Turntable for a skinflint.
- Thread starter ebay mike
- Start date
Woke early this morning. The sun was shining, it was pleasantly warm but I had to delay getting outside with saw and drill as most neighbours had not yet surfaced. Contented myself with putting together the four bridge support wheels. First photo shows the small castor (devoid of it's plastic wheel, baseplate and bearing), a 13mm long 16mm o/s diameter M6 spacer and M4 bolt for the axle. A small piece of tubing (tape guide from scrapped VHS video case) is used as a sleeve to take up the play. An allen bolt and washer sit nicely in the large hole left after the pivot had been removed to bolt to the underside of the deck. Once the church bells started I considered it OK to commence noisy work and construction of the pit. A couple of pieces of rough sawn timber (approx. 19mm thick) were cut into segments and the sweep of the table was drawn and cut out with a jigsaw. That took a few attempts but eventually managed to get a full circle with the bridge having a relatively constant clearance gap all the way round. It is only temporarily fixed in position. The next step will be to put a floor in the bit that protrudes outside the original baseboard. Once that's done the support rail can be knocked up using my rail bender to 'adjust' some rails taken from damaged R1s.
Last edited by a moderator:
Hm not on the iPad it does not, this is what I just got!Jon. If you 'hover' over a member's avatar it will reveal if there is a media link for that individual and the number of photos. Just clicking on that number will take you there. Alternatively if you select the Media tab from the toolbar at the top of the page it will take you to the latest posts. Placing your cursor over a photo will reveal the name of the member who posted it and double clicking will open that particular pic with all the others in a horizontal scroll below. Mine is currently on page three (!!!!!) with a PIKO Taurus in VSOE livery on view. As for threads, clicking on your own avatar gives a small sub-menu from which you can select find all content or find all threads for you.
I barely use my Mac PC on line, so perhaps that may help and work like you suggest?
Too complicated for me Jon. I don't do i thingies. Winders 10 on my laptop and whatever comes with an android tablet, which I originally thought was a pill for a robot!!!!!
Family matters brought proceedings to a halt for a couple of days, but managed to resume construction today. Floor of the turntable pit completed. Bare timber treated. Test rotation undertaken just to check clearances had not been compromised before the structure was screwed down in it's final position. The support rail will be the next task once all the paint has dried. Entrance tracks (two, on the left) and four loco stubs to the right has been loose laid to assess what facilities there is room for. Have given some thought to electrics. Decided on simplicity. Two wipers under the 'bridge' - one for each rail. Split brass segment feeds which will reverse current to the rails as the turntable is rotated will give a straightforward operation under analogue. Things are made easier as there is no travel across the turntable to another track from either the entrance or exit roads. I think I'll worry how it all works under DCC when the time comes. Each of the stubs will have isolating switches.
Attachments
Not wishing to go off topic (because the topic is great and I’m nicking lots of ideas!) but the iPad thing is interesting. I used to tell people switching from a PC to Mac to just pause for 24 hours and stop trying to make the Mac work like a PC and just think what would be more logical. I’ll admit that Windows stuff is much more logical these days. Anyway, same applies to iPad. We don’t have mouses and track pads, so look at things like ‘open in a new tab’ and try holding finger over an area of the mage and see what happens. It’s not better or worse than using a PC or Mac. Just different. Now, back to turntables.....
Been into Mac since 2000 so have well weaned myself away from Windows thoughts. My Screen Dump is what happens rather than what was expected I guess on a Windows Machine. Still need to check out the solution on my iMac, just need a Rainy Day in, current weather not conducive to spending time hunched over a Computer.
This morning I managed to make the circular support rail. I used 5 R1 curves and 1 300mm straight - all Aristocraft. As these all have holes already drilled to accept rail joiner screws my plan was to utilise the shorter type joiners as far as possible and a Hillman clamp to complete the circle as I assumed I would need to shorten the final piece of rail for a good 'fit'. The rails were removed from the sleeper webbing and using my trusty railbender each piece was reshaped to a radius of 480mm. I must have been very lucky as I found if I used 9 pieces of rail from the curved track (4 outer and 5 inner) plus one rail from the straight it actually gave me the exact circle I needed AND screwed joints all the way round. It has been tested and fits perfectly, the turntable wheels straddling the rail nicely. I'm currently cutting sleepers in half from the surplus webbing so I can pin the rail securely in position tomorrow if the rain stops. The track I butchered was all US spacing so I hope it will give a slightly more realistic appearance once the pit has been infilled with ballast.
