I was operating at a friend’s layout today when one of his Tortoise switch motors started to endlessly make clicking noises when I threw the switch. It stopped when I threw the switch back to where it was before, but started clicking again when ever I threw the switch for a certain route. It’s pretty loud.
Is this a cracked gear or ? And is there a remedy short of replacing the unit?
Dave Nelson
Sure sounds like a cracked gear - or maybe a broken tooth on the sector gear that actually moves the arm. Especially if it jsut clicked and did not actual change position. Ifit clicked and changed position, then a cracked or broken gear in the gear train, but not broken enough to prevent the next tooth over from grabbing to continue the motion.
No way to repair that I know of, unless there is another damaged Torotise and you can cannibalize parts from the two broken ones to make one working one. It’s been a while since I took one apart bt I think all of the intermediate gears are all the same, so any gear from one could replace the bad gear in the other. The gear ont he motor shaft is metal, so that’s not broken. The rest are all plastic though. ANy of them could be cracked or have a broken tooth.
–Randy
Is it under warranty?
If not, you can open the unit up and see what’s up inside. We’ve had a couple that made noise and found out that there was a problem with the internal contact wiper assembly.
I had that happen to me.
I called Circuitron and they told me to open it up. There are four screws under the label.
I opened it and there was ballast in the gears. Cleaned it up. Closed it up. It runs fine and quiet.
I doubt that the gears are cracked. These things are built like tanks.
Rich
This thread is the first I ever recall reading of anyone having a problem with a Tortoise making clicking noises or possibly having a cracked or chipped gear. As Rich said, there may be loose ballast or something inside it, but how it could get in there is a mystery.
The entry point for ballast is that opening on the side of the Tortoise where the screw that holds the piano wire in place needs the room to move left and right.
Rich
You must be living in a different, atmosphere than I am. The gravity in my house goes down, not to the side. [:D]
Frank
thanks fellows
Perhaps I should clarify - yes the switch gets thrown so the Tortoise “works” in both directions
And when it is thrown in one direction the clicking is endless – not just while the points are moving. There is no noise when the points are thrown in the other direction.
Dave Nelson
Dave,
I wonder if the direction that it remains clicking, is because some how the throw is restricted, by the throw-bar, or some connection in that link, that it keeps clicking, because it hasn’t finished the throw. That would be my guess. Try taking the linkage off and try it both ways and see if the clicking goes away.
Frank
The Tortoise should just stall even if it can’t throw all the way in one direction or the other – that’s the idea behind a “stall motor” – it should not click or make any other noise no matter where it stalls.
You may be putting too much voltage to it. I operate mine from only the 5 volt output of a computer power supply and they seem to operate just fine on that low a voltage.
Open it up and examine it for debris. That is what happened to me.
Rich
I have several Tortoise switch machines that do exactly the same thing. They make a loud clicking noise that just will not stop when you throw the switch. Very annoying!
I doubt that there is anything in the gears to make it continue to click after it throws the points. The motor must be still running and not going in to stall, for you to keep hearing noise from it.
Something has to be still moving, in order to hear noise.
Frank
Dave is never going to know unless and until he opens it up.
Rich
He said it is His friends though.
Still sounds to me that it is not going into stall. When it is in stall, nothing should be moving, so where is the clicking noise coming from? Is the folcrum out of adjustment?
Frank
Ballast in the gears.
Rich
Rich,
You are saying, that when the motor is in the stall mode, it is still running and turning the gears?
So all the tortoise machines on your layout are running, even if you are not using them?
Frank
No, I am not saying that.
The time that I was hearing the clicking noise, the clicking sound came when I threw a DPDT switch on my control panel. As the Tortoise was moving to throw the point rails, the clicking sound was continuous until the Tortoise completed the movement of the point rails. Every time that I flipped that toggle switch, the clicking sound would occur throughout the movement.
Rich
Quote:
Posted by jeep35 on Saturday, April 05, 2014 2:14 PM
I have several Tortoise switch machines that do exactly the same thing. They make a loud clicking noise that just will not stop when you throw the switch. Very annoying!
The above is what I am referring to. Dave and this poster said, it continues to click, after the points are thrown, in one direction. That is why I asked, what is making the clicking after it should be in the stall mode.
Frank
In any event, I believe that we gave Dave our best advice, and that is to open the Tortoise to see if he can observe the problem.
Rich