I’m going to be needed a new turntable in the next phase of my basement, but if we’re to put out $300, I would be cut off for 3 month from getting–we won’t go there.
So assuming I have the skills, how can I create a turntable either by converting an el chepo kit or scratch building something that will meet the standards I’ve set for my layout?
I saw an article a couple of years ago about sinking an Atlas turntable an inch or so into the benchwork and then adding a new turntable bridge on top to make it look more realistic.
Chip, RMC did an article on scratchbuilding a turn-of-the-century New England shortline turntable a few years back, a friend of mine mailed me a xeroxed copy of it before I nixed my own t-table project. I’ll have to wait till I get home to see what issue (yr/month) it came from. Hope the pages haven’t been tossed yet…
I used the Walthers 90’ turntable on my layout and am very pleased with it. It’s about $35, I believe, and I used the motorizing kit ($20) as well, so total investment is $55. I know others have reported problems with getting it to work reliably, but after some tinkering mine now works flawlessly. The main thing to change is to chunk the wipers they used in their design. They are unreliable for electrical contact and tend to jump out of their slots. Instead, I hard-wired the bridge rails to the power source - which means I can’t spin in 360 circles contiuously or the wires will twist up. But I make it a practice to only go 180 in one direction and then return back to the other direction. Since I only have spurs coming off the table in about 180 degrees of the turntable anyway, that’s how the prototype would have operated anyway. Also, I used an auto-reverse unit for the bridge rails so I wouldn’t have to use a toggle, and I have the motor hooked up to a decoder since I’m on DCC so I can control the table from my DCC throttle just like it were another locomotive. Below are some pics of it in place.
I heard and have thought about making one out of some ply wood and a lazy susan
cacole…I did convert one of those atlas turntables into a pit type turntable using a girder bridge and deep sinking it onto my last layout…it worked ok for about a month and after that the plastic gear on the motor that drives the turntable stripped and it wouldn’t turn anymore…it’s just too much weight for the gear to handle when the locomotive is raised like that on a girder bridge…another problem is that it doesn’t have electrical pick-up wipers like a good turntable would, and if you turn the turntable in on direction for too long it twists the wiring so badly that it tears them in two …I’d really like to suggest to chip that you save your money and purchase a good turntable even if it is $300.00…it will be worth it in the long run unless you want to use the atlas as just a scenery piece and don’t plan to use it as a functional turntable…chuck
Go to the following URL:
http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11763&SearchTerms=mod
I followed the same instructions and have a great working TT. My total cost was about $50 as well…and took one Saturday to do this.
Jim Bernier
Thanks.
Is Walters going to continue to carry the el cheapo turntable even after the new $90 footer is availible?
A thought on turntable power pickups…
Pretty much all the turntables I have seen run on rails at the edge of the turntable well. Why not include the circular rail, but cut it in half, so it makes two semi circles, and electrify them with opposite polarities. put two wheels at each end of the turntable, and make the pivot so the turntable is not vertically supported in the centre, but at the ends (to ensure the wheels remain in solid contact with the rails), and pick up via one of the wheels on each of the turntable ends.
I know that’s not exactly the clearest explanation possible, but I hope it makes sense!
Well, if you’re willing to do the work, SS Ltd. does a nice late 19th/early 20th Century turntable. The downside is that you have to build your own turntable pit, but it’s not too hard–it was the first turntable pit I ever built, although it isn’t powered it can be motorized and includes instructions to do so. The kit costs about $60, and can be used to build a 70’ to 110’ turntable.
the obligatory photo:
I opted to build it as an “Armstrong” (people powered) turntable but it has a booth etc. to make it an electric turntable appropriate from the 1890s forward. The hardest part was plastering the pit, but I think it came out nicely.
heyy Space Mouse… I own an atlas turntable and i am very happy with it. if you ballast around the turn table you cant tell its an el cheapo lol. it will look really good. also if you weather aorund the track like on the turn table it slef it will look really good. just a suggestion…
[:D]Keith
In one of my old issiues of model railrader,there is an article on how Dave Frary and Bob Hayden, made an old Armstrong trun table out of a Din Jack Plug and a Central Valley N scale Girdir bridge. (They layout was HOn2 1/2) It worked suprisongly well and looked good to. I don’t see why something like that can’t work in HO to. If I also remember correctly they used the Din Jack’s electrical connection properties to provide power for the turn table as well so you wouldnt have to have wires twisting up and going loopty loop and causing a bind.
my humble [2c] worth
Chip, I built the 90’er from Walthers, and had a dickens of a time with the “works”. Iit is a good kit as far as looking good, but the mechanism should be one module slipped into the housing, not so many parts. I had to do some major shimming.
However, there are NO wires to get wrapped around themselves, contrary to what was stated above. Also, the wipers can be made to run in their channels on the slip rings, and I can talk to you about that off-line if you wish.
My table does quite well now, but I only rotate less than 180 deg for two reasons: no autoreverse, and the pit is not perfectly round due to the way I have it wedge in place…so the bridge binds in one quarter.
Yep that’s the one I was talking about (see 3rd post above)
SpaceMouse,
I used an old Atlas picked up second hand long ago for $5.00 to power my turntable. Its built out of several layers of scrap plywood and uses an idea I got from an MR article back in the 70’s or 80’s for the shaft. The whole project cost me maybe $20 and I have a TT with a pit, pit rail, bridge trucks, stone pit walls and I have an CV deck bridge to finish and detail TT bridge with. This thing was easy to build, can be any size you want, works perfectly, can be lined up with no hassel and is really cheap even if you buy a brand new Atlas TT. I had number of people that were interested in this TT project so I took a bunch of pictures as I made it and wrote up some instructions. I call it the Neanderthal Turntable because even a cave man with a rock and stick could probably build it. If you would like to see the info just email me off list and I’ll be glad to send the info and pics to you. Bruce
You may have seen this before but I’ll share it with you just in case. All prices are Canadian.
Motor and gearing: $30
1.5 inch jack/plug for pick up and fulcrum: $2.99
Wood, styrene, brass rod: $15
Embroidery Hoops[:I] to make pit $12
Remainder of stuff: $0 Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Shelving braces and bolts/wingnuts: $10
Satisfaction of scratchbuilding
PRICELESS
Fergie
You don’t post an email address. Use mine.
Fergie,
Jack plug! What an ingenious solution to the pick-up problem.
I can’t take the credit for this one as there is mention of it in Kalmbach’s book on Engine servicing facilities, which by the way is worth the money.
I’ll be using a decoder to operate the motor as I’ve been told it is able to smmoth out the speed and eliminates the need for indexing.
Fergie