Repair points on Kato #4 Turnout?

[quinntopia]

Hello all,

This is, unfortunately, a problem I've ran into a couple of times:  One of the points on one one of my Unitrack #4 turnouts seems to have come loose from the pivot point where it provides the transition to the diverging route (sorry...is this making sense? perhaps I need to snap a photo).

The actual moving 'points' sections pivot on some sort of tiny brass mechanism  (I'm speaking of the opposite end of the 'sharp' ends of the points)....since my rail that connects to this pivot point is now loose, the turnout barely functions.

Has anyone ever encountered this issue and figured out how to repair it?  I've run into this problem twice before...fortunately I had a spare replacement on hand so it didn't bother me, but I am a little resistant to put down another 25 dollars if its something I can fix myself.

[quinntopia]

Okay, here's some photos of the affected area...I should have also been a bit more clear that the points are not operating when you throw the black switch on the side either.

Looking at the above photo everything looks normal...well, here's the problem....as you can see in the top photo, its possible to reset the rail back in the copper/brass gear things, but it doesn't seem to stay there and cars passing over it will lift it back out of alignment leading to messy and undesired derailments.

[westfalen]

The pivots are rather fragile for my liking. I encountered this once but my solution of replacing the whole turnout is unfortunately no help, I used the broken one as a guinea pig to see what the insides looked like. Since then I am very light handed when cleaning track around No.4's. The manual switch not operating the points could be a grain of ballast or dirt jammed in the mechanism, I've had that happen even though I thought I had the hole covered while ballasting. A bit of air blown into the switch hole might dislodge the obstruction if that is the case.

A bit off the original topic, I think this is the weak spot in the No.4's. 99.9% of my derailments on No.4's happen when the switch blade is slightly out of alignment with the stock rail as it is on the right hand one in your first photo, the flange picks at the stock rail and rides over the top. I bend the stock rail slightly with a small pair of pliers so it lines up like the one on the left.

[David]

Rather then bend the rail, I just file off a bit from the fixed rail, so they are flush (the amount you need to file off is so small you need to know what you're looking for to see it). As an odd aside, I find the Kato E64-1000 to be perfect for testing/adjusting points. It will pick any exposed point or other obstacle everytime, even at slow speed (I think it has to do with its weight, narrow body and high center of gravity).

[inobu]

Your problem is the overlapping flange or lip is gone. So you need to rebuild it. This what I would do.

Take some Kapton tape and place it on the ring part. This will shield it from the solder. You don't want to solder this in any way.

Next you place it back in the slot. Remember the Kapton tape is their to shield that piece from the solder.

More details...

More details...

You are going to solder a little cap back on the brass piece and file it down. The key is to touch and go on the solder no more than a few seconds you don't want to melt anything.
Remove the tape and you should be good to go.

Inobu 

 

[quinntopia]

Inobu, that's a really great idea! I've already replaced this #4 with another one I fortunately had laying about, but now I can I hopefully save this one from the trash heap!  Thanks again!