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

[LoggerMike]

Dave,
Very productive day yesterday......have all 32 wheel halves, pulled from axles, core drilled out to new axle size, 1st "set" assembled, then started to bend Lower Rail.  What a pain that is.  Anyway, thinking ahead, did you recall how you set up you rail wires to get power?.....I'm going to be using DCC, so it should be "Fairly Simple"....but I just can't picture it yet.

[DACS]

Mike, good progress.

The rail is not split nor is it even used to pick up power,  It is just there for the wheels to roll on.   The ring rail in the pit is not used to pick up power either.
It is all done through the center shaft.
It was designed for DCC.
Starting Tuesday, I will begin putting the thread back together.  The electrical pickup part comes much later.  Even past where the thread now stops.

When you get the table ring rails made, you can just use joiners on the ends and solder the ends together.  Electricity will never touch the bottom one or the top one.  The wires will come up through the center shaft and be connected to the rails.  There will be a couple of brass rings on the lower part of the shaft, where the ERU (Electronic Reversing Unit),  comes into play.

I think you still have a little way to go before you get into the electric (electronic) part of it all.

Have you started posting it in a thread yet?  I am looking forward to seeing you do this.   Seeing will also help me to help you more as you come to each stage of the build.

Dave
Seattle

[LoggerMike]

Thanks Dave.

I was assuming that the Spider rings weren't "hot" since you didn't mention it when building the Ring.  No I haven't startrd posting yet, just finished the 16 wheels and axles yesterday.....that was "fun"!  ......trying to use readily available parts for them was a priority, so the axles where quite the challenge....but I think I got it worked out.  Next will be creating the Center Hub....but I have to go back and recalculate the length and spacing of the " indexing strip".....I applied it to the brass hub, but came up a bit short on the closing ends....like 3/64ths of an inch.....too much I thought, I'll redraw and calibrate today. And try again later.

As to posting, I'm still trying to understand the proper procedures for posting a lengthy  thread like yours....and be correct.  Don't want to cause any headaches or problems.

Will keep you posted.

BTW, I resonded toyour message.  And sent you a separate one later.  Did you get them?

Mike.

[DACS]

Okay, going to try to do a re-do on this thread.  Again, I do not know where it went, it was a finished thread.  But half of it disappeared into oblivion.  Maybe a politicians private server... hmmmm.

Sometimes, it would appear that the pics and the stage I was working on, was already behind or ahead or whatever.  Picking this up is going to be interesting right at first. 
The thread may or may not be as it was.  I could very easily leave something out as well as put something in that was not there before.  I will do my best with this.  Again, I have stored all my copies of everything away.  That includes measurements drawings, etc.
Bear with me on this please.   IF THERE ARE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT ANYTHING, PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO ASK!

But, here goes...

As you can see in the last pic, I had shown how to mount the upper ring rail support beams to the bottom of the T/T.   These are the follow up pics of it's being permanently mounted.



The piece of brass tubing here, is only temporary, to check for alignment.  The permanent center tube comes later on.



The next thing on the docket, is to make the outer support wheels that will ride on the outer ring rail.  This stage is entirely up to the builder.  You may forego this step, as you may want the T/T to be a balance table instead of a supported ends style.
Here is where it gets difficult, as I have to carefully measure everything on a finished table.

For this step, I use Evergreen strips, aluminum tubing,  Bondene and CA.

Wheel support assembly Evergreen #149 strips...3/64" x 11/64" 
Axle housing Aluminum tube...1/16" i.d.
Axle Aluminum tube...1/16" o.d.





The wheelsets are made the same way as the spider assembly wheels were done.
There are four of these made.   The    tube you see, is the axle housing tube.  It is to be cut off flush with either side of the wheels.  I have not done that yet in this pic as I wanted you to see how it passes through.   It is permanently fastened inside the wheelsets with CA.



