Switchstand construction

[Mt Beenak]

Here is a brief overview of how I built the switchstand which appeared in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahdIazQD2hA

I started with a white metal casting of a 1:10 point lever.  I got a bunch of these years ago at a train show.  They were made to screw onto old manual telephone exchange switches.  They work okay, but are out of scale to have on a layout.  You could easily build levers with a few pieces of brass rod and shapes.  I use minature DPDT switches as the pivot and the 'switching'.  The components are laid out below.  The shortened blue lever will have the bottom end filed to fit into the electrical joiner which holds everything together.

The swiches are evenly spaced in a piece of plastic duct I had left over.  This is screwed to the base board.  The wiring goes out underneath the baseboard.  The switches are simply wired as reversing switches.

In the background you can see the timber base I built to go around the plastic channel.  There are steps leading up to it and a simple railing, painted white.  The black grille is the cover which keeps the levers aligned and hides the white plastic underneath.  This is a sheet of .080 styrene and some plastruct pieces cut to an arc to simulate the lever frame.

The switches operate 'Tortoise' slow motion switch motors, wired in pairs as crossovers.  This allows me to use five levers to operate ten points (turnouts).

Incidentally, the plastic duct was also used as part of the frame for two of my critters.

 

[PJM20]

Wow, what a clever idea, thanks for sharing it with us. - Peter

[ttrigg]

Mick

Awesome concept! Prepare to be imitated! Thanks for sharing.

[dwbeckett]

ttrigg

Mick

Awesome concept! Prepare to be imitated! Thanks for sharing.

Me too, I like what you did

Dave

[Ray Dunakin]

Very nice! Good-looking, clever concept.