So I’ve test mounted some tortoise switch motors under some roadbed to switch my N Scale Peco turnouts, but now that they are under the roadbed and a hollow core door they don’t work well. I’m thinking maybe the hole underneath needs to be larger which I will try tonight.
Has anyone else gone through this before?
mount the tortoise machine to a piece of scrap 1/4" plywood using wood screws, drill holes to line it all up, then mount the plywood holding the tortoise machine to the door with small machine bolts /nuts/ and washers …chuck
I do HO, but I have learned to make the hole larger than the directions call for and to use larger wire. I went to the local hardware and got some “piano wire” larger than what came with the tortoises. I bought more than one size and did some expermenting. I bend it the same shape and put it in. I had to enlarge the holes some when I increased the wire size in some cases. That solved all my problems, though the process was dificult.
Hot glue, or my personal favorite adhesive - latex caulk. Seriously, try the caulk, I was skeptical til I tried it on a spare ‘test’ Tortoise. With the force I had to use to pull it off after the caulk dried, I don’t thinkt hey will ever fall off. I am using extruded foam for my layout surface but there’s no reason why the caulk wouldn’t adhere to the surface of a door. I also found that within a minute the caulk can support the weight of the Tortoise even though it is still soft enough to easily slide the Tortoise around for positioning. In 24 hours - it’s NOT coming off unless you really want it to. If you are paranoid about it falling off - clamp the protruding end of the actuating wire on top of the layout after aligning things. The nice thing about the caulk is you have a good 30 minutes to an hour where you can nudge the Tortoise around to make sure it’s all lined up.
–Randy
I built my home HO layout on hollow core doors and mounted the Tortoise machines with Scotch double-sided foam tape as a temporary fastening until I got the machine placed exactly right, then drilled holes and added 4 small screws. As others have mentioned, you must drill a larger hole than the instructions call for, especially at the bottom. A 1/4-inch hole on top and 1/2-inch on the bottom of the door is what I used. You must also use a different wire than the one that comes with the Tortoise. I use a heavier music wire than the one provided with the machine, bend the lower portion according to the diagram, and drill out the hole in the throwbar so the heavier wire will fit.
Until the other weekend when I installed a Tortoise on my friend’s layout, I had forgotten how much of a pain it is. He uses the double sided tape method, but with just ordinary plywood cookie-cutter subroadbed so the stock wire works just fine. Of course, he has the fascia on and some scenery done so access is completely from underneath. I’m going to take my caulk gun to the next work session, even if he does want screws added in the end. The double-sided tape is a real pain to move around into final alignment. Once you get that, putting in the screws is easy. Something sticky but more flexible I think would make a better temporary hold, hence the caulk idea.
–Randy
Don’t have hollow core doors or tortises so this is a theoretical option. Why not cut out a hole and mount the tortise on the bottom of the top skin? Then it is only 1/16" or so from the track. Then you could screw a piece of plywood or pine over the hole
That works for foam, but a hollow core door is, well, hollow so if you cut a hole in the top, there’s no place to mount the Tortoise without it being raised above the surrounding area. Well, technically they aren’t completely hollow, there are cardboard-like crossbraces inside the hollow doors to give them some stiffness. Cutting holes in the skin though, I think, would seriously compromise the structural integrity of the door, kind of defeating the purpose of using them as a layout base in the first place.
–Randy
Not really. It is done to beams all the time to pass pipes and conduits through. In addition the skin in a door is a series of veneers like plywood. A series of small holes will not affect integrity. Beside I am not advocating cutting the hole in the top but the bottom side allowing the tortise to be 1 1/2" closer to the track. The plywood screwed over the hole would more than compensate for any structural damage.
Why don’t you use heavy duty velcro? Cut a patch to the size of the tortise, stick it in place, then do the same on the door. The glue on the velcro holds to the tortise very well, but after you place the opposite piece of velcro on the door, the glue will not hold well. Staple in position with 4-5 short staples. That and the glue holds extremely well. Installation takes just a minute or two. They’re eaisly adjusted and positioned esp if prewired.
A friend of mine has over 30 tortises mounted this way, and none of the mounts have failed in the three years I’ve known him.