Motorised points

[Penfold]

Hello,

Based on my reading so far I’ll know I’ll get some flak but I’ll stick my neck out. I’ve got a cubby-hole where my train set lives and I don’t want to pin it down as it’s on a hard floor and sits nicely. As part of my new DCC set up I’m thinking of going for motorised points which I can control/sequence etc.

The motorised points I’ve seen appear to require pinning/sticking down. Have I got this right? Any which can sit “loose” on a surface and operate reliably?

Thank you

[Mountain Goat]

I know some points used to have built in point motors but that was years ago. Peco do surface mounted point motors (Solenoids) though I have never bought one as all of mine from the past were mounted in rectangular holes via their conventional PL10 point solenoids. I believe the small surface mounted type do need pinning down.
The old Hornby type from many years ago that used to fit to the side of the point (Never had one myself either sorry so I am guessing) look as if they did not need to be pinned down. Unfortunately these older points usually had steel rails though for a couple of years they did make nickel silver versions before they changed to the all new design which is similar to Peco (And so are their newer point solenoids similar to the standard Peco type though the slots in the underside of the points have a different spacing).

But some brands of points in H0 may offer what you are looking for in that some may have surface mouted solenoids which are either part of the point, or slot into the point. Fleishmann come to mind though they always were expensive. Not sure if they have changed their design since as it has been years since I saw them.

[Walkingthedog]

If they sit loose the motor will probably move instead of the points unless you get motors that are firmly attached to the points.

[Mountain Goat]

Could you get a Peco surface mounted motor (With a Peco point) and partially glue it onto a thin board or a thin piece of plastic which is also glued to the underside of the point? It would need to be thin but it could be an idea?

[Penfold]

Could you get a Peco surface mounted motor (With a Peco point) and partially glue it onto a thin board or a thin piece of plastic which is also glued to the underside of the point? It would need to be thin but it could be an idea?

That’s a nice simple solution that I completely missed. Definitely one to consider when the bank balance has recovered a bit from buying the NCE!

Thank you

[Brian]

Hi
Unless you're going down the PC layout control via DCC, then using the push buttons on the DCC handset or desk console is IMO a very cumbersome way of selecting point operations!
Typically the operation is ... Select accessory button, Enter point or route number and press enter. Then select 1 or 2 button for the direction required and again press Enter, point(s) then move. Restore loco control by selecting whatever loco number is needed and press Enter again!! By which time it most likely a train has collided with another or its derailed somewhere while you're concentrating on the point selection process!!!

That is why I use DCC for loco control and another method for point and all other accessory operations (I'm not interested in PC layout control).

There is no solinoid, servo or stepper motor that can be used free standing. They all need to be attached to the point or something solid like the baseboard somehow. i.e. Directly attached to the underside of the point. Fixed to the underside of the baseboard and a hole drilled in the baseboard to allow the drive pin to pass up and enter the hole in the points moving stretcher (tie bar). Or surface mounted along side the point or close to the point and hidden inside a building or removable scenic section and a drive rod leads to the point from the motor.

I would not recommend gluing a motor to anything, as if it needs adjustment, doesn't work correctly or it ever fails you're then stuffed for easy replacement or making adjustments.

[Mountain Goat]

Is it possible to put a layout board onto the floor so you have something to pin the points and point motors to? That would be the best solution. You then have something to put some scenery on as well.