I am about to give up trying to make my Heljan 100' turntable operate smoothley. Will the Walthers HO scale 130' turntable let a loco run on the bridge, turn, and run back off? Thanks.
Larry
Anything is possible if you do not know what you are talking about.
Larry,
The answer is yes, you can do all of that! As you can see, my table easily handles even my largest loco (H-8 Allegheny). And, so far, it's run like a champ. Well worth the investment.
Dick
Thanks for the info. Great photo. Looks cold.
How well deos yours hold it's programming points? I Have (2) 130's and they forget by a half rail on a regulat basis. I probably need to reread the instrucations.
This are the twins:
This is the one in Ashley
old pictures shows it better, still Ashley
This is Nanticoke's:
another old picture of the Nanticoke table area
As atated they are worth the money. I have a Heljan 98' and the old Walthers 90ft that are going to become bridge trusses or something.
As mentioned earlier they are worth the money. I own both the 130' and the 90' TT and think they are the greatest thing in the world. As for the memory being half tie off I heard thats a problem in the older versions. I di dhave it with mine but it cleared up after I reset it. Maybe try resetting it to zero point and redoing the settings again.
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I suppose the technology with optical readers is fairly well developed by now, although I am unsure of their method for this turntable. In any case, there will necessarily be incremental errors with each use, not from the digital side of things, but from the mechanical side of things. So, even though your calibration point has not changed in memory, it has slipped a tiny fraction of an inch each time you ask the device to align itself anywhere. Eventually, the error is sufficient that you can see it, and it is at this point that it must be re-calibrated. I believe, although I have not actually used one, that the computerized amateur telescopes available in the $3K-$15K range have this very issue. Your alignment with celestial coordinates might be fine for the first hour or so, but at some point you must recalibrate on bright stars whose coordinate positions are well known. This is very important because the fields of view in a telescope are very small, typically, and a cumulative error of even 30 arc seconds can put something out of the field of view. Once that happens, which way do you move the scope to find it? Up, down, right, left?
So, if I were to get one of these TT's, I suppose I would simply recalibrate it every other day or so.
rrinker wrote: Bet you just need to run the calibration routine. If it stops within a step of the actual point, it hans't lost its memory - if it forgot the programmed stop it wouldn;t stop anywhere near where it's supposed to. The whole thing works by 'knowing' how many steps from a fixed starting point you set the stop - so if it's close that just means the calibration has slipped and the start point is no longer where it's supposed to be. --Randy
So push the Zero button before each session? That will get it in the correct area? If that is all it is GREAT!!
George and others,
I ordered the 130' turntable from Walthers this morning. Thanks for the input.
Sue
We installed the turntable. We had trouble with the screws being a little short, but managed to work through that. Now the next step is to lay down the rest of the yard.
Thanks, Sue
Sue, found out that the lead tracks for the table area exactley 2 ties removed from an Atlas code 83. Then I spike the track as close to the table as possible. I did not screw down the table. the chance of a warp from the wood would twist the pit. With the tracks nailed they hold the pit and allow for expansion.
Just a thought.
selector wrote: I suppose the technology with optical readers is fairly well developed by now, although I am unsure of their method for this turntable. In any case, there will necessarily be incremental errors with each use, not from the digital side of things, but from the mechanical side of things. So, even though your calibration point has not changed in memory, it has slipped a tiny fraction of an inch each time you ask the device to align itself anywhere. Eventually, the error is sufficient that you can see it, and it is at this point that it must be re-calibrated. I believe, although I have not actually used one, that the computerized amateur telescopes available in the $3K-$15K range have this very issue. Your alignment with celestial coordinates might be fine for the first hour or so, but at some point you must recalibrate on bright stars whose coordinate positions are well known. This is very important because the fields of view in a telescope are very small, typically, and a cumulative error of even 30 arc seconds can put something out of the field of view. Once that happens, which way do you move the scope to find it? Up, down, right, left? So, if I were to get one of these TT's, I suppose I would simply recalibrate it every other day or so.
Probably because you are dealing with the motion of the Earth and also of the stars and other deep space objects in real time.
Is there any mechanical peices that are wearing thin on that turntable anywhere?
Safety Valve wrote: selector wrote: Probably because you are dealing with the motion of the Earth and also of the stars and other deep space objects in real time. Is there any mechanical peices that are wearing thin on that turntable anywhere?
selector wrote:
No Mechanical problems at all. Just Mr. Murphy having it a half rail off every time you think it is perfect. Maybe it is ET using a cosmic event to have the planets move?
Both are working perfect and are trained to act up only on operating nights!
I guess I could take out this table and use the Walthers 90ft manual table with the Mickey Mouse drive, NO WAY!
George, Thanks for the tip on spiking the track as close to the TT as possible. We put four very-very thin dots of liquid nails, knowing that we can break the bead if we need to remove it.
Selector, Your reference to celestial coordinates was great. We recently purchase a small telescope and are addicted to spotting deep space objects on clear nights. In Washington, we will soon be back into our 6 month long cloud.
Tweet, Let us know when you get the brain strain figured out. That is why we gave up on our 98' Heljan TT.
We will be working on the yard this weekend. I can hardly wait to run an engine onto the TT and turn it around. Lots of turnout placement and being short one #5 could hold us up. That will mean a trip to the not so LHS because our LHS does not carry code 83.
gear-jammer wrote: We will be working on the yard this weekend. I can hardly wait to run an engine onto the TT and turn it around. Lots of turnout placement and being short one #5 could hold us up. That will mean a trip to the not so LHS because our LHS does not carry code 83. Sue
WHAT? No one knows how to hand-lay rail?
