Turnouts and nail polish?

[pmwtrain]

Been lurking on this and wondering also where the actual short contact was. Here is a permanent solution to it http://railwaybobsmodulebuildingtips.blogspot.com.au/2011/06/fixing-short-in-peco-insulfrog.html

The problem isn't caused by the wheel flange as might be expected, but by the tread bridging the 2 rails.

i applied nail polish but because it was my first time I didn't put much on. It didn't work. So, I figured I had nothing to lose so I put considerably more on top and both sides of all rails near the frog. I thought that did the trick until I tried going through at very slow speed...a short.

Then i checked out the permanent fix tootnkumin proposed and tried it.
Have done a few tests at fast and slow speeds forward and reverse. So far so good! It only took a couple of minutes to file the rails to the point I hope has eliminated problems.

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone

 

[Iron Horseman]

I have a large number of Peco turnouts that I want to use on my next layout. Some are insulated, some not.

I want to use DCC, so I figured I was going to have to 'rewire' some of those turnouts.

First the issue has nothing to do with DCC or not DCC. An electrical short is an electrical short.

But I understand this can be a real pain in the you know what. Is it possible I could just utilize this 'nail polish' solution on the offending turnouts??

I don't know what you mean by re-wiring, but for this particular problem - yes nail polish can be used.

 

[beiland]

I don't know what you mean by re-wiring.... .

This is what I was referring to...
http://railwaybobsmodulebuildingtips.blogspot.ca/2013/01/the-peco-electrofrog-modifications.html

...excerpt.
This will be done in 3 extra steps and will all be done on the underside of the Peco Electrofrog. We're going to:
2) Cut the wire bonds between the frog and the inside mainline and diverging rails. This cuts all power to the frog. Depending on which way the turnout is thrown, it also cuts power to either the inside mainline rail or the inside diverging rail.
3) Solder some wire bonds between the outside mainline rail and the inside diverging rail; and between the outside diverging rail and the inside mainline rail. This restores power (with the correct polarity) to the inside mainline and diverging rails.
4) Add a Tam Valley Frog Juicer (or a switch) to power the frog. This restores power to the frog and sets up a control mechanism which gives the correct polarity to the frog as a train goes through the turnout.

 

[Selector]

I have joined this discussion very late, but I had the problem of shorts at the frogs of DCC-friendly curved turnouts supplied by Walthers/Shinohara. The problem was that my BLI T1 Duplex, a fixed-frame locomotive like the prototype, has blind middle axles that made contact with the diverging route's frog points rail where it split, or wye'd, beyond the insulation spacer. Rather than to paint, which I tried in one instance and didn't find very permanent or effective, was to simply take my Dremel with cut-off disk and cut a gap about 3/8" further out on the diverging route's frog point rail. By making that segment dead, any double contact met with a dead segment as the blind driver wiped over both rail surfaces. It worked very well, of course, and was a fix that I could forget as being permanent.

 

[Iron Horseman]

This is what I was referring to...
http://railwaybobsmodulebuildingtips.blogspot.ca/2013/01/the-peco-electrofrog-modifications.html

Ah, ok I know that procedure. That is for Electrofrog not Insulfrog turnouts. That is a completely different problem than what you were having.

Also on the side, in my opinion, it is a whole lot of work and extra cost for very little gain. In 35 years and hundreds of Peco turnouts I've used at home, at the club(s), and at the museum I have yet to experience the problem this solution is fixing.

 

[MikeOwnby]

This is what I was referring to...
http://railwaybobsmodulebuildingtips.blogspot.ca/2013/01/the-peco-electrofrog-modifications.html

If you're talking about electrofrog turnouts when you say "not insulated" in your earlier post to this thread then no, nail polish will not work. With the nail polish you're adding extra insulation to insulfrog rails that are already supposed to be insulated because your wheels are bridging that insulated gap. An electrofrog turnout has the two frog rails solidly connected to a metal frog that is not insulated at all and can't be in itself. It's all one piece of metal where the frog is.

 

[beiland]

Ah, ok I know that procedure. That is for Electrofrog not Insulfrog turnouts. That is a completely different problem than what you were having.

Also on the side, in my opinion, it is a whole lot of work and extra cost for very little gain. In 35 years and hundreds of Peco turnouts I've used at home, at the club(s), and at the museum I have yet to experience the problem this solution is fixing.

I have collected a whole lot of Peco turnouts over the years for use on my next DCC layout. I have both types, and I figured I could always make either type work.

Are you suggesting I throw out the electrofrog ones, as its just too much trouble to adapt them?