slow-mo point motors

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steve howe
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slow-mo point motors

Postby steve howe » Fri Nov 14, 2014 6:25 pm

At a show last year I saw a new (to me) range of slow-motion point motors but as usual I managed to not make a note of the brand or the Trader selling them! all I can recall is the name incorporated the phrase 'little' - something - little giant?, little wonder? anyone with a clue for the clueless?

sorry to be so vague...
Steve

shipbadger
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Re: slow-mo point motors

Postby shipbadger » Fri Nov 14, 2014 6:31 pm

Steve,

Possibly the Little Jemmy point motor? http://www.fawn-electronics.co.uk/Products.php

Tony Comber

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steve howe
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Re: slow-mo point motors

Postby steve howe » Fri Nov 14, 2014 9:34 pm

Thanks Tony, that could well be the chap, I was struck by the neatness of the design and, if I recall, very competitively priced. Interested to hear if anyone's had practical experience of them.

Steve

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Paul Willis
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Re: slow-mo point motors

Postby Paul Willis » Wed Nov 26, 2014 7:32 am

steve howe wrote:Thanks Tony, that could well be the chap, I was struck by the neatness of the design and, if I recall, very competitively priced. Interested to hear if anyone's had practical experience of them.

Steve


Whilst wandering around the Warley Show last weekend, I noticed the Fawn Electronics stand, and had a chat with the owner, and a close look at these.

I have to say, I was very impressed with them. They look robust, well designed, and easy to operate. There is an accessory base that is available that helps to mount them on a baseboard, particularly in the case of signals as they are turned through 90 degrees to operate them, and it also has limit switch triggers that means that you can control the range of movement.

Most useful in my eyes is that the drive mechanism contains a clutch. That means that you switch them to make sure that the (say) point blade is hard over against the stock rail and it is held there until the power is switched off and it is permanently held. This is ideal for handbuilt turnouts as it acts as a locking mechanism for the blades. That also means that for turnouts you wouldn't have to set the range of the movement so accurately as I understand that you have to with servos.

So all in all, very clever design. The website frankly tells you nothing, so I've scanned in both sides of the flyer:

LittleJemmy1.jpg


LittleJemmy2.jpg


No, I didn't walk away with any to try, as I don't currently have a need for them (and have a batch of Ambis PALM units on order) but I was impressed.

No connection to the trader, etc, etc...
Cheers
Flymo
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grovenor-2685
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Re: slow-mo point motors

Postby grovenor-2685 » Wed Nov 26, 2014 9:15 am

That also means that for turnouts you wouldn't have to set the range of the movement so accurately as I understand that you have to with servos.

With Servos the required accuracy of setting depends on how you arrange the mechanical drive and also on how the driver software is configured. With a drive designed with sufficient leverage and some spring action the servo drive can be configured to switch off when the throw is complete and the accuracy requirement is quite low. Even if your drive does need accurate setting it is just a configuration setting and easy to do.
Using Servos to drive a PALM unit the accuracy needed on the Servo is very low and the switch off not needed, but you do have to set up the mechanics of the PALM very carefully as the final drive crank has to be adjusted just like the prototype.
(NB. Using MERG kits Servos will be less than half the price of the Fawn per point)
Regards
Keith
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Keith
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