This is the 1/16" o.d. axle tube going through the holes, which are 1/16" drill, on both sides of the wheel support assembly, and the axle housing, which is the 1/16" tube already in the wheelset.  The locking ring is being placed on one end.  This is cut from the 1/16" tubing.   This is attached with CA to the axle.  DO NOT LET ANY OF THE CA TOUCH THE ASSEMBLY HOUSING!  THESE ARE MADE TO ACTUALLY ROLL!





Here is one complete assembly before painting and weathering.  Make four of these.



Here is where they are to be permanently located.   This location is critical.  They will be riding on the ring rail and perfect alignment is pretty much called for.  There will be a little room for error, but not much.   So try to keep this where it has to be.  The angle you see in the housing, is also required so the wheelsets follow an angle according to the ring rail diameter.    And a partridge in a pear tree!!!!



AM I SURE I WANT TO DO THIS AGAIN?

The end beams must be notched to hold the assemblies.  These are for wheel clearance only.  The depth should only be enough to prevent the wheels from touching the beams.



Painting with rust and weathering with Bragdon powders.





Then all four are fastened permanently in place. 



In this pic, you can see the notches that were cut into the end beams.



Again, please be patient.  It is like trying to start an engine without gasoline.  I still need to add the measurements for the wheel assembly pieces.

Now, before we do anything more to the T/T itself, I built the pit.   You can do this as you desire for your railroad, but this is how it was for mine.  If you decide to have only a table that is balanced, or part of a pit, all will work just the same.

Dave
Seattle

[DACS]

To begin the turntable pit, I first used the drawings from On30 Annual.  I cut out the table end to get the correct arc for the pit wall.  I glued wood strips to the paper, leaving a very small gap at the end for table clearance.



Once I had my form made, I began laying up arcs of cribbing sections, using O scale wood ties.  Once I had enough for the first complete circle, I glued the arcs together to make the base circle.
From there, I just continued adding layers till I got the correct pit wall depth.  I am not going to go SBS here.  Just let the pics do the talking.  Again, building this pit may not be what you want for your turntable.  I am just including this as one way you can go.











Once I had this completed, I next made the base for the ring rail.



This is where I am going to have to pick up a little later today.  For now, I have a honey do waiting for me.  Sorry about the poor pic quality of the above.  But, I was have real lighting problems at this stage.  But, they can be seen.

Dave  HWCRR
Seattle

[DACS]

Here I go again.

Here is the finished ring rail base.  Sans rail and coloring.



Once I got to this point, I had to put spacers under it to bring everything to the correct level, for sitting in the layout at the proper altitude.











Here, the gallows is just sitting on the table,  it is not yet fastened permanently.  Nor is the main shaft been put in place.  The table is just sitting in it's proper location for now to just check alignments.









The table aligns perfectly on both ends.  The alignment was off so little that it is not even worth mentioning.





Next up, will be putting all the NBW's in the deck and side beams.  Then doing the center shaft and electrical.

Dave HWCRR
Seattle

[stan.b.shields]

Wow, just catching up on this thread (new guy) fantastic work Dave, I love the spider assembly, really awesome work :-)
Stan

[DACS]

Thank you Stan and welcome to the forum!

It's a great place to be! 

Dave

[stan.b.shields]

What's your plan for the electrical? Are you making rings and contacts?

[DACS]

Yes...this was a complete thread at one time.  All the way to the completion.  Just be patient, it is coming back.  I just have to get the missing things.
Half of this thread just up and went into some politicians private server I think.  Then it was wiped!

Dave HWCRR
Seattle

[stan.b.shields]

haha.
So this is an old thread, you finished the work previously and are re-posting?
Did you have any way to adjust anything or you just built everything right in the first place?
Stan

[DACS]

Hey Stan.

I built a few of these.   Some for other model railroaders.  They all work(ed) flawlessly.  My railroad, The Horace and William Creek R.R., is now defunct.
The first one I built was a lot of trial and error, especially the spider and alignment locking assemblies.  But after that, it would take me about a week to build a complete one.  I even considered a kit.

