I am installing remote Tortoise switches in several locations which are too close to my framing for my plywood base. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to place the brass tube (or other 1/16" rigid tubing) through 2 inches of foam that is layered over 1/2 inch of plywood base and have everything line up between the ties on the top and still be perpendicular with the plywood base when the tube comes out the bottom. I don't know if anyone even makes a long enough drill bit that is 1/16".
Jim
I can't answer your question about the tubing, but Harbor Freight has 1/16 drill bits up to 2 feet long in a set of 3 assorted size bits.
In order to keep the tubing from moving around, you may need to come up with a way to fasten a piece of Masonite to the top of your foam, or cut out the foam and glue in a 2" thick block of wood.
Simple answer: 1/16 is much too small. The wire coming up from the Tortoise needs at least a quarter inch of travel. I'd recommend using a 3/8 bit, so you have a bit of room to adjust things. If the opening at the top bothers you, use a piece of tape before you fasten down the track. The size of the hole doesn't matter below that.
The wire supplied with the Tortoise will be too short. I use 0.38 (1mm) music wire from the hardware store. You'll need a strong pair of pliers or clippers to cut it. You may need to open up the hole in the turnout's throwbar, too. HINT: Cut the wire about a half-inch longer than you need. It's easier to mount it that way, and then you can clip the end once it's installed. Round the end with a file, and apply a bit of light grease. This will make it a lot easier to get the wire through the little hole.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Sounds like he is using the twist method of control, where the wire is in an inverted J shape on top, the short end into the throwbar, and the long end in a brass tube going under the layout a few ties away. In this case, the 1/16" hole is plenty big.
Sort of like this:
There wasn't room for even the tiny 9G servo right under the throwbar, so I made the J shaped linkange and dropped it through a brass tube. The neat thing about the servos is I didn;t even have to change the orientation of the mounting bracket - the way the wire hooks to the servo horn for even the usual back and forth rocking motion, ir spins. I noticed this when I first put them in place, using long pieces of wire that I later nipped off flugh with the throwbar. Until I had everything aligned and working, I didn;t cut off the excess wire, but to avoid poking myself in the eye on the extended wires, I put a flag of blue tape on them. I noticed the flags twist when the servo was operated.
On a Tortoise, the easy way to do this is to mount it on its side, with the actuatotr facing down. The long end of the J is bent 90 degrees to extend over the tortoise body, and the very end is hooked to the actuator. When it goes back and forth, this imparts a rotation on the wire, which then cranks the shorter arm up top which move the throwbar. The Tortoise can be at any andgle relative to the rails, it doesn;t have to be parallel or perpendicular.
--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 originally tried it without the tube, but the torque tends to push the wire into the foam and hog out the hole. So I redid it with a piece of breas tubing. I have a drill bit that's about 6" long to drill holes through all that. Before I pushed the bras tube in the hole I put some yellow glue around it - doesn;t bond to the brass but it does seem to keep it in place, it's still tight in the hole 3 years later. Just don;t get any inside the tubing.