Pancake under board switch (turnout) control

[JoeW]

Hi Gang
I am looking for a switch machine that is shallow in depth.  I have used the Blue Point and the Tortoise in past application but both are too tall for this particular project.  Does any of the gang here have a recommendation for a compact low profile (below the surface) track turnout control.  One without a motor or solenoid, preferably hand mechanized linkage with power routing.
Thanks

[chrismears]

Would Andy Reichert's Mole switch machine work? He sells these in the Proto 87 Stores website:
http://www.proto87.com/product1591.html

I'm not familiar with the machine but it sounds quite useful and it sure looks shallower than machines like the Tortoise.

/chris

[peteski]

Atlas made an under-table switch machine.  Basically a simple twin-coil machine like the ones installed on their H0 turnouts, but this one has a plastic rod extending vertically.  No contacts though.  I'm not even sure if they still make them.

[Altoona]

Atlas switch machines have 2 set of contacts. Please see image
Judd Barton

[peteski]

I didn't know Atlas made that machine. The one I had in mind is smaller and has no contacts.

[ryan_wilkerson]

Joe, How much space do you have?
Have you looked at the BullFrog? http://www.handlaidtrack.com/BullFrog-Manual-Turnout-Control-s/2087.htm

[JoeW]

I had been looking at the Atlas coil version control that Judd mentioned, However I was not familiar with the non-coil version Atlas machines that Peteski mentioned.  So far this is the flattest application.  So I will probably give one a try.  But before I do I plan to get dimensional info on the mole as I could not find any on the linked website that Chris mentioned.    The Bullfrog has similar height problem as the Blue Point and Tortoise of which I am most familiar with.  Ryan you had asked about the space it is a book shelf that I am filling.  It is 12 inches tall and 12 inches deep.  So I am afraid I will get a kind of squished perspective the more vertical space I use.  Thus the reason to stay low and flat.
Thanks for the dialog it is very helpful.

[peteski]

Here is the link to the machine I mentioned (no dimensions though).
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/150-65
And at Atlas:
http://shop.atlasrr.com/p-24-ho-under-table-switch-machine.aspx

[narrowminded]

Not sure what track you're using but there is this from Atlas with the machine built into the roadbed. This is the only size they make, right or left.
http://shop.atlasrr.com/p-981-n-true-track-125-turnout-left.aspx

[peteski]

How true - I didn't even think of the switch machines built into roadbed like the one above or a Kato Unitrack.  Doesn't Bachmann also offer this type of track?

[C855B]

Peco has a twin-coil machine that snaps to the ties underneath, but it needs a pretty big hole. By the time you ballast, etc., you're more or less screwed when something breaks.

I am trying to get a design out of my head and into CAD for a Shapeways-generated bracket to mount a micro servo underneath in a mostly snap-together arrangement. Something, say, where I could drill a 3/4" to 1" hole under the points and drop-in the assembled switch + machine. I've been evaluating the work ahead of me to install the hundreds of turnouts on the layout, and the specter of building linkages and solving mounting issues around framing for each and every one... yikes.

[mmagliaro]

FastTracks makes a pretty nice one called the Bullfrog.  It has an SPDT power routing switch built in,
it is manually operated, and there is an optional horizontal mount kit that will let it take up only 1-1/8"
of space below the benchwork (how shallow do you need it?)

[peteski]

FastTracks makes a pretty nice one called the Bullfrog.  It has an SPDT power routing switch built in,
it is manually operated, and there is an optional horizontal mount kit that will let it take up only 1-1/8"
of space below the benchwork (how shallow do you need it?)

That was mentioned 6 posts before yours and Joe stated (in the following post) that Bullfrog is too tall. 
But I'm not sure he considered the horizontal mounting option.

[mmagliaro]

That was mentioned 6 posts before yours and Joe stated (in the following post) that Bullfrog is too tall. 
But I'm not sure he considered the horizontal mounting option.

Wow... completely missed that.  And before I posted, I looked through the thread to see if anybody mentioned Bullfrog.
Sorry!

[Doug G.]

Just to make it clear, the #65 under table switch machine Pete mentioned IS a twin coil (solenoid) machine.

Also, Atlas makes three different machines: the regular machine without contacts (#65), the deluxe machine (#66) with built in contacts, also mentioned above, and the code 55 machine (#2065) which looks just like the deluxe machine (maybe a slightly different color) and has built in contacts too. I don't know what, if any, difference there is between the last two. The #65 machine has a plastic rod to extend up through the train board and the other two have a metal rod. These are all very flat (shallow) machines.

I have used and use both #65 and code 55 (#2065) machines successfully.



Doug