A turntable in fiddle yard - Dapol kit or homemade?

[bulleidboy]

The polarity also changes automatically with the Peco turntable (sorry, Brian already told you this). There is a diagram with the kit showing the polarity for the storage tracks. It really is a simple build - just make sure when building the turntable well, you build it on a flat surface.

[Simon_100]

The polarity also changes automatically with the Peco turntable (sorry, Brian already told you this). There is a diagram with the kit showing the polarity for the storage tracks. It really is a simple build - just make sure when building the turntable well, you build it on a flat surface.

Thanks buddy, it's beginning to make sense now!

[RAF96]

My first DIY TT was based on a Dapol kit but used a 1/4” (6mm) stereo jack as the pivot and power transfer.
It had to be mandraulic for turning as I couldn’t figure out a way of attaching a motor to the pivot.
The disadvantage it had was the TT bed was powered all the time with the same polarity so when the bed was swung 180 the polarity had to be flipped with a DPDT switch. As I had used a stereo jack I could wire in a handy pair of dual red-green leds to show which way the polarity was set.
This is the wiring diagram for it.

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I have since changed TTs to a horrid Hornby one, mainly because I had it lying around, not because of its finesse.

[Simon_100]

Wow, what a very helpful post, thank you.

In fact I've had to revise my layout plan entirely from a terminus - fiddle yard to a double track circuit so don't need or have any speace for a turntable. Luckily - for once! - my package from Hattons was turned back by Spanish customs - more Brexit s***! - and they agreed to remove it and refund my money, bless them, so of course I spent twice as much on oher stuff

Regs

Simon

[Simon_100]

Wow, what a very helpful post, thank you.

In fact I've had to revise my layout plan entirely from a terminus - fiddle yard to a double track circuit so don't need or have any speace for a turntable. Luckily - for once! - my package from Hattons was turned back by Spanish customs - more Brexit s***! - and they agreed to remove it and refund my money, bless them, so of course I spent twice as much on oher stuff

Regs

Simon

Well back to Plan A! I made the baseboards and got them into place only to realiase that the double track circuit was a no go ...

So back to wanting a TT for the fiddle yard. I'm a bit reluctant to re-order from hat tons, partky out of foolish pride but also I donpt want to get any more stuff from the UK until after Christmas - and I've also got a pretty big credit card debt ...

So thinking about it I'm wondering of the turntables used for TVs, etc. would be a quick, easy and cheap solution. Anyone tried it?

[Walkingthedog]

What turntables do you mean?

[Brian]

TV turntables have been used and even motorised. As too have "Lazy Susan" turntables. But the issue of rail power to the rotating bridges rails is still an issue of how you are going to arrange it?

Oh go on and put a huge dent in your card and buy a Heljan TT Shown here at around 16:00 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3A7TPyK5G4 The Walthers 90ft TT is identical and is in fact the same model. These should be easily obtained within the EU !
Shown in work here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZZWuS0Tk5I

[Simon_100]

TV turntables have been used and even motorised. As too have "Lazy Susan" turntables. But the issue of rail power to the rotating bridges rails is still an issue of how you are going to arrange it?

Oh go on and put a huge dent in your card and buy a Heljan TT Shown here at around 16:00 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3A7TPyK5G4 The Walthers 90ft TT is identical and is in fact the same model. These should be easily obtained within the EU !
Shown in work here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZZWuS0Tk5I

Ha ha. I'll have to wait until later to watch those but I'm thinking about using brass strips as 'brush' contacts a bit like in car doors. I've bought a turntable on Amazon so I'll post my progress here or on a topic in the workshop section - once I know it works!

[Simon_100]

What turntables do you mean?

Hi there,

This is what I found after searching around a bit:



They are mostly used for TVs, monitors, HiFi speakers, etc. but also by photographers for placing objects on for 'studio' shots. Looking at the Amazon reviews of various designs it seems a key thing to look out for is that they work well with very lightweight loads and this one fitb that bill. Furthermorter, unike all the others that I found it has lugs for attaching the object to the furniture/baseboard permanently, with opposite facing plates (I'll use a separate baseplate and fit that under the baseboard proper - see below). These have countersunk holes so you need to but the relevant headed bolts (size 3 mm). Note that once one side if is fitted, i.e. the turntable, you can't get at the head of the bolt to tighten it with the nut, so before fitting the TT to the baseplate you need to fix the bolt tightly to the lug with a locknut and drill out a bit extra into the baseboard so that the base plate, the one that doesn't move, is snug against it. With these tiny bolts will only serve to locate the TT not take any strain or stress.

So, I have a spare bit of very heavy MDF (18 mm) - really HDF - and some similar board @ 10 mm that matches the baseboard MDF so I'll start out by cutting that out for the TT top plate. This should give the extra weight and will also be better to drill very snug holes for the bolts into the baseplate. I'll use simlple self-tapping wood screws for fitting the TT to the top plate.

Then on to the matter of power ...

[Walkingthedog]

Thanks Simon looks like a good project. Should keep you occupied.