Someone refered me to an Atlas Turntable conversion where the turntable is beneath the layout and the top is a custom design. I’ve gone back in my discussions for years and can’t find it.
Does anyone know what I’m talking about?
I remember there was an article in MR magazine in the early 80s. I actually built one based on that article and it worked, although with the Atlas turnable’s widely spaced indexing. I modified my Atlas (easy mod) to make the indexing with double the number of spaces, at half the distance apart, and you didn’t have to sit and wait idle half the time for the mechanism to come around. I could 'splain how to do that if you’re interested.
I don’t remember the Issue date or author, but I’m pretty sure it was early '80s, which I don’t have anymore. I’m sure someone here can narrow it down. Dan
Hi Chip,
I modified an Atlas turntable to install a proper bridge quite a few years ago. It took a bit of effort to build a pit wall and a floor above the original turntable but it turned out okay. However, in my humble opinion, the Atlas turntable is a ridiculously noisy piece of crap! It takes forever for it to get to the track that you want. I would choose any other turntable instead of the Atlas unit.
[2c]
Dave
Now that the search function seems to work, I did a “Search the Community” thing, typed in Atlas turntable conversion, got all kinds of articles, including converting an Atlas TT into a pit type TT, and all kinds of ideas for a solid deck.
I have’t tried a search of the archives yet.
Mike.
Always wanted to get a 3-d printed replacrment gear for the one with the blank area on one side, would make the turntable not have aby predetermaned stops. As far as what the OP wanted, there are counlest articales and ways to do it. One used a cilander in the center glued to the atlas with a pit suported by the sides of the table so that it didn’t touch the deck. Then they built the bridge. The thing about the Atlas turntable is it is super reliable and simple.
Search For “Atlas 10 Degree index” in Google. It is a mod using 2 gears attached to the center of the deck to get a reduction to 10 degree index.
The newer drives for the Atlas TT are connected by a rubber o-ring or belt drive. These should be quieter than the old all-gear drives. Anyone know?
Yeah, get yourself a comfortable chair with a good beverage if you get an Atlas. And larger, reliable turntables are not cheap. On the other hand, I could see someone using an Atlas for only two stalls, which would make the waiting time acceptable. And there would be no issue with DCC polarity if you don’t turn locos around. My Atlas was fairly quiet - I still have it, 40 years after using it on my first layout. Maybe I got lucky.
Simon
I’m only going to have 3 tracks coming off the lead-in. I’m not sure how that would help.
It’s the one I have. I’m going to try to cover it with a layer of styrofoam.
When I did a search for Atlas Turntable Conversion all I got were ads. Can you post the link?
That was the approach I wanted to take. A stationary pit, not a moving deck.
Thanks
[*
I like that project Chip. If I had the space, I would make one! Here is one thread:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/99558.aspx
If you go in google and type this:
site:cs.trains.com/ atlas turntable conversion
You will find some.
Simon
I cannot give you the issue date and year, but I only remember one article in Model Railroader about using the Atlas turntable.
In the artical, I think it was used as a Narrow Gauge tunrtable, HOn30 if I am remembering correctly, so it might have been by Dave Frary or Bob Hayden about their CARRABASSETT AND DEAD RIVER layout.
The author built a pit around the Atlas turntable and glued a bridge right to the deck of the model. I think it was a gallows style bridge.
The finished product looked really good. The author said the only problem was the pit floor turned with the bridge, but that was wasy to look past. He also suggested that if the pit was smoothed to look like cement that might make it less obvious.
-Kevin
Here’s a link to the new version of the Atlas drive:
https://www.modeltrainstuff.com/atlas-ho-304-turntable-motor-drive-unit/
It promises a quiter drive. Since I assume the point of reference is the old noisy Atlas TT drive, I think this one should improve over those.
I remember more than one article, and perhaps thus in more than one magazine, about building up the Atlas turntable so that the base device would be sunk down and there was the traditional turntable “bridge” above, with the lower “pit” built on the old turntable platfom, so the pit would turn around with the bridge but in theory would hardly be noticed.
A friend of mine disabled his Atlas turntable’s “Geneva” movement that creates those odd pauses, and wide spaces between index points, so that it is turned not by crank but by hand. Basically as with the idea of building a mocked up turntable on top of the Atlas, he is just using its precise centered support and its wiring which of course are two big challenges to scratchbuilding your own turntable.
I also recall an outfit, was it Airfix? Or Heljan? that had a unpowered turntable that was larger than Atlas, unpowered, very simple, just the ring and the bridge, and really really cheap. Just a few bucks.
As an idea for how to power a turntable years back I visited a layout in Illinois in an outbuilding, I think it was a layout that had been featured in Model Railroading or Rail Model Journal, lots of scratchbuilt locomotives, the owner was named Roger Miller but not the singer Roger Miller (although this Roger Miller did play the guitar) and the “power” for the turntable was a large plywood disc below the turntable, one edge of which stuck out a slot in the fascia. So the operator would just turn that disc by hand and eyeball the alignment of the turntable with the tracks above. It worked and struck me as a good idea and a workable way to disarm yet remotely power an Atlas turntable (it was the motor not just the drive that contributed to the noise, and it is the annoying “Geneva” movement’s pauses that only add to the objections).
Dave Nelson
Kevin,
I believe the article by Bob Hayden was about converting an Atlas plate bridge into a narrow gauge turntable using using a 1/4" phono plug which solved the issue of needing a split ring and gave it a center pivot.
I made a small turntable using that article. Build the pit any way that you want and put the female end of the plug in the center of the pit. Epoxied the plug to the bottom of the bridge after flattening the leads from the plug against the bottom of the bridge also. Made some small holes in the bottom of the bridge to pass the wires from the leads to solder to the rails.
Reversing the polarity is done with a DPDT switch regardless of using DC or DCC.
This is a really inexpensive way to get a small turntable in place.
No sure who did the article on placing the bridge on the Atlas disk itself.
Scott Sonntag
I had a Heljan (Con-Cor) cheapo on my N scale layout. I never motorized it. I had to reach in and rotate the bridge by hand. It worked fine that way. I had the motorizing kit for it, but that was a joke.
Scott, thank you for the correction. I was obviously confusing the two articles with each other.
-Kevin
Chip,
I think you are referring to this thread:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/99558.aspx?PageIndex=1
Guy
I have figured out how to make links clickable!
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/99558.aspx
Now I just need to learn how to give them text names instead of web addresses.
-Kevin
I’m missing something. Where did you type in the search parameters?
That’s to everyone who refered me to Mr. B’s wonderful photo essay. And thanks to Kevin for bringing it forward.