I suspect that what's there, is it. There have been articles over the years on building your own. Search the magazine index http://index.mrmag.com/ for issues.
Good luck
Paul
You could go with mechanical.
http://www.humpyard.com
I got 10 that control 14 turnouts. That works out to $5 per turnout.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
Mechanical would be my suggestion too.
I have seen many ideas on doing this yourself and there are a few commercial solutions available too, including the controls that Spacemouse posted a link to.
My favorite mechanical idea is to use surplus automotive choke cable with a spdt slide switch mounted below the turnout to handle the electrical switching aspects of the control. Something like this.
I couldn't find the link I had but the one above uses a similar idea witha toggle switch and actuating rods. Some people also use R/C model airplane control cables for turnouts.
The plan I liked involved drilling two small holes in the "handle" of the slide switch. In one hole you cement the wire that goes up through the table to move the turnout throw bar. In the other hole you affix the end of your control cable. When you work the cable it trhows the switch and the switch throws the turnout. The switches mechanical detents hold the point rails in position. At least that is the theory behind it.
There are some books out there from the 1930's-40's that you might track down at a flea market or on ebay that tell you how to build your own twin-coil switch machines. Since that time most people have just bought them ready-made.
A couple of questions -
1. What kind of track are you using??
2. Are there any situations where you could use a ground-throw instead of a switch machine?(that is, do you have a lot of turnouts that you can't reach and have to power remotely?)
BTW Scale Shops makes a kit for a switch machine, I think it's a motor drive but I'm not sure. If you buy a package of 12 kits the list price at Walthers is a little under $100 so it's like $8.25 per switch machine. I would assume you could find them for less online or mailorder etc.
Walthers item 649-1012
FRED21 wrote: Does anyone out there have plans to build an inexpensive switch machine with extra contacts for my HO gauge layout. Either motorized or twin coil solenoid design would be O.K.
F:
I don't have any plans per se but I do have a lot of vague notions and half-baked ideas.
Building my own switch machines is an idea I keep toying with, too. Part of it would be to save money, but another part is that I really like hacking stuff together.
The one method I definitely have tried is mechanical remote control. I'm surprised by the numbers of posters here who have done the same thing, actually. I used through-the-table cranks, strong nylon fishing line, and popsicle-stick levers. This of course could only transmit pull, so I held the switch in normal position with a rubber band. I also had a semaphore order board worked this way. Other than frequent replacement of dried-out rubber bands and occasional splitting of popsicle sticks, it worked fairly well. Cost was very low, and the system gave automatic slow motion.
I have sometimes thought that a motor-drive machine may not be too hard to build. Gordon Odegard had one in MR once which relied on a synchronous gearmotor that turned a crank. A traveling-nut machine might also be built. To make these more cheaply than commercial machines, you'd have to see what surplus or salvage material you could obtain, and design the mechanism around that.
Some have also tried hydraulic control. The Aug 1970 MR article "Liquid Leverage" described how Roger Farnham used medical syringes and tubing to build water-hydraulic controls, with syringes both as pump and actuator. He used two per switch, because the syringes tended to be better pushers than pullers (two pumps would also be needed, for a total of four per switch controlled). One might also use a single syringe and a carefully selected spring to oppose it. I'm not sure how economical this system would be, but the hack factor would be off the charts.
I've picked up twin-coil switch machines on sale for less than $10/unit. While the contacts require a little assembly (6 screws, and soldering the lead wires) they provide DPDT capability of capacity adequate for my simple needs.
Building your own sounds like fun, but by the time you buy all the materials, assemble jigs, toss some unsuccessful experiments... (Remember, time is money - and your hobby time is precious.)
Manual control works. I've used several different kinds of linkages and several different styles of electrical switch, and currently favor toggle switches connected to cables (fishing line) under tension.
I build my own specialwork, from raw rail spiked to wooden ties cut from sheet balsa. That saves enough that the difference in price between my hand-built turnout and a commercial product that isn't as dependable more than covers the price of an inexpensive twin-coil machine.
Just my . Other modelers' experiences will vary.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Being a former member of the RC airplane hobby, I'm also interested in mechanical controls. Basically, in most cases, the control surfaces of RC planes (rudder, aelirons, tailfin, etc.) are mechanical push or pull rods linked to a servo. It seems that it would be much easier to model a railroad switch than what you have to go through for an RC plane.
By the way, I've seen old threads that talk about the high cost of being in model railroading. You haven't seen high cost until you fly (and then crash and rebuilt) model airplanes. And the time involved in fixing mechanical problems and repairing damage from crashes is crazy. The saying in the RC airplane hobby is that every plane has an expiration date - don't think it's the same for locomotives.
Depending on the design of your layout, I would also vote for manual turnout control using DPDT slide switches. Here's a link to one of many, many variations of same: http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/wdenton101/Tips.htm
Some modelers prefer that the slide switch be mounted on its side as per the example. Others, myself included, mount it vertically to the underside of the layout with woodscrews and spacers. You can use flexible cable or stiff metal rods of the type used for model airplane flap and rudder control. I use DuBro bell cranks where there is not a straight shot from the fascia board to the DPDT switch. I buy cheap wooden balls at Michael's or JoAnn Fabrics, drill them, drop some ACC in the hole and push them on the end to form a knob.
John Timm
desertdog wrote:Depending on the design of your layout, I would also vote for manual turnout control using DPDT slide switches. Here's a link to one of many, many variations of same: http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/wdenton101/Tips.htm John Timm
Thanks for posting that John. That is the link I was looking for to post and could not find. Now I have it again!
Has anyone tried or even seen these new switches named "The Flea"?
They are advertising in MRR as an integrated switch machine and DCC decoder. The company is using Walthers code 83 switches. (Cypress Engineering)
Sounds very cool, but I bet they are a bit expensive.....
chugchug wrote:Has anyone tried or even seen these new switches named "The Flea"?They are advertising in MRR as an integrated switch machine and DCC decoder. The company is using Walthers code 83 switches. (Cypress Engineering)Sounds very cool, but I bet they are a bit expensive.....
I have seen them advertised. I got the impression they were built in? Not my cup of tea. Under the table suits my tastes. Anybody else know more about these?
I almost forgot Joe Fugate's Easy throw door bolt turnout controls.