Installing a Tortoise ....


goscrewyourselves

goscrewyourselves

I'm the one
Another electrical question ... I purchase two tortoise machines for two of my turn outs but was told that the maximum depth of material the actuating wire would go through was an inch. The turnouts I planned using the machines on are elevated to 2 1/2 and 3 inches (including the ply wood).

Is there a way I can install the Tortoise Machines through this thickness?

Cheers,
 
Yes there is. Other than making the actuating wire for the throwbar longer, it also needs to be thicker. At the LHS, get some thicker piano wire, and if necessary you can also make the holes the wire goes into the machine, bigger as well, by reaming with a drill bit in a pin vise. I think the wire in the tortoise is 26Ga, and you may need to go to 30ga. Be sure to ream the hole thru the throwbar as well.

The alternative is to mount the machine closer to the throwbar.
 
I found a local piano tuner and bought about 30 feet of piano wire from him. I took along the original wire from the Tortoise machine to make sure the piano wire I was getting was thicker.
 
Yes, the next gauge thicker should be fine. I mounted a Tortoise on the bottom of 1/2" plywood with 2" foam on top, then HO cork roadbed, and then the turnout. The hole below the turnout to the Tortoise was 1/2" diameter. It worked fine.
 
timlange3 said:
Yes, the next gauge thicker should be fine. I mounted a Tortoise on the bottom of 1/2" plywood with 2" foam on top, then HO cork roadbed, and then the turnout. The hole below the turnout to the Tortoise was 1/2" diameter. It worked fine.
Click to expand...

Sounds like what I am going to be going through. This afternoon I went out and bought a couple of the Circuitron "Remote Tortoise Mounts" and two adapted thingy's. I should have picked up a couple more Tortoise Machines as well though.

Cheers,
 
I've used Tortoises (with thicker wire) through; 5/8" plywood / 2" foam / cork (~3" total)..

But I had a place where benchwork made it impossible.... So I "buried" the machine on its side IN the foam..


DSC03136.jpgDSC03135.jpg
 
Brett,

I think I might have a couple of spots where I may have to do what you did as well. A very interesting solution to the problem.

Thanks,
 
If you open the picture, and zoom in.. you'll see the most important part, for reliable operation; a little section of plastic tube at the roadbed.

Also, ideally you'd want more that 2" of foam, so that you can completey "bury" the machine, with an additional, strategic bend (or two) in the wire.

What I did, was raise the perimeter around the machine with cork, then throw in some vegetation, and top it of (for now) with those platform shelters... Eventually, I'll make a removable, painted, styrene "lid", with vegetation and probably a small tree as the "handle".

The only difficult part, was "digging" a perfect hole. I decided to make it slightly larger, and then make fine adjustments via shims (foam wedges), instead of trying to create perfect geometry in the wire..
 
Brett_Henderson said:
If you open the picture, and zoom in.. you'll see the most important part, for reliable operation; a little section of plastic tube at the roadbed.

Also, ideally you'd want more that 2" of foam, so that you can completey "bury" the machine, with an additional, strategic bend (or two) in the wire.

What I did, was raise the perimeter around the machine with cork, then throw in some vegetation, and top it of (for now) with those platform shelters... Eventually, I'll make a removable, painted, styrene "lid", with vegetation and probably a small tree as the "handle".

The only difficult part, was "digging" a perfect hole. I decided to make it slightly larger, and then make fine adjustments via shims (foam wedges), instead of trying to create perfect geometry in the wire..
Click to expand...

Brett,

The needing 2" of foam (min) could be a problem; however, a strategically placed knoll or small structure will probably fix that :)

Cheers
 
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