If got my first H0 Atlas turnouts for my new layout (I did use German rails and turnouts so far).
For smooth operation the frogs should be wired. Therefor I “try” to solder a cable. However I fail totally to do any soldering on the frogs. I make them clean, use an expensive soldering station and supply plenty of heath (up to 450°C) and power (max. 80W). The solder is the same one used for electronic soldering.
The frustrating thing is that all German US model railroad fellows have no problem to solder a wire to Atlas frogs.
I asked Atlas H0 support last night for advise. The replay was:
Atlas makes a special buss bar, which attaches to the frog, with a
screw, and you attach a wire to the other end. The item nos. are #200002, for the buss bar, and #200001 for the
Screw. These buss bars work on all HO #4, #6, and #8 turnouts.
I suspect Atlas did change the material the frogs are mode of recently. My new frogs are not the same as the older frogs used by my German fellows.
The parts mentioned by Atlas support are not listed in their online catalog. They are not listed by German dealers. Are they known to you in the US and do you use them?
Finally did someone of you buy Atlas H0 turnouts recently that are out of the current production series. Could you solder the frogs easy?
Sorry, but I’m somewhat helpless. I did thousands of solder during my professional life and some more doing model railroading but this is a mystery to me.
I say, don;t even try. Instead get a small brass nut and bolt that fits in the hole, tighten it down, and solder to that. Or even use that nut and bolt with a small ring terminal, solder your wire to the terminal then stick the bolt in from the top, put the terminal and nut on the bottom, and tighten. I have never had any luck solderign to whatever is is Atlas makes their frogs out of, even polishing off the blackening makes no difference.
The ones I had trouble with are Code 83, Mark IV from about 4-5 years ago. Prior versions had a shiny frog, these are blackened.
The Buss Bar that Atlas was talking about comes with the Snap Relay, item #200, which you’ll need to power the frog. Remeber, the polarity of the frog will change depending on which way you throw the switch, so wiring it to one rail or the other will give you a short in one direction as you run a locomotive over the frog. Electrically, it’s a DPDT switch activated the same way you activate their switch machines. They’re normally connected in parallel with the switch machine so they throw at the same time.
I was surprised they gave you a part number for the buss bar, I’ve had to make a few myself, but like you, I couldn’t find them on their site or in the hard copy catalog. I made mine from some brass strip, you’ll need a piece .02 x .125 inch, each one is one inch long (.08 x 3 mm, 24 mm long, you may want to double check my metric conversion). You’ll need two holes in it, one needs to be tapped for 0-80 (not sure how to convert that to metric) screw, the other for the wire to be fed from the Snap Relay. They come with a very short 0-80 screw and if you look carefully at the bottom of the switch, the tie below the frog is slotted to allow the installation of this buss bar without raising the switch off the table top. Drill a hole in the tabletop directly below the hole in the buss bar outside the track for the wire. The Snap Relay comes with a REALLY big instruction sheet explaining all this (except how to make the buss bar), so you should have no trouble there.
The blackened metal of the frog makes it hard to solder, so I’ve just used the provided (or homemade) buss bar. It’s also much more hidden since the screw is also blackened.
I hope you have not bought too many of those Atlas switches. I was tempted too, as they are about a third off the price of Peco turnouts, but after testing one, I decided to stay with Peco. Either one, Electrofrog or Insulfrog, work without having to tinker around with them. They are my number one choice!
Atlas does sell the bars and hardware seperately, there was a fellow on here a few eyars ago who built a large layout and had the same issue, he just wanted the bars and so forth because he had Tortoises to handle the polarity, and he was able to buy those parts from Atlas using th
Interesting - I’ve been accumulating Atlas #505/506 Super-Track #6 turnouts, so I took one out of the package, and I don’t see a hole for a screw or anything like that, but there is a shiny metal bar about 29mm (1.15") long and 2mm (1/16"+) wide on the underside, flush with the tie-strip plastic. So is that “bus bar” now built-in?
To check it out, I took my trusty Weller soldering gun and some 60/40 rosin-core solder, and the bus bar is easily wetted by the solder, so that one can just solder a wire directly to it. To me, a good soldered joint is a better deal electrically than a short micro-screw, over the long term.
So, is this something new with the Super-Track turnouts only, or has Atlas recently changed their design ?
Agreed. Drill and tap a screw from underneith as others have mentioned. You only need a relay to power the frog if your using a twin coil machine. Here’s a diagram from Switch Tender on how to use a toggle switch when using a slo mo machine. https://www.micromark.com/html_pages/instructions/83201i/83201switchtender.htm