I am modeling a functional turntable for a small staging-fiddle yard that will be used to turn engines but also used as a "turnout" with three tracks running up to it to save space.
I am not interested in doing a "sector plate".
I suppose I could just cut out a circular hole, use a board for the turntable with track on it and a shaft with a bearing. In operation it'll be close enough to the aisle to turn by hand. I'll have to wire for DC though, but that's no biggy.
Has anyone else done this or know someone that has? I am looking for ideas.
Victor Baird
If it is intended to be functional only, not meant to be seen and doesn't have to look "realistic", you might consider using Atlas turntable. I think of it as relatively inexpensive and not finicky.
wabash2800I suppose I could just cut out a circular hole, use a board for the turntable with track on it and a shaft with a bearing. In operation it'll be close enough to the aisle to turn by hand. I'll have to wire for DC though, but that's no biggy.
I've been working on a very simple one using a simple truss bridge and a 1/4" phono jack. As you can see, a piece of foam spaces the bridge and I used a piece of 1/8" plywood from a fruit carton to anchor the phono jack. Held together with tape for now.
the phono jack not serves as a pivot and holds down the bridge, but can bring power to the brige rails. It also allows the bridge to be easily removed. I plan on using my finger to rotate the bridge.
My layout base is 1/4" luan and 1" foam. This happened to be a spare piece about 2' square. After dilling a center hole, I clamped the drill in a vice, place the base on the drill and used a wire around the drill as a guide for some 12g copper wire in a soldering gun to cut out the foam.
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
If prototype looks are not an issue, get a Rubbermaid lazy susan, and put a piece of track across it.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
For all-time ease and low cost, I recommend a length of wood (your choice of length--maybe 3 feet??) with track attached. It will sit on the top of the layout on the plywood. The trickiest part is getting the center bearing just right. And you want it to be reliable.
For wiring, a couple of wires with alligator clips that are only attached (obviously) when the track is at rest.
Ed
wabash2800I am modeling a functional turntable for a small staging-fiddle yard that will be used to turn engines but also used as a "turnout" with three tracks running up to it to save space.
You got old record player? Yes, then got turntable.
You cannot of course run a train over the turntable except to the track that it is aligned to on the other side.
LION designed a passenger terminal with island platforms, and the stub end of all tracks routed into the turntable at the end of the line. Locomotives or coaches could be turned on it, and a train could be rebuilt right there in the station.
Him thought that was the cat's meow, but him never builded it.
When you say a staging turntable, LION presumes you will turn it by hand. Otherwise you can salvage some racks, gears, belts and stepping motors from an old ink jet printer (everybody has bunches of those in their scrap room) and then see what you can build with them.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
The Atlas TT is a good solution is you want a pwoer drive. The old ones are pretty noisy, not sure if it's been improved. And you don't have to like what the top looks like or be limited by the length. You can layout a different surface and add a longer set of bridge tracks to make it longer than 10". I have one that I converted to HOn3 by laying NG flex on top. It's not pretty but does hide under a snowshed. I can run my locos in there and have them reliably come back out.
The phono plug TT design also works well. I built one for my Cascade branch. You do have to be able to build an accurate bridge. Radio Shack has a big 1/4" phono plug that is ideal for this purpose, as it's far more substantial than most (get 'em while you can.) The advanatge over the Atlas are no power, so no noise and they can stop anywhere around the circle, not just in the specified locations like the Atlas.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
The Atlas is too short. Mine will be 12".
Victor
wabash2800The Atlas is too short. Mine will be 12".
Victor,
That's why I mentioned adding a new extended bridge is possible. 12" would be easy.
Another thing I've seen done if looks are a factor...Some folks want a TT in a pit. No pit on the Atlas -- it's covered anyway
However, in addition to making the bridge longer, you can build a pit and have the mechanism sit down in it. If you look closely when it turns, you can tell it's turning (which is a little odd), but they're pretty convincing at rest if detailed right.
Thanks all.
wabash2800....I suppose I could just cut out a circular hole, use a board for the turntable with track on it and a shaft with a bearing. In operation it'll be close enough to the aisle to turn by hand. I'll have to wire for DC though, but that's no biggy......
While it's on the layout and not in a staging yard, here's a "board in a hole with track on it, wired for DC":
The track, both on the bridge and in the pit, is Atlas code 83 flex. The turntable is a block of wood with spliced girders from a couple of Atlas through girder bridges stuck on the sides. It's manually operated (big finger) and rotates on a beater shaft from an old hand mixer.Pick-up is through wipers on the shaft and on the modified plastic freight trucks which support the ends of the table:
Other than the stripwood used for the deck and its supports, total cost was about $2.00. It's meant to represent a 90' turntable, but space here is very tight, so it's only an 89'-er.
Wayne
Instead of a "beater shaft" you could have used a 1/4" jack and you power could have come in there.