Turntable help

[izzy]

I've been cruising around the forums and can't seem to find what I am looking for. I am trying to make a 12" turntable from scratch, as I don't really have the money to buy one. Does anyone have a method for building one?

Jacob

[lvanhen]

There was a good tutorial on the general discussion forum a couple of months ago about converting an Atlas tt to a pit tt.  You can make it any size this way.  Go to gen discus forum & search Atlas tt.

[loathar]

Realistically, your probably gonna spend more money scratch building one than it would cost to buy one of the Walthers or Heljan 90' kits. They go on sale for around $25 from time to time at Walthers.

[tomikawaTT]

Realistically, your probably gonna spend more money scratch building one than it would cost to buy one of the Walthers or Heljan 90' kits. They go on sale for around $25 from time to time at Walthers.

"Makins" for a 25 meter turntable, JNR prototype:

• Circle cut out of plywood subgrade, salvaged to form pit floor.
• Semicircles of plywood for ring rail foundation, salvaged from scrap plywood.
• Hub assembly from crushed bicycle wheel (precision bearings for perfectly centered rotation.)  Includes nuts.
• Wood ties cut from sheet balsa, for ring rail and bridge ties.
• Styrene for side girders (part of a, "Beware of the dog," sign.)
• Rail, recovered from a badly-damaged length of yard sale flex track.
• Wheels, operator's shed, center arch, walkway...  Scratch built from scrap box parts.
• "Ground goop" for contouring floor and sculpting vertical concrete for ring rail and pit walls.
• Under-table wheel and motor drive - more sign styrene, nylon fishing line, cheap Mabuchi motor from scrap box.

Total cost to an experienced model railroader with a well-stocked scrap box, about $6.50 in materials and a week of scratchbuilding.  Others' costs may vary.

The final kicker is that you can model a specific prototype of YOUR choice - like the 100 foot TT needed to turn a NYC Niagara.  A 90 foot TT won't handle it.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[MisterBeasley]

There was a good tutorial on the general discussion forum a couple of months ago about converting an Atlas tt to a pit tt.  You can make it any size this way.  Go to gen discus forum & search Atlas tt.

If that was my photo essay, thanks for the nice complement.

http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/1162765/ShowPost.aspx

An Atlas turntable will cost you about $20-25, as will the separate motor unit.  The rest of the materials will be pretty cheap.  We did talk a bit about making this model larger, but there are a couple of drawbacks.  First, the motor unit is going to get in the way of the bogies if you add more than a couple of inches.  Second, this turntable indexes at 15 degrees, so as you make the turntable larger, your stub tracks will get further and further apart, and a roundhouse would need to be further away as well.

[loathar]

Realistically, your probably gonna spend more money scratch building one than it would cost to buy one of the Walthers or Heljan 90' kits. They go on sale for around $25 from time to time at Walthers.

 

Total cost to an experienced model railroader with a well-stocked scrap box, about $6.50 in materials and a week of scratchbuilding.  Others' costs may vary.

 

And what if your NOT and don't have one?? Buying all those things, the gas to run from store to store or the S&H really kills that $6.50 figure. Many people can't even make a well designed turntable kit work properly, let alone a scratch built one made with junk parts.(again, my)

 

[wm3798]

Years ago I scratch built a turntable using an embroidery hoop as the basis.  I scratchbuilt the bridge from styrene, and used a stereo headphone jack for the pivot point.

Here's a brief article about it from Simply Trains.com.  Hope this is useful.

Oh, and the cheap-o Walthers turntable isn't worth the box it comes in.  The pit is usually warped, the details are clunky, and fitting it for a reliable drive isn't for the faint of heart.  However, if you want to spend the money, their Cornerstone Built Up turntable is the cat's meow.

Lee