I’m not too proficient with soldering, and am working on installing a Heljan/Walthers 120’ turntable to my N gage layout. There are two collars beneath the pit that are connected to wire leads running up through the spindle to wire into the track for power. I’m having problems getting solder to hold to these collars which look to be brass? And the illustration doesn’t really show where on the collar to solder the leads to. I thought if done to the wide surface, that they would interfere with the wipers when the turntable rotates. Should the leads be soldered to the edges?
anyone who has done this work in the past, I’d appreciate guidance.
thanks again.
Terry
Why would you solder to the collars? You wire to the wires, or am I missing something. If you have an overhead bridge that the wires lead up to from the tracks, then you do not solder to those collars. There should be a wire or a piece of metal that wipes against these collars, and those are the connectors that you should wire to. Or maybe the whole thing gets power differently and those are just for looks. LION does not know, him never bother with turntable. Subway trains have no turntables.
ROAR
The directions show wipers mounted to an underneath frame; the wipers transferring power to the collars and wires running from the collars up through the spindle to the track. The turntable rotating require the collar and wipers being in contact but not secured to each other.
I’m trying to post an image of the instructions to show more of what I am talking about.
From the diagam you posted it appears that you need to solder to the edges of the collars. You will need to be careful that the solder joints don’t interfere with the wipers. It looks like an awkward setup to me but with some fiddling it could be made to work.
Joe
Just be careful you don’t distort anything plastic. Someone help me out here, but isn’t this the set-up that makes the turntable a little unstable?
i owned a walthers turntable (90ft HO) some years ago and eventually scrapped it due to endless problems with electrical contacts. made up my own turntable driven by a homemade reduction box and a motor from a printer. the drive was totally ugly and bulky but hung under the layout and couldnt be seen and it worked really well and completely quiet. for electrical contacts i used 2 brass washers for sliprings and carbon brushes for pickup. never had any problems. new layout still being built has no room for a turntable unfortunately. currently working on a hopper wagon driven by loco to lay track ballast. prototype is ok but a bit of fine tuning required.
well, my first time try at a powered turntable. I actually ended up with two of these tables, but only one motor. it’'s located close enough to the edge of the layout that I could use Five Finger control if the motor system breaks down.