Tortoise throw rod question

[mike_lawyer]

I am now at the point of starting to install Tortoise switch machines.  I am installing them with Micro Engineering Code 55 #6 turnouts.  My layout is built with 3 inch extruded foam over a 1/2 inch plywood base.

I picked up some thicker piano wire from Fast Tracks that is .037 inch width to go up through the insulation and provide more force on the throw. The turnout throwbar hole is not big enough to accommodate that size, but is big enough for the standard Tortoise throwbar wire, which I believe is 0.25 inches wide.

My plan is to use the thicker wire, and then adhere a small piece of the regular 0.025 inch width wire at the end to go through the throwbar hole.  What is the best way to adhere the two wires together?  Glue or maybe solder?

[Bill H]

Find a brass tube with an Id that will just fit the large diameter wire, use an inch of it as a joiner, and then use JB Weld to mate the two to the stock wire. Done this dozens of times, actually in reverse when I needed a small diameter to match the hole in my throw bars.

Kind regards,
Biil

[MEC_FAN]

I used some .032 piano wire to go through the foam and drilled the hole on my Atlas code 55 throw bars larger to except the .032 wire. Can you do the same with the Micro Engineering turnouts???

[mike_lawyer]

I used some .032 piano wire to go through the foam and drilled the hole on my Atlas code 55 throw bars larger to except the .032 wire. Can you do the same with the Micro Engineering turnouts???

Good question, I don't think you can without risking damaging the throwbar.  The holes are fairly small and the throwbar is not much bigger in size.  I'm hesitant to try enlargening the throwbar hole

[nickelplate759]

I used some .032 piano wire to go through the foam and drilled the hole on my Atlas code 55 throw bars larger to except the .032 wire. Can you do the same with the Micro Engineering turnouts???

Nope.  Not on Micro Engineering turnouts.I tried that and ruined two throwbars.

[C855B]

Nope.  Not on Micro Engineering turnouts.I tried that and ruined two throwbars.

Uh huh. No doubt. 0.032" is awfully beefy to be using with N scale turnouts. I use 0.015" everywhere now after a year or so with 0.020", which under some circumstances resulted in burning out servos. No, I don't use Tortoises, but hard links like 0.025" and bigger don't have the "give" you need to lightly apply points pressure to the stock rails.

FWIW.

[wm3798]

Why not cut a hole in the foam and put the turnout on a plywood plate to receive the Tortoise?
You can fine tune the movement, do all the wire lead soldering, and hook up your frog at the workbench, rather than on your back under the layout.  Plop it in,  put a bead of caulk around the plate so your ballast doesn't end up on the floor, then bring your track to the turnout... all in a controlled environment, and without bending the specs of either the machine or the switch. 

It'll give you a much more stable installation, and make replacement and maintenance a million times easier.

Lee

[Sokramiketes]

You have a new set of problems trying to go through 3" of foam between the tortoise and the turnout.  That's a lot of bend in a long Tortoise wire.  Thinkening the music wire is going the right direction, but even at 2" of spline like we have on Modutrak, it's not great. 

I've played with conversion to a rotating throw, and that might be a better option for your benchwork thickness.

I'm heading down the route of attaching the tortoise directly to the roadbed and bypassing the foam. 

Even a 1/8" masonite subroadbed is enough to screw in the Tortoise directly underneath.  And give much better mechanical leverage.  And much less of a clearance hole need.  And better alignment. 

[mmagliaro]

For that much distance (3") I would go with your idea (stiffer wire) but in a different way.
You need something extremely rigid all the way up from the Tortoise to "near" the turnout, and then some spring give at the end.

How about a long brass 1/8" tube for the bottom 2" of it, slipped over a stiff wire (crimped and epoxied as others have suggested)
at the Tortoise end.  There will be very little bend in all that.
Then for the final inch up to the throwbar, use a THIN wire, maybe .015".  That will give you the soft spring
you need to protect the turnout.

[fire5506]

Personally I would slide a 3 inch piece of brass tube that just goes over the wire that you have now and try that. Let it slide down to the fulcrum. It should still give you some give, but stiffen it so it throws the turnout. If it doesn't work you can slide it back off and use it on something else. Putting brass tube over then piano wire for the tortoise to stiffen it is and old trick.

  Richard Webster

[MetroRedLine]

.032" wire is fine for N scale Code 55 turnouts. I use Blue Point manuals for my yard turnouts and they require .032" wire.

[mmyers]

I used a piece of brass tube over the wire to take the bend out. On one in particular I opened the hole in the fulcrum on the tortoise to allow a snug fit for the brass tube to pass through. That one has to work through 2 inches of foam and wouldn't completely throw the switch without the extra stiffness.