I've got a couple of these, but before I install them, I would like to get some pointers. The instructions say to drill a 3/8 to 1/2 hole under the turnout? 3/8 to 1/2 is HUGE. How would you possibly cover that? I know some of you guys have these, and there has to be a better way than the giant hole. I've got a couple ideas, but I'd like some advice from people who've done it before.
I have never used them since I worked straight off an Atlas Track Plan Book written before they were invented. I think they want a large hole so there is room for the rod to move back and forth when operating the switch. I think.
Is there some way to drill a hole almost all the way to the switch and then slot the travel for the switch machine?
As I said, I never used one. I was told, possibly in error, by my LHS when I started purchasing track and turnouts, that the switch would not work with 1/2" plywood base and that I should not bother. To this day, I suspect the LHS had in stock the regular powered turnouts and not the turnouts and the under the table switches needed in the quantities I required. Now, since I have discovered this board, I am quite comfortable in asking here. Strange as it may seem, I am also confident and secure in asking my e-tailer for guidance rather than my LHS.
You could drill the hole, then use a piece of styrene to cover the hole. You could put a slot in the styrene.
What I do is drill a hole a little bit lager than the throw of the points from the top, then I drill a 1" hole from the bottom with a spade bit using the smaller hole as a pilot. I stop when I break trough the sup roadbed and before I get to the cork. Rodney
Here's what I did. I pilot drilled a hole through the hole in the throwbar. I took a 3/8 bit and drilled all the way through the plywood and roadbed, but I put a piece of steel under the throwbar so I wouldn't drill into it. I installed the switch motor and got it working. I then took a piece of cork a little bigger than the size of the hole, and cut out a slot in it the size of the throwbar at its farthest extension. ths pice can be ballasted just like the rest of the track, and you can't even see the hole under it. The bar on the machine had enough length on it to go through 3/4 plywood and cork roadbed.
Expanding on Rodney's comment above you can use a Roto-Zip for the slot in the roadbed. It really works well as long as you don't try to push too fast. Overheat the bit and it dulls fast AND breaks. I speak from experience here having used one to do many things not intended with a Roto-Zip. A bit breaking at 30,000rpm and in the range of 190deg or more does BURN.
