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What is the logic or mechanism of action involved in creating a time remnant?

In some scenes, alterations to the timeline would manifest in various different ways. Sometimes people are shown to quickly, and quietly fade out of existence (like Barry Allen in the season 2 finale). Other times it can be slow, violent and unpleasant, resulting in CNS failure, shock, seizure, bleeding, etcetera; delayed and allowing course correction (like what happened to Cisco Ramon). Other times it causes cataclysmic events on a massive scale (like when Eddie Thawne shoots himself in the heart, Eobard Thawne disappears and the sky opens up, creating a singularity). Other times a time remnant (sometimes more than one) is allowed to be created with little to no further repercussions.

Furthermore; in the season 2 finale, Barry Allen finally goes back to save his mother from being murdered. A time remnant from one relatively earlier point in the same timeline is shown disappearing. Which should prevent the current present version of him (at least) and thus the whole current present situation from existing altogether.

Is there any logic to how this should all apparently be occuring? Or is this just the nature of trying to balance / compromise navigating the impossibilities of science-fiction against science-fact; and turn it into TV entertainment?

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Time remnants are basically the same speedster but a few moments from the past. Now as it has been stated from when Barry first started time traveling (Season 1 Episode 15, speedsters are immune to some changes in the timeline(Explains why Barry kept his powers even after he saves his Mom).

The time remnant of Barry from an earlier point in the first timeline where he travels back in time to save his mother but doesn't do so as Future Barry stops him. Now when Barry actually saves his mother, Flashpoint is created thus the Barry who wants to save his mother earlier ceases to exist. If you have any queries feel free to comment :D

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Cisco, if you are talking about what happened to him when the scoobies locked up younger Eobard in the Return of the Reverse Flash, is not a time remnant. Time remnants, at this time, have only existed of speedsters. The temporary incarceration of young Eobard was an on going event in time, and not yet fixed. Add to this that Cisco's own powers revolve around dimensional jumping, making him a non-standard example in any case. As Harry hints, Cisco's powers helped prevent an immediate erasure.

Eobard being erased from Time when Eddie killed himself is also not a time remnant. He's the exact opposite, as he was NOT protected from paradox inducing events, in the same time frame. The singularity happened because of the paradox happening at the same time an active hole in time was open. Had Eddie killed himself earlier, it likely would not have happened. Notice how no deaths in Legends of Tomorrow, even those changing time, have any world destroying events.

As far as your main question the mechanism of creating a time remnant, it's really just a The Speed Force Did it, Ain't gotta explain S&!% moment that's a cliche of Flash stories. All a speedster has to do to create a Time Remnant is WILLFULLY do it. They just have to decide to do it and it can be done, paradoxes be damned. Zoom specifically is insane enough to not care about any paradox effects, while Barry is too clouded by emotions when he does it but normally is logical enough to know its a bad idea in most situations.

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Time Remnant is nothing but a copy of yourself. What happens is that the speedster runs back in time and asks himself to go to a fixed point in time when he is needed and thus becomes a time remnant. The original one takes his place so that the timeline remains intact therefore like in the example of Barry is S2 before he went to the place where zoom and he were supposed to race, he must have run back in time and asked his past self to go to the fixed time when they would be running and then he must have taken his place and do exactly as required(which won't be a problem if he went seconds before) and when the race began the remnant showed up telling us that barry asked him to come to this point. Since he was already in the timeline the TR who came to the future was an extra so his death will not affect barry. If you see this from Savitar when Future Barry made time remnants to help him defeat Savitar then he killed them all but the one saved was an extra. His presence was nothing but an aberration

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