Blue Point Installation

There is also another page on Flex Link installation.

John Socha-Leialoha
July 2006

I've begun to install Blue Points onto a friend's N scale layout and will be documenting the progress here.

Roy Cutler has an N scale layout that fills most of his basement. He has operating sessions about every 6 weeks that are very well attended. He recently created a small L-shaped extension using the Atlas code 55 track and turnouts, but wasn't sure how to throw the turnouts. I volunteered to install Blue Points in this small area.

The first set of Blue Points are connected to turnouts that are very close to the fascia. In this case I used some threaded 4-40 rod screwed into 4-40 threaded clevises. I found some acrylic knobs that were about the right size and drilled a hole slightly under size for the 4-40 rod. This allowed me to screw the knob onto the rod. Here is what the final installation looks like:


The knob in the "out" position.	The knob attached to the Blue Point with a threaded rod. Note the wires, which provide power-routing to the isolated frog of the N-scale Atlas code 55 turnout.

Getting into more detail, I slipped some Evergreen styrene tube over the the 4-40 threaded rod. This serves several purposes. First, it slides through the hole better than threaded rod. But it also helps remove the need for lock nuts. Here's how.

I first screwed the threaded rod all the way into the clevis, so that it was tight against the throw arm of the Blue Point (this acts as a lock nut), first passing the rod through the hole I drilled in the fascia. I slipped the styrene tube over the threaded rod and move the throw arm of the Blue Point away from the fascia, so the rod would be in the "in" position. I then marked where I wanted to cut the styrene tube, so it would extend out past the fascia by about 1/32". I then removed the styrene tube and cut it to length.

Before replacing the styrene tube, I used a motor tool with a cutoff wheel to cut the threaded rod so it was projecting about 1/4" from the fascia, and then slipped the styrene tube back over the rod. I then drilled a hole in the knob slightly smaller than the outside diameter of the threads and threaded the knob onto the rod. Screwing the knob in until it is snug completes the installation.