Manual Turnout Control with RC Airplane Cables

For my yard I was looking for a cheap and easy manual turnout control. I use PECO C55 so I do not need a locking mechanism. I landed on RC Airplane control cables.

I start with a small brass tube soldered to a piece of PC board and insert a piano wire "hook" into it



The cable connectors will be stripped of their insulation and connect the "hook" to the cable.
This is how the installation looks under the table:



I simply hot-glue them under the table: The small holes in the perfboard really "grabs" the glue: I have not a single one come loose.

The other end of the cables goes through a terminal strip that restes on a wooden block that is glued to the backside of the fascia. I use the screws in the terminal strip to fix the cable in place. The buttons (simple furniture buttons, they cost about 1 Dollar apiece) are epoxied on the cable.



I found that the cables need to have some intermediate fixation, as otherwise they tend to flex instead of moving the points. I did not get fancy but simply hot glued them to the benchwork, adding cable clamps for strenght. In other places I have used only hot glue, which works as well.




I thonk the cables have some very nice advantages:
Cheap: The hook is just leftovers, the knob 1 USD, a RC cable 7 USD, but probably good for 2 to 3 installations depending on the distance to the turnout.
Flexible: I can thread the cable through the benchwork around every obstacle to reach the turnout.
Reliable: It is easy to install and combined with the PECO switches pretty bulletproof

If you need to trigger a switch for frog polarity it is easy to do by giving the hook a larger baseplate and mount the switch to that plate. I have build a test installation that performed well on the workbench. I have not yet installed it, but as I might need to trigger signals with the manual switches.

I hope that you might find this useful. Please advise if you think there is a better forum than the Layout Design to post this...

Cheers
Dirk

 

Great idea, I'll have to use it on my next layout since I do not plan on powering all the turnouts.

 

:shade: :shade: :shade: :shade: ​

 

Hello Dave,

I am glad I could help. I have migtrated from solid rods to cables as they are much, much easier to install under a finished benchwork.#

Cheers
Dirk

 

I used the same idea - for my small layout. Take a strand of 14/2 electrical wire, remove the copper wire leaving the plastic skin intact. I then take a small diameter, but rigid florist wire and run it through. Hook one end to the peco switch and one end (in my example) sticks out of the top of fascia. This wire is bendable and could essentially be made to come out in the fascia. It also has some bending capabilities and turn easements.
I have a couple of photos on my pic site in my signature.

 

Ahhh, that answered my question...

 

How do you remove the wire without tearing the insulation jacket?

I like your lumber load idea on your pix page, btw.

 

Me, too

I changed from rods to cables, too, and with Peco code 55. Your facia solution is much better than mine, though.

I didn't think the control cables were inexpensive, though. I have also used carburetor choke cables.

I think Wolfgang Dudler uses these in HO scale, too.

Good thread. Thanks.

 

You can also try bicycle brake cables.

 

Flash,
the cost for the cable here in Germany is 7 $ (converted from Euros) for a 5 foot section, which yields about 2 to 3 installations. So cost per swith is 2.80 $ for the cable. I agree that steel rods are cheaper: I use cloth hangers which we get for free from the dry cleaner. I have not looged at choke cables: Good idea for installs with a longer reach than 5 foot.

MK
do you have any experienbce with bicycle cables? I looked at them and they appeared to be quite stiff.

Cheers
Dirk

 

Thanks...

I just open up a - (for example 8 inch or whatever length) of the 14/2 cover with a knife - separate all three strands of wire. Discard the ground wire (or save it for something else). Choose the black or white and use a wire stipper to strip a 1/2 inch from one end. Grab the one end of copper wire exposed with a pair of pliers and grab the other end with another pair of pliers and pull. The copper wire should easily come out. Discard this copper wire and you can cut the coating to the size you need. Then insert the florist wire I spoke about earlier and hook one end to the switch - and the other to whatever control you are using on your fascia. I even used a small piece of the 'skin' as my control knobs.
The nice thing about this technique is that you can gently curve the
lines right to your fascia so oddly positioned switches can be controlled.

And it's inexpensive ( read CHEAP !!!)

 

I don't use them on my layout. I was a bicycle mechanic in a previous life and I also fly R/C airplanes. Comparing the two they are about the same stiffness. The ones I use for R/C is a mini-tube with in a large tube so it's pretty stiff.

 

MK,

same here on the R/C: Mini-tube in larger-tube.
Maybe I need to cout around for other bicylce cables, as the ones I have found so far use a plastic-coated metal web as outer tube.

Thanks for the info
Cheers
Dirk