So far, I haven’t heard anyone mention Anderson turnout links. I don’t think they are made anymore, but occasionally one can pick them up used. They can be used with any switch machine mounted under the table.
I have several of these hidden rather well. Similar to what others have done and hidden with scenery, you get caught with the fear that you may have to destroy some scenery to eventually replace one. What I have done is remotely mounted them similar to what was already decribed by using piano wire as an extension of the throw rod. One addition is to put this rod inside a tube to protect it from getting stuck in scenery material. i use straws mostly. I then placed a small amount of plastic wrap over the switch motor and contacts using this as a base for scenery to cover so that it can be cut along the edge and removed and placed back. The other portion of the swith machine that is the manual throw that moved on top i place a relay control shed over it and the scenery was brought up to match. Works slick with minimal amount of manipulation. And now i also have added the Atlas relays to control signal lights. So pretty much if you are happy with how it works and you can always find deal on the Atlas parts, you can make it look fine with a little imagination.
I am using Atlas Delux Undertable machines an embedding them in the 1" foam (between the cork roadbed and the plywood). You could do something similar to what I did …
I cut a rectangular hole in the foam slightly larger than the machine. Then I use a piece of rigid plastic to cover the hole (cutting a groove so that the top of the plastic is flush with the top of the foam. A hole is drilled for the thow-bar to poke through (as well as one for a wire to power the frog). The machine is then hot-glued to the underside of the plastic cover and placed in location. Cork roadbed covers it, then I lay the turnout on top, aligning with the machine’s throw-bar. Once scenery is in place, it should be completely invisible. Since I don’t glue the plastic in place, I can lift it up should I need to access the machine.
(Note : the hole for the throw-bar and the machine itself should be aligned with the hole in the turn-out’s throw-bar, and not with the centre-line of the track. This means the whole thing will be of-centre.)
Unfortunately, the link to 2guyz no longer has photos and it is hard to follow without them. Any chance of getting the photos restored? TIA, Ed
Are the Atlas code 83 switch machines all that bad visually? (Granted the code 100 are).
Here is the way I do it. I am a slow type-er but, if there are any questions I will try to answer them.
These are rough samples that I made for prototyping. It’s a brass pipe inside a pipe with a paper clip inserted in the top end and then bent. “bearing” is a very short piece of the outer pipe to avoid any binding of the actuator. On the bottom is a paper clip wrapped around a drill bit and shaped so it can be soldered to the down tube. The Atlas motor can be mounted in any direction as long as it and the arm point directly to ward the vertical tube. No need to worry about left and right motors. Top and bottom arms are the same length.
Note! Atlas motors need a capacitor discharge power system so that if you hold a button down to long you can’t burn up the motor.
My system is not totally my idea, years ago some one made a similar product. Not all of us have the budget or the desire to buy the perfect system.
Have fun.
Lee