Building a Gallows Turntable for the Horace and William Creek R.R.

[bparrish]

That's the best dose of philosophy we have ever had on this forum.

Wow

See ya.
Bob

[DACS]

Well, here we are on the last installment of "The Sweet Sixteen Spider Assembly" build.
I am using 4-3/8" flat washers and 2-3/8" flat washers. The difference between the 4 and the two, are outside diameter. It doesn't actually matter if they are all the same. I did this in the beginning, because I was going to add nbw's to the base washer. Reason being, I have every intention of showing the turntable and it will be removable to show all the hidden detail as well. Another reason, I am a detail nut! Many details are not seen, or they are slightly seen, but it causes folks to stop and take a more intense look.
So, here goes.

The base washer is 1 1/4" x 3/8". Then, there are (3) 13/16" x 3/8" washers mounted on top of that. I fasten these all together with acc.
Then paint and weather if you choose.



This becomes the spider assembly lower bearing face. It is to be mounted on the wooden base.



Then the spider assembly goes on next. The tubing I have in place, is just to keep everything in alignment and to show how it all goes together. It is not the permanent center shaft.





The second 1 1/4" x 3/8" flat washer, is joined with the last 13/16" washer, in the same manner.



After painting (if you so choose) it is inverted and placed on top of the spider assembly.
Again, it would seem I did not take the pic. So here again is the same pic as above.



Place the rail plate on the spider assembly at this point. There will still be a gap between the washers and the bottom of the table itself, the thickness of one of the washers.
Here, use a rectangular 1 1/4" x 1" piece of 1/16" thick basswood, with a 3/8" hole drilled dead center. This will then be placed over the center shaft and then acc'd to the washer.
This is where the table will be fastened to the spider assembly.

Again, no pics to show for this last bit, but hopefully, I have made it as clear as I can.  If it is unclear, please do not hesitate to ask.  I have no problem with questions.

Now, it is time to start on the building of the turntable proper.  The first thing that happens is, we build a jig.  I will start this later today.

Dave  HWCRR
Seattle

[DACS]

Here is where we are heading.







Dave  HWCRR
Seattle

[DACS]

Here we go with the second part of this thread.  Building the Turntable proper.

The jig is based, for the most part, from the drawings by Russ Watson, in the On30 Annual.  I have made some changes to the table itself in regard to lumber sizes and crosstie spacing.  Personal preference  also plays a factor.
The changes, are factored in, when building the jig.  All other dimensions, length of cross ties, center cross ties, etc., are all taken from the actual drawings of the article.  I make up several copies, so I can cut them up and use them for making the different jigs made.  Hopefully, this is made clear enough in the thread.  If not, do not hesitate to ask.

Why a jig? It certainly helps building something such as this, go so much easier. I have also heard a lot of modelers say: "I would love to have one of those on my layout, but it just looks too hard." Well, now that reason is gone.

Also, I am not perfect. So, if anyone reading this has a better way of doing it, then by all means, post it here in this thread. After all, ain't that what this is all about? Sharing ideas. 

I have used this jig and it works great, but nothing wrong with perhaps greater. Eh?

So, brew up a pot of coffee, tea or fire up the still and lets get it on!

O, and one more little thing...please forgive the orange/yellow of the pics.  A photograper, I am not.

Feel free to comment and ask questions.  Enjoy!  Better yet, give it a try, it may look daunting, but it's not.

Here is the link where you can make copies of the drawings you will need to lay everything out.

http://on30annual.com/extra/on30_extra_gallowsturntable.php

Tools used:



There are also clamps, but I forgot to put them in the pic.

The actual base is made from 1/8" x 6" x 24" basswood sheet, cut to a length of 12 3/8".  The width, as you can see, is up to you. This length, is because of the dimensional lumber I used to build the actual frame. It is adjustable according to the sizes of lumber you happen to use.
What is very critical, are the measurments inside the framing.

All inside dimensions for the table jig, are taken from the actual drawings in the Annual.  When they are printed, they print out full size.

Back:



The strips on the back are to stiffen the 1/8" sheet and prevent any curling or warping. You can do this or not. I prefer it.

Front



I am using scale 8" x 14" (11/64" x 19/64" pieces for the frame. Don't have to, but I had a lot of it on hand. If you use different sized framing wood, you are going to have to make adjustments to keep the inside dimensions correct.

The side pieces being pointed to are exactly: 4 9/32" in length. Cut four (4).



The end pieces are exactly: 3 9/16" in length. Cut two (2).




These side pieces are cut to 3 29/32" Does not have to be exact, but are cut to overlap the side pieces as you can see. I cut them to overlap without actually measuring. So, the reason for the oddball dimension. Cut three (3).
The reason for three is, two of them are glued together in a stack formation.  See pic for orientation.  The two stacked act as a stop for the wider center cross ties, as you will see later on in the build.



These are the stops for the ends on the turntable. Later will show their usefulness. These are cut from 3/16" stock and of enough height to act as their intended use.



These are spacers that go between each cross tie, to keep things true.  Each spacer, is made from 2 pieces of 17/64" x 1/4" strips of wood glued together and they are cut to the inside width of the side strips of the jig.  There are only nine of these to be made.
The spacers for the wider center beams will be covered later.



You will also need two strips of wood about 1/4" x 12" and about 2 scale inches in thickness. These act as a spacer between the two bridge beams on either side of the turntable. Once everything is in place, these are easily removed from between the runners or beams.



The building of the jig, is pretty straightforward. No matter the size of wood you use for the jig frame. As I am using framing wood you may not use, it is the inside dimensions that are critical.
Keep the orientation of where the framing wood is glued to the base and to each other, and it will all come out great!

