Or, A turntable..from a turntable. Many of you probably saw my white glue and l girder thread. So I was happily running stean locos thru the relaid curve adn quickly realized it was time to do something about being able to turn steam at the west end staging yard. I built the turntable and roundhouse at the east end servicing facilities about a year and a half ago but because of the problems with the curve hadn't really run much steam on the mainline. So last night after dinner I tackled the west end turntable. Literally a turntable! A Pioneer PL560 direct drive turntable that I had given up trying to repair when it kept auto returning prior to reaching the end of a record. Yes, I still play albums! I have (had) two turntables. So, removing the top and bottom screws and clipping a lot of wires enabled me to remove the tonearm and associated mech, leaving the direct drive motor intact and in place. Here is what it looked like after using a Dremel cut off disc to remove some of the spindle:
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For giggles, here is the mech I removed. I kept the headshell and cartridge, what you see here is in the garbage.
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I built a three sided box from 3/4" plywood, at the height needed to get the turntable where I needed it. The shelf it sits on was so out of level I had to put 1/2 homasote blocks under the rear!
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After discarding the rubber mat, I measured a .080 lip around the platter. So I used .080 styrene to make a "bridge" across the turntable, leaving a gap in the center for the shaft. I then glued a piece of flex track to the styrene. I made it 15" long, overlapping the ends about an inch, to accommodate the same length locos as the other, real, turntable.
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Here it is, sitting in it's box:
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A view from a distance, now I needed to to some benchwork to bring a track to the turntable.
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I cut the required wood and ran supports from under the existing roadbed. I found an old Atlas # 6 turnout in a box and it is sitting where it will be cut into place.
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And at the turntable end. I had to remove one ply from the bottom of the plywood, and repalce it with .60 styrene, to get the height to match the track on the bridge. I used barge cement to fasten the styrene/wood to the turntable top and clamped overnight. I'm ready to lay track! Track power and alignment will be thru the use of sliding railjoiners. I'm not sure how relaible the electrical connection will be over a period of time, but I can replace the joiners if they get widened or dirty.
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I must be missing something, or maybe it's just too early for me and the gray matter isn't functioning at full synapse-exchange rate ...

... but did you mean that you are going to be sliding a pair of rail joiners back an forth each time you enter and exit the turntable?

There has to be a way of getting power to those rails on the turntable that is more reliable then sliding rail joiners. There is a tutorial in the academy by Kurt which goes into great detail about how he solved the problem of getting power to the rails on his turntable. Perhaps this can give you an idea.

Sweet...can it play Iron Butterfly's "Innagaddadavida" at the same time? look forward to your progress...

[quote="P5se Camelback"]I must be missing something, or maybe it's just too early for me and the gray matter isn't functioning at full synapse-exchange rate ...

Nothing wrong with your gray matter! You may think there is with mine. And I would have trouble arguing with that. However, I will explain the circumstances: I needed a way to turn locos, other than by hand as I've been doing, just asking for trouble, right? I don't want to spend any money for this. A wye would be perfect for this, but I can't fit one in. Bear in mind how this turntable will be used: At the start of an operating session, there will be six trains ready to head East. At the end of the session, there will be six trains arrived from the East, still facing west. The turntable will not be used during a session. At some time between sessions, I will turn the locos on the turntable. I've got the track laid this morning and tested, it works fine and is not difficult to slide the joiners. I do expect electrical dropouts at some point, I just have to see how long it will be. I have no ring rail to bring power to the rails, and no access to the shaft. The motor is enclosed and the way it is mounted precludes access to the shaft below the plate. BTW I am not powering the motor, I am turning the table by hand.

Gray matter functioning :!:

Whereas ...
A. This is not a scale model out on the layout proper, to be senicked and detailed, but an "off layout" method of turning locomotives ...
B. The simpler, inexpensive, more straight-forward the solution, the better ...
C. It appears that alignment of the turntable bridge is intended to be by hand ...

