Do-It-Yourself self-locking turnout
motor
The idea of building self-made
turnout motor arised when I had to buy 12 expensive Märklin
turnout motors. I had these simple motors already unused and this
idea was to use these motors. These are suitable for Märklin's
under table kits 7548 for K-track. The construction has proven
to be very reliable and there has been hardly any problems. The
drawings of the parts are here
in PDF-format. But if the motors are not already there, there
is no point to buy them as they cost about as much as "real"
turnout motors.
The working principle is a short
wire, which moves with the flange along an arc. The other end
of the wire moves in the turnout along a line, and when this wire
has a suitable tension, it allways tends to move to the end positions.
The operating voltage is adjusted so,that the motor moves from
the other end to the other. This same principle is used in Märklin's
own under table kits. The oval opening in the motor support limits
the movement and there is no stress to the turnout. The motor
is fixed to the support simply with ZAP glue.
The lenght of the wire depends
of the thickness of the table. To achieve the suitable tension
force, shorter wire should be thinner. Suitable wire thickness
is 0,5mm - 1,0mm.
Installation is done with Märklin's
under table kit.
Turnout motor under the table.
The wire should be left too long
at first and then cut down after installation.
......
Electric schema comes later...