Inside length is: 12 1/16"
At the narrow Inside width on both ends is: 3 7/32"
At the wide inside is: 3 5/8"

Just keep your measurements within tolerances, and you will build a beautiful turntable deck.

Next step: We will begin building a turntable using the jig. We will also be using some of the other pieces that go along with the jig that are not an integral part of it.  I will show how these are built when they are needed.

I think I have covered it all so far, but, if you have any questions about this first section, please do not hesitate to ask.

Enjoy!!

Dave  HWCRR
Seattle

[bparrish]

Very cool

Thanx
Bob

[halrey]

Nicely done Dave, thanks for posting.
Hal

[gnatshop]

Nicely done Dave, thanks for posting.   Hal 

Hal should know - he can remember the day that he was sceered that they were gonna
walk him up the steps to the gallows!
And Jimmy was there cheering!   

Serussly, Dave - this is a fantastic build and detailed instructional thread!
Keep up the great work and keep posting the pictures!
We appreciate you!!!   

[S&S RR]

Dave

This is just some real fine modeling! I'm really enjoying your thread.

[cuse]

this is an amazing project! Very well done...John

[DACS]

Bob, Hal, David, John and John.  Thank you for all the comments and support! 
My apologies to everyone following the the thread, for my having been so long in posting, but things have been pretty hectic around here.

But, today is rectification day for that.

First thing today, find dead center for the jig.
Measure from inside edge to inside edge of the jig. Do this on both ends.
Or you can take your measurements from the actual drawings of the turntable from the annual. But, paper does expand and contract, so I prefer to measure from the actual jig itself.
When doing my measurements, I use an ultra tech digital thingy. I then convert it to MM, divide, then convert back to fraction, (I like playing with the thing) then mark this on both ends of the jig. Be careful and make very accurate measurements. It will determine how accurate, your table alignment is when mounting into your layout.





Once you have the center line determined. Use a steel rule to mark the center of the jig.







To build the turntable, the first thing to do is build the main beams.
For this, I do deviate from the scale lumber listed on the drawing. Instead of the 8" x 16", I use 6" x 14" x 12 1/32". This is cut to fit with a friction fit in the jig lengthwise.
Then I use a piece of 1/8" x 1/16" x 11 5/16". These two pieces will be joined and appear to be one beam, once they are stained and grained.
All together, make four of these.







Once you have them stained and grained, place them into the jig, placing the piece of strip wood listed above in between them to keep them spaced apart. keep everything oriented as you see in the pics.  Two main beams to each side of the jig.









Now it is ready to start placing the cross ties, and the spacers. Do not start gluing anything yet!
There are a total of eighteen outboard cross ties. Using the scale 8" x 12" dimensional lumber, Cut all 18 of the outboard cross ties at 3 7/32" length. The center cross ties are a different issue. We will get to those later. Once cut, stain and grain.





Next, we start placing the cross beams/ties and spacers.
Got to get some things done around here, so I will be back a little later today to continue on.

Dave  HWCRR
Seattle

[bparrish]

Dave.............

I don't know where in the country you are located but you need to consider having this judged in the NMRA Achievement Program for structures.  This is really quality work. 

If I lived close by I would be privileged to judge this model.

see ya
Bob

[DACS]

My goodness...that is one of the highest compliments I have ever gotten Bob.  Thank you!  I have never entered a structure that I have built, in any contests.  Actually, I have never even gone to a show.   The Narrow Gauge convention was here in Bellevue last time, I didn't even go to that.  Had to work!
I just throughly enjoy building structures for model railroading.   I enjoy it just as much to share.  It soothes the savage beast!   
As far as where I live...

Seattle, Washington

Dave HWCRR
Seattle

[bparrish]

Dave..........

I forgot about the Seattle piece...........  We were just there three weeks ago with the Pacific Northwest Region convention.  Oh well........ the NMRA national is in Portland next year.

There are a lot of modelers in the Seattle area.................. perhaps you can find a way to connect with a few.  I met some while I was incarcerated in the hospital last year at Lake Union.

There is a growing interest in the judges going to the modelers so there are a number of possibilities. 

Again............ however.  Great model.

thanx
Bob

[Mike Engler]

Way cool thread. Makes me want to drop everything and build a gallows. Turntable.

[DACS]

Thanks again Bob and Mike thank you for your drop in and comment.
Bob, too bad we didn't meet while you were here.  That would have been way great!  Maybe next time.
By all means Mike, build yourself a gallows T/T.  Building the jig is the hardest part of it.  After that, it's a piece of cake!

Now, onward and upward...

Before I go on to show the cross ties thingy,  I almost forgot that a couple of small stops have to be made, in order to make this easy.
This is a pic of the stops themselves.



I used 3/32" x 1/8" thick scrap stripwood for the two pieces you see glued to the side frame. These are glued exactly 1/4" from the end.  This leaves room for the removable tabs.  This will then put these in the exact location for the removable tab to be placed.  This also allows the first cross tie to be oriented exactly where it needs to be.
The two removable tabs are made from 1/8" x 21/64" piece of scrap scale 6" x 16" lumber.





The tabs, are not to be glued in place. They are to remain removable.







In this pic, their usefulness cannot be calculated.



This sets up the entire layout of the cross ties in the exact placement or orientation.  As you can see, we have cross tie, spacer, cross tie, spacer...
Now, we are ready to begin cutting the slots for the cross ties.  The following pics show how the side frames and ties are supposed to look when done.





For now, all the cross ties and spacers are removed, so we can begin making the cuts.

Will catch that later on today.

Dave HWCRR
Seattle