Tortoise on it's side


NYC_George

Well-Known Member
Our company sent us home from work this morning. To cold, I work 40 stories up in White Plains, NY. wind chill 15 below. Well anyway I thought it might be a good time to start the upper deck sidings. If I use the tortoises in the normal way they'll shown. So any of the remote switches on the upper deck will have to have the tortoises turned on their side. The attached images shows how I did it. In the image showing the switch notice the 2 screws to the right. That's how I attached the 1 X 3 X 3 block of wood that hold the totoise in place.

NYC_George


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I know I spelled Tortoise wrong.

Nah...that's how you say it in New York :rolleyes: :p :)

Nice idea for low clearances. Do they work as well in this position as they do mounted the standard way? Are the white plastic parts part of the normal Tortoise product, or did you make them?
 
Tortoise and Parts

Nah...that's how you say it in New York :rolleyes: :p :)

Nice idea for low clearances. Do they work as well in this position as they do mounted the standard way? Are the white plastic parts part of the normal Tortoise product, or did you make them?

It works well. You need to make sure there's enough play though. It's a long swing for 1/4 inch movement of the switch points. The white parts are made by Rix. Rix Pivoting Turnout Linkage - Walthers Part 628-6. I bought about 20 of them five years ago. I show you where I used them all in my next upload. The arm on the Rix wasn't long enough so I added a piece of plactic tubing for the added lenght and drilled a hole in it for the piece of paino wire as seen in the photo. You also have to add a small washer to the Tortoise. It holds the paino wire in place. You'll have to make the small hole in the tortoise's control arm a little larger for the paino wire to fit. The wire that comes with the Tortoise doesn't work. It's not strong enough. The wire that comes with the Rix is perfect if you have enough for both. I'll take a video of the movement and upload it to my web site when I get a chance.

NYC_George
 
That's a good installation NYC_George. I too, am curious about the white plastic parts. They look familiar, but can't place them.
 
Tortoise Linkage Play

Nice work there!

Hi jbaakko
After watching it work I think the more play in the linkage the better. I think I'll drill a bigger hole in the plastic tubing and make a 90 degree bend in the paino wire so it can't slip back through the hole. I think this will reduce the pressure on the switch points a little. It seems to hold the switch points very tight to the rail.

NYC_George
 
George, nice solution to your problem. In similar situations where there is too much pressure on the rail points, I have made spring in the middle of the throw wire by bending a V half way along the wire. It adds some give to the assembly.
 
Adding a spring

George, nice solution to your problem. In similar situations where there is too much pressure on the rail points, I have made spring in the middle of the throw wire by bending a V half way along the wire. It adds some give to the assembly.

That's a good idea Ron. Maybe you don't need the paino wire with a Walther's switch just using the tortoise wire may work. I have mostly Peco switches and their harder to throw because of the spring inside the throw bar. I know model plane and car hobby shops carry panio wire. I'll have to pick some up. You need the next size up from the wire that comes with the tortoise. I'm planning on a big passenger yard for the upper deck. I'll have to turn all the tortoises on their sides.

NYC_George
 
I had the same problem with tortoise. This was my solution, I had not enough clearance:
P9253463_300.jpg

big picture.

More at my Westport site.

Wolfgang
 



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