I don't...

...I always hard wire everything, never rely on contact pressure.

As my switch

point rails are powered with  jumper wires, I don't clean them specifically as a need for electrical contact...........

Points

Even though I point wire them, I clean the point rails with a relay contact burnishing tool. I also use it to clean the contacts on the ground throws. 

Hard Wired

All my points are hard wired. I don't rely (at all) on the point contacting the stock rail for electrical continuity.

Never have a problem.

Does hard wiring involve a

Does hard wiring involve a wire soldered to the rail following the point with an off/on switch somewhere?

Positive point power

A bullet-proof turnout electrically has the closure rails connected with jumper wires to the matching stock rail. Then the points are either continuous rail or jumpered to the closure rails for hinged points. No on-off switch is needed.

And these days, powered frogs are the best. Frog juicers are a convenient solution since all you need is to run a feeder wire to the frog from the juicer and you're done.

Relying on point contact to the stock rails for electrical continuity is not recommended. It is a maintenance sinkhole and gets increasingly unreliable with age.

I cover the detailed techniques for getting bullet-proof turnouts in my Run like a Dream: Trackwork book.

Nobody answered

With all due respect, nobody answered his question, but rather offered expensive solutions.  I use a small pointed white filing stick found in hobby stores to burnish the contact area.  Next I use spray electrical contact cleaner on the points AND the point rail hinges.  Clean with a cotton swab then respray with cleaner.  Work the turnout several times and you should have good operation for a long time.

By the way, would it not be more cost effective to wire mu’d locomotives together than buying 50 frog juicers and 15 keep alive units?  My mu’d units are speed matched and always are assigned together.  For $2 each they could be wired with a 2 wire track power plug versus $15 per loco and $20 per turnout for the current standard.  Thoughts?

Cleaning tight spaces

I use a pipe cleaner

I use pipe clears that I get from the local cigar store.

I have a small airbrush jar with turpenoid (artists paint thinner/cleaner, I use this because it is odorless and a fast cleaner).

Just dip the pipe cleaner into the turpenoid and run it between the points. The pipe cleaner is flexible and will get into the tight spaces.

This also works well for cleaning wheels on engines. I turn the engine over in a foam cradle and put power to the wheels and hold the pipe cleaner soaked with turpenoid over the wheels until they are shinny clean.

--Bill B.

Bear with me Joe, In the

Bear with me Joe,

In the image below of my turnout, it is a continuous point rail, correct?

So I would permanently solder a jumper wire from the rail to the point rail close to the frog. i.e., just before the frog and guard rail area?

I forgot about pipe cleaners,

I forgot about pipe cleaners, Bill. Great idea.

utfisherman, I'm guessing you

utfisherman, I'm guessing you run DCC?

I'm not familiar with frog juicers.

I think The Source still sells contact cleaner.

Ranger Ryan, I'll hve to look

Ranger Ryan, I'll have to look up what these patches look like. Thanks.

Deemiorgos - info on Frog Juicers

Here's a link to Tam Valley and their frog juicers:

http://www.tamvalleydepot.com/products/dccfrogjuicers.html

Rick, thanks for that though

Rick, thanks for that though I'm DC not DCC, but good to know if I ever go DCC.

Yes

Yes, those are continuous points. And yes, solder a jumper from the matching stock rail to the closure rail closer to the frog area where the points definitely do not move. This way, you remove the need to rely on physical contact between the points and the stock rail for electrical conductivity. One less maintenance headache on your layout.

Yes and...

Deemiorgos, I can't see from your pic if there's a gap before the frog in each continuous switch/closure rail.  But if not, my DCC brain says like you'll need those gaps with DC. But then you'll have a dead frog that'll need switchable polarity power as Joe mentioned earlier, or you'll just have removed one long "flaky power" spot and added a shorter "no power" one at the frog. 

If you use Tortoises or similar you can likely use a set of the switch terminals inside them to throw the frog polarity when the switch machine is activated.   

"So I would permanently

     It depends on the way the points are wired. If they have a solid un-insulated throw bar and are both the same polarity then you'd need to insulated them from each other before adding jumpers to their adjacent stock rails. You also need a gap somewhere between the frog and the points.  Solid un-insulated points usually control the frog polarity as they are thrown so would not have jumpers to the adjacent stock rails as the points assembly polarity would vary depending on which way it was thrown. If the points are insulated and are gapped between them and the frog you then have to decide on a frog powering method ( or a dead frog if you equipment can handle that) Everything on a layout affects something else :> ) .....DaveB

Just a small patch of flannel

Deemiorgos

Maybe a very small micro brush dipped in some 70 percent rubbing alcohol? Remember 90 percent can remove paint.

Brush...

I use a soft brush, and then go over it with a graphite stick.

About once every few weeks or so, my MofW train will cover all of the track with a weighted car I built with "Dust Monkeys" with a few drops of in DeoxIT on them.

Cheap, effective, and no problems yet. (and I'm using EZ track... the track I sometimes get judged for)

DaveB, Informative and I

DaveB,

Informative and I think I'm getting there in regards to understanding.

This is what my turnouts look like:

other side:

Other side:

"This is what my turnouts

   Hi Dee, If that is a solid metal strap between the points you don't want to add jumper wires to the stock rails as the point polarity changes when they are thrown from left to right. In that case the points control the frog polarity along with their own polarity so you can't gap between the points and the frog. The problem with this set up is the frog power is dependent on the reliability of the points to stock rail contact instead of having power applied thru a switch like a Tortoise or blue point controller. The other problem is the points must be set with enough clearance so that the back of wheels don't touch the open point creating a short.  That's why insulated throw bars have become more popular. This set up was quite common in the pre DCC days and many layouts have been converted to DCC using the same turnouts, as long as one is familiar with the problems it's do able......DaveB

You're gonna need gaps

Yep, you're gonna need some gaps on those turnouts!

• Gap the frog (both sides) as closely to the wing rails as you can without compromising structural strength.
• Gap the throwbar to isolate each point electrically.
• Gap the PC tie foil between the closure rails.
• Add jumpers between the matching stock rail and closure rail.

Also, for best performance, you want the point spacing to be the dimension P on the NMRA specs here:
https://www.nmra.org/sites/default/files/standards/sandrp/pdf/s-3.2_2010.05.08.pdf

There are two reasons to gap your track:

1. To isolate sections of track electrically.
2. To provide expansion gaps to allow for seasonal changes.

The gaps I list above are gaps made for reason 1, and you ALWAYS want to fill those rail gaps with an insulator like styrene so those gaps never can close again later by accident. Otherwise, you'll likely get a short!

Never fill rail gaps made for reason 2, because you want room for things to move.

I cover all of this in great detail in my Run like a Dream: Trackwork book.

You can use a combined set of frog+closure rails and just switch the polarity of the whole shebang like you're doing now, but there is a greater chance of a short if anything ever tracks poorly through the turnout. Wiring a turnout as I describe is more bullet-proof electrically and allows using point spacing P to help guide the wheels down the proper route more readily.

Performance-wise, being able to use point spacing P pays dividends, but you need to isolate the frog and point-closure rails electrically. It's called "DCC-friendly" turnout wiring because there is less chance of a short. Shorts on a DCC layout can cause more problems than they do on straight DC layouts because of the higher current involved.