the rail bender tool and this makes the job of forming the diverging route of the wing rails much more consistent and keeps the rail true thru the radius. (This is just me, I never could get a consistent radius by bending it by hand)

Hope it helps.

Thanks, yes it helps.

I have/do pretty much all you mention except I do not have the rail roller (but I need to acquire one not only for the reasons you mentioned, but for mainline work).

Thanks

Have you thought about using a pair of "Vice Grips" or similar to clamp the rail down whilst soldering? Clearly a scrap piece of [insert name of suitably thin material here] would also be use to protect the fixture from damage.

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Now waiting for a better currency exchange rate before I order.

No. What I mean is the solder can wick under the PC tie thats being soldered on the one side. Like the wing rail opposite where the frog point goes. If it does happen to wick under that PC tie during soldering, this will create a bit of a solder "blob" on the inside bottom of the rail on that particular PC tie and this will interfere with the frog point rail sitting flat on that PC tie when it is installed. (since you solder the wing rails first and then set the frog point clearances with the NMRA gauge (at least in HO scale).