As my expenses are growing in the Railroading hobby, i am constantly trying to “cut costs”. Does anyone know how to make your own inexpensive switch machines?
Thank you for your input.
Wire inside a tube; an automotive choke cable.
I posted the same question…
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=36043
hope this helps [:D]
waka324,
I don’t know what type of switch machines you need, but most of us have some Atlas surface mount remote switch machines laying around. If you do, they can be converted to under table switch machines quite easily. I have a brief ‘photo essay’, read tutorial, on how to do it on my web site. Link is in my signature. Once on site, press the How’d You Do That button and then scroll down and click on the picture of the switch machine.
Good luck in your quest.
Here is an inexpensive switch motor: Internally, there a DC motor driving a rack & pinion.
http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=search&item=DLA-1&type=store
You will have to play with the voltage you use to drive it, 12V is probably too much. It is more than strong enough to drive any model railroad turnout - including large scale.
nfmisso
Have you use thes they are a power door lock swich. the have quite a bit of jam. I would think they would tear the switch in two.
That is why you put a spring in the system, as Tortise does. You also test to determine the appropriate voltage for your set up. These particular units have a DC motor inside driving a pinion on a rack, not a solenoid as many power door locks use.
Nice little tutorial, Allan. Looks good and looks like it does the job well. However, I wonder if anyone has done the same thing with the Atlas N scale switch machines. They don’t have the pin sticking out the end, they hook onto the throwbar somewhere in the middle. If anyone has done it, would you share it with us?