I am building the 90' Walthers non-motorized turntable. The motorized ones out there are not in my budget. I have the option of buying the motor for the TT and am trying to decide what to do. I've read that earlier releases of this turntable had issues with the pit being out of round and/or the motor not working very good, but that those have been corrected in later production runs.
Purpose of this post though is to ask: the first motor unit below works only on DC, so it sounds like I could actually connect this to my old Tech II DC transformer to power it...?...
I don't quite understand exactly how this will work tho: if simply turning up the knob on my transformer will move the motor that implies to me that there is not indexing for roundhouse track locations: there is no control module between my transformer and the motor. This sounds like frustration waiting to happen. If I miss a track location while turning the TT I have to switch my direction switch and try to go back to just the right spot... ugh.
Walther's does offer some motor control modules like the second one below - unfortunately, the page says it only works with certain motorized TT's, mine is NOT one listed. So I'm not sure what to do.
I'm probably going to wire my layout DCC. While using my DC transformer for the TT would mean one less thing I have to buy, it doesnt seem worth it to get the motor at all if I can't accurately turn the table. Maybe I just go manual.
Does anyone know of a module that gives accurate rail indexing that I could use with this turntable and motor? Not sure what good it is to make a motor that will turn my TT when there is no way to make it stop at the right locations..?..
Thanks for your thoughts...
90' TT
https://www.walthers.com/90-turntable-kit-pit-diameter-13-3-16-quot-33cm-bridge-holds-loco-up-to-12-3-8-quot-30-9cm
DC only Motor
https://www.walthers.com/motorizing-kit-fits-swing-bridge-oil-pumps-turntable-other-kits
DC and DCC Motor
https://www.walthers.com/cornerstone-turntable-control-box
Andy
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Milwaukee native modeling the Milwaukee Road in 1950's Milwaukee.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/196857529@N03/
The Milwaukee Road WarriorI don't quite understand exactly how this will work tho: if simply turning up the knob on my transformer will move the motor that implies to me that there is not indexing for roundhouse track locations: there is no control module between my transformer and the motor. This sounds like frustration waiting to happen. If I miss a track location while turning the TT I have to switch my direction switch and try to go back to just the right spot... ugh.
I have a CMR TT and my old Tech 2 transformer. At low throttle the turntable moves dead slow. The only way you can miss your track is if you are messing with your cell phone at the same time.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
This is great news! So you literally just run the two wires from the motor into the back of the transformer, and good to go?
Yes, connect it up to the variable DC.
BTW, real turntables had to be aligned by sight too....
wjstix BTW, real turntables had to be aligned by sight too....
Good point. That's why I was wavering on going manual vs motor. But it sounds like I can use a motor and make use of my old transformer. A win-win for sure.
I have always used DC motors and throttles of some sort to power my tunrtables, and I have alligned them by eye.
.
My now-preferred method is to use "Gearbox Reduction DC Motors", because they turn very slowly at 12 volts, and give very reliable no-jerk operation.
Yes to your questions, use the old DC power pack, and have fun!
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I have a CMR 135’ turntable that came with a Dayton 2L003 12 volt .45RPM motor, gear ratio 7189:1.
Maybe I should start a new thread for this, but what about powering roundhouse tracks?
I believe in earlier pictures it is simply soldering wire to the bottom of each roundhouse track anywhere between the door of the roundhouse and the actual turntable, right?
And then each of those wire sets goes to a buss below which in turn is powered by the transformer, right?
I'd be curious to see pictures from those of you who have them of this work.
The Milwaukee Road Warrior I have a CMR 135’ turntable that came with a Dayton 2L003 12 volt .45RPM motor, gear ratio 7189:1. I've seen you speak highly of that motor in another place. Insane gear ratio there.
The Milwaukee Road WarriorI'd be curious to see pictures from those of you who have them of this work.
IMG_4969_fix by Edmund, on Flickr
Rotary selector switch:
IMG_4962_fix by Edmund, on Flickr
Turntable selector, PTC III:
IMG_4967_fix by Edmund, on Flickr
Turntable drive, stepper motor with gear reduction and reverse switch, (microswitch riding on cam disk):
TT_drive by Edmund, on Flickr
Roundhouse tracks before wire was fed through sub-roadbed:
RH_inplace2 by Edmund, on Flickr
Cheers, Ed
The Milwaukee Road WarriorI am building the 90' Walthers non-motorized turntable.
Hi Milwaukee,
I built the Walthers 90' turntable kit a while ago. I'm not sure if the current kits are the same, but FWIW here is my thread on how I improved the Walthers 90' turntable to make it run very smoothly:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/261225.aspx
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
hon30critter The Milwaukee Road Warrior I am building the 90' Walthers non-motorized turntable. Hi Milwaukee, I built the Walthers 90' turntable kit a while ago. I'm not sure if the current kits are the same, but FWIW here is my thread on how I improved the Walthers 90' turntable to make it run very smoothly: http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/261225.aspx Dave
The Milwaukee Road Warrior I am building the 90' Walthers non-motorized turntable.
Much appreciated. I will take a look!
I noticed that mine doesnt seem to turn very well right now. I'm in the middle of building it and it does not appear that the pit is out of round as some people have experienced. But the bridge doesn't turn easily on the bogies like you would think. I think the bogie assemblies are perhaps just a hair too wide and somehow bind on the side of the pit. Not sure yet, but I have a Dremel that can take care of that. We shall see...
I did check your condensed post Dave but for some reason the pictures did not show. Just icons. From just the text I gather you must have gotten the 90' motorized version. (I actually just got Walthers motorizing kit for my TT as an early Christmas gift today but I don't think the gear works are accessible for any tinkering.)
The Milwaukee Road WarriorI did check your condensed post Dave but for some reason the pictures did not show.
Hi Milwaukee Road Warrior,
Photobucket, where the pictures are hosted, is apparently having some problems these days. Somebody mentioned something about a power outage causing a problem. Maybe try again in a day or two.
I suspect that I bought the motor separately but I'm not 100% sure. In any case, the gear on the motor itself was not a problem, but I had to adjust the position of the motor in order to get it to mesh with the large gear. That involved expanding the mounting holes for the large molding that the motor is screwed into, and cutting a slot in the large housing so I could see the gears where they came together. The larger mounting holes allowed me to move the housing around to get the best gear mesh. I had really annoying problems with the molded on screw sockets for the large housing. They all broke off! I tried epoxying them back in place but that didn't work. I ended up using CA to glue the epoxy in place. Very frustrating!!
The biggest problem was that the large gear had a lot of flash in between the teeth. It took a bit of work to get it all cleaned out. I had to use an Optivisor magnifying system.
No picture, but on the only previous layout I had with a turntable, I built a cam wheel that pushed on rocker switches that powered the track that the bridge was aligned with.
I had very few tracks.
I do not know if I will use this same system on my next layout.
Photobucket has restored the photos to my thread on rebuilding the Walthers 90' turntable.
hon30critter Hi Milwaukee Road Warrior, Photobucket has restored the photos to my thread on rebuilding the Walthers 90' turntable. http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/261225.aspx Dave
Great! I will screenshot them before they are lost to the void again! Haha.