Has anyone tried making the Hediger Hook (an under table centering spring)? It was mentioned years ago in MR. Here is a video link: https://youtu.be/qzcmqWPI3cw
Rainy day in Idaho, been fiddling around, not quite sure how it goes...
I've seen them before. I have in the past gone the easier above track over center spring using an ordinary staple. Works just as well.
Pete.
Interesting, yeah, center over spring (COS) is probably easier... Why did you move away from using the COS, wanted a more sophisticated system or?
My layout is modular and portable. It has mostly Peco turnouts that already have the spring. The few turnouts with the OCS are either hand laid (scale house gantlet track) or old Atlas.
Thank you Pete! This hobby has lots of gotchas. Have wished many times that I had sprung for Peco track when I did the big track purchase 25 years ago... And #6 turnouts instead all #4's... Oh well, a fun hobby even with a few stumbles along the way!
I think these were originally called "Mark 7" manual turnout controls in MR; I will try to search for these in the MR online index. I put these on the small layout I built in my parents attic as a high schooler. The worked very, very well. Of course, at the time, I had never heard of a Peco switch; I was using Atlas manual turnouts. They worked great, once one got the hang of installing and adjusting them.
I've made something similar, mostly with Code 100 Atlas Custom Line turnouts, but it also works with Shinohara and and a Peco turnout with a busted overcenter spring. See the diagram below that shows different views.
I use a coil spring from the hardware store to provide the overcenter spring tension. My local store has springs about 3/16 dia. and a bit over 1" long that I cut in half and bend a loop in the cut end.
Under the table, one end of the spring attaches to the paper clip that moves the points. The other end attaches to a drywall screw that is the same distance from the pivot point as the end of the paper clip. I use a drywall screw as it will go into the plywood without drilling a pilot hole. I connect the spring to the screw with a short length of soft steel wire, about 20 gauge also from the hardware store, bending it so there's some tension on the spring, but not too much.
I've also used it to power the frog on the Atlas turnouts, which have an isolated frog. The paper clip that forms the mechanism can press against spring wire contacts in a wood block. The contacts have track power, the frog is attached to the paper clip. The last view in the diagram shows the turnout thrown in one direction with the paper clip making contact to power the frog appropriately.
George V.
I found Jim Hediger's article in the Dec. 1977 MR magazine, where he gives pretty detailed instructions on how to build a "Mark 7" manual turnout control.
George V; your spring solution looks pretty solid, as well.
Tin Can II, thank you for sharing your experience with this project and for all your effort to find 1977 MR article! I'll go take a look at the article and give it a try!
George, very helpful write-up and well prepared diagram! A good image always clarifies and increases understanding. I'll give your version a try as well!
How I made mine. http://cprailmmsub.blogspot.com/2009/11/simple-wire-activated-switches.html?m=1
JDL56 How I made mine. http://cprailmmsub.blogspot.com/2009/11/simple-wire-activated-switches.html?m=1
My son was in town this weekend. He had watched a Fast Tracks video on how to make the over-center spring (similar to what you used). Took him 15 minutes to get the first one and made 10 in an hour! Pretty nifty, nice snap and firmly held turnout. So easy, will probably forgo trying the Hediger Loop or Mark 7 approach.