(Added 01/03/19) This may take longer than I thought. I calculate I will require around 150 and they also need to be trimmed height-wise in addition to length-wise.
(Added 01/03/19) This may take longer than I thought. I calculate I will require around 150 and they also need to be trimmed height-wise in addition to length-wise.
Attachments
Last edited:
Mike,
Last year, I built my entire elevated layout within 2 months. The 38 mm X 25 mm treated battens were delivered as 4.8 metre lengths & at around 48 pence per metre, were not too expensive for my rapid construction methods. I worked every day through July & August in the most wonderful sunshine. The grass eventually had no green showing, but was fully recovered by Autumn.
There are two planters filled with compost & slate is spread on top. The track floats on the slate, being secured where it runs over wood, before & after the planters. Chives & parsley grow in the planters. They were just starting in early July. I mixed vermiculite with the peat to retain water.
The open framework will have weed suppression fabric stapled to the underside & reinforced with wire netting, so I can pour peat around the tracks and grow moss & baby's tears (Soleirolia ) beside the tracks. For an incentive at the end of the day, there was the bar. Aren't garden railways fun?
Last year, I built my entire elevated layout within 2 months. The 38 mm X 25 mm treated battens were delivered as 4.8 metre lengths & at around 48 pence per metre, were not too expensive for my rapid construction methods. I worked every day through July & August in the most wonderful sunshine. The grass eventually had no green showing, but was fully recovered by Autumn.
There are two planters filled with compost & slate is spread on top. The track floats on the slate, being secured where it runs over wood, before & after the planters. Chives & parsley grow in the planters. They were just starting in early July. I mixed vermiculite with the peat to retain water.
The open framework will have weed suppression fabric stapled to the underside & reinforced with wire netting, so I can pour peat around the tracks and grow moss & baby's tears (Soleirolia ) beside the tracks. For an incentive at the end of the day, there was the bar. Aren't garden railways fun?
-
1
- Show all
Despite being 'allocated' a number of things that needed to be done (at least in one person's eyes) I finally managed to grab an hour of me time. I positioned the rail on the turntable and secured it in place using ex-VHS tape self tapping screws through the sleeper ends. The electrical feed to the track comprises 1.00mm copper cable threaded through the plastic base and secured to the track with Massoth rail clamps. I cut some strips from the bus stop flag to be used as spacers to bring the centre infill closer to the height of the rail tops. 35mm width just fits between the chairs and all is affixed using Evo-Stik contact adhesive. When it's dry tomorrow I'll see if I'm allowed to add the infill and deck sides. As it's chucking it down ATM that will hopefully put paid to any horticultural activities.
Attachments
-
1
- Show all
Got a couple of hours in this morning before the precipitation returned. Dry run of the deck sides and track infill was satisfactory so out came the drill and everything screwed in place. Had to cut a small 'window' to clear the allen bolts holding the wheel assemblies in place. Once everything was firmly fixed gave the whole lot a spray with grey primer. While I could have added much detail to this structure it is far more important to get it installed and working. There may be a case for prettying things up later.
Attachments
-
3
-
1
- Show all
Another bit done. Not a lot, but it all helps. Laid the support rail in the pit after carefully trimming 148 short sleepers. The length is a liitle under half a full sleeper but the height had to be reduced by removing the ridge on the underside so the sleeper was completely flat. A fair bit of care was needed as it was all too easy to compromise the rail chair strength. These were pinned to the 'baseboard' using PECO track pins - easy to push in but sufficient to keep the circle in place. 'Ballasting' of the pit will be done with granite road chippings collected outside last year when the road was resurfaced. Just done a small area so far to see what it looks like. Next job will be the current collector. Need something round as a base - ah! just had an idea. Cut out for the pivot marked.
