Thread title pretty much explains it. Now I have 4 nice #8 switches glued down as crossovers and well... I forgot to drill a hole to add switch machines later down the road. These are Peco #8 Insulfrogs. I really dont want to unglue the switches because i have everything perfectly aligned which took long enough. Any suggestions how to rework this area with out yanking everything apart?
You can use a Dremel tool and drill the hole from the bottom if your base is no more than two inches thick. You just locate the hole and drill up towards the switch with a regular drill. When you get close, you use a Dremel/hand rotary drill with a sanding rotor cylinder and c a r e f u l l y cut up below the switch. Hobby knife will finish it off. I saw this done; I did not do it. It sure didn't look easy, but when you have to do 40-50 turnouts, you get pretty good at it. BTW, what scale is this?
When you get to that "close" point where your going for the dremel, hopefully you can slide a 1" putty knife under your switch to protect it as you open up the hole more with the dremel. Better yet if you can pilot drill a hole through the switch rod hole then from the bottom just keep stepping up the drill bit size as you go. Stopping everytime you hit the putty knife you inserted after drilling the pilot hole.
That is just a genius idea!! :thumbs_up: I know my friend wishes he had thought of the putty knife. As for a pilot hole, if it is N scale and too small for a pilot hole, then one or more off set holes, say one inch to either side, would give you some bearings for locating the hole from the bottom. Also, what about an offset throw bar?
I would treat this as a lesson in keeping myself organized, and then remove the turnouts. Life is waaaay too short for all the aggravation you face working from below the bench to arrange a function you forgot to provide yourself at the correct time that would have taken 20 seconds per turnout. This is my opinion, nothing more....but I would grit my teeth and get at it. Look at it this way...you can build your learning doing the hard way or you can rely on your learning and skill at getting the turnouts tuned once you restore them...something you have already learned. Finally, I feel that the probability of damaging a turnout working on it from below essentially blind is a recipe for even more frustration than you are currently experiencing, and even worse, you will have to replace that/those turnout(s) anyway. To me, the way ahead is clear.
Hi: If you use a flat bottom drill bit and use caution and have a helper, you can drill the hole from the bottom. I've done a few without destroying the turnout.
I've chopped out holes with a sharp chisel. It's tedious. I do have an excellent set of woodworking chisels.
Hmm... I might just run some piano wire and put the switch machines in a tower next to the turnouts... Then mount the others under the layout. This dremel tools and putty knifes and all that... doesnt sound fun at all.
Having experienced the same problem with the Saucier Central's Engineering Department, I've followed this thread with great interest. You guys have given me some good ideas, thanks. First, I'll fire the Engineering Dept. and resolve the problem myself.....%$@#*! incompetent engineers.
I would drill a small pilot hole from above. Then - carefully - make a big hole from below. That's what I did with my modules. Wolfgang
I see that they are peco. I think you could drill four holes at the far edges of the square needed for the switch machines. From those four holes you could chisel out the material. I've done this more than once, when adding crossovers. You can easily cut parallel to the tracks, even by drilling a series of small holes, closely spaced, "east and west". Then you have to cut the "north and south" of the square. I've done this with a drill bit from the bottom, with a stop on the bit so it doesn't penetrate. My stop was a piece of tape! It worked.
I've often found it to be more trouble and more destructive to back myself out of an error. If it were me, I'd drill pilot holes through the throw bars, dribble some water over the glued down switches and gently pry them up. Then drill my switch machine holes. My 2ยข. Good luck.
