Walthers 90' Turntable...

[Steamtrains]

Well... I spent all day yesterday laying down 6 engine tracks, wiring, and putting on/off switches to each one so's I can turn them off while the locos await their tour of duty..., and I go to try each one out. Turns out the bridge on the turntable has about 1/8" of "slop", it can move (in the "direction" it came from), so, even a minor move of the engine as it crosses from the table to the track will cause the bridge to move and derail the engine.... Also, power to the bridge is intermittent, so driving on or off requires a little "help" to move the engine....
Does anyone here have one of these, and how does it work for you..?? Any hints or tips to make the @%@$* thing work right..??

[e-paw]

I have one of the 130 foot turntables by Walthers and I have not experienced any of these problems. The only trouble that I had with it was that I had a derailment on one of the lead in tracks that caused a short on the track power side of the controller. This short caused the circuit that controls the turntable motion to burn up. Luckily the people at Walthers sent me a new circuit board at no coast because it was under warranty. After talking to Dennis in there parts department he told me to install a fuse in the power feed to the turntable motor to protect it against such problems in the future. I posed my problem to the other electricians at my shop and we found that a 250 volt 3/8 amp fuse would be sufficient. I would suggest doing the same on your table because they use the same unit. I have also ordered a spare board just in case, they cost about $30.
In my case it was a factory defect that caused my problem, but i figured the info may come in handy.

[eightyeightfan1]

I have the 90' manual table. When I assembled it, I sodered two Code 83 rails together. Instead of using the wipers(which may explain the intermitten running), I ran two wires(soldered to the connectors) right to track power. There is also a thick black washer that goes under the bridge, that I haven't installed yet, but I do get derailments on the bridge, and I think that is why. the loco steps up on the bridge and the weight tilts the bridge to that side, causing it to move enough, that sometimes, the rear wheel set derails.

Pic of the soldered joints, which look like they need a cleaning.
   

View of the wires.
   

[Steamtrains]

Thanks for the replies guys....E-paw, my 90' version doesn't have the fancy electronics you describe, it's all manually controlled. I think they were available as an add-on, which I didn't get. The problems with this one, as I found out from replies I received at the MR forum, were pretty much universal, and many people ended up junking it and going to the more expensive brands of tables.
88-Fan...Some people also did what you did as power through the wipers was pretty much what I described. The only draw back here is not to keep the table turning always in the same direction so as not to get those wires tightly wound...
I'm still debating whether it's worth trying to salvage it, or moving on to something more reliable....

[Selector]

You need to figure out how to maintain good wiping contact with those two copper wipers. I felt that the mounting system with a screw and nut was unsatisfactory, and they slipped a lot, including right off the brass ring. So, I made wider spacers and drilled a suitable hole so that one could be slipped between both rings and under the bottom one, effectively creating a circular shelf upon which a slipped wiper would ride.

The pit is out of round on almost all of them.

The lowest bearing surface on which the pivot post rides is inadequately engineered. What I ended up doing was placing two fairly thick styrene rectangular shims between the large steel washer at the top of the pivot post and the nether surface of the TT's pit, snugged up against the central hole in the pit. I used styrene glue for that purpose, and lubed the showing surface to the washer. If you get the correct thickness, the washer will do a good job of stablizing the wobbly bridge above it.

Good luck. I eventually discarded the kit and purchased the built-up indexed 90'er and have not looked back. What a gem it is!

-Crandell

[rebel]

I am building the 90' now and have found that you need to add as much weight as you can to the bridge. Next when you add the decking you need to make sure it is centered on the locating pins as there is a lot of slop. On the pic that shows the bottom of the turntable it is missing the giant gear that locks the bridge in place, without it it will tip. As far as being out of round, mine seams pretty near perfect. Last you are correct in the way they say to power it with the screws holding the wires just dose not work, I kept the brass wipes but soldered wires to them, will have to see if there is a problem long term though. For those that have not started theirs I can not emphasize enough that you have to test fit the bridge and adjust the bogies so that they rest on the molded in rails when the bridge is properly seated, if not you will have some of the problems described like tilt when the engine goes on and off.

[jim currie]

have not seen or used a walthers one, but did some time back have a turntable that had the same problem forget who the maker was but to solve the problem i used a idea from a old marklen table, i installes a home made coil with a 1/4 pin turned down to 1/8 at the end with a spring to hold ot out , i them painted the ring of the table with flat black then applied power to coil aligned track where i wanted it cut power to coil causing pin to make a mark on the paint, repowered coil moved bridge out of the way then drilled it with a drill just over 1/8 inch (think it was a 3.5mm drill).to move table i powered the coil moved table the were it needed to be and cut power to coil causing pin to ingage the hole holding it solid. kinda a pain to make but it did work. you might be able to fimd a junk marklin table and use coil off it.
jim

[Steamtrains]

I had thought of doing that (pin lock), and could be done with a twin coil switch machine, but that should have been done during the building stage, at this point I'll take what I can get...!! I've been fiddling with it and have improved operation quite a bit. What I do notice is that it "hesitates" when some of the heavier locos are turned. I'll keep messing with it to see if I can improve it some more.

Thanks for all the input...

[P5se Camelback]

So, SteamTrains, you last posted on Feb 11th, '10, saying you were trying to sort out the Walthers 90' Turntable. I just found this thread this evening (I'm still trying to catch up, read everything, get to know everyone) and since I have one of those 90 footers on order now (well, Back-Order, really) I'm interested to know how you eventually addressed the problems you encountered.

What have you found out? What have you done about it?

[Steamtrains]

P5se...I haven't got around to messing with it some more yet. I hope to do that as I go along with the build of the roundhouse, so I'll (hopefully) have them both operational at the same time.....

[P5se Camelback]

So ,,, Steamtrains Gus ...

Have you posted any photos of the Roundhouse build? Which style of roundhouse are you building ... wood or masonry, commercial kit or scratch-built ... or something in between? Can we see it?

[Steamtrains]

Here you go....

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[P5se Camelback]

AAHhhhhhhh! Silly me!

Somehow, Gus, I never put that one together!

Sometimes I think I'm really losing it! It's as if I'm getting to the point where I shouldn't be allowed outside without adult supervision!