For some reason, one day about a week ago, I just had the urge to come in and see what was going on.  That's when I discovered that half this thread was missing!  I also seen a post from LoggerMike asking about it.  He is building one in HO scale!  Gotta really respect that!!
So, I started redoing the thread from there, two days ago.  This thread was finished almost a year ago. 

Dave  HWCRR
Seattle

[DACS]

There is not much in adding the NBW's that I can find in my files.  So, I will just include some pics.   The NBW's are added according to the drawings in the Annual.
Inside and outside mains support beams and the deck and the underside.
Some of the NBW"s I did not add because they would never be seen anyway.  These are the ones that are down between the center cross beams.
Putting them in is strictly up to you.

The NBW's I used in the gallows section and the main side beams are Grandt # 128

The NBW's I used on the cross ties, above and below and on the end beams of the center support cross beams are Grandt # 18









What appears to be missing NBW's on the top of the side beams, is where the gallows legs actually go onto the table.
Also, the arrangement of the NBW's on both ends of my turntable have been changed.  The reason was because of the locking mechanisms I built and placed.
Originally, the actuating rods were in between the the side support beams.  But once the table was finished to that point, I realized the rods would have to go to the inside.  But rather than change out the NBW's according to the drawings, I left them as they were.

Just use the drawings in the Annual.  As a side note here...it may have been easier to do the side beams prior to assembly.  Then the upper and lowers now.
This was something I did not have in the original thread.

Dave  HWCRR
Seattle

[DACS]

EUREKA!!

I found some paperwork in a brief case stuck way back in my closet!!!

In this pic, I am showing the various materials to be used in construction of the center shaft and the electrical distribution.

1. The topmost brass tubing is 5/8" o.d with a 19/32" i.d.
This will be the outermost part of the main bearing assembly.  This is the main support tube shaft for the entire assembly.  I do not know what length to tell you to cut this as you will have to cut it to the length your layout requires.  Once this piece is completely finished, this will be fastened permanently to the layout.

2. The next piece of brass tubing is 13/32" o.d. with a 3/8" i.d.  This is the main shaft that goes down through the bearings and rotates with the table.

3. The next piece down is the plastic 3/8" o.d.. Evergreen number 232

4. Then there are two black nylon bushings that will go inside the 19/32" i.d. brass tubing.
These are, of course, 19/32" o.d. with the inside being 13/32".
This will be to support the main shaft within the bearing assembly.



First thing, I cut a piece of the plastic tubing to a length of 1 3/4". Then I cut two slots. Each on different sides of one another.
The first slot is about 1/2" in length, the other is cut 1 1/4" in length.







Next, I cut two 1/4" wide rings from the #2 brass tube in the above text.
These will be the conducting rings for the electical contacts on the shaft.





The reasons for the slots being cut are twofold.
The short one, is so the plastic tube will fit inside the brass tubing. It is a larger enough o.d., so to make a slide in fit, the slot allows for a good solid fit.
This is also one reason for the longer slot for the two contact rings.
The other reason is for the wire to slide into. You will see this a little later on.

Here is the plastic tube inserted into the brass shaft, with the electrical contacts in place, temporarily. Just to check everything for good fit. Nothing is glued yet!



Here the wiring is soldered to the inside of each of the rings.





Once done with that, the rings are slid into place, with the wires going behind and up the slots. Bond these rings to the plastic tube with ACC.
This completely conceals the wires.







Set this assembly aside now and make the main bearing assembly, Using the #1 brass tube and the two black nylong bushings.

Here are the bushings, placed on the shaft just for fit and making sure they are free to rotate smoothly.



Here is the tubing into which the bearings will be placed.



Here, I have temporarily put the bushings into the bearing tube along with the main shaft.





Ok, I am sorry I have to stop here.  The reason being is, I have to sort out where I am at with this.   I do not want to make any errors here.
As soon as I get this sorted out, I will continue on.

Dave  HWCRR
Seattle

[stan.b.shields]

Such great work Dave, I like how you did the contacts for the power. Can't wait to see the locking mechanism.
Why the "bumps" in the ties near the center of the bridge?
Stan