Atlas Under Table Switch Motors

[dstern350]

I inherited a box of Atlas under the table switches. The post only seems to be about an inch long and my layout uses 2inch foam on top of 1/4inch plywood. Has anyone ever extended these things or buried them in foam?

 

[Cjcrescent]

My old club in Mobile had 2 of these buried in foam. We were using bead board, (layout was built in 1979), as there wasn't any extruded foam on the market yet. We mounted the SM on a small board then glued it to the foam with some liquid nails. AFAIK, they're still in place.

 

[Greg@mnrr]

You should be able to extend the throw rods, but you will need to enlarge the slot to accommodate the longer throw length of the modified rod. I never attempted this myself, but you could try attaching spring steel rods onto the plastic throws of the Atlas machines. Many hobby shops carry a selection of the spring steel rods.

I would try building a mockup using the foam and attaching the modified switch machine as a trial to see how they perform and if their application will work for you.

Does anyone have any comments on the under table Atlas switch machines and their dependability and strength to hold a turnout in place??

Thanks.

Greg

 

[choffman41]

This may be hard to visualize without pictures, but I'll try. I have 2" hard foam over 1/2" plywood so it's thick. I took a piece of 3/16" steel tubing and ran it down through the table. I took 1/8" pop rivets and pulled the steel shaft out of them leaving essentially 3/16x1/8 aluminum bushings. I pushed them into the steel tubing on each end then ran 1/8 welding rod through the whole thing. I then bent the rod at 90 degrees to match the turnout arm on top and the switch machine on the bottom. Visualize a periscope. Of course this is a basic description and the whole setup requires a little tweaking. It has worked well for a few years. If anyone ever gets mildly interested, I can take some pics.