Quote:
You must be living in a different, atmosphere than I am. The gravity in my house goes down, not to the side.
Frank
OH OH, I tink, the above is what I said.
But it must have been the ''gremlins''.
dknelson cacole So much time wasted trying to come up with answers to a problem that was not caused by what everyone seems to have thought. I was acting as go between and me and my friend really do appreciate all the ideas and suggestions -- particularly the part about ballast as he has yet to ballast that part of his layout.
cacole So much time wasted trying to come up with answers to a problem that was not caused by what everyone seems to have thought.
So much time wasted trying to come up with answers to a problem that was not caused by what everyone seems to have thought.
I was acting as go between and me and my friend really do appreciate all the ideas and suggestions -- particularly the part about ballast as he has yet to ballast that part of his layout.
I have a large number of Tortoises on my layout, and not a one has ever failed in the 10 years that my layout has been up and running.
But, a couple of years ago, I did have that one Tortoise making clicking noises. When I did open it up, I found several grains of ballast in the gear teeth, just as the technician at Circuitron predicted when I called.
So, apparently, ballast fouling up the gears is not all that uncommon. A word to the wise!
Frank asked, how could ballast get in that side opening? Good question. My only answer is, it did.
Rich
Alton Junction
Quote: Dknelson,
The only thing clear to me from hearing the problem was that the motor was not stalling even when the points were entirely thrown but rather was continuing to run.
Dave,
This statement, is exactly what I was trying to get across in my replys, it was not clicking because there was ballast in the gears.
Thank You!
To quote the warden in Cool Hand Luke, "Now, what we have heah is a failya to communicate!"
dknelson The case was not distorted. It was slightly separated on the bottom (the end with the electrical contacts). The separation was where the halves come together. What I did was peel the label back slightly and tighten the screws on the end that was coming open.
The case was not distorted. It was slightly separated on the bottom (the end with the electrical contacts). The separation was where the halves come together. What I did was peel the label back slightly and tighten the screws on the end that was coming open.
Ahh, now that makes more sense. I could see where that would cause the problem. That may be a first , though, where the case was not originally assembled tightly enough by Circuitron.
Now that is a horse of a different color.
Darn Gremlins.
Fellows
I misspoke. Here is what my friend emailed me
I have a spare Tortoise, so I went down to a closer look at it. It is a 2-piece assembly that is held together by four screws. While you could certainly distort it with the proper pressure testing equipment or, for that matter, with a sledge hammer, it would be extremely difficult to distort the Tortoise by merely trying to twist it with your hands.
The weakest point would be where the two pieces join together on the side where the screw mounted piano wire is located, as seen in the photo below. It is on that side where the gears are located. Maybe the OP can provide some insight as to what caused the distortion.
Make that three of us who would like to know how you could possibly distort the Tortoise's plastic case --
Did the OP have it forced into place against a support beam, or what?
maxman dknelson and discovered that somehow the plastic case had become distorteded I, for one, would like to know how it is possible to distort that plastic case.
dknelson and discovered that somehow the plastic case had become distorteded
I, for one, would like to know how it is possible to distort that plastic case.
dknelsonand discovered that somehow the plastic case had become distorteded
richhotrain In any event, I believe that we gave Dave our best advice, and that is to open the Tortoise to see if he can observe the problem. Rich
In any event, I believe that we gave Dave our best advice, and that is to open the Tortoise to see if he can observe the problem.
Rich,
YEP!
I have several Tortoise switch machines that do exactly the same thing. They make a loud clicking noise that just will not stop when you throw the switch. Very annoying!
The above is what I am referring to. Dave and this poster said, it continues to click, after the points are thrown, in one direction. That is why I asked, what is making the clicking after it should be in the stall mode.
No, I am not saying that.
The time that I was hearing the clicking noise, the clicking sound came when I threw a DPDT switch on my control panel. As the Tortoise was moving to throw the point rails, the clicking sound was continuous until the Tortoise completed the movement of the point rails. Every time that I flipped that toggle switch, the clicking sound would occur throughout the movement.
You are saying, that when the motor is in the stall mode, it is still running and turning the gears?
So all the tortoise machines on your layout are running, even if you are not using them?
zstripe He said it is His friends though. Still sounds to me that it is not going into stall. When it is in stall, nothing should be moving, so where is the clicking noise coming from? Is the folcrum out of adjustment? Frank
He said it is His friends though.
Still sounds to me that it is not going into stall. When it is in stall, nothing should be moving, so where is the clicking noise coming from? Is the folcrum out of adjustment?
Dave is never going to know unless and until he opens it up.
I doubt that there is anything in the gears to make it continue to click after it throws the points. The motor must be still running and not going in to stall, for you to keep hearing noise from it.
Something has to be still moving, in order to hear noise.
dknelson thanks fellows Perhaps I should clarify - yes the switch gets thrown so the Tortoise "works" in both directions And when it is thrown in one direction the clicking is endless -- not just while the points are moving. There is no noise when the points are thrown in the other direction. Dave Nelson
thanks fellows
Perhaps I should clarify - yes the switch gets thrown so the Tortoise "works" in both directions
And when it is thrown in one direction the clicking is endless -- not just while the points are moving. There is no noise when the points are thrown in the other direction.
Dave Nelson
Open it up and examine it for debris. That is what happened to me.
The Tortoise should just stall even if it can't throw all the way in one direction or the other -- that's the idea behind a "stall motor" -- it should not click or make any other noise no matter where it stalls.
You may be putting too much voltage to it. I operate mine from only the 5 volt output of a computer power supply and they seem to operate just fine on that low a voltage.
I wonder if the direction that it remains clicking, is because some how the throw is restricted, by the throw-bar, or some connection in that link, that it keeps clicking, because it hasn't finished the throw. That would be my guess. Try taking the linkage off and try it both ways and see if the clicking goes away.
cacole This thread is the first I ever recall reading of anyone having a problem with a Tortoise making clicking noises or possibly having a cracked or chipped gear. As Rich said, there may be loose ballast or something inside it, but how it could get in there is a mystery.
This thread is the first I ever recall reading of anyone having a problem with a Tortoise making clicking noises or possibly having a cracked or chipped gear. As Rich said, there may be loose ballast or something inside it, but how it could get in there is a mystery.