Model Railway Forum

What do people use for cutting rectangular holes for Peco point motors these days? My last layout only had 6-7 points and that was bad enough. Drill and pad saw that time, but I don't fancy repeating that for 15+ points.

I was thinking some sort of mini router, but haven't found anything so far.

What make of motor. Most can be fitted under the board with just a drilled hole for the operating pin.

The Peco PL-10. I am open to suggestions for other types, but I already have about ten of these.

I find the motor mount directly on the point just seems to be more reliable.

As WTD has said, most motors like the Peco PL10 or Hornby R8014 can be mounted underneath the baseboard and the drive pin passing up through via a 9-10mm dia hole or a slot formed of 2 x 4mm holes drilled adjacent to each other then opened up to form a slot 4mm x 9-10mm long.

However, if you really want them attached to the points underside and a large rectangular hole cut, then mark out rectangle and drill 2 x 6mm dia holes diagonally in two corners, then use a Jig Saw or Pad Saw to cut along the lines and open up the rectangle.

Motors attached directly to points probably are more reliable but a real pain if you need to relocate the points even a small amount.

Use an electric jigsaw instead of the padsaw to make life a bit easier.

sounds like there is a business opportunity here!

For something small like a rectangular point motor hole, I would suggest a multi tool eg.

https://www.screwfix.com/c/tools/multi-tools/cat830708

They work by vibrating a blade side to side by no more than a millimetre and literally saw their way down, no hole drilling to insert jigsaw blades. I use one constantly to saw T&G floorboards to split them on the joist so no need to use battens when replacing the board. I got a cheap one at Lidl about 5 years back as an experiment having never understood their use, now it is my go to tool for all those awkward cutting jobs. When I demolished my old garage removing the cement asbestos roof was made easy because I could cut the nails in the corrugations without touching the asbestos.

Richard

Personally, I think the days of cutting a big hole in the baseboard for a motor ave gone. Peco have introduced an under board motor that clips into two lugs screwed under the board using a template. I fitted my points with Seep motors and just drilled a 1/2" hole in the board for the pin but you can achieve the same with a small slotted hole.
Slow action server motors also only require a small slot in the board.

Funnily enough I saw an advert for the new Peco Twistlock motors yesterday. I had never heard of them before, but they do look good. The only snag is they are double the price of the standard motor.
However, what I also discovered is that the Seep motors are only a fiver! I always thought they were more expensive than Peco?
So I am very temped to switch (har har) totally to Seep and ditch the old Peco ones. That should also allow me to get the track down a lot quicker.