I am looking for a more compact switch machine than the Tortoise. I am building a multi-deck layout and I need a machine which doesn’t protrude too low. Has anyone tried Micro Mark’s Switch Tender?
The switch tender has goten fairly poor reviews, for a number of reasons. I would stay away from them. Ifyou want small, check out Tam Valley Depot and servo-based switch motors. FOr HO I am using 9g micro servos, even with the nice mount from Motrak that makes them easier to attach (works just like a Tortoise with the mount, actually), the whole thing is about 1/4 the size of a Tortoise. Or maybe less. You do need some sort of controller, if you use DC then the Octopus controller will drive 8 and the total cost per turnout will be less than a Tortoise. If you use DCC, the Singlet and Quad will both work, and give you both loco buttons with LEDs as well as act as DCC stationary decoders. You can use them without DCC as well, or if you don;t want to use DCC to control the turnouts yo can use the Octopus on a DCC layout. I have pictures of my first one instaleld on my layout on my web side, also there are tons of pictures on Tam Valley’s site showing ways to install them.
I have no connection with Tam Valley other than a very staisfied customer. I’ve had a few technical questions along the way and Duncan has always quickly responded to my emails. I’ve got two installed so far (see my makeshift control panel post in the DCC forum) and they both work great. The second one ended up against a cross piece on the benchwork - all I did was slice a corner off the Motrak mount so it could nestle up against the brace.
–Randy
I am using the Servo kits on the Tam Valley site and I love them. I am using both Tortoises and Servos and I am very happy with the results of the servo and the work as good as the tortoise. I use the relay board with the quad-pic and it changes the polarity of the frog as well. Also I want to point out that I am using #6 Fasttrack jigs with continuous rails on the points with the subminiature 9g servos and it can produce the force needed the though the turnout so you should have no problems with any commercial or handlaid turnouts.
Chris
Warner Robins, GA
I have some Switch Tenders on my layout. They are easy to install an by using a stiffer actuating wire, I can get them to operate through 2" of foam plus plywood. The main objection, as I see it, is that they draw about 60 mA when stalled vs. the Tortoise’s 18 mA. This precludes using an inline LED to show direction. However, I found that after moving the rails, they will stay securely against the stock rails with the power turned off on my N scale layout. The pressure against the rail is high enough that I think it should work with HO as well. If you need to power the frog, you can use their 3 pole switches, otherwise a momentary switch would work.
Something I noticed with the relay boards and the Singlet decoders - Duncan has programmed in a delay so the servo starts to move BEFORE the relay switches polarity. Not really necessary on a ‘dcc freindly’ turnout where the points are always the same polarity as the adjacent stock rail, but on those types where both point rails and the frog are the same polarity as the closed side stock rail, this prevents shorts that come from switching the frog polarity before the points move.
–Randy
JHF
I installed my first servo from Tam Valley this weekend. I used it on my FastTracks #6 turnout. I am very pleased with how it works and the ease of installation. I now plan on using them on all my powered turnouts on the layout I’m now building.
markalan
Does anyone have experience with Scale Shops Turnout Machine? It looks like a low profile unit a bit less expensive than Tortoise.
I’ve been to their website www.scaleshops.com but didn’t find it to be very informative. The unit appears to be a screw drive machine with additional contacts.
Jim
I am using the Scale shops machines, their simplicity and size appealed to me. They were exactly what I was looking for and to me the next best thing to the Flea and at a fraction of the cost, I bought the unassembled (3 volt motor) 12 pack and extra contacts for powered frogs. They work perfectly and realistically and I have no dead spots with my Peco electro frog turnouts.
That all sounds easy and good but I have to mention they are time consuming to build (they are available assembled but cost more) and I did need a power source to run them which I built myself. Connecting them to the track work was tricky because I want them to be invisible which may or may not be beyond the average modeler’s scope but something I find very satisfying and rewarding.
I did intend to have a mix of powered and manual turnouts but I am so happy with how these turned out I have now decided to power all turnouts so I will be ordering more in the future. For me they have worked out a lot cheaper and smaller than the Tortoise (which I have no experience with).
Steve F:
I would be very interested in seeing photos of the Scale Shops machines. Also, please show us a few details of the power source you built for them. I have Peco Electrofrog turnouts so this is really relevent to me.
Thanks
Dave
There’s an article in the January 2011 issue of Model Railroader on pages 62-63 on using servo motors as switch machines.
Also, on page 85 is an advertisement for a new Tortoise clone called the Cobalt turnout motor from Control Panel Designs that they say is smaller than a Tortoise, but it doesn’t appear to be very much smaller. The company is located in Australia and the price of the Cobalt is listed only in Australian Dollars.
Servos are about the smallest thing you can use, especially if you use ‘conventional’ plywood subroadbed as you cna glue the serve right on the bottom of the plywood and directly oeprate the throwbar with a very short piece of piano wire. A 9G servo is plenty of power for N and HO scales, especially with hinged point turnouts - probably even larger scales with hinged points. They are VERY tiny, when laid on their side like I’m describing they stick down maybe a half inch.
However, I mentioned this in the main section, I’d liek some more longevity information on that servo article in the January issue. The motors in servos are NOT meant to operate in a stall mode. I question the longevity of such a system. ALthough the HS-55 servo is much larger than the tiny little 9G ones and may therefore be a bit more robust. A proper controller that allow the use of the servos unmodified and in the way intended is not all that expensive on a per turnout basis - and since they allow you to set the travel limits rather than stall, you can also use the servos to animate most anything - crossing gates, train order semaphores, etc.
–Randy
Additional info - the small 9G size servos I use for my layout have coreless motors. Not sure about the Hitec ones mentioned in the article in the Jan issue, but witht he ones I use - if they were used as stall machines per the article they would quickly burn up the motor.
–Randy
The instructions for the Scale Shops machines have the info for the power source including part numbers, it’s about 6.5 volts ac and uses rectifiers (supplied) to supply the required 3 volts to the motors. The only small issue I have is it wont work two motors at the same time, if I up the power to over come this they move too fast, I have a couple of interlocked points so my solution was install a couple of micro switches so only one can move at a time. The other way I thought of to over come this was instead of having all machines run through the one pair of resistors have them all have their own resistors but I thought this could get unnecessarily complicated, the resistor are in the case with the transformer.
The photos below show how I hooked the machines up to the turnouts and how I will hide them with the points motor castings, once ballasted and painted I think they should look the part.
