Scratch built Point/turnout Motors

[Jodam]

Re-posted, had one reply before the crash.
has anyone scratch built, point motors ? or used something else ?
I located in my junk stuff 8 R/C servos, so i'll possibly modify them, they're 25+ yo Futaba & MK 5 wire. I'm thinking chuck away the amplifier and use limit switches on the output arms.
Cheers

 

[Lighthorseman]

R/C Turnouts...

That sure would be cool, although, if I'm not mistaken, DCC systems offer that exact same feature these days.

I'm afraid that the sort of technical know-how required for your neat idea is so far beyond my abilities that....

 

[Fred_M]

I've seen similar things done in old issuses of magazines using hand wound selonoides and door lock selonoides. The common theme was to use a piece of spring wire to move the bar to prevent breakage and keep the points tight. I never seen limit switches used as most of the time the motor type units are ran until they stall each way. The motor type use the same wire spring. FRED

 

[Ray Marinaccio]

Hi Jodam,
Those servos should work fine.
I've used limit switches on similar devices ( like the slow acting crossing gate we were discussing). I wired a diode in series with each limit switch and controlled it with a DPDT switch to reverse the polarity to the motor.

 

[Pitchwife]

Hi Jordam
I found a place that sells spring loaded solinoids. They are rated intermittent for 24vdc so should work quite well for longer periods with 12vdc (or so says the supplier). The best part is that they only cost about $1.50 each. Since they are spring loaded they reset when the power is removed. Use a piece of sping wire like Fred said so as not to damage the points and a diode across it and you're in business. One extra that I have planned to do is to use a DPDT switch to activate the solinoids. One side to supply power to the coil and the other to switch an LED on the control panel or signal light (or both) from red to green or vice versa.

 

[krokodil]

Hi all

I designed and built my own motor driven mechanism.

The main requirement were:
Slow motion
Enough power for PECO and Scale 1 turnouts
Small in dimension
No limit switches (to avoid diverse problems).
Simple operation (DCC compatibility).

Now my switches (over 25 units) works well on 2 layouts. The operation is a single pushbutton - every hit alternates the position.