Might I suggest a solution that mimics the old, tried and true "knife switch." Such a solution could be developed to both convey power to the rails as well as align the rails properly for entry onto and exiting off of the turntable. Polarity could be handled by a toggle switch between the power source and the "knife switch."

It's not elegant ... but it should solve the problem simply and inexpensively, as well as provide a positive method of aligning the turntable tracks at the same time.

P5se Camelback Wrote:
Might I suggest a solution that mimics the old, tried and true "knife switch." Such a solution could be developed to both convey power to the rails as well as align the rails properly for entry onto and exiting off of the turntable. Polarity could be handled by a toggle switch between the power source and the "knife switch."
It's not elegant ... but it should solve the problem simply and inexpensively, as well as provide a positive method of aligning the turntable tracks at the same time.

Elegant......yeah, not.
Sliding rail joiners, could actually be considered "elegant", "simpler", and decidedly less expensive......and....infinitely renewable, and providing both electrical contact, positive track alignment, and polarity controlled by the table approach track. Most importantly: Sliding rail joiners, strictly adhere to the K.I.S.S. principle.

Hey ... I gave it a shot. I'm preoccupied with fighting some kind of bug that has my chest all congested, further hampering my breathing ...

I'll refrain from posting any more "bright ideas" until I've gotten to where I can breath easily and think clearly again.

Sorry!

'bye ...

Very nice adaptation!

Seems like a great idea for your purposes!
Ralph

You could get a couple of two pin male Jones plugs and put a pigtail on each one, then solder one to each end of the rails on the bridge. Then you put a female plug with a pigtail soldered to the rails coming to the bridge. Then you get power to the table by plugging in whichever Jones plug is at the end of the bridge next to the track coming to the table. The advantage of your system is that the rail joiners will also align the bridge. I'm not sure of a better way to align the bridge with my idea. Perhaps a hole in the base next to the bridge and a hole on each end of the table that automatically aligns the bridge when you have it in position and drop a dowel into the two holes to lock the table. Just thinking that I would get tired of fighting rail joiners if it was me. I think I would also install an Atlas rerailer track at each end of the table and at the end of the spur going to the table just in case a locomotive derailed while moving on or off the turn table.

RE: Alignment and power.

Small bolts have been used in MR to align and convey power to transfer tables or sector plates - so why not a turntable? Two bolts - one for each side on "terra firma" with power leads soldered. At each end of the turntable track, the matching ??? (what are those little loops called that the bolt slides into?) are mounted allowing reliable alignment, and the completion of the electrical circuit.


Andrew

Thanks for the comments everyone. Russ, when I read your post I wasn't sure what kind of connector you were referring to, but I did get the idea that I could solder a wire with a male/female connector to both sides of each rail joint and that that might be easier to deal with than the rail joiners. However, there was still the alignment question. Later that night, I thought that I could use the pcb material I use for my turnout throwbars, but wider, say 1/2", at each end of the bridge track, and drill a hole to accommodate a pin which could align the track. Then I saw Andrews post about the bolts, and while I remembered reading something about this, I could not remember any details. But, it lead me to the thought that I could use phosphor bronze wipers to contact the underside of the pcb material "tie" (my pcb material has cladding on both sides) and by connecting the top and bottom of the pcb material, I would route power. A neat idea that I may use in the future if I have problems. But for now, I've turned several locos and the only problem I had was I had neglected to glue the sliding rail of teh fles track on the bridge to the ties, so when I tried to slide the joiner on, the rail moved! An easy fix and it seems like I can not worry about it for now. A couple pics:
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Utilizing my Lionel turbine to push trains into the staging tracks. I attached to the rear of the passenger train in staging, and pulled it backwards most of the length of the railroad to use the Garfield Industrial track as a wye. Can't do that with some of the steam, too tight a radius there. Here, I am pushing back into the staging area thru the last scenicked area prior to staging. Actually, setting up for the next session is fun in itself!
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