SP RR

[Erieman]

Steve,


Thanks for the email of the mounting pattern. I still have several more tortoise machines to install and this is great. Thanks again.


Frank / Erieman

[Zephyrus52246]

Steve, is the throwbar for the turnout plastic?  Are the rails simply glued to it?


Jeff

[postalkarl]

Hi Steve:

Looks like fun. Better you than me. Nice work.

Karl

[sdrees]

The throw bar is not plastic, it some kind of fiberglass board material.  The rails are not glued to it,
but the guy who made the switches cut the bottom flanges at the end of the points, bent them down and inserted them in the throw bar so there is some swivel in them.

Hey Karl, you can come to Arizona this winter when you are deep in snow and freezing your but off and help me with the switch machines.

Frank, your welcome,

[PRR Modeler]

Sounds like a great deal Karl!

[sdrees]

There are a couple of things that I want to add to my installation of Tortoise Machines.

To help line up the template and draw the line where the tie bar is located, I inserted a drill at each end of the tie bar after the holes were drilled, I lined up a straight edge with the drills and drew my line.



For the spring wire, I went to a .037 wire as recommended by Fast Tracks.  I gives a little more tension to throw the points.

I had a couple of areas where a support was in the way  for a standard installation, so this is what I did.

[Janbouli]

Great solution , thanks for sharing.

[sdrees]

Now to my Control Panel,



For a control panel I used a picture frame that I bought from Michaels.  I built a box and used small hinges to attach the frame to the box.  I drew the track diagram with 3rd Planit and mounted it to the glass with double sided scotch tape.

This diagram is a temporary one, and I plan to redo it to make it better looking.



I am using the Barrett Hill  Green over Green Touch Toggles.  I attached the touch toggles to the back of the track diagram with a 3M double-sided sheet of adhesive.  I cut the adhesive sheet into 3/4" squares to attach the toggles.  The product number is 3M 9474LE (300LSE). You can get it on Amazon.  I tried the double sided scotch tape and transfer tape and they do not work.  This seems to work very well.



The base units were mounted on the back of the box and the tough toggles plug into it on the bottom.  I then ran 20 gage wires to each switch machine.  They were fastened to the  edge connector, one on each end. 

This was a very simple installation and went fairly fast.

Here are a couple of more pictures.

[sdrees]

I have completed the installation 27 switch machines out of 50 needed for the layout.  I completed three machines today with the tortoise remote mount.  This solved my clearance problem where the main yard is directly above the staging yard.

The procedure is started by inserting a 1/16" brass tube through the roadbed and base.



Next, the throw bar is measured and fitted.





The throw bar is bent at 90 degrees on the underside of the layout and the actuator lever arm is fitted over it.



And the mounting plate is installed



The switch machine is mounted to its base plate and the  drive mechanism installed.





This assembly is mounted where there is sufficient clearance and a wire is installed in a Teflon tube connected to the drive mechanism arm and the actuator lever arm.  It is the faint line running in the picture.

[ACL1504]

Steve,

Just getting caught up on your thread. You've been very busy and it looks great. I love the close up of the turnouts and thanks for posting the process of the turnout controls.

Well done.

Tom

[donatode]

Very informative and instructional....thank you!!

[sdrees]

Thanks, I am glad I could be helpful to you guys.

[S&S RR]

Steve


Great update to your thread. I invested in the Barrett Hill switches  for my control panels and seeing your installation will really help when I start installing mine. Your layout is really coming along nicely.

[MAP]

Lots of great information Steve.  Thanks for all of the in-process pics and how-to.

[sdrees]

Here are some more pictures of one of my control panels.  For a non electrician, this is the only way to go.