Walthers 90ft Turntable- Not Motorized

This is a nice looking kit when erected and painted up, but it works poorly in my experience.  I motorized mine, and could only ever get it to rotate the bridge in a 90 deg arc because the pit is not truly round.

My advice is to avoid this kit.  Others will echo my remarks, while a few have managed to get one to work.

Power should come off the DC terminals of an unused DC power supply that can regulate voltage.  That way, you can turn the bridge at prototypical speeds under control.  The instructions are straightforward, I'll give them that.  It is the resultant model that leaves much to be desired.

Thanks guys for your reply.

That has certainly made the decision easier for me.

What about Diamond Scale Products ??? Any opinions ??

I too would try to avoid spending $300

cheers

these are nice too:

http://www.cmrtrain.com/turntable.html

Yes, by all means shop around.  Let me tell you guys, when I develop an acute hankering for something related to MRR, which happens often, I will purposefully spend an entire evening doing various google searches, wording each one a bit differently, looking for hobby shops that will ship stuff and that offer the object of my desires.  Invariably I find a really good price...which from a psychological standpoint is positive reinforcement to adopt this approach the next time!

Yes, by all means, take 30 minutes over two or three evenings and track down Joe's Hobby Buddy in Lower Chapped Butt, AK, who sells the item for 30% or more off MSRP.  You'll be glad you did, and Joe will probably not feel too badly about it either.

At least one modeler claims to have successfully built and motorized the Walthers 90 foot turntable.  He is offering it for sale on ebay.  Current bidding level is in the $30 dollar range.  Bidding ends in 4 days.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Walthers-Cornerstone-90-turntable-built-motorized_W0QQitemZ300149908096QQihZ020QQcategoryZ19141QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Mark

steemtrayn wrote:

these are nice too: http://www.cmrtrain.com/turntable.html

steemtrayn...have you or anyone else had any experienbce with the turntable from CMR ??

They sure look nice....very similar to the Walthers ??

cheers

Don't use the motorization stuff supplied with the kit. I substituted an orbital gear box set available from MicroMark - attached directly to the spindle with flexible tubing. My power supply is the direct DC throttle - just insert a toggle circuit to switch from track to table. The combination of the gear ratio (adjustable) available with the orbital gear box, and the variable current from the throttle, creates a v-e-r-y  s-l-o-w- rotation and easy indexing..as long as you can see the rails as they allign. Film at eleven!

loathar wrote:

Just curious if the Heljin is as bad. I'm not too keen on spending $300.

We wasted many hours trying to get the Heljin to function properly, and ended up buying the RTR 130' Walthers which meant adding onto the benchwork for the larger TT.  It was worth the money. We have never had to reset it.  We paid about $250.  Shop around.

Sue

From experience and Wasted $$$

1. Walthers 90ft Kit JUNK $39.95

2. Heljan 98 ft Kit JUNK $39.95

3. Motor Kit for above $35.00 (Wasted Money)

4. 130 ft TT from Walthers Money well spent at $275.00 each we put in two.

I am using the Kits as parts and the Motor kit is going to the next train show in the area.

Thanks again guys

Your comments are greatly apprecited.

Looks like the Walthers (motorized ) turntables are the go.

I note that Walthers also does a 90ft motorized version. Can I safely assume the 90ft will perform as well as the 130 ft ???

Many thanks again for sharing your experiences with the various turntable models available.

Bagman

bagman wrote:

Thanks again guys Your comments are greatly apprecited. Looks like the Walthers (motorized ) turntables are the go. I note that Walthers also does a 90ft motorized version. Can I safely assume the 90ft will perform as well as the 130 ft ???   Many thanks again for sharing your experiences with the various turntable models available. Bagman

You undestand the meaning of that word, correct. Only the assemblier at the factory can answer tha question. I got the two 130ft, On e was perfect the other took some tweaking to work as good.

Lets just say you are WAY AHEAD going that route.

I have the 90' built-up and it is a nice addition to my railway.  Much better'n the motorized kit.

The October MR has a short article about an Atlas turntable "pit-bash" similar to the one I did a while back.  (Yeah, but my pit floor doesn't rotate...)  If you want to go this route, which is less expensive but takes a lot of time, you could build out the bridge to get close to 90 feet.  The turntable as delivered is a 9-inch deck turntable, which comes out to 65 feet.  Be aware that the Atlas indexes at 15 degrees, so you'll want a roundhouse that has 15 degree stalls.  The Atlas roundhouse (surprise?) is 15 degrees, but it's also not very deep, basically supporting the short 65-foot turntable.

This is how mine came out:

I did a similar modification of the Atlas turntable over 40 years ago, inspired by a picture of Hank Johnston's layout using this technique.  Both his and mine were based on the gallows-style turntable bridge.  The thing that bothered me was the mandatory 15-degree-stop-and-go-stop-and-go movement as the bridge rotated.  It was reliable, however, and avoided most of the high-precision work usually required to make a workable turntable.

Mark

garthor wrote:

I was also interested in using the atlas n scale turntable as a starting point for a gallows style table, could someone post some photo's plz.

I believe MR magazine has a "how to" article on doing this. HO, but the principles the same. It's either the current issue or last months issue.

I must have been lucky, because I beg to differ.

I've had the 90' kit and motorizing kit for 1 year now and it works great.  It doesn't bind, rotating slow and smooth every time with an old DC power-pack for the power.

ezielinski wrote:

I must have been lucky, because I beg to differ. I've had the 90' kit and motorizing kit for 1 year now and it works great.  It doesn't bind, rotating slow and smooth every time with an old DC power-pack for the power.

YOu need to post a HOW TO so that others can do it. I gave up and have the whole thing sitting on the shelf.

I admire someone who can make Chicken Salad from Chicken OOPS!!