Shaping the Parts
Cutting the switch points on the long end of the bent wing rails
Tapering the wing end and the point end of each wing rail
Assembling the frog

First cut the switch points
clamp one wing-point rail in the vice by the rail web.
Laying on it's side..... with the wing bend pointing up
clamp the rail base web in the vice. The rail side and head will be laying against
the vice jaw for support.
Now file the side of the rail off for a length of about 1 1/2 inches
tapering toward the end of the rail. Start with nothing and end up
at the end of the rail about 1/2 way through the rail  So you get an
inch and a half long taper that ends at the end of the rail half way through
the thickness of the rail.  Remember this is on the side with the 3/4 inch
wing bend up.
  Now do the same to the other wing rail (but on the opposite side)

This should have given you two rails with a 3/4 inch #6 bend on one
end and a 1 1/2 inch point taper on the other end.

Ok on the other side from the point taper you just filed, at a 45 degree angle
file the head of the rail to a point. About 1/4 to 3/8 inch long taper opposite
from the filed point. This taper makes our point paper thin at the point but leaves
enough rail base below for a strong point assembly.   Taper see below.
  Ok now on the 3/4 inch wing end ... taper the inside edge of the head of the rail.
Hold the file at a 45 degree angle to the rail and file a flange collector taper like this

 

Ok now pick up the frog point and bend it around the center
so that the filed faces meet. This makes a #6 point.
On the head of this bend use your needle nose pliers to squeeze the
little loop that formed, closed. Make the point tight and closed.
Ok lay this frog point on the drawing and make the point sit right close to
the cross in the center. An lay the point wing rails in place as below.

 

Now place a piece of masking tape over the frog parts ..... be sure to get them flat and
in place (don't move them as you put the tape on the crossing parts)

OK  now turn the taped assembly over (tape side down)  Your looking at the
bottom of the rails.
  Using a hot soldering iron.......place the iron on the frog point at the very ends of the wing
rails.  Place your solder on the rail up against the iron. The solder will melt .......
as it melts ....draw the iron forward across the the frog onto the wing rails all the
time feeding the solder.  This is a slow move. Takes about 3-4 seconds.
  Say to yourself .....onethousand one onethousandtwo onethousandthree onethousand four..
as you move the iron and solder together across the back side of the frog assembly.
There ..... lift off ....... perfect .....
Turn it over ... pull the tape off .... and TA-DA  a finshed frog point assembly.

I use rosin core solder for this and don't need any other flux. Use a flux if you want
but I do recommend you use rosin core.
Questions???? Send them to [email protected]

-Stephen Hatch

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> OK - I'm trying it. And, as always happens when I make a point,
> it ends up with a little outward (away from stock rail) bend at the end.
>  what happened?
>  seems like I unbend these, and they bend themselves back.
> Something about unlocking locked in stresses?
> My frog busted at the head when I folded it. I think it's OK anyway.

  Go ahead and finish cutting the point taper. Don't worry about the little
bend. The nickle is tough and it will do that. We'll be straightening
all that before assembly.
  You can tweek it back a bit with your fingers if it's a problem.

If your frog busted, then you filed deeper than you needed to, that's all.
Lay the two pieces on the drawing and line them up then tape it and the two
pieces won't matter.
-Steve

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> OK - am I supposed to be moving TOWARD the frog point, or AWAY from it (towards ends of wing rails)

You should set your iron on the frog point at the end of the wing rails. Start there and move toward the point and across the gap and end on the two elbows of the wing/pt rails. The solder will span that gap and hold everything.

> > Second -
> My bends are, of course, not absolutely perfect. Am I headed for disaster?

No disaster here. You can correct the bends after they are soldered. Check day 3 for those instructions.

> > third -
> One of my flangeways is a tad narrower than the NMRA gauge "flangeways" tab.

If your rail bases are only touching and not on top of each other, then the flangeway is plenty wide enough. That middle tab is WAY TOO BIG anyway. Check day three for the gauging of the flangeways and guard area.
-Steve
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