I'm finally getting to the small yard above my work bench. Headroom is very limited for switch machines. I use Tortoises on the majority of the layout but they stick down too much for this area. Does anyone know the sizes of these machines? The Circuitron website has very little information on them and the Tortoises.
Is there alternative machine? I really don't want to use Caboose Industries throws as I find them pretty ugly and I prefer not to have folks reaching into the layout to throw them.
Thanks,
oldline1
There are also servos, without the ridiculous convolutions and giant size of the Walthers system, but equally simple to plug and play with the controllers. The come out to be about an inch and a half tall (I just measured one). Look at Tam Valley Depot.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
The Tortoise height is 3&1/2" in its normal configuration, it can be mounted sideways which reduces the height to 2&3/4". An article in the June '17 MR described how to do this and I've installed several this way with good results.
The Snail, which has a built-in decoder, is the same size.
I think Circuitron also sells a bracket for sideways mounting, but I don't know what the resulting height would be.
Jim
It is actually a "SMAIL" with an "M", and it is the same size as a tortoise. The Smail is DCC operable, that is the main difference.
Circutron offers brackets to mount the Tortoise horizontally, or remotely, both of which work very well.
On all my previous layouts I have had circumstances where I ended up using the remote mount option and put the Tortoise on top of the layout hidden in a building.
You can even combine the brackets and have a remote mounted horizontal Tortoise.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
The dimensions of the Walthers units seem understated - there's a servo, mounted with the longest dimension hanging down, PLUS that whole section below it with the connectors. Seems a lot larger than 3 5/8 - which is 2 1/8, more than twice, as deep below the layout than the servo. And that dimension for the servo is the servo in a mounting bracket, there are also other ways to mount them where they are on their sides which would make them less than an inch deep. The footprint of the Tam Valley bracket is 1 1/4" x 1".
I just measured the Walther's machines I have. The dimensions listed are correct.
The horizontal mount, which works very well, is 1⅝ inch below the table.
For someone like me who is challenged by anything involving wiring and electronics, the Walthers machines make everything very easy.
York1 John
DO look at the Tam Valley optiosn though. There is no wiring or soldering, no more than with the Walthers system. The servos have a 3 pin plug on them. You plug it in. Done. No soldering, no wire stripping.
Just because I can and am building my own servo controllers doesn't mean that's what everyone has to do to use servos. There are also other commercial units like Tam Valley that are equally plug and play, no more 'wiring' than the walthers system. Tam Valley has one unit that is almost identical to the Walther's system, the same or slightly less expensive - and you cna save $6 by getting it as a kit - a mechanical kit, the electronics are all pre made, the 'kit' means you stick the servo in the mount youself with a screw, and plug the wire from the servo into the control board yourself. All the fiddly electronics and soldering stuff is done for you. At $30 each plus a quantity discount, it's ahrd to beat. It's the equivalent of the Walther's horizontal machione, which is $25, and the dual color fascia controller witch is $10.
But those one at a time things are all rather expensive - because the electronics to control one servo can easily drive more than one. The real advantage of other systems are the ones that drive 4 or 8 servos from a single control board. Again, the servos and the buttons to control them just plug in, there's no soldering with any of this stuff, but instead of a control board for each servo, there's one control board with multiple servos plugged in to it.
No I do not work for them. No they do not give me free product to say nice things. I'm just a customer who used several of their products since I first decided to give servos a try when building my previous layout. ANd it's saved me a ton of money, even using the commercial items, over the layout before that, when I still used Tortoises. And Tortoises are now something like $3-4 more per unit than they were when I built that layout. Turnouts are expensive enough even before you get to the control system.
rrinker DO look at the Tam Valley optiosn though. There is no wiring or soldering, no more than with the Walthers system. The servos have a 3 pin plug on them. You plug it in. Done. No soldering, no wire stripping.
When I get ready to expand the layout, I will have to check out Tam Valley. Those sound good.
http://www.modelrailroadcontrolsystems.com/content/MP5%20color_EN_letter.pdf
Another option would be these MP5 or earlier MP1. Looks to be about 1" thick, mounts similar as a tortoise, assessory contacts, priced about the same as a tortoise.
I would also look into the Blue Point or Bullfrog manual turnaout controllers. They offer much lower profiles (approximately 2") than the tortoises or the Walthers switch machines, and are not difficult to install. Just my two cents.
Urs