Remote Point control with servos

[corax67]

There may well be a thread to help me but I cannot find one so here goes.....

 

We have a large (16x12) exhibition layout that has grown and been tweaked over many years - all of our points are on the rear non-sceniced boards which take 4 running tracks and split them into 10 fiddle sidings. Some of the points are becoming “tired” and swapping them out is not something we really fancy.

 

Having seen Megapoints at Ally Pally we loved them and bought a servo controller & we have a matching set of 9g servos.

 

Due to storage constraints we store the board in pairs, face to face, and mounting the servos below board risks them being damaged so we’d like to mount them above.

 

Following possibly too much alcohol during a zoom meeting we had a bit of a bonkers idea - maybe fit the servos along the edge of the board and then operate the points via rodding due to space constraints.

 

Has anyone tried this or were we having a bit of a mad moment?

 

 

 

Karl

 

 

[AdamsRadial]

From what I recall seeing, many model aircraft have the servos located at the centre of balance but use rods to transmit the servo motion to the rear elevators and rudder.

[Grovenor]

Should be straightforward to do that, just connect with model aircraft rodding or wire in tube if you need to pass under tracks.

This was a demo for an offset servo below board but could just as well be above.

 

[njee20]

Sounds basically like wire in tube control. There are a few suppliers of bits, but you just have an actuating rod running through some appropriately flexible tubing.

[corax67]

Wire in tube - why did I not think of that? It’s not like I spent most of my twenties RC flying ... DOH !!

 

 

What one of us really needs to do is to get into our storage rooms once lockdown eases a bit more (it’s in church) and do some very accurate measuring and templating so we can try a mock-up - thanks all

 

 

 

Karl

[AdamsRadial]

Don't forget the other old stalwart for point control - bicycle spokes. You have a nice 3/8" adustment range on one end with the thread.

[B15nac]

I use peco servos with wire in tube from the edge of the board works really well 

[Sturminster_Newton]

What always interests me in using servos is the connection to the servo is made at the end of the servo horn.

Which has the greatest arc of travel.

Yet most servo horns have several points that could be used closer to the pivot axis which would better suit some of the more delicate items that need a gnats crochet of travel to change state.

Semaphore signals in Nscale need far less movement than points in O-gauge.

I know that the travel can be restricted/controlled when setting up but as with much in life there are many ways to achieve the same end. 

[Theakerr]

Depends on what you want to do.  For example all my signals (00) the mount point is at the setting closest to the horn.  I only need minimal movement with good control.   For one point motor I have used the hole furthest from the horn but in order to get sufficient linear movement I installed a L cam using it to magnify the linear movement. 

[New Haven Neil]

I use them for O gauge points with varying  lengths of brass wire, some in tubes where needed - and generally in the closest hole in the horn.  I then adjust the travel to suit.