Date
1 - 20 of 21
Caboose Industry Ground Throw Sprung
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zoooctan
Hi everyone a quick question from me.
On my layout, I recently purchased and installed these Ground Throw Sprung (manual switches) from Amazon like these: https://www.amazon.com/Caboose-Industries-Ground-Sprung-CAB5202S/dp/B0006O8KBG They work as advertised and aren't difficult to install. However (and this is where my terminology may fail) the distance for the part that attaches to my switch seems rather short resulting in the mechanism being pretty close to the track. So close that they tend to sometime block or graze my K27s that go past. I've never heard of this being discussed before. Am I doing something wrong or just using the wrong ground switches and are there "longer ones" that give me greater distances to the side of the track to prevent this? Thank you Gavin  
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Mike Smith
It appears (in my world) that the throw bar on the switch is too short. You have the same Caboose Industries product that I use. Mike Smith Tucson
On Monday, September 12, 2022 at 11:22:24 PM MST, zoooctan via groups.io <zoooctan@...> wrote:
Hi everyone a quick question from me. On my layout, I recently purchased and installed these Ground Throw Sprung (manual switches) from Amazon like these: https://www.amazon.com/Caboose-Industries-Ground-Sprung-CAB5202S/dp/B0006O8KBG They work as advertised and aren't difficult to install. However (and this is where my terminology may fail) the distance for the part that attaches to my switch seems rather short resulting in the mechanism being pretty close to the track. So close that they tend to sometime block or graze my K27s that go past. I've never heard of this being discussed before. Am I doing something wrong or just using the wrong ground switches and are there "longer ones" that give me greater distances to the side of the track to prevent this? Thank you Gavin  
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Russ Norris
I use the Caboose Industries sprung ground throws. They come with a variety of connecting rods of different length mounted on a sprue. I generally use a longer rod that keeps the ground throw further away from the switch. Russ
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Jim Marlett
My disclaimer is that I hand lay all my track and I mount my Caboose Industries ground throws remotely on the edge of the layout with all linkage operating from below thee roadbed. However, the way I do it gives me an idea for solving your issue.
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Use a short piece of brass or piano wire to connect the ground throw to the switch’s throw bar. I can’t remember how HO scale ground throws are built, but I think you will need to turn the ground throw around so that instead of the end with the peg facing the switch, the end with the hole faces the switch. If the end has bot a peg and a hole, ignore that advice. Bend up both ends of the wire such that the ground throw is now the distance from the switch that you want it to be when installed. Insert one bent up end of the wire into the switch’s throw bar from the bottom. This may take a little wiggling. Cut off the peg on the ground throw. Center the points and center the ground throw then place the ground throw’s throw bar over the other end of the wire so that it sticks up through the hole in the ground throw’s throw bar. Another possibility is that since there is a bit of overrun in the spring loaded ground throw’s throw bar, you might be able to simply mount the ground throw a little farther away from the switch. I’ve included a photo of the ground throw end of my arrangement. Since I can put additional spring into my linkage wire I use O scale ground throws. You should not do this. I do it because they are easier to get my fingers on and the long linkage can require a little extra throw due to flexing.
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Mark Lewis
Jim, Interesting variation on manual turnout controls. 2 questions... How do you support the long throw rod over long distances, under the sub roadbed? How are you attaching the small hand thrown mounting platforms, to the fascia board? Mark Lewis Narrow gauge modeling in N.C.
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zoooctan
Thanks for the replies.
Russ, my ground throws didn't come with rods of different lengths. In fact, they were attached as one piece. I'll have to look out for them online I suppose. Gavin
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Russ Norris
Check the Caboose Industries website. They carry a wide variety of ground throws. Russ
Thanks for the replies.
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Ray
The Caboose Industries website has a list of products. I used to be an expert on these, but that was last century.
Product Info (cabooseind.com) -- Ray in Colorado
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Margie & Larry Galkowski
This is what I have done & used in the past. Just starting back up after a move back to the Midwest plan on doing the same thing again.
Larry G
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Mike Conder
Very nice! Mike Conder
On Tue, Sep 13, 2022 at 3:39 PM Margie & Larry Galkowski <margielarrygalkowski@...> wrote: This is what I have done & used in the past. Just starting back up after a move back to the Midwest plan on doing the same thing again.
