I consulted my dictionary and Wikipedia, but could not find any information specific to indexing machinery, let alone a railroad turntable. As an electrical engineer who often develops software, to me indexing usually means “choosing one of several”, and nothing more. If we’re falling on the ears (eyes ?) of any mechanical engineers, perhaps they can comment on the definition as it applies to machinery.
Yes, I would say the MSC1 improves the operation of the Atlas turntable too as it provides smooth low speed operation and direction control. The thing that I don’t like about slow speed on the Atlas turntable is the long pauses at no-track index points. Has anyone ever defeated the Geneva indexing mechanism on this turntable? I bought it for testing only, but have decided to go ahead and use it on my San Juan Central.
With regards to your SS Ltd. turntable, I would be happy to brainstorm with you. First, what is the bridge drive like? Just a plastic shaft? Gear? Pulley? Does SS Ltd. offer a drive?
their instructions with the kit say they do , but they’ve been purchased by Jaks Industries and a search of their site brings up nothing on turntable motors (or indexing [:)] )
the base of the turntable center casting has a place where one could epoxy a shaft , or maybe a pulley or gear .
First off, a picture would be worth a 1000 words here. If possible, please post or email one. One thought would be to use the Walthers motorizing kit 933-1050. It is geared down 320:1. You would need to obtain the mating gear though. Perhaps you could obtain one directly through Walthers. It is the large gear from sprue # 7003135/E that came with kit 933-3171.
I bought one of theseMCS1 Digital Loco controllers years ago and am just now getting around to using it. The circuit has 7 connection - 2 for power in, 2 for power out to the turntable and 3 others marked EYE!, COM and EYE2. No explanation as to what the latter three are for.
Has anyone ever installed one of these and found out what the purpose of these three mystery connections is?
My guess is those are for electric sensors or “eyes” to control TT indexing. Since there’s only two, maybe it’s for a TT designed just for turning locos 180 degrees? Or there may be something more complex going on. Have you tried Googling for a manual or iser info?
Not sure about this ancient post’s OP’s premise. If you haven’t heard of New York Railway Supply’s drive, you might believe something like that. But I was a beleiver the first time I saw one (1996 NNGC in Durango) and eventually installed one in my version of Durango, which drives a 75’ Diamond Scale TT. Works great!
If it doesn’t say, I’d guess the main feed is 12 volts DC. You may want to try it with a variable power supply down around 4.5 volts and see if that gets it to stir if you’re not sure. Find what gets the motor turning, maybe by bypassing the control and feeding power to it. Once it seems to wake up, try gradually increasing voltage until the motor sound “normal.” Since you probably aren’t sure of that, just use you good judgment. Then apply that voltage to the control and see how it goes
The COM, EYE 1, EYE2 configuration suggests this is a TTL circuit of some kind. The COM is probably Positive, like the Blue wire on a DCC decoder. Current should flow from it to the EYE1 and EYE2, which are probably both negative. Most likely, the EYEs used some sort of electric eye and these tend to be wired in a fairly standard manner, so a typical electric eye wiring diagram should get you started.
EDIT: Thought of something else. Eyes typically are either make or break, i.e. normally open or normally closed, so that’s something to keep in mind about how they may work. For a TT, it could be a break, with the TT bridge obstructing the Eye once it’s aligned???