Attachments
-
1
- Show all
A quick update and some unashamedly gratuitous photos. Rather overcast and a little cool this morning but thought I'd plough on. Cut out the superfluous bit from the DVD. Not sure what was on it, but the DVD player, desktop and laptop all refused to reveal the contents so it was considered fair game. The reason the pivot plate does not correspond to any track alignments is due to the fact I had to avoid the bracing under the baseboard when selecting a suitable location. I have an old brass tray somewhere from which I'll cut a couple of half circles (or just under) and secure one each side of the plate with a piece of plasticard at each end to act as an insulator. Everything glued down with contact adhesive and then a couple of wipers attached to the bottom of the deck which will sweep round close to the outside edge of the DVD. Next I sprinkled all the ballast in the pit and dropped the deck in place just to check all was in order. By this time the sky had turned dark grey so I quickly unboxed a suitable loco for a photoshoot. Got a bit carried away but it looked really at home so I grabbed plenty of shots before the rain commenced. Now indoors and trying to remember where I put that brass tray. So there we have it. Apart from the entrance and exit roads and a bit of wiring the infrastructure is complete. Total cost - yes, I did spend something - £1.98 for two rattle cans of primer from QD.
Attachments
-
3
- Show all
Obviously a 'trick' of the camera, but looks really 'off-centre' (which it obviously isn't..
For some reason, I find that really annoying!
For some reason, I find that really annoying!
Which photo(s) in particular Phil? Could be down to my cropping. I'll try and rectify if I can.Obviously a 'trick' of the camera, but looks really 'off-centre' (which it obviously isn't..
For some reason, I find that really annoying!
Mike it is the oblique shots, from above.. To my eyes, they all look as if the deck is off-centre..
Perhaps they are off centre Phil and the famous rubber ruler has stretched to a rubber turntable
Not sure what emoji thingies I've inserted as my tablet doesn't give any indication. I just plumped for those that looked like they might be laughing!!!!!Just noticed there's only one inserted despite me pressing multiple buttons.
Despite it being a tad chilly and extremely windy I decided to tackle the final electrical element while I had the chance. Still couldn't locate the brass tray but managed to pick up a brass candle dish from the Age Concern shop in Norwich for 99p. The diameter was just a fraction larger than a DVD which meant I would only have to remove the centre section and fabricate some sort of insulating break. Got my trusty angle grinder out and after slicing the domed bowl part off I chopped a 30mm wide segment from each side of the remaining ring. A 1.00mm copper wire was then soldered to each piece and the (nearly) half circles were glued to the DVD using EvoStick contact adhesive. The wires were fed through the baseboard using the holes vacated by two unnecessary mounting bolts - my initial quota of four had proved excessive. For the insulated part to permit current reversal scrap pieces of black plasticard were trimmed to fit and carefully filed to more or less match the shape of the brass-work before being glued between the two halves of the ring. A spare piece of clear Perspex was utilised to represent the turntable deck to allow me to find the optimum position of the pick-up 'wipers' and also check everything was centred. The brass used for the candle holder was quite thick and brittle and didn't take too kindly to my attempts at reshaping. Consequently in order to get some degree of flexibility I cut two narrow 'fingers' from the bit I had discarded from the middle and drilled two holes in one end. This would hopefully prevent any twisting once under load. A spare piece of bus stop was fashioned into a spacer to lower the wiper contacts to meet the pick-up segments and everything screwed to the underside of the turntable deck. The two wires from the deck track were attached to the current collector. Final testing was carried out in the dark, but by torchlight I was able to confirm continuity in all the right places using my digital test meter. You may have noticed i have shortened the castor post pivot - it was binding in the second steel plate underneath the baseboard. I have to report the total expenditure has increased by 50% to £2.97 and I may need to have a sit down to recover. I look forward to the installation of the connecting trackwork and the turntable's first 'job'.
Attachments
Last edited:
-
1
- Show all