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Turntables


Colonel Leon

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Hello there. Are there any manually operated turntables in the market? I.e one where you turn it with the hand of god.

 

If not, which automatic turntable would you recommend? If I do get one, I shall steer clear of the Hornby one as I've heard that there are problems with the brass contacts on it.

 

Many thanks, CL.

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 I made my own using the Dapol Kit (heavily modified) a damaged Peco point, a few sheets of 12mm ply, some polystyrene based Italian made track and some Meccano parts. Getting the power to the rails was the most challenging part, but solved by incorporating some brass wiper contacts in the base.

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I agree with WTD. The Peco turntable is first class and a very easy build (it's a kit). I have two, both powered and operated via an H&M Clipper with a switch sending power to whichever t/t is in use. They are powered by Locomotech motors that come with a built in gearbox, and literally hang on the central shaft under the t/t. The torque from the motor goes straight to the t/t - there is a support bar for the motor. It turns at 2rpm and is extremely quiet, unlike some that are available. I should add that the polarity is automatically changed as the table turns, so no complicated wiring. Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

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Hi CL....I am helping a friend who is building a large layout in his loft.  We have used a peco turntable which we have motorised using a kit from LOCOMOTECH.

This is a superb piece of kit. It comes with upto five track outputs at either end but you can add more if desired. It is based on a revolving brass disc that has slots cut in it to match the track outputs using components that come with the kit.....no soldering required. The kit can be used with either dc or dcc

It turns the turntable with a very slow, smooth action and matches the tracks very accurately.

I hope this has been helpful.

John.

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When I started my layout in 2007 I purchased the Dapol TT kit. I made it up and it is fine BUT I didn't have space for it to put on my layout. Now I have a bigger room and hope to use the turn table. I experimented today with a small motor but soon realsied it needs a gearbox.  Possible though that the friction from the small plastic wheels to the rim track will be too great. The small wheels do rotate but wioth the weight of a loco I wonder if it will.

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I use a Peco one - that's sunk into the baseboard. It's operated by hand now but I do like the idea of a hand cranking handle. Had no end of problems with he previous hornby turntable becasue some locos would just simply 'rock' on the top of the incline as they moved onto the turntable itself.

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I had the Dapol TT and much modified it for DCC and motorisation, but in the end I simply have a length of track mounted to an aluminium extrusion (my old office door nameplate in fact) which pivots on a 1/4" stereo jack plug with the socket mounted to the baseboard well.

 

This jack/socket allows the TT bed to be powered all the time and by way of a DPDT switch I can reverse the bed polarity. It also has red/green leds on the bed ends to indicate polarity with the inlet or outlet roads.If you don't need the leds then a mono jack will suffice.

 

The problem I have is motorising it, as the obvious centre drive method is not easy to rig with the stereo jack pivot, so it is mandraulic for now until I can rig an indexed ring gear somehow.

 

The wiring diagram for this is on the linked website in my signature.

Rob

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Admitting that there are some "problems" with the Hornby TT....mainly the "Geneva Gear" drive, that means that the TT revolves in a seies of jerks....

 

This is an old HR TT, motorised with the X.04 motor with special worm.

The deck has been modified using parts from a modified Daool kit....

Almost finished....the motor "box" will be covered with a suitable building (Water Tower, or Sand Plant, Messs Room, etc.)

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Another idea tried out....using PECO Girder Bridge sides....

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Motor and gears...

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Work in progress...

/media/tinymce_upload/fd2e16c8862b2b20d952bb418c2bf812.JPG

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The older Tri-ang Hornby TT only has 3 outlets (and it would be rather difficult to modify to have more), but it does turn a lot smoother....it uses a clever method of pausing at each outlet, the driving gear has two layers of teeth, and a gap in one layer on the outside track causes a pause.

 

This TT was originally Super 4, then sold with converter tracks to System 6.

 

I believe the last ones, in a different colour (?) had sysyem 6 (Code 100 track) on th e"bridge"?

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The Peco turntable is designd to take a standard Mechano drive shafty so of you can get the right kit you can very easily make either a gand wound or motorised gearbox.

The rail also slides into a quite realistic deck. Although I've not built the HO version I used the N gauge one as a base for a 009 turntabbe, having reduced it's diameter down to roughly 3".

Ine little thing to watch (certainly with the ngaude one is that there is a plastic washer that you atre expected to glue to the main spigot to prevent the bridge lifting out of the well. This has to be glued in place. Needless to say some glue started to get into places where it shouldnt so I had to pull mine apart very quickly! However, if you build a mechano frame unser your baseboard with the gearing you can use a mechano gear to hold it in place.

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 Not much help with  buying a table as I scratch built mine. Feeding the storage road may be of interest. A continuous feed  to one of the rails on each storage road. Fit a small magnet to the end of the turntable  to activate a small magnetic switch  to open the circuit to feed the other rail.

Hope that is of interest

Richard

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