Eltham Model Railway ClubIdeas and Help - Door Bolt Point Mech. #1
This page is about my trial with my version of the door bolt point actuator. This directly comes from Joe fugate's DVD demo.
The door bolt is used, but with my own spring mech (diagram to come) - consisting of a bit of "L" girder, a long arm, a spring, a microswitch and screws. Bt are joined by fishing line.
they came about because I needed a strong manual throw system, and these seem to do the trick. They take no space in the aisle. They are very rugged. when I first saw them (be honest) I ere amused by the concept of door bolts at point motor actuators. But it kept on comming back to me as a neat solution. May I eat my words for breakfast, or eat a lot of humble pie !!
This is a test install. The final facia is still to be laminated onto the other "facia splines". As the point's normal direction made it opposite to a easy string straight ot the facia, I went all over to the rear baseboard member with the fishing wire. I also added a extra eye bolt to act as a slack adjuster. I did this as when I first tried it - I pulled the point blade right out (more throw than needed) - So I wanted some adjustment so when fully thrown it moved the required distance...
I found them very easy to install (Yes I rewatched Joe's first DVD to refresh myself) - in fact the easiest mech I have ever installed for a point motor. I hade pre drilled some largre then scrw holes into the "L" base and made installation very painless.
The microswitch is for power routing the live frog. You could use it for any interlocking of point, signals etc.
(Thanks to the Railpage members for pointing that out)
I reused the latch part , as purchased as a hiding the hole- bougt it, might as well use it. The test shots show the fishing line hanging out, as I said a test ! At the moment I drilled a hole into the facia without a gromet will look into that wear aspect later.
More info to come, here's a few photos and a 5MB movie taken Oh so quickly...
