TrixBrix switch machine by

[@novakasa5011]

Many thanks for testing this out, really glad that it seems to be reliable! My main constraint from the beginning was to make it as sturdy as possible, and like you said it was a really iterative process to in the end make it as compact as it is while allowing for flexibility with different motors and increasing the distance to the track etc. The main trick to it was to absorb all stress from stalling the motor via technic connections rather than any stud clutch power. So stalling the motor does not put any stress on how the mechanism is mounted on the switch. Had to get a bit creative since the range of motion needs to be at most half a stud.

[@Tekytek]

Thanks for creating this buddy 😊

[@Stereomoo]

A pretty common thing for rotation to linear motion (eg. windshield wipers) is to just design the linkage so the motor can spin continuously to reach both states. Half a stud's a pretty small diameter for that kind of thing though, and then you'd want sensors to say when it hits the endpoints. Would need to find something weird, like a 1x1 brick with axle hole is 1/5 of a stud larger radius when you rotate it 90 degrees.

[@pastajensen]

Excellent, I still use 1 switch from Trixbrix and this is good stuff.

[@LarrysLego]

Nice! Such an engineered solution to what would seem to be simple. When reading scripts, "Trixbrix" does make things tongue-twistery for me too 😅

[@memes-sp9zc]

Nice

[@Tekytek]

Thanks for this I was literally just looking for the links for this. 🤩

[@Malloy...]

Do you have any circuit cubes ?

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

I do have a circuit cubes set but haven't really put them to use in my builds so far

[@glowytheglowbug]

i mean surely something like a sg90 servo would be cheapest (not full lego but still) geekservos too would work

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

I mean TrixBrix sells servo motors purpose built for these. I prefer a Lego design myself

[@glowytheglowbug]

@@BatteryPoweredBricks i meant more of buying cheap sg90 servos and mounting them into the switch yourself, you can use axles or a frame to mount it pretty reliably and to connect it to the switch you could just let the servo horn stick into a gap and roate back and forth, you can get like 20 servos for 12$ if you want and to control them u can use an arduino that receives a signal from the 9v control pannel or just attach a button/switch to it :D.

[@robertsullivan3877]

Wonder if using red parts, and green parts would help hide or help blend in these turn devices?

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

Depending on the layout maybe. My layouts are temporary and just to run trains or play with automation. It seems like a lot of city / layout builders like to hide things under the tracks or build boxes to cover switch machines