If you have all that material (foam, subbed, etc.), I think I'd be anxious about having only a 1/4-inch hole. My holes are 3/8" and I only have 5/8" plywood and (only on the mainline) cork roadbed between the switch and the throwbar. Can you look straight down the hole while the switch is operating to see if the wire touches an edge before the points close?
Also, lower the bridge/fulcrum thingy on the tortoise machine to give the wire a wider swing at the top.
-Matt
Returning to model railroading after 40 years and taking unconscionable liberties with the SP&S, Northern Pacific and Great Northern roads in the '40s and '50s.
Thanks everyone for the responses. I agree there must be something blocking the hole.
I guess the hole only needs to be 1/4" until it the wire touches the throwbar.
I've installed about 70 or so on my layout, and if it won't throw the points, it has always been obstructed. Usually the tortoise was mounted just a bit to one side or the other, causing the piano wire to rub up against the subroadbed. I only use 3/4" plywood. If you have another 2" of foam, that hole in the foam may need to be bigger to compensate for the longer distance from the fulcrom to the throwbar.
Scott
I would agree that the most likely problem in interference or obstruction from either the foam or the plywood, or even the roadbed.
Did you ever put your head in a box and try to think? Of course not, which shows the advantages of thinking outside the box. So...since a Tortoise has a square cross section when viewed from the top, is it possible that it was accidentally mounted 90 degrees rotated, so the the machine is trying to move the points along the rails instead of across them?
Nah. I still think it's obstruction.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
It would have to be interference, wouldn't it? I can't think of any reason why it would work on the bench but not in the layout unless some piece of the foam or subbed was blocking it. I suppose it could be something to do with the electrical circuit but that's where my knowledge and experience fail, however I will say that I have half a dozen tortoises on one circuit powered by one wall wart and they all work fine. I have 3/8" in. holes for the tortoise wire so there's plenty of clearance. Also, my holes are in most cases directly below the track so the wire is moving the throwbar from the center, not from the end.
Hope you figure it out. Good luck.
Hello,
A tortoise switch machine can't move an Atlas code 83 #8 turnout throwbar. I replaced the Tortoise wire with 0.039" piano wire, which goes through 2" foam and 1/4" plank of wood that supports the foam. It does work on the bench at a smiliar distance between the tortoise and the turnout. I tried raising/lowering the green plastic piece along the Tortoise, but to no avail. Any thoughts to get the wire to throw the turnout? Thanks!