Seems that I read somewhere that Atlas now has switch machines that have a set of terninals that will power diodes as in switch position indicators. I think they also have some that install under the surface. Are these all in the same. Where can I get information and wiring diagrams for these… Atlas’s website is pretty sparse on technical information…
Atlas #66 undertable Switch Machine, About $10.00 or less
You’re right about the lack of detail at atlas web site. I even went on their forum to get some track specs with no luck. I don’t think the #66 under table switch machines will power diodes for switch position indicators.
I looked at those a few months back in the LHS. Unfortunately, they have a short throw pin, only an inch, inch-and-a-half tops. So, if you’re using roadbed on top of 3/4 inch plywood, you’re probably OK. For 2-inch foam, you’re going to have to do a lot of digging to get the machine close enough to the bottom of the turnout.
It might also be important to note that you can’t manually throw these turnouts by pushing the points over. You must do it electrically.
If you look at a picture of these switch machines, you won’t see any extra terminals, only the 3 for throwing the twin-coils. Unless they hid them somewhere, these machines do not appear to have extra contacts for signalling or indicators.
Has anyone tried putting an extension on the throw pin?
I tried and failed to add extensions to the #66 thrown pin with wire. Not being able to manually move the points bugged me too. While not prototypical, I use the top mounted machines. Easier to install on 2" foam, manual override, and I don’t have to crawl under the layout to install or adjust them. However, I am starting to add relays to power track side and panel signal.
Nick
I havn’t had a chance to look at one of the switch machines, but I was hoping that they would attach directly to the switch, similar to Peco, so you wouldn’t have to burrow very far into the foam…
The Atlas 66 mounts to the underside of the subroadbed, not the turnout.
Nick
Hey Nick, Are you using the Atlas relays (they seem expensive to me) or going some other way? I’d like to do something like that if it’s not too expensive.
I order from http://www.demarelectronics.com and get their “Miniature Twin Coil Latching Relay,” their part number R-7111. They go for $4.95. They are about 3/4 inches long by 3/8 wide. The pin spacing fits right into the grid of a blank circuit board, but you don’t need one.
These are small twin-coil latching relays, but they are DC-only. The Atlas and Peco switch machines are AC/DC. I use a capacitive-discharge circuit, which you can make for under $10 in parts, even from Radio Shack. That runs both the relays and the switch motors, and runs the motors much better than transformer AC (particularly the Pecos.)
The relays have very small solder-only connectors. They are double-pole, double-throw so you can operate two separate circuits, like incandescent and LED signals, or signals and track power, if needed.
I picked up a some Atlas relays on sale. But in the future plan on using latching relays from Demar, like MisterBeasley. I also run the machines using DC.
Nick
MisterBeasley or Nick,
Do either of you have a schematic of some kind you could post showing how the wiring works between the switch machine/ relay/ lights/ DC power supply? Oh, and what is a “capacitive-discharge circuit”? Thanks for the help.
If you want turnout indication, you need to add a contact with something like a microswitch that is tripped when the turnout is thrown…
[image]http://www.rolleiman.com/trains/ledhook2.jpg[/image]
![http://www.rolleiman.com/trains/ledhook2.jpg[/image]](http://www.rolleiman.com/trains/ledhook2.jpg%5B/image%5D){kind=link}
http://www.allelectronics.com is also a good source for relays and microswitches…
But by the time you go to all this trouble and expense, you are into the cost of the Tortise… Why not go that route instead??
Good luck,
Jeff
Ah Jeff… you’ve brought up the they very delimma I’ve been thinking of. Quick math says the Tortoise is still more money, but getting close. Problem is, I’d still need to buy toggle switches for the Tortoises, and piano wire extentions (I run foam over plywood), and I already own a few dozen Atlas switches. It’s the perpetual model railroaders’ struggle.
Understood. After I installed my first tortise and powered it up, the stuggle was over. Good luck with yours… Feel free to use the diagram…
Jeff
[:D]
I use this method to extend the pins on Peco switch machines so I can mount them under the table with only a small hole under the end of the throwbar instead of the huge rectangular hole required to mount the switch machine directly to the turnout. In N scale, that hole has to extend out the side of the track because only half the switch machine is under the track. Although I haven’t seen the Atlas under the table mounts, I suspect it would work for them as well.
I took a switch machine to my LHS and got some brass tubing that fit over the pin and some steel wire that fit the brass tubing. I use a short piece of tubing to splice a length of steel wire onto the pin, squeezing it onto the pin and wire then putting a drop of ACC at each end to hold it. I then made a 3/4" dia. hole in a 2 1/2" square of 1/4" thick hobby wood (obtainable at Home Depot and many home improvement stores) and mounted the switch machine to it with the pin sticking through the hole.Then I fasten the wood block to the underside of the layout with the pin sticking up through a hole into the throwbar. The 3/4" hole in the wood lets me adjust the position of the switch machine and by using oversized mounting holes in the wood, I get additional adjustments. I make the pins a bit on the long side and cut off the excess with a cutoff disk.
I’m sure this would work for the Atlas switch machines, perhaps with some modifications. The trick to extending the pin is to use the brass tubing to join the pin and steel rod, crimping it and gluing it with ACC.
I was at the LHS today, and I did some investigating. The Atlas #66 switch machine HAS contacts and cost about $15. The #65 (the one I was thinking of, and have used in the past) has no contacts.
I’m adding the relays, because, I have aquired a 20 or so Atlas machines, over the past many years. And 5 bucks for a relay trumps 15 bucks for a new Tortise.
To use the Atlas relays you just wire them in parallel with the switch machine, (the box comes with all the schematics.) I’m still working using the regular relays.
Nick
Reainworld has them for $9.40 I think. They work well on the test bench