Robc058 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 As mentioned elsewhere I am taking courage in both hands to attempt to build a turntable for the Great Longwood Railway. As the Railway consists of a mainline oval and a to/from branch line a turntable is needed to manage branch line operations with the current locos and also to operate engine sheds etc.The concept is to build a table on top of the existing baseboard. So the surrounding terrain must be elevated. This saves cutting a hole in the baseboard.Stage 1 is the decide the length of the turntable. I settled on using Peco flex track 34 sleepers or 19.4 cm long. I stuck a sticky label from Hornby track under the centre of the length. Then using a drawing pin through the label enables a pivot.I had 2 reference points- the existing line from the layout, and the 2 road Hornby engine shed. Locating the shed in the corner needed 2 straights of settrack, and one straight + R6 curve. I have now defined 3 access points to the turntable. The key thing then is to align the table to the incoming track and pin through the pivot point to the baseboard. A basic design of other exit roads from the table can be defined through rotating the track.So that's where I am now.The next stage is to make the table platform, hopefully progress tomorrow. Wish me luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skelton Junction Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Please keep updates coming. I’m intrigued Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-Henny Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Members are always keen to see proper modelling projects in progress, so do please come back to this thread with regular updates and photos showing progress. Noting that photos currently need Mod approval and don't appear straight away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rallymatt Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Sounds a great plan and good to hear it’s underway, always great to some modelling going on, pics whe you are ready will be great 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Do you intend to motorise the turntable bed or will it be mandraulic.As my old turntable was unpowered I made a combined pivot and power to the bed track by way of a 1/4" stereo jack plug and socket.I used a stereo jack as I needed power for indicator leds that told of the DCC phasing to ensure there would be no shorts upon 180 rotation.A mono jack/socket could be used for simpler track only power.The socket was mounted to the layout board and the jack attached to the turntable bed. This allowed the bed to be lifted out to work on it and the 'pit'.I have a wiring diagram if required.The method could be motorised but would require a ring gear of some sort fabricating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robc058 Posted February 3 Author Share Posted February 3 Manual. Need to focus my limited electrical skills on power to the rails.The plan is to use the table as a power feed to the "client side" so should avoid risk of shorts. I hope it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robc058 Posted February 4 Author Share Posted February 4 First pics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ateshci Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 You can use this device to relay DCC to the turntable without worrying about polarity:https://www.coastaldcc.co.uk/products/tamvalley/mono-frog-juicer-universal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 Whilst this talks to converting a Hornby TT to run on digital the underlying electrical logic reads across to any TT including DIYhttps://uk.hornby.com/community/forum/faq-what-are-my-options-for-installing-a-dc-analogue-r070-turntable-on-a-digital-dcc-layoutI also tried one of those rotating stands that can be used to stand a small TV on, decorate cakes, act as a rotating platform for airbrushing, etc. as they have ball race for smooth operation, but they may be too big for TT120 locos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ateshci Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 I have used this one:Be not fooled by the 182cm dimension - it's 7" indeedhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Trumpeter-182-speed-Turntable-Display/dp/B000EUFECU/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=trumpeter+7inch+display+stand&qid=1707071655&sr=8-4But you have to tinker to make the rails live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robc058 Posted February 4 Author Share Posted February 4 Something of a frustrating day.Struggled with the fretsaw which had a mind of its own and also cut my finger. Downloaded a plate girder bridge card model but the printer has gone awol. The bridge sides are to be adapted for the sides of the turntable.Ah well progress will be made somewhen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robc058 Posted February 4 Author Share Posted February 4 Back on track so to speak! Printer eventually worked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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