I am getting back into the hobby after a long break from it. I have been seeing things called Tortoise Switch Machine. I am not familiar with them. Could someone(s) explain more about them and everything? Thanks.
Sean, the unknown train travler,
Here is a quick way to get an answer sometimes. Plus, you have links you can save to Favorites.
http://tinyurl.com/25nddns
Our club uses the machine with 9 volts DC for nice slow action. A bipolar green/red LED in series with one machine lead lets us know the point location. You will find that in some of the links.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Tortoises are pretty nice. They use a low amount of current and keep a constant pressure against the switch points to hold them is place. It's hard to mess them up. They have been described as pretty much bullet proof.
You can also use them to control:
1) grade crossing gates,
2) flag semaphors,
3) wig wag signals and more.
They also contain two A/B relays which can used for power routing or led status lights, or whatever else you like. They are also the ultimate in switch machines really.
The downside is they are also expensive as heck and a little harder to hook up, than say a switch attached to a twin coil relay. They also take up quite a bit of space under the layout. This can create some placement issues. They also don't work well when you have a long vertical throw travel. (say > 1")
Blue Point offers a manual non electrical version similar to tortoise except you use pull cables. But by the time you throw in the cable kits, they are about as expensive as tortoises.
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
traintravler I am getting back into the hobby after a long break from it. I have been seeing things called Tortoise Switch Machine. I am not familiar with them. Could someone(s) explain more about them and everything? Thanks.
traintravler,
The Tortoise Switch Machine is just that, a machine that is used to control switches (turnouts) so that trains can run straight through or turn on the divergent track.
The Tortoise is mounted under the layout. A rigid piece of piano wire protrudes from the Tortoise, through a hole in the layout, and into a small hole in the center of the throwbar on the turnout. The Tortoise receives electrical impulses which activate the motor and it moves the piano wire left or right to control the movement of the turnout.
There are several ways to activate the motor electrically, but the most common way is a toggle switch, usually a double pole double throw (DPDT) toggle switch, mounted on a control panel or directly on the layout.
Alton Junction
Digitalgriffin, they work fine >1". You simply use heaver gauge music wire. Mine are extended over 3 inches.
Springfield PA
You mignt also look at the article in January 2011 issue of MR. The author used low cost model airplane servos to throw the switches and minimicro switches to control frog polarity, indicator lights or signals. I made a demonstration model based on the article for my club. Works good on a 9 Volt battery with an auto taillight in series with the motor. And it is much cheaper than the tortoise.
How warm does the motor get? The servos I use have coreless motors in them and would quickly burn up if used as a stall motor, they aren't meant to do that. I use servos with proper controlelrs, it costs about the same as a Tortoise but for that price I get the machine as well as controller with pushbuttons and LEDs and it's also a DCC decoder.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I'm not using it as a stall motor. I left the spring in the Peco switch and am using a DPDT toggle to select the direction of throw and a mini-pushbutton to activate the servo. My servos are about 40 years old from my RC airplane days. I'm using a 9 volt battery for power in series with an auto taillight bulb and have thrown the switch about 100 times so far on the same battery.
That should be fine - the article in MR just treats them like stall motors. I really don't think they will handle that over the long run, depending on the type of servo used.