turnout toggle controls

SPDT Momentary contact is what you are looking for. you run one wire from your AC source to the black wire if the atlas switch machine, the other wire from your source to the center screw of your spdt switch and the red/green wires to the outside screws of your switch. IT IS ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL THAT YOU USE A MOMENTARY CONTACT SWITCH; otherwise you will burn out your switch machine faster than you can read this....... Gardner Bender makes a bat handle momentary spdt. The model # is GSW-117, you can find them at your local Lowes.

HTH

Franz T

"SPDT momentary contact" (Single Pole, Double Throw ...) You _might_ find a double pole, double throw with one pair momentary and the other pair/pole snap, which is very useful for operating signals, track circuits etc. I know there's a British firm that stocks them but I don't know about US suppliers. Either way, such specialized switches would be expensive. Cheaper would be "momentary SP push buttons". You need two per turnout.

Wiring: Atlas motors have three terminals, one common which should link to your transformer's accessory output (16v AC) The other two terminals should each link to a switch, the other terminal of which links to the other transformer 16v AC terminal. Normally one creates two "bus" terminals on the control panel, each with a wire to the remote mounted transformer. Wires from the bus to the switches can thereby be kept short.

On my layouts where two (or more) turnouts need to be thrown together for a specific route I use just one pushbutton to throw both all of them. An example would be a crossover between two tracks where trains either both go straight or crossover. I use Peco turnouts which isolate the non-selected route, so turnouts also serve as track power switches resulting in a control panel with no, or very few, track toggle switches.

Greg.P.

One source

About one year ago this topic was discussed in some detail in this group. The title of the thread was - turn out wiring. Try to find it, I believe you'll find it helpful.

Jerry

Greg Procter wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@ihug.co.nz:

You can use a DPDT toggle switch if you want to have something continually powered from the switch as well as control the turnout. (A dwarf signal, perhaps.) Wire your turnout through one side of the DPDT switch, and add a single pole momentary contact switch.

When you're ready to throw the turnout, move the switch and press the button. Note that when you move the switch the thing that's powered from the other poles will change immediately, not wait until you press the button. Remember the switch crew's saying: Always look at the points.

Puckdropper

Or follow this link to that thread:

That sounds to me like a system that's bound to create disaterous errors! For example; signals should not be able to show clear routes until turnouts are correctly set to give the path indicated.

Regards, Greg.P.

Now now Greg - lets not get TOO hung up on "fidelity to prototype" After all, how many fatalities will occur on our layouts if the train runs a set of points set against the signal? :) And they should throw

One method I used to have for controlling twin coil switch machines was to use a 4-position rotary, The inner two sets were used as passing contacts, the outer ones showed position of switch via LEDs. Also, using a knob for the switch with a definite pointer shape also gave me a further indication of route setting when on a track diagram. Made for sexy looking panel, it did. :) Nowadays, with a small On30 logging line, I put two push buttons on the fascia next to the turnout. This encourages the oeprator to actually follow the train.

Steve Newcastle NSW Aust

"should", could, might ... In my experence turnout mechanisms work fine (when set up properly) for long enough to forget to worry about them. Then there's a period when they "give trouble" and then finally they die.

I like pushbuttons and motor mounted auxiliary switches. With interlocking one can be reasonably sure that there's a clear route ahead. It doesn't hurt for the operator to look for his route and actual turnout settings. Where that's impossible, some feedback from the turnout is advantagious. I've given up building formal control panels - they've always been months behind the actual layout.

Some of my locos are of sufficient value and fragility that I don't want them to come to grief!

Greg.P.

There are a few circuits around, one of them is:

This is another variation:

Regards Peter

Thanks ALL you guys,

Going to try a Gardner Bender GSW-117 from Lowes, only $ 2.00 or so. I understand the Momentary part of it. I'll just play with how to wire one until it works. Glad it was pointed out about using one control for double crossovers etc.

A little confused regarding powering a light signal from the same switch, Getting track and switches to work reliably is priority one for now.

PS, Is soldering HO code 83 a lot trickier than code 100 - or is it me ? Code 100 seemed a lot more forgiving especially keeping solder away from inside of rails.

Actually, code 83 should be easier since there is less mass to absorb the heat.

I use a 40 watt radio shack pencil iron. I let it get good and hot, then I flux the rail and wire and tin each. Then I touch the wire to the rail, and the iron to both. It should not take more than 10 seconds to make the joint.

Why are you soldering in the flange area of the rail?

Not trying to, I need a better iron.

"tex shalter" wrote in news:sE_Li.620673$ snipped-for-privacy@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net:

Soldering irons are too cheap to deal with a bad one for long. Mine's a Radio Shack 15W/30W switchable model and it costs about $10. There are better and more expensive ones out there, it just depends on what you want to do. For rail and circuit boards, the one I have does fine.

Puckdropper

Greg Procter wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@ihug.co.nz:

Sure, I can design a system that goes based upon the placement of the points... if you really want it. I can also design a system that guesses the position of the points by changing when the turnout gets a change request... Or you can use this simple two switch model (don't CTC boards use a similar method anyway?) with the understanding that the signal may NOT be correct, or the switch may be in the WRONG position.

In this case, I think you gain a lot more enjoyment than you do worry. If you're concerned the signal is wrong, press the button and it will be right.

If you don't care about realistic scenery, you can connect the throw rod on the turnout to a slide switch. Each time you move the switch, then your lights would change. I guess you could also run the throw rod under the layout, but that's a lot more complexity and worry that I'd like to have.

Puckdropper

On 9/30/2007 9:24 PM tex shalter spake thus:

You may not; what you really need is a good clean tip on the iron. Try cleaning the scale off the tip; use a file or a grinding wheel to get it down to new metal, then immediately heat the iron and tin it (melt some solder on the metal to cover it). You can also reshape the tip this way to put a nice point on it.

When you go to make a joint, clean the tip every time with on a wet sponge. You'll get good joints every time.

The signal lights are powered through a seperate but parallel switch, eg Double pole, double throw, using the second poles.

Soldering is a matter of the material(s) to be soldered, their cleanliness, the size of the iron, the power of the iron and the technique. Get any one of those wrong and you fail to get a good join. Code 83 should be easier to solder than code 100 because it has less mass and so should heat to soldering temperature quicker and more easily.

Greg.P.

My philosophy is to put the complication into the wiring rather than the switch manipulation/operation. However, I quite enjoy wiring. One of my oft told stories :-) is about my shunting layout. (grown up "timesaver") At an exhibition a friend offered to take over while I went for refreshments. By the time I got back he was convinced that it was inhabited by friendly gremlins because whenever he hand-threw a turnout all the rest in the sequence he wanted would also throw. It is simple enough, all the point motors include additional switches for sequence delay. He always worked back from his intended destination, so the wiring actuated all the logical turnout sequence for him. If he had worked from the throat there would have been no logical sequence for the wiring to activate. I use added switches to turn on/off traction current. After all, if a dead-end siding has the turnout set against it then you don't want a loco on it to move. The only traction current switch on the shunting layout and 7 track staging yard is one arranged so that two locos can use the coaling stage at one time. I can have 8 locos on a 7'x1' layout and only the required one will move.

Greg.P.

I'll just add that reshaping the tip to suit the position on the rail that you want to solder is worth the effort. In all likelihood the tip comes to a ">" or even a round tip cut diagonally which presents a tiny area against the rail side which will severly limit the amount of heat that can be transfered to the rail. Also it's a good idea to clip heat sinks an inch or so away from the soldering point to limit the damage to the plastic sleepers.

Greg.P.