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Jim Marlett
Support of the throw rod varies. If it isn’t too far, I don’t support it with anything. However, the ground throw’s throw rod goes into a gizmo fashioned from brass, not the switch's throw rod itself. That way nothing really has to support the long wire. If the reach is long, I sleeve the rod in a brass tube or solder the rod to a piece of square tubing. It is much easier to show than to describe.
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This picture shows the gizmo that goes under the points. The tube goes through a hole under the throw bar and connects with the throw bar by a pin that drops through a small hole in the throw bar and drops into the tube. The picture is a little confusing because the gizmo would sit with the square tubing 90º to the track, not parallel as the picture might imply. The hole in the square tube on the other end is where my wire to the ground throw attaches. The two holes in the flat plate are for screws that hold the assembly to the sub-roadbed.  This is what it looks like under the roadbed. This one is in a yard so there is plenty of plywood. The one by two on the right is glued to the fascia and whatever might be nearby and is what the platform that holds the ground throw is screwed into. Notice the wire is not supported and has a couple of bends to allow it to flex and to make adjustment easier. I usually put only one or two bends in the wire. I’m not sure why this one has two. You can’t see it in the photo, but the wire is held in place by simply bending the end down. In this case, the hole for the wire has a brass tube soldered into it for a tighter fit. I prefer this to just a hole. I’m not sure how many pictures I can put in a single post, so I’ll put some more photos in another post. 
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Mark Lewis
Jim, O.K. - I understand the concept. Thank you for the photos....a few more "bits" involved than thought, but I get it. Appreciate taking the time to explain and post photos of your method. Mark Lewid Narrow gauge modeling in N.C.
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Jim Marlett
This is another platform mounting where an L-girder served as the mount. I put the fascia on later and it was a bit tricky to get everything lined up again and readjust the linkage for the extra 1/8” the hard board moved the platform out. In this linkage the throw wire was soldered into a brass tube for strength.  This top view shows one way I have handled platforms on a curved fascia. I split a 1x2 and glued each half vertically to the curve. This gave the platform’s screws something to anchor into without having to flatten the curved fascia. The back of the ground throw mounting platform was curved to match the curve on the fascia. The platforms are 1x2 clear pine with the exposed edges sanded round to reduce the chance of injury. 
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Jim Marlett
I never seem to do anything the easy way. I have one switch where I simply bent the wire up and no gizmo was used. I used a brass rod sleeve to guide the wire, a bell crank, and a flexible control cable. In that instance it was in a place I had to walk under and I didn’t want my gizmo to reach down and poke a hole in my old bald head. The ways to do this are endless.
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bassb04011
That’s awesome!
Brian
On Sep 13, 2022, at 6:22 PM, Jim Marlett <jmarlett@...> wrote:
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Mark Lewis
Jim, Thanks again for all the great photos and "tips"! Mark Lewis
On Tue, Sep 13, 2022 at 6:22 PM Jim Marlett <jmarlett@...> wrote:
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Paul Sturtz
These are much superior to the CI ground throws, I have used many, give them a try.
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Larry you win the trick of the month prize.
Thanks for sharing that. -- Brian Kopp Jacksonville, FL
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John Stutz
Gavin
A simple solution is a music (spring steel) wire rod, with a Z-bend at each end to retain it in holes drilled in the switch and ground stand throw bars. This will let you place the throw as far back from the track as you like. About 0.020" (0.5mm) wire should suffice, 0.032" (0.8mm) is getting on the heavy side.
If you have sprung throws the wire can be straight. If your throws are rigid, you need a V-bend in the wire to take up the throw's over travel.
Prototypically, you want to place your throws a wide car's width clear of the nearer rail, allowing for overhang on curves, to ensure clearance for a switch-man between such cars and throw.
john Stutz
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bob.meckley@...
I did not want to use Caboose Hobbies ground throws on my layout and also needed to switch frog power ( this was before frog juicers). I settled on miniature slide switches and connected them to the throw bar using .015 spring steel rod. This evolved from using them on ME code 55 turnouts to ME code 70 turnouts. The thro rod was bent to fit. Adjustment was critical because the slide switch travel was close to the travel of the points. Once I had this set they have been trouble free. Note the scenery on one turnout has not been completed. With a little scenery the slide switches disappear.
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