Turntable anyone?

Another question, has anyone used or is using the Pola turntable? What's it like? Is it reliable? Robust? Would you recommend it?
 
G-force1 said:
A discarded 'Lazy Susan' makes an excellent base for a turntable. I suggest it might be motorised using a cheap electric screwdriver and a little ingeuity
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In my pile of STUFF is a lazy Susan, of sorts, and a B&D cordless drill just waiting to be converted into a turntable. All ready have figured out the switch on the drill so it runs at a slower speed. Lock the trigger at the speed you want and then add another stop and go switch. Rewire the reverse button to a switch so you can go in reverse. I plan to use a discarded right angle drill attachment so the drill fits flat on it's side. This will further reduce the speed and increase the torque. Hope this info helps.
 
As you saw - it's a tight fit for a short and stubby loco like my Accucraft 'Earless' and therefore more suited to the 0-4-0s. I guess that anybody with anything bigger is on their own...

tac
 
tac foley said:
As you saw - it's a tight fit for a short and stubby loco like my Accucraft 'Earless' and therefore more suited to the 0-4-0s. I guess that anybody with anything bigger is on their own...

tac
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No. there are lots of people with bigger loco's :confused:
;):giggle::giggle:
 
tgood said:
In my pile of STUFF is a lazy Susan, of sorts, and a B&D cordless drill just waiting to be converted into a turntable. All ready have figured out the switch on the drill so it runs at a slower speed. Lock the trigger at the speed you want and then add another stop and go switch. Rewire the reverse button to a switch so you can go in reverse. I plan to use a discarded right angle drill attachment so the drill fits flat on it's side. This will further reduce the speed and increase the torque. Hope this info helps.
Click to expand...

Thanks, it's a good suggestion, though controlling the drill motor accurately enough might be a challenge for fully automated operation.
 
Jon-P said:
Thanks, it's a good suggestion, though controlling the drill motor accurately enough might be a challenge for fully automated operation.
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Which is why I suggested a small electric screwdriver, perhaps with friction drive to the rim. It'll be quite slow making it more controlable.
 
G-force1 said:
Which is why I suggested a small electric screwdriver, perhaps with friction drive to the rim. It'll be quite slow making it more controlable.
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True, though given I don't have an old electric screwdriver that is surplus to requirements, and given that a stepper motor and an arduino kit to control it is less than £25, I think I'll probably stick with the arduino option.
 
Int
John S said:
Well it's certainly doable, may need a few ancillary parts.

Components and parts shown, tried and tested several options, by far the easiest and simplest is using a potentiometer to control the stepper motor.

Have incorporated a Hall Sensor as a means, to control stop, start, rotation etc.

Slightly more complex but achievable is using a DIY DCC Decoder, operates via the rotary dial on the Massoth Navigator.

Even more complex, but workable, is using the Massoth DCC inbuilt Automatic Drive & Switch routines.

Down to personnel preferences and very much depends on how or what is manageable or achievable.

This project is earmarked to be incorporated in a small modular "test" layout, work to commence on it starting early Autumn.

View attachment 238163
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Interesting,,,

I'm going to show this to my wife, she's an R&D mech eng whilst I'm more of a software guy, the layout build is definitely going to be a joint effort with a turntable part of that. Figuring out a robust and reliable design is going to be fun...
 
My end game is to be able to program a train to pull into a siding, uncouple, onto the turntable and then park in the right bay in a roundhouse, all without any manual intervention. Hence my interest in a turntable now, when I've just bought a starter set. I'm working on the basis that if I can achieve that type of capability on a test track indoors, then I can just scale it out when I build the garden track... Of course there are ideas and then there's reality, so we'll see how that works out.
 
Jon-P said:
True, though given I don't have an old electric screwdriver that is surplus to requirements, and given that a stepper motor and an arduino kit to control it is less than £25, I think I'll probably stick with the arduino option.
Click to expand...

That is all fine if you can speak the Martian dialect of Arduinese. Us mere earthlings need to be able work with what we've got and mini screwdrivers with worked out batteries is one (some?) of them. :p:rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
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Jon-P said:
Thanks, it's a good suggestion, though controlling the drill motor accurately enough might be a challenge for fully automated operation.
Click to expand...

I picked up the right angle drill attachment at Habitat's Restore. The attachment has a 2-1 ratio and a 1-2 ratio. All you do is reverse the attachment into the drill bit. I plan to fashion out a cradle from 2 inch pink rigid foam and then seal it with Loctite outdoor latex glue. I use it also to glue together my sub-bed for the track. Using a momentary switch with a reversing feature. Double pole single pole switch you can pretty much get the turntable to do just what you want. Good old Yankee engineering coupled the tightness of a Scotch-Dutch you should be able to make a turntable that can handle even a G scale Big Boy.
I also picked up the "lazy Susan" at Habitat's Restore. That place has a lot of good STUFF for model railroading. You just have to pick thru it to find neat STUFF. Lots of good stone and granite left over from construction that make really neat walls and cliffs. My turntable will only be used for turning around engines on the scenic branch of my mythical RR.
 
I had, many years ago, an antennae (TV aerial) that rotated. The motorised part was fitted to the mast and I could rotate the aerial to get Ulster TV from over the border, or turn it pick up RTE. The control was in the house and I just turned the knob so many degrees and the motor stopped to correspond with the control knob position.

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/RCA-Antenna-Rotator-System-vh226f/332006247858
 
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