LOL Just teasing.
Good luck!
Safety Valve wrote: Probably because you are dealing with the motion of the Earth and also of the stars and other deep space objects in real time. Is there any mechanical peices that are wearing thin on that turntable anywhere?
For the timescale we are talking about, and since the earth is an ultra stable platform, the motions you mention are negligible, even over years. What I am referring to is gear lash, bearing tolerances, and machining errors, not to mention discrete errors in optical reading. For the price we pay, we are getting 20 year-old technology, even older, so these things, with their standard cumulative errors, will slowly get out of calibration over 20-40 slews to a given coordinate, whether to a star or planet whose position is known, or to a pair of roundhouse rails. At some point, you have to tell the memory where "zero" is.
Safety Valve wrote: gear-jammer wrote: We will be working on the yard this weekend. I can hardly wait to run an engine onto the TT and turn it around. Lots of turnout placement and being short one #5 could hold us up. That will mean a trip to the not so LHS because our LHS does not carry code 83. Sue WHAT? No one knows how to hand-lay rail? LOL Just teasing. Good luck!
I would like my railroad running BEFORE I die.
I have a friend who is over 60 and thinks he going to start NOW and put down 2000 feet of tarck and build over 1500 turnouts in his lifetime. He built a 2nd floor on his house of 2,300 sq ft just for his dream. Hope he makes it!!
selector wrote: Safety Valve wrote: Probably because you are dealing with the motion of the Earth and also of the stars and other deep space objects in real time. Is there any mechanical peices that are wearing thin on that turntable anywhere? For the timescale we are talking about, and since the earth is an ultra stable platform, the motions you mention are negligible, even over years. What I am referring to is gear lash, bearing tolerances, and machining errors, not to mention discrete errors in optical reading. For the price we pay, we are getting 20 year-old technology, even older, so these things, with their standard cumulative errors, will slowly get out of calibration over 20-40 slews to a given coordinate, whether to a star or planet whose position is known, or to a pair of roundhouse rails. At some point, you have to tell the memory where "zero" is.
Well I had to know. The 130 ft turntable goes out of calibration by .002 in. EVERY time it moves. Gee I need to get those guys some REAL work to do!!!
George,
Our house is about 2300 sq. ft. I can not imagine a layout room that size. Our 13' x 13' is a good starting point. The room is actually 13' x 28', but we would have to remove a climbing wall and find a place for our weight room equipment.
We did not get our track to the TT this weekend. Larry had to take off for California. We got the frogs powered for three turnouts and another siding in the yard completed. I think that we are going to make some changes to the original yard. The larger TT, and the Walthers 3 stall RH, have taken up some space.
I finished placing the geodesic rocks on the section that I have been taking photos of. Hopefully, I will have photos tomorrow.
We even found time to ride our dirt bikes, and share the layout with a friend who stopped by.
gear-jammer wrote: George, Our house is about 2300 sq. ft. I can not imagine a layout room that size. Our 13' x 13' is a good starting point. The room is actually 13' x 28', but we would have to remove a climbing wall and find a place for our weight room equipment. We did not get our track to the TT this weekend. Larry had to take off for California. We got the frogs powered for three turnouts and another siding in the yard completed. I think that we are going to make some changes to the original yard. The larger TT, and the Walthers 3 stall RH, have taken up some space. I finished placing the geodesic rocks on the section that I have been taking photos of. Hopefully, I will have photos tomorrow. We even found time to ride our dirt bikes, and share the layout with a friend who stopped by. Sue
This is a whole top floor he had added just for the trains. He has a seperate A/C and power panel. I think 30 breakers just for lights and the layout. His problem is like mine AGE!!! I could gave went to the full 1800 sq ft of the basement but thought that would take longer than I have to get it to at least some scenery. The CFO (Krysti) wanted me to build what ever I wanted so budget just build it. We are adding CCTV for the Dispatcher feeding back 4 cameras to a 28" LCD which looks to be to small. If this works out then I will start on some scenery.
We tried running without the cameras but with the 2 room type of arrangemwnt you can not see most of the layout at any one time.
Well it is annib. on the 15th so will see what she wants to do. Probably drive her Corvette or her Jag I guess.
TheK4Kid wrote: I looked at a "Senco" screw gun at Home Depot on Saturday 10-14, anyone have any experince with them?These were both battery ( cordless and AC powered) --Uses ":collated" screws.Thought it would make building tables easier and quicker, and putting up drywall around the layout room easier also.Really don't want to use nails.
Save your money, bought one and took it back. I bought a 24V drill driver with the special head for drywall screws. It is easy as heck. Magnetic so it hold the 1 5/8" screws for the "L" girder and also the 1" for the drywall. It runs the screw flush then releases so you do not go THRU the drywall.
I have Cork and Foam roadbed. As we make changes (already) all the cork that comes out in PIECES is being replaced with WS foam. I took out a 42 " passing siding that was foam and saved all the foam and the track. I moved an 18:" siding that was cork and lost all the cork.
We use Makita cordless drills. We have 2 from house building days. Screws are more efficient if you make changes.
Here are some TT photos.
gear-jammer wrote: We use Makita cordless drills. We have 2 from house building days. Screws are more efficient if you make changes. Here are some TT photos. Sue
Braver than me Miss Sue! I have not done anything to disturb the Turn Table Gods by weathering their area. Waiting till it is bullet proof around it then I will tempt Murphey!
Looks good, like the Loco, Spectrum?
No, it is a Proto 2000. Most everything on our layout has been designed for this guy. Once you have had sound, it is hard to go back. Can you tell that this is my favorite Loco?
Weathering is chalks. Any excess vaccuums out.