Tetter's Layout Progress and Other Pics.

Hi....My ol' man made several handmade turnouts (which I tried to do with less than satisfactory results...) and he used little teeny screws to screw little tabs on the point rails to the throwbar. He tightened them just enough to make them firm, but loose enough to be able to pivot as the rails moved from one side to the other.
Spiking the point rails to within an inch of the throwbar requires a hefty force to move them from side to side, that's why the cladding kept ripping off. It's not bonded to the substrate to take mechanical loads.
 
Squidbait, very interesting idea thanks.
Steamhead, I have thought about trying screws or rivets, not sure about that. Thanks.
Tetters, sorry for stealing your thread.

Loren
 
So I've been pretty busy this weekend with family stuff, not much going on in the development side of things. Although, I reeeeeally want to get some structures up I don't want to just slap stuff together for the sake of doing so.

I repaired that damaged throw bar to like new condition today. I put up more pics on Photobucket...still cannot use the Zealot Gallery... :confused:

A couple shots of the diabolical wiring that I was attempting for the DC wiring when doing up the dbl x-over. :eek: And another quick movie of 8829 going back and forth over the dbl x-over this time hauling a refrigerated box car and a caboose. :thumb:

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So yeah, I wired up what I could on the bench. I wanted to see if could get it to work before I went through the pain of actually installing it on the layout. The four tortoise machines, power distribution board and the relay in the middle. Not seen is the two DPDT switches that would throw each pair of diverging points. With DCC one switch controls all four machines in-sync.

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I got the idea to number the wiring before unhooking everything to move it underneath the layout. A lot of work for something that didn't end up working in the end. Oh well, chalk it up to a learning experience for me.

Finally me just playing with the dbl x-over. I apologize for the vid quality. These are being done with my digi cam, not a video cam.

 
Well I just read through this thread and you have almost convinced me to hand lay.... and as Squidbait can tell you I am not easily convinced.... now I just need to get my son and his wife done school and out of my basement so I can start building :) oh well in the meantime I can tweak the layout plan to perfection if there is such a thing. Will continue to follow your progress.... and thanks for the motivation.
 
This has got to be the ugliest Tortoise install EVER! sign1

If the Gauge ever has a contest for this sort of thing...without further ado....here is my entry!

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The 2 x 3 was in the way

...so I cut it.

What a pain in the backside too! I had to drill a number of small holes and then saw out the cavity with a small hand saw upside down! wall1 Then I used a small piece of 1/2 by 1 inch strapping to support the rest of it.

It looks hideous with the wiring out of the way...trust me. sign1 I laugh every time I look at it.

It works though and throws the points no problem. I also tidied up the wiring a bit in that locale as well even though it might not look it. :mrgreen: Though I doubt it needs it, I may cut a piece of 1/2 ply and "glue it & screw it" it to one side of the 2 x 3. ...ah who am I kidding no I won't! Its not like I'm Mike Holmes or Bob Vila or whatever! :p :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

All this work so I could be a lazy sod and simply throw a switch to get my engines out of the service area. ....'cause those Caboose Industry ground throws are just too much work ya know! :oops:

TTFN!
 
TruckLover said:
Holy COW man that looks REALLY confusing!!! :eek: Id hate to have a problem and have to try and find the problem wire in that bunch of wires LOL



sign1sign1sign1sign1sign1

I bet that was fun to do :twisted:
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Trust me...I know what each one does and where it goes...:confused:

...and no it was not! :curse:

BTW - You think its confusing now? I have six more Tortoise to wire up in this locale. Thankfully I won't have to butcher anymore structure. sign1
 
tetters said:
Trust me...I know what each one does and where it goes...:confused:

...and no it was not! :curse:

BTW - You think its confusing now? I have six more Tortoise to wire up in this locale. Thankfully I won't have to butcher anymore structure. sign1
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:eek: dang 6 more huh? Thats going to be some rats nest, and i thought it already was one :eek: sign1
 
Wow, this is impressive! I came across this thread a few months ago and have just revisited it. The wiring is mind-boggling. I've just done some minor wiring on my small 4x6 layout and it was all I could do to get my mind around that. At any rate, looks like a great layout!

