Hi, I have been using tortoise switch machines since they first came out. I have about 39 of them, purchased a batch at a time. I started noticing a clicking noise in one of them after about a year of use. The first time it happened, I sent the unit back to Circuitron for repair under warranty. That cost me about ten dollars. At that time a new machine cost $10.95. So the next time when a couple of them started clicking when I turned on my layout power.I decided to take one apart. I found that the final gear cross shafr was slipping out of its bearing hole and skipping past its mating gear causing the noise. I shimmed the shaft on the other end to press the shaft harder into the bearing hole. I have done this to about a dozen of them now with no further trouble from them. I was surprised to find that no one else has mentioned this problem! Am I the only one to be plagued?
Maybe you are working your machines too hard. I presume you didn’t use the wire provided because it is too weak to do the job. Perhaps you substituted a wire than was unnecessarily strong/inflexible. Or perhaps the points are stiff and provide great resistance. Or you didn’t remove switch spring installed by certain turnout makers. These could place a heavy strain on the machine.
Glad to hear there is a home remedy.
Mark
That’s why it’s good to have sound equipped loco’ Just turn the volume up and no more click problem [:D]
Hmm, can’t say I’ve ever had that happen. I have one I’ve abused - it’s been taken apart a bunch of times, for a while it was sitting on my desk so when I was bored I would push it back and forth by hand as fast as I could make it go, sometimes causing the gears th slip past one another. Even so, when power was applied, it would move back and forth just fine, a bit noisier than oen that wasn’t abused, but no loud click like that.
–Randy
As I recall, that happened to one on our old display layout. We had an engine run back and forth during shows and automatically alternate routes on the layout. We were at the NMRA Train Show in St. Paul when it happened. The show had just opened when the Tortise machine started making noise and wouldn’t throw the turnout. I quickly bought one from a dealer and replaced it even though it was the worst possible time for it to die! Trying to get under a display layout surrounded by people is not a lot of fun.
As I recall, there was too much play due to wear which was letting the gears slip. The layout was about four years old at the time. Our new layout has been in use for more than four years and at more shows than the old one, but so far the original unit is still working fine. It does make me think, however, that I should have a spare one just in case it happens again.
Jim
I’ve seen this happen when guys push too hard when tightening the screw on the swing piece or what ever it’s called that holds the wire. It doesn’t necessarily happen right away but the pressure forces things out of alignment and eventually they make that click click noise. I think if you were to let it go eventually it would fail completely. All I do is something I learned in Rocket Science school, simply hold the black piece with a pair of needle nose pliers while you tighten the screw so you don’t push things out of alignment.
Hi Mark, Thanks for the reply! I don’t think any of your suggestions would apply because I didn’t have any problems that would cause an over load or stress on the machines. The clicking occurs when the machine comes to a stop against its own internal stop, not when the points close on the turnout. That’s when the force is the greatest and entirely inside the tortoise. You did cause me to consider the voltage I was using so I rechecked it with my volt meter and it was 12.5 volts at all machines I checked. This is ,5 volt over the specs. Hmmm.
Hello Allegeny, Thanks for your comment. I never did like pushing too hard on that screw but as I see it the damage you might cause would be to the swing arm (the black thing) and not to the gears, as the swing arm butts up against the printed circuit board. As I mentioned to Mark, My voltage is .5 volt over the maximum suggested by the Tortoise company. Maybe that would be enough over time to cause the problem. Maybe one of the electrical wizards in the hobby could suggest the proper resister to install at the transformer to cut the voltage to 12 volts or under.
Hi, Just a note to let you know what I finally found in regard to the clicking and gear skipping on my tortoise machines. I rechecked the voltage coming out of my MRC powerpack at the constant 12 volt terminals. I had a reading of 12.5 volts on my analog meter. I rechecked it with a new digital meter and I gor slightly over 15 volts! Problem solved. A faulty power pack and a lazy voltmeter. Wayne
So you fixed it by reducing the voltage? You can run half that voltage and have better running torti’s. It gives them a slower motion which is more prototypical.
Hi Hamitnblue. You are right, they do run more prototypically slow at a lower voltage. In fact I am running them at 8.6 volts now. I reduced the voltage by installing an automotive light bulb in series with the machine power supply, I suppose the voltage increased slowly over the years and I didn’t notice it. I had this happen on a wall transformer that did the same thing. Maybe we will have to check our voltages periodicaly! Wayne
Over time you will know simply by the sound of the torti’s switching. If running at 8.5 volts you’ll know if something changes. You could reduce the voltage even more if you want to.