I’ve been looking at the Walther’s HO Modern 130 foot Turntable (Item #933-2829) for the Roundhouse on my layout. Anyone have any experience with this one or its smaller brother (90 foot, item #933-2840). The two of them seem to use the same drive and indexing system, which attracted me to them in the first place.
Yes, Tom. It is a keeper. Instructions are easy, and the hole for the older motorized version needs only to be expanded by about 0.5". I think you’ll be happy with it. Works flawlessly.
Tom
i also have one of the tt it is the 90 foot one i have had it on my layout for about 9 mths i have never had an issue with it somes times it wont line up perfect so i reset to zero and all is back to just right hope this helps
phil
Thanks to both of you for the quick reply. I was a little reluctant to spend $300 (less whatever I can find it at the discounters) for something that may or may not work as advertised. This will be on a new construction layout, so I’ll have to start saving my pennies.
Tom:
You might wish to check ebay… they have numerous turntables and the 90 ft advertised at $199 Buy it now, which is $100 off retail.
Best regards,
Roger
I have the 130’ TT and am very happy with it. A few words of caution. Read and reread the instructions and follow them to the letter. I missed one important point and paid a price. Also, keep the pit very clean. Especially keep bits of ballast from falling into the pit. Even a small speck getting in the cogs of the bridge or the teeth on the pit rail will bring the TT to a halt. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t have put any WS fine ballast near the TT pit. The medium ballast is less likely to get in between the teeth on the pit rail.
I was planning on that and checking the on line and magazine discounters when I had saved up about $200 (I was serious about “saving my pennies”).
What important point?
Does the TT accept manual input?
Selector, I like your photo alot, how many of those BLI hoppers did you have on that J1?
BLI’s Outlet Direct had two six-packs on sale for $79 each some time last summer. I wanted them for the J1, so I sprang for them right away. They are B&O, but I understand that leasing practises back then makes that allowable. No matter, the J1 is indifferent. [:D]
They are excellent as far as rolling stock is concerned. I can’t say I am in a position to be able to compare with another manufacturer, but every one is A-1, and I have not had a single derailment or equipment failure. Makes me wonder why they were returned.
Thanks for your compliment about the photo, Safety Valve.
To get to your question about manual, you do all the inputing of the stops you desire by manually pressing the buttons. There are two main buttons on opposite sides of the gray control box, and embossed around them are large curved arrows showing you which way the bridge will sweep if you press that button. So, your first radial track is over there, you press on button, wait until it is lined up, and then input the stop pressing two smaller buttons…I think, something like that…it has been a few weeks since I did it. Anyway, my point is that you can stop its automatic sweep to a pre-programmed point with the simple press of one of those buttons. Also, the bridge stops at every point. If you have the three-bay house, it will stop at the first outside bay track, depending on direction of sweep, and you must then press the sweep button another time to get to the middle bay.
Feel free to ask more questions.
I used Atlas code 83 track for the leads. I put the track in some time after the installation of the TT and forgot that the ties needed thinned so that they are the same thickness as the TT lip. When I installed the track the rails sat slightly above the lip of the TT which resulted in a drop down to the bridge track. I didn’t notice the problem until I had ballasted some of the leads so the tracks had to be ripped up and replaced. It is eacy enough to bevel the ties with a belt sander so the ties get gradually thinner as they get near the lip.
I’ve found the programmed stopping points to be more trouble than its worth. Often, the bridge stops one notch off the programmed point and needs a manual adjustment to get it alligned with the lead tracks. If you have to lift the bridge out for maintenance, it loses its place. I just removed all the programmed positions and use manual control to allign the bridge.
Thanks for the answers.
I will go ahead and add this TT to my budget for this year along with a few of those BLI hoppers.
What about DCC control, does the TT need a auto reverser? My Cheif has a auto reverser but dont trust it yet.
You can download the Instruction Sheet and Template from the website.
No reverser required; it uses the split ring design, and works very well. Nothing to do but saw out the hole, plunk it in, level it, bring tracks up onto the lip, situate the house so that your radials all line up nicely, take those rails up onto the lip, and you are ready for programming.
As for the accuracy, I have had no problems…I have even removed my bridge, vacuumed or done something or other, and then replaced it aligned with the rails that it had been aligned with previously. On subsequent bridge sweeps, all was aligned as before, nothing changed for me. I have done this several times, too.
No reverser for DCC, am I missing something here? Don’t the TT track leads attach to track power with a positive and negative lead? If the TT rotates 180 degrees, this will rotate the positive and negative DCC track power.
I know there is not a dedicated positive or negative, but all track must have the same power to the rails, or you will create a dead short in your system. This is where the reverser comes in - isn’t it?
If I am not understanding this correctly, please tell me!
Yes, you’re missing the part about the “split ring design.” Sort of a mechanical polarity reverser which will work with DC or DCC. If the rails on the rotating bridge were hard wired and kept turning the same direction, the wires would eventually twist off. It’s in the instruction sheet which can be accessed on the web using the link in my earlier post.
It’s basically the same design as used in the old Atlas Turntable.
The core of the bridge bearing has a split ring. There are two metal rings that are mounted parallel and close to each other with small wiper contacts sweeping the length of the ring as the bridge rotates so that the loco above stays powered and can get off the bridge. At some point in the rotation, the ring arcs break, in other words, are gapped, and then a new pair of arcs commences. However, on this new set of ring arcs, the circuit goes to the opposite rail as before. It is like a wired DPDT…sort of. The wiper contacts don’t move on their mountings, but when they cross the very slight gap, and encounter the new metal ring arcs, what they deliver to the bridge rails is reversed polarity. You know the difference conceptually, but mechanically and perceptually, it is like magic.
`hi i have the 90 footer and it works decently but, its quite noisy when turning it ,i put a very light lub on the track which did silence it a good bit
That is good to know. I have found that the noisiest part of the operation is the gearing inside the motor housing below the deck. I don’t know if it is because my power supply is in the slightly higher end of the recommended power range, but I suspect that it is. Mine is an AC 16.8 volt one, and I would like to try 13 to see if it moves more slowly and more quietly.
The only caution I would have is about the lub getting dirty over time. It may be difficult to clean out any that gets into the gear track, and certainly it will mean an eventual cleanout for the drive mechanism as contaminants work their way into it over time.
Still not seeing it! I have assembled the 90’ TT. There are two brass rings mounted to the shaft that two copper type wipers contact with spring pressure to complete the circuit. These wipers are connected to the track power supply. The brass rings are complete rings - no breaks to be seen. They have a wire that is soldered to the inside of the ring and each wire then connects to the bridge track.
For ease of concept lets say there is a positive and negative ring - this means there is a positive and negative bridge track rail. In the initial position the bridge track is in line with the point track coming to the TT. Turn the TT 180 degrees and the bridge track rails are now reversed from the point track. Once the Engine makes contact with the bridge track and the point track at the same time, a dead short will be realized.
I am in the process of setting in the TT and ready to wire it, so this is crunch time for me and I don’t see the “magic” - perhaps a drawing might help.