Hi Charles, It is my feeling after studying the photos, especially #2 that the pliers are sized to 027. If you use 027 size pliers on O rail it will egg shape the rail up/down ways. While the pin may fit tight, it will leave a bump at the top. Obvously, that's no good. It may well be Lionel made the hole small on purpose?? So they could use on 027. That's exactly why I wanted the exact hole size. I will restate how well track pliers work. You will never use needle nose again if you have the proper size pliers.
Now the other part is how far the hole is from end. On 027 on the center rail the crimp/insulator gets in the way so the hole must be correct distance from end.
I got the cheapies from Olsen's as well. As John's pair the hole was way too far from the end so they cannot be used at all. John & I have grinders, so we can fix, but what about the poor soul that gets the pilers & find they won't work. They just loose & give pliers a bad name.
I've now resized several sections of track & there is no distortion or wear on the pliers or the last tooth next to the hole bending back. These pliers cost 2.99 & are what most of the sellers make their's from from the photos.
Speaking of the photos, the ones from Olsen's in the photo would work just perfectly. They are machined correctly. However the ones sent are not good at all, as I said the hole is too far back. A good 3/16" too far back. Plus the pair sent was not the same style as pictured. Bad!! They should email me & ask if I still want them if different at least. Actually they should repost correct photo.
I contacted Olsen's several days ago. Still no reply. I'd avoid those if you can't get the end ground down if needed. The hole dia. seems ok. The odd thing is, these things are not complicated. I don't get it. Why don't they just make a jig & drill them?? Ok, acutally any hardened pliers would need an end cutting carbide end mill to drill. On these that's not needed.
Very best, Don Johnson
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