Has anybody out there tried coating the contact areas of plastic frogs with a conductive paint to try to eliminate hesitation and stalling with smaller locos going through turnouts and crossings? I will have to re-use some of my old snap track switches and aAtlas crossings with plastic frogs in yards and industrial areas when I build my next pike, and while reading some other posts, the idea of using some of these products occurred to me, since I have used similar products for prototype PC board repair in my previous employment.
For those not familiar with them, they are either thick inks or paints with a high concentration of conductive metal, usually silver, used to patch gaps in pc board traces, or even re-route conductive paths on boards to quickly try new circuitry.
You would, if this is absolutely necessary (and it shouldn’t be if my own experience counts for anything…), probably be better off filing down either the lower race for the flange, or the top V of the frog, and appying a thin metal sheeting to either…or both. Then, you’d have to solder wire to it and feed that wire based on the direction of travel via a switch.
So, you would drill small holes, grind down the surfaces a bit, chose the right thickness of a steel or suitable metal, solder the feeder to it on one side, insert the free end of the wire down into the hole, and continue to feed the wire as you lower and place this custom-cut sheet to be glued onto the item needing the resurfacing.
Or, you could just jumper wire the closure rails so that they get good feed, and keep contacts and tires clean on the locos. I haven’t found a frog yet, an insulated one, that stalls any of my engines. That includes an SW8. All of my frogs, handlaid and commercial, are insulated and dead. My handlaid turnouts run from Fast Tracks #8’s to my own curved #10, and that tiny SW8 makes it across my frogs under load or running light every time.
The thing is, I have several short wheelbase 0-4-0T and B (4 wheel)diesels that sometimes hesitate or even stall, especially at slow speeds, on these switches. I have rarely if ever had such situations with larger steam or multi-truck diesels with all-wheel pick-up. One of my concerns with the conductive inks or paints is that they would possibly need to be replaced over time as operations wear the coating off.
Sort of a mixture of Atlas and AHM, I’m out of state for the holiddays, and don’t have my inventory available. My current track stock includes the Atlas, AHM, Cassidio, Tru-Scale, Tyco, Bachman E-Z, and maybe a couple other brands accumulated over the years.A mix of Brass, Steel, and Nickle-Silver.
Sort of old, but finances will force me to reuse them.
I have also been tempted to just stri[ out the frogs and make new ones, reusing points and stock rails. I did make a few turnouts of my own, back in my high school and college days.
I have yet to use it but have heard nothing but great things about a product called Neolube, available from Micormark and other places I am sure. It darkens metal when applied to it so a lot of guys like it for weathering rails or locomotive wheels, side rods and running gear but it also conducts electricity.
It sounds like exactly what your looking for. I am seriously considering using it to weather drivers rather then painting them with an airbrush as I have been doing.