How To Make A Simple And Cheap Turnout Spring For Your Model Railroad Track

[@collectorsinfo]

Safety pin works well & they come in different thicknesses to play with tensions. They also have a built in spring.

[@BrentManor-s9q]

Love your channel! Great turnout tip!

[@mikeatpudhamjunction2323]

Thanks for sharing. Stay safe.

[@ScottRails]

His new layout is going to be awesome.

[@flyboy2610]

You're not kidding about that welding wire being springy! I've done my share of welding, and learned early on about that characteristic! As the late Wendy Bagwell used to say "Now, this is fact with my hand up if I had to die tonight!" When I got my welder, I bought a 2 pound ( weight, not cost) spool of flux core wire to go with it. When I got home and set up my welder, I put that spool onto the mandrel and cut off the plastic wrap. I flicked the end of the wire out of the little slit in the side of the spool, and that spool instantly expanded to approximately 47.263 times it's original size. As Mr. Sweet told John Wayne in the movie "Big Jake" "Oh, mister. You shouldn't of ought'a done that." I bought another spool of wire. Lesson learned!

[@ScottRails]

Hahaha, yes, we've all done that....ONCE!

[@LocomotionInMotion]

LOL, that's such a great start to this video, top marks! 💯

[@ScottRails]

Thanks. I had imagined better music, but I ran out of talent.

[@johnnygshotrainsanslotcars]

Interesting thought i never though about? I use similar wire for connection joints where i have loose fish plates to keep track together until nailed/tacked/glued down.

[@derekalexander4030]

It’s a good thing your springy finger demonstration didn’t break like the first clip, lol. Nice tip and demo.

[@ScottRails]

I wanted to get my head round the whole concept of how it worked. Idealy, my finger should bend in either direction, lol.

[@solargarage]

Looking good.

[@dougbuchanan9434]

So I tried this and it worked great with a large paper clip. Took me a bit to figure out that its an outward pressure I was looking for, so longer is better. Thanks for the great idea.

[@ScottRails]

So was my fingering example no good? hehehe.

[@markgeerin5928]

What a great idea we’ll done .

[@markgeerin5928]

I’m going to give this a go I’ve got lots of peco points that were given to me and the spring has gone in a lot of them . The price of turn outs or points are bloody dear this idea we save me a packet of $$$$ and, when your on a budget this will help. 👍👏

[@ffjsb]

I've been thinking about this for a while, saw it years ago in a model railroad magazine but couldn't remember the details. Went down and whipped out a couple on my layout before I even finished the video. And this worked in N scale, with brass wire. (Although I think piano wire would work better.) I had a lot of crappy old switches, and some with ground throws, but some didn't have room to put in a ground throw, they had those hunk clunky manual switches. Thanks!!

[@ssully8716]

I tried this with n scale Atlas turnouts and was unsuccessful. I tried two sleepers and three sleepers with different wire gauges. Any tips? Any changes from the video process? Thank you in advance.

[@ffjsb]

@@ssully8716 I don't know why it wouldn't work, maybe try a different type of wire. I think some of mine are Atlas switches.

[@michaelflynn3651]

great job, going to try with a paper clip. Hope to meet you at the Kitchener train show next Sunday 17 March 24.

[@ConvenientCleanMobileDetail]

I have a blue conrail like yours I love it!

[@elleryparsons2433]

Very Interesting Like It👍.

[@stevecatlin5609]

Great idea. I use Peco switches and always hated the "box" on their older switches which held the spring. I used your design, but mounted the spring underneath the switch. Seeing that I put my track directly on pink insulation foam, I just cut out/ push down on the foam where the spring is so that it does not interfere with its movement. I assume the same could be done with a cork roadbed- just cut out the part where the spring sits- making sure that the sprues do not fall out of the holes. Might be worth a try- that way you do not even see the wire spring, especially if it is painted black.

[@rickcullarn1347]

Brilliant fix! Thanks.

[@geobrower3069]

Great idea, so many of the used switches I bought have no springs. Cheers

[@lawrenceechols6453]

Like your videos man doing a good job Love the accent anyhow as far as switches manual switches caboose industries makes a really cool hand throws that hold the switches in place really well and pretty simple to install too might check them out

[@elleryparsons2433]

Hey Dave Never Rush Of what you. are Doing.

[@BSNFabricating]

The first thing I noticed was that you're using flux core wire... The only drawback to that is that flux core wire is actually a tiny little tube with the welding flux inside, so it tends to be a lot more brittle than solid wire. You might get away with a sharp bend in it, but the solid (copper coated) welding wire is the stuff to use if you have it.

[@ScottRails]

Very true. I do have the solid core wire, but I use it for, you know, welding, lol. I suppose I could spare a few feet.

[@dundasjunctionmodelr.r-jam8267]

Cool idea Dave, wondering if a ground throw would if the spring is missing

[@ScottRails]

Ground throws are expensive for what they are. This is just temporary for me, till I install all the servos.

[@dundasjunctionmodelr.r-jam8267]

I am using both , want to see how you wire your servos , ground throws only $17.99 for 5

[@FerrodelismoPeru]

Muy bueno. Gracias

[@6yjjk]

How are these holding up long-term? If you only get three bends before they snap, I think I'd be worried about metal fatigue from repeated operation of the points.

[@ScottRails]

@@6yjjk I used welding wire. It’s pretty tough.

[@TheLlanoRider]

What brand or part number if you have it of a turnout did you use?

[@ScottRails]

I think it was an atlas, but it should work with any turnout. If there's no hole in the sleeper I can drill one.

[@johnpadams8079]

Everyone that does this uses 0.037” diameter piano wire ! Just saying 😊

[@ScottRails]

Not everyone. Lol.

[@MartyKarczynski-mw3tk]

Like is

[@doug595959]

a paper clip works good