Level Crossing Gates

 

We have designed working OO gauge level crossing gates that are easy to install and motorise.

Servo Motors are very well suited to motorising level crossing gates. You can find videos of model level crossing gates operated by our servos and Servo Controller on You Tube. However an amount of mechanical ingenuity is required to link kit gates to servos because the kits where never designed for motorising. To overcome this difficulty we have designed working level crossing gates that are easy to install and motorise.

To allow flexibility in the gates use, the red circular target has been omitted. For example if the road crosses a double track railway line at an acute angle three panel rather than two panel gates would be used with a semi-circle on the end of each gate.

The gate bearing and pivot are all made as a single unit so that assembly and installation is very easy. The bearing locates in a 10mm diameter hole drilled in the baseboard. It is designed to be a very loose fit in the hole. This overcomes the difficulty of drilling holes square in the baseboard. The base at the gates post has 2 screw holes to fix it to the baseboard with small woodscrews. It is this base which ensures the post is square so making the gate level. A crank (which is snipped off the crossing assembly) is a push fit on the bottom of the pivot. This prevents the gate from wobbling. The servo motor crank then just needs connecting to this crank with a piece of piano wire.

A piece of sprue (waste joining plastic) attaches the crank to the base as shown in the top photograph. The photo on the left shows the crank which is a push fit on the gate pivot. The gate is shown upside down and the cutters are for support and scale.

The photo on the right shows the crank fitted.

 

Initially we are making two types of gate; a three panel gate, two of which are suitable for a single track crossing and a two panel gate, four of these will form a double track crossing. To operate the single track crossing you require a Dual Servo Controller, two servos, two brackets, small screws, a short length of piano wire and an on/off switch. These components are available individually or as a kit. If the gates on a two gated crossing were to move together they would collide. The Dual Servo Controller opens and closes the gates in sequence.

This photo shows the dimensions of the double track gate. The single track gate measures 72mm wide and all the other dimensions are the same.

The double track gates are operated by either 2 servo motors and one Dual Servo Controller or 4 servo motors and two Dual Servo Controllers. To use just two servos diagonally opposite gates are linked together with piano wire. This requires more precision in setting up than having an individual servo for each gate. Our double track crossing kit uses four servo motors.

The gates are manufactured by 3D printing. This process enables moving parts to be made as one unit. Another advantage to 3D printing is that small production runs are more economical than with injection moulding. If we have a reasonable demand for other styles of gates we can produce them. We will also consider designing bespoke gates. Pleae send a diagram for a quote if this interests you.