I suspect there is already a thread (or two…) comparing various switch machines for under-table use (HO). Can anybody point me to these, or any suggestions on various machines? I have some 40 turnouts installed but not one machine - yet. That is the next project! Will use DCC. Using Peco insulfrog turnouts, and track. Not a vary handy person…i.e., low skill level with this kind of thing!
Thanks for any suggestions!
Ron
(Attempting the Boston & Albany…)
Ron, I use Peco also and so far have left all my machines under manual control. The snap spring mechanism makes them great for this type of control.
Peco make a solonoid motor switch that fires the turnout quickly. These are best installed at the time you lay the track. Probably the most used is the Tortoise. If you use one of these, then you will have to remove the spring from the turnout to get it to switch. It is not hard to do and described in the Peco paperwork with each switch.
You have made the job harder by not installing them when you installed the turnouts but there are several options. The standard today is a device like the Tortise that consists of a motor and a gear train to move the linkage at realtively prototypical speeds. They run about $12.00 in bulk orders and require you to drill a hole in the center of the points for the activation wire to operate. I suppose if you have a throwbar on the trunout you could also do this alongside the turnout and drill a vertical hole for the wire from the device. There are any number of double solenoid devices that will do the job and throw the points so fast you won’t see them move if you blink. You can make a linkage to operate them by choosing a length of piano wire at a hobby shop and some brass tubbing that is a snug fit. Just drill a hole in the layout and press fit the tubing into it. Then using a piece of the wire you bend two 90 degree bends in it so it makes a square letter J. The long end goes down to the device and the short end drops into a hole in the throwbar you drill to accomodate it. Under thge layout you can then bend the excess at a 90 degree bend and mount the solenoid device to move it side to side.
Ron
I use peco insulfrog like you. I left the spring in. I did not drill any holes on installation. What I did was drill a small hole a tie or so from the point throwbar on the outside of the rail (opposite side to viewing.) Then I ran a reshaped #10 paperclip to the underside of the table. The paperclip was bent undertable to fit a peco motor that was mounted on an adaptor base PL12. The PL12 is really an “above baseboard use” adaptor but it works my way as well. (see my posting in Peco Switches thread)
Here is the motor mounted.
Ron, I just posted a comment on the thread about hiding Atlas switch machines with a reminder that if you think you may ever want to add control lighting to your switches (to indicate the direction of the switch on your control panel or on the layout), consider a Tortoise… it’s already set up to let you do that. Plus I really like the look of that slow motion switching that it provides.
Ron
Here are my motors mounted on the layout
The Peco spring-loaded points will not work well with a Tortoise. It is generally adviseable to remove the springs, but I don’t think that’s an easy job if the turnout is already mounted.
Peco switch machines are twin-coil. I find they need more of a “kick” than the Atlas twin-coils, so I use a capacitive discharge circuit to drive all my twin-coils.
I’ve added on cheap DPDT relays to drive signal lights. These work well, driven off the same CD circuit in parallel with the twin-coils. But y’know what? By the time I add up the cost of the Peco twin-coil and the cheap relay, I could have bought Tortoises, and saved myself a lot of extra work wiring those relays up. Live and learn, I guess.
removing the spring in the Peco turnout is the easiest thing there is, you don’t have
to remove the turnout at all. The leaflet that is enclosed with the turnout tells you how to replace the spring and so how to remove the old one.
If you have not yet decided on the kind of turnout motor I whould advise Tortoise
and not the selenoid kind. Each time you activate the selenoid the tongs of the
turnout get a jolt that in time might loosen them. That’s my experience with Shinohara turnouts, the Peco’s hold out better in my experience.
Has anyone used the Aspen Models switch machines? The MWA03 version says it can be hooked directly to a DCC decoder and does not need a relay.
http://www.aspenmodel.com/
They seem to be ideal for multideck layouts given their short height verses the Tortoise. They’re also cheaper than a Tortoise.
The tortoise are nice, BUT the if you don’t adjust (and its not too difficult) the trow wire just right it will cause a short and shut down your DCC. The only thing you can do is make sure its adjusted the best you can and if all else fails you have to open the motor housing and widen the contacts.
?? If so many people have this problem with the tortoise why don’t they (Circiutron) fix it?
They look like a good, cheaper screw-driven alternative to a Tortoise. If I didn’t already have all my Tortoises, I’d take a serious look at these. In fact, I may anyway…
Thank you all for the comments. I do in fact have holes drilled under turnouts: I did see that coming. I do prefer the slow motion switch, and do intend to use DCC for signalling and detection, so I guess the Tortoise is looking good. i did hear somewhere that the electronic connections can be iffy on a Tortoise?
Will also definately look at Aspen Models: may buy a couple, as I also have a couple of SAwitchmasters as well as “Tortoi” machines.
Thanks again.!
The only problem I encountered with my Tortise machines to date has been with the use of 8 position edge connectors. I used connectors instead of soldering directly to the Tortise.
Some/most of the 8 position connectors are too wide and can be easily shifted to one end or the other and possibly causing a short with the DPDT switches that are the 6 center connections.
To prevent this simply glue in each end of the connector a very thin piece of plastic of a piece of flat toothpick. This takes up the slop and keeps all the connector tabs aligned with the printed circuit lands on the Tortise.
The very nice part of the tortoise is the ease of mounting. Buy one and give it a try.
Hi
I have tortoise twitch machines to install on my peco insul frog turnouts. I just came back from the train club as I wasn’t sure how to connect the buggers up. After bending the wire and installing the little green plastic slide mount on the tortoise we found the peco wouldn’t throw its points with the spring still in the turnout but after moving the plastic mounting slide down toward the screw and wire making the wire more rigid the peco points went quite efficiently. [:)]