Contact point ideas for swing gate

I have seen panel mount Jones plugs used for connectors.  Female mounted to the table, male mounted on the underside of the lift bridge.

This may be easier:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ6WPmRBKko

Instead of the 2x4, you would use the bridge and the lead up to it.  Just offering as a suggestion.

Regards,

Greg

Swings up or on a half door/gate?

Panels with contacts are around for alarm systems, etc.. That field has a lot of odd but usefull electronic stuff in it.

Cabinetry uses sprung pins and sockets that could be adapted (used to keep doors shut with a click'.) If you cant find brass, find a boat shop with good deck and cabin hardware.

Hand made? Lightly curved copper strips & plates would be simple and just as effective.  Mount at the footing on the lift end, or at the hinge, or both. I think Eric's Trains had used copper strips contacting screw heads.

Why are you passing current through the gates ?   Each gate can gets its power from the hinge side

Clem

How many contacts do you need to have on your connectors?

We had this situation on a family layout (discussed here).  Because we had too many wires that needed connecting, I was going to go with some sort of multi-pin plug.  It's less convenient than the automatic method you're talking about, but if you've got a lot of connections, it's a solution.

Also, what kind of flooring do you have?  If it's wood planks -- one of which can be pulled up -- you don't need a connection at all.  Just run the wires down a table leg, under the gap, and back up the next table leg.  As someone says, the bridge can get its power via wires running under the hinge.

There are many ways to skin the cat.

Steven J. Serenska

I would start by getting power and control signals to the island apart from the connecting structures. You don't want to rely on often used contactors for anything more than to power the track that is on the moving sections. That kind of connection is bound to give you problems no matter how you set it up.

I could only imagine short power runs for a reason. They have a point though.

"Bound to give you problems no matter how you set it up"? Thats pretty pessimistic. On a drop swing the weight alone would be enough to forego graphite/ tungsten points (pressure is key to electical contact/ flow). Door contacts are reliable, vary widely, and are used widely daily...just in places you've never noticed or thought of  

   With a long bus, it would supply a shorter path from A to B at times; that's a good thing. Maybe overkill, but not a bad thing if A-B by bus is 60' and by contacts is only 10'. 

  I could see a command issue, but that's a wildly pessimistic, worst case scenario point too. You might hit the lotto with a scratch off too.

   Wiring to the bridge to be killed on raise, can also be done by a single push pin cabnet door switch and a relay if needed. (might as well shut down a good length of track leading to it too...no cliff diving or ramming..figure out what you need and ADD EXTRA ROOM).

  Those cabnet switches mount in the hinge area, or door frame (bridge footings) Common in vending and games, industrial machines, etc. to cut off when the units are open and usually has an aditional pull action for servicing....Oh, your furnace door should have one if its not ancient.

"Refered to as a panel lockout switch". Pull the burner panel and the furnace shuts off.

  For the contact type I was suggesting get made, industrial/resturant freezer room doors are where I made a similar set to replace the originals no longer made (secondary lighting, low volt relay controlled). They survived 5 years of daily use, 362 days of the year, maybe 50+ or so openings each day min., and last I checked, looked good as new, and IMO will far outlast the factory part..that was no longer made, with it being 35 years old and all.

  Three copper strips, 6 screws, 2 loop terminals 2 nylon blocks(+4 attch. screws; "insulation", blocks might be fishpaper for you), and some hand tools. (a spst).

I always wanted to use something like this for a lift bridge

http://www.widecontact.com/product1.html

https://www.amazon.com/Keep-Cl...ontact/dp/B003TVL5N8

Lionel's new truss bridge may fit some layout needs in this area...

http://www.lionel.com/products...truss-bridge-6-82110

Thank you all for your ideas so far. The door jamb contacts sound promising. I agree that powering the island on it's own is important, but I also need to be able to pass the TMCC signal from one side of the layout to the island. There is going to be some trial and error with this. Will also spend some time looking at home security parts to see what's out there. I will update as I figure things out and also I am open to any additional ideas that the group might have. 

I may be missing something, but I don't see why you don't simply pipe the power to the other end and dispense with trying to establish the connection that way.  We do that on our modular club layout.  Then the bridge is down, a microswitch operates a relay to return power to the two adjacent modules on each side, when up the relay cuts off the power to the two adjacent modules.  The bridge tracks are all fed from the hinged end, no need to try to make high power connections on the other side.

Part of the issue is that the hinged ends are both on the island side. When both gates are open there is absolutely no connection to the other side of the layout. Our floor is cement so no running wires under the floor, etc.  

I also want the connect in order to help control the power to the "runway" on both sides of the bridge. I could accomplish with relays, but that means adding at least a pair of micro switches to each bridge to control relays on both sides. 

Still thinking this all through but this has sparked some good ideas. Specifically looking at mini van sliding door switches, these seem to offer at least 6-8 circuits to pass thru, which is complete overkill, but we'll see how the plan evolves as we go

My layout has a swing gate at the room entrance. Stable and reliable swing gates that hold up over time are harder to design and build than it might appear. The structure needs to be rigid, the gate will be heavy. The ideal design has the support tower and receiver tower rigidly mounted to a single base. If built that way the base forms a 1inch high threshold across the entrance. The underside of that threshold can have a small groove cut to allow for the wires to your "island."

Here are pictures of the gate structure taken during construction. The first shows to the right the gate mounting tower, left and the receiver tower, right. On the receiver tower the guides (black) and the switch to control the power to the relay for track block power are visible. Note the leveling shims.

The next one shows the structure upside down on the floor. The underside of the base, visible here, has plenty of room to be routed for wiring.

This last one is the gate prior to mounting. The 2x4 legs on the left are just a temporary support.

Here is a diagram of my layout, I think there must be a big difference between our setups 

My gate is the top left corner. power is in the inner peninsula

Wow, that is very similar to my layout. Around the walls with a center peninsula, swing gate on a 45 deg angle in the corner. All my power is under the end of the peninsula. I have no wires crossing the swing gate opening because power is routed two directions leaving the peninsula. There are wires entering the swing gate at the hinges to power the track, turnouts and signals on the swing gate.

  If you look close at the layout GRJ has posted, you'll note a slight step up going under the bridge. As a module, lots of strength in the box it forms, but it would also allow passage of a hidden bus under your feet.

  Those contacts are very similar to what I was talking about, but the ones replaced used flat contact and lever spring action. The issue became broken plastic. Had a nylon been used, it would have likely lasted "forever". The hinge side is more suggestion than rule, because the impacts momentum and inertia will be less at the hinge. The tourque and crushing power there is much higher. Its a trade off deciding where is best based on if the door will be used gently or not. With automated closings too fast isn't an issue.

I have used  Electrical wall outlets  for track power   on each side of the bridge and 3 pronged plugs hanging down from the bridge... KISS  .  Yep have to plug them  in by hand but  good solid connections.