I have switched gear as I await materials for the bridge. I have been building an A-Frame Turntable base on the articles in the Model Railroad Hobbyist in March and April this year. I have been using the A-Frame Turntable in El Portal, California for the Yosemite Valley Railroad.
The base of the pit is made from 1/2" birch plywood, the lower portion of the pit is also 1/2" birch plywood and the upper part is from 3/8" plywood and I had it sanded to 5/16" thickness to match the height of 3 layers of railroad ties which line the pit walls. The Code 70 rail around the pit was bent into a circle using a Fast Tracks rail bending tool.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/245-100918140307.jpeg)
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/245-100918140441.jpeg)
The pivot is made from a guitar jack socket and plug. The long threads on the socket allows for accurate vertical adjustment. The center spindle rail is also Code 70 rail bent to a 2" diameter. To represent the spider I used n scale wheel which I fastened to a strip of styrene and wrapped the styrene around the top plywood disc.
In order to take care of the polarity issue when the table is turned 180 degrees, I am going to install an auto reverser unit
Guitar jack and socket
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/245-100918140735.jpeg)
Top spindle
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/245-100918140537.jpeg%5B/img%3Cbr%20/%3E%3Cbr%20/%3EBottom%20spindle%5D%3Cbr%20/%3E%3Cbr%20/%3E%5Bimg%20width=1200%20height=900%5Dhttps://modelersforum.com/gallery/245-100918140401.jpeg)
Socket mounted in base of pit.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/245-100918140635.jpeg)
The turntable was built from HO scale dimensional lumber
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/245-100918140820.jpeg)
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/245-100918141018.jpeg)
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/245-100918140924.jpeg)
Very nice work. Looks great!
John
Steve,
You hit a home run with this! I especially like the beautiful work in coloring and weathering the wood portions of the turntable and pit. Looking forward to seeing this finished up and installed on your layout.
Beautiful turntable Steve. 8)
Thanks John for your comment!
Also thanks Jerry, I soake the wood in and A/I solution and then painted it box car red. Then ussed a wire brush to brush off some of the paint and then applied more A/I solution.
And thanks Gregory for your comment.
That's really neat Steve! :D Great job!
Quote from: ReadingBob on September 14, 2018, 02:26:51 PM
That's really neat Steve! :D Great job!
What he said :)
Eric
Thanks Bob and Eric. I ran out of track so I can't complete the installation yet. Back to the bridge.
Here are a couple of pictures of the turntable during the installation process. I still have to finish the trackwork in the area.
Steve.......
This just gets cooler by the minute.....
Thanx
Bob
Thanks Bob,
Steve
I just found this thread - I agree with Bob this is very cool. Great modeling. I really like this idea - may have to give it a try.
Could you remove the bridge and post a photo of what the underside of the bridge (with the guitar plug) looks like?
Thanks in advance!
dave
Here you go Dave.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/245-100918140537.jpeg)
Thanks! I wanted to see how you mounted the plug. Any tricks for making sure things are correctly centered?
dave
The article in Model Railroad Hobbyist said to center the jack on the tab on the hidden end of the jack. But I found out that it was not centered. So I drilled a 1/4" hole in the center of the wood disc. I then stuck the male end jack in the hole and then located where the two little screws should go. It lined up perfectly. Another issue is the jack isn't quite perpendicular to its base. So you can probably see a couple of shims on the opposite end of the base.
Good trick with the placement dowel!
dave
Here are pictures of the final installation of the turntable. I used DCC Specialties PSX-AR Auto Reverser to change the polarity as needed. Works perfect and easy to install. Just run wires from the output of the Auto Reverser to the tabs on the socket as shown in the second picture and of course run feeders from the bus wires to the input end of the Auto Reverser.
Looks fantastic Steve, love every part of it , great work.
Beautiful work.
Hi Steve:
Very well done.
Karl
Thanks Jan, Curt and Karl for stopping by and your complements.