Rob
 
Some more progress this weekend. :thumb: And a bit of a set back... :curse:

The following pics are namely for Loren as you asked me about repairing throw bars which had broken loose. I've been replacing them as I swap out the ground throws with the Tortoise macheens. I've been putting in longer throw bars as well as the longer head blocks. Eventually I'll be putting some switch stands on top of these guys.

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Next up is one of my final switch panels. They are very modest yet they get the job done for now. I'd like to "upgrade" them in the future, to something more... well um... pretty. :rolleyes: What that would be though? At this point, I don't really know?

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Lastly some gratuitous wiring shots, just cause I know how much Josh loves to look at the organized chaos underneath my layout. :mrgreen: The white terminal block in the foreground with the empty sockets is awaiting the final 5 tortoise machines I have yet to order...I know I said six the last time...I wired up one more in between posts. So what you are looking at is some wiring prep work for them.

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Bloody heck though. Josh, you commented on how difficult it would be to trouble shoot that mess. Well honestly...not hard at all really. As I found out the hard way tonight that I have to be mindful of how I finish up my wiring. I mixed up a set of wires for the #2 switch going to the power supply and zapped my 12v power supply. Just like that...bloowie! wall1 :curse: wall1

I couldn't believe it. So I had to go through it all and traced the problem back to the second switch. Took a couple minutes tops. Not happy I had to do it, however glad I could find the problem.

Any who...off to Crappy Tire sometime this week to pick up another one. Right now, things are running off a 7 volt supply...man is it slow. ...sigh...Just one more expense to add up towards my tuition for MRR'ing. :oops:

Good Night! :wave:
 
Nice progress on the switches and wireing :thumb: :thumb: and im glad to here you could find the problem easyly as well :mrgreen: :mrgreen: i guess if you do the wireing yourself, you know what wires go where and what not :thumb: :mrgreen: :cool:
 
Tetters, I like the very "creative" look of you wiring :mrgreen::thumb:. The wiring on my old layout where I used switch machines looks almost the same. Oh man, am I glad that I decided to go without swith machines on my new layout :mrgreen:.
 
Looking at the wiring, I'm almost tempted to create a central cabinet to run everything back to. Kinda like what Nolatron has done with his N-scale set-up. I hope he doesn't mind my linking up his pic as an example. :oops:

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I could still have local terminal strips nearby all the different devices to make the removal and maintenance of things easier. It might make things a bit neater and not so crowded under the layout itself. Although, I guess there is something to be said about having the "parts" right there if something does go wrong.


Hmmm....ponderings...:confused:
 
sgtcarl said:
I'm wondering, has anyone ever tried to use an old touch tone phone for switch machines, etc.? Like: "to switch cab 9 to track 19, press 2 now."Would it even be possible?? Would it work?? :confused::confused::confused:
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That's the way the old MIT layout worked (http://tmrc.mit.edu/). They had one of the original switch panels. It was pretty awesome to watch. (I go to the club on their open house dates.) It's long gone now that everything is digital, but the panel that did the switching must have been 8 feet tall and wide. Fun to watch but not practical for a home layout.
 
sgtcarl said:
I'm wondering, has anyone ever tried to use an old touch tone phone for switch machines, etc.? Like: "to switch cab 9 to track 19, press 2 now."Would it even be possible?? Would it work?? :confused::confused::confused:
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For $180 you could get a small Koyo PLC with an add on output card and have 8 inputs and 22 outputs. depending on how you did your inputs, could get a number switch that has a BCD output and have 16 combos using 4 bits or 256 if you used all 8 bits. or get a LCD touchscreen for $400 and display any message you want and have any kind of buttons you want. multiple screens, menus, alarms, etc. very cool stuff. i get to play with them at work.
 
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