I picked up a set for 5 bucks at a swap meet today. What is new to make them operational. They are going behind my steel board before it's placed in the train room.
I cannot believe that anyone can post to this awful forum. It has been down all weekend. I can reply, but only once, to any new post.
Alton Junction
jfb I picked up a set for 5 bucks at a swap meet today. What is new to make them operational. They are going behind my steel board before it's placed in the train room.
Are these the 027 gates? This is mostly an HO and N scale forum. You might have more luck asking this on the Classic Toy Trains forum where the larger scales are discussed.
The write-up for an HO scale model i saw said the gates are non-operational, so they would need to be replaced with working ones.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
These are the newer 2piece gates with metal spades. I do not have the bases to plug into. So any ideas. This are ho model number 933 2312.these gates are operational but older models any idea of what to look for or do. Thy have a electrical spade see model number above.
Come on everybody other then a few I've seen on here with builds nobody's ever used crossing gates.
jfb I do not have the bases to plug into. So any ideas. This are ho model number 933 2312.these gates are operational but older models any idea of what to look for or do. Thy have a electrical spade see model number above.
I don't believe there are any "electrical spades" to plug in to. The Walthers description says you provide your own operating system. Commonly this is the Tortoise remote actuator which uses a teflon tube and actuating wires that attach to the wire operating rod on the gate, much like a bicycle brake cable.
Look at the Remote Signal Actuator here:
http://www.circuitron.com/index_files/tortoise.htm
You would need one cable setup for each gate that can be driven off one Tortoise slow motion machine.
I used them to drive my semaphore signals:
Circuitron Actuator by Edmund, on Flickr
Good Luck, Ed
It appears that the item originally had some sort of rod extending below the assembly:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/walthers-933-2312-puenmatic-crossing-3901813402
I wonder if the OP is the victim of spellcheck, as some of their statements don't really make sense.
Anyway, the Walthers HO pneumatic crossing gates do not AFAIK have any electrical connections. As has been mentioned, you need to connect the rod that extends below the gates to some sort of servo or switch machine mounted under the layout to make it move remotely.
I built a set of operating crossing gates in HO using a pair of NJ International gates, which came with flashers, a single Tortoise machine with two of the extenders as pictured, and a control board with train detection, a driver signal for control of the Tortoise, and a set of wires to drive the flashing LEDs. I built another with just train detection and crossbuck flashers from Oregon Rail Supply.
I had to tinker a bit with the gates, but got them to work by removing the rod order the gate and instead using one of my own design.
I used circuit boards from Rob Paisley. They worked perfectly and Rob was happy to respond to emails to help me out. The boards also include outputs to drive crossing bells if you have them. Oddly, someone gave me a REAL 12 volt crossing bell. I hooked it up, ran a train by the crossing and the circuit even powered that. I figured it was so loud that I was pushing my luck, so I disconnected it.
My equipment choices were made for economy, and I think I succeeded in that.
wjstixAs has been mentioned, you need to connect the rod that extends below the gates to some sort of servo or switch machine mounted under the layout to make it move remotely
That's what I'm thinking. The OP refers to "spades". Possibly he thinks these are electrical connections.
It could be that the instructions (if there were any) contained instructions/suggestions on how to make the gates operable. Walthers may have even sold some sort of mechanism to accomplish this..
I bought tortoises . I made a solid wire half boxed shape for both gates no luck any other ideas for both gates to operate on 1tortoise. Be
jfbno luck any other ideas for both gates to operate on 1tortoise.
The Circuitron 'remote Tortoise actuator' I linked to above does have a way to connect two 'bowden' cables which can operate two crossing gates.
TO POWER 2 CROSSING GATES OR SIGNALS FROM ONE TORTOISE™ The Remote Signal Activator can accomodate a second Cable and Actuator (Part Number 800-8101). All instructions are the same but use the second set of slots closest to the screw hole on the Base and Slide Clamps. DO NOT USE ANY LUBRICANTS ON THIS MECHANISM
http://www.circuitron.com/index_files/ins/800-8100ins.pdf
I am using thicker wire for the longer distance. How do you hook it up with 2thick wires on that screw area