The Atlas Turntable "slightly modified"

[Dave Buchholz]

Believe it or not, this is a good "ol  HO standard gauge Atlas Turntable. It has been buried underneath the table with this superstructure. I liked it as the basis of construction due to the consistent alignment of the mechanism  to the tracks. Burying it, also hides the motor and gears.

it is now HOn3. But since  it no  longer relies on the original structure, the  process of building could be adapted to most any scale or gauge.. I could see this bring easily used for S or an O gauge line by simply being careful of intended locomotive length.

[Jerry]

Very Nice Dave!!

Jerry

[robert goslin]

Nice one Dave.  So is yours just turned with the manual handle somehow, or motorised ?

[Dave Buchholz]

It is motorized. It has a false top to it of course. The "drive" is simple. It's a square ⬛ 1/8 female plug soldered to the original lower rails. A square tube fitted tightly around it, upward into the bottom of the wooden "A" frame to moves the lower table and upper frame in unison. A simple matching  male 1/8  plug is soldered to the A frame rails to provide power.

It's very reliable and can be easily worked on, or A frame removed.

By no means am I the first to use the Atlas table in this manor. I'm just the first to make a fishing hole out of it for the local residents. Every storm from the north, crashes over the rocks. With any luck, some lake trout or salmon get thrown over the rocks as well.

Ok that story sounds fishy.  But it's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Fifth Dave to the right.

[GPdemayo]

A turntable turned into a great scene, good work Dave.....

[cuse]

Wow. Great work...I've obviously seen them re-purposed like Malcolm Furlow did by just gluing a bridge detail on top but you've gone to a much higher level - the pit looks great too- very unique.

John

[Zephyrus52246]

Nice turntable, Dave. 

Jeff

[Rick]

That looks great!

[IWannaRetire]

Believe it or not, this is a good "ol  HO standard gauge Atlas Turntable.... It has been buried underneath the table with this superstructure.

I like this idea a lot, and your execution of it as well. In searching now for the Atlas HO turntable, all I see is a covered deck version.  Was that your starting point?  Am I understanding correctly that you built everything visible in the photo, including the pit rail? 

Very nice!

Atlas describes it as a 9" diameter, is 9" the length of rail on your bridge?

[Philip]

Awesome turntable! 

[Dave Buchholz]

Believe it or not, this is a good "ol  HO standard gauge Atlas Turntable.... It has been buried underneath the table with this superstructure.

. In searching now for the Atlas HO turntable, all I see is a covered deck version.  Was that your starting point?  Am I understanding correctly that you built everything visible in the photo, including the pit rail? 

Atlas describes it as a 9" diameter, is 9" the length of rail on your bridge?

The typical flat Atlas was the staring point. Since we are building a pit bed above the Atlas unit, the depth of the pit and length of the "bridge" can pretty much be anything you imagine, easily up to 12 inches.  You could make one  side dug  into a hill and the other side on  one stilts. The key is really going to be slop or slackness of the fitting used to connect above and below together..

I'm at work during the day. I will try to post up a few pics  of the preliminary stages of the build later tonight.

Dave

[robert goslin]

Thanks for the extra info Dave.  I think I understand what you're saying, but pictures are always better, and would be appreciated.  So with it being motorised, does the indexing still work ?
I would really like a turntable and don't really want to spend the many hundreds of dollars to get one of those flash ones.

[Mr. Critter]

Very fine.  And I love it that you've posed a weatherbeaten old Shay on it.  Geared locomotive aficionado, here.

[Dave Buchholz]

As Promised, here's a few photos of how the North Coast Turntable was modified from a Basic Atlas Turntable. First off, I do not claim to originate this idea. I simply adapted the idea  for my use, others before me in the hobby introduced.

First is an example of simple overlay and framing, without any pit, made by another modeler years ago.



and installed on his layout.


Here's another example of other inspirations I've collected for future ideas. In particular, I've always thought this was was awesome! Like how the pit rail is over the side of a hill.

[Dave Buchholz]

 This is how I built the turn table for the North Coast Railroad.
Building up the base with  a 1/8" jack soldered to the rails.  It would not have  mattered to use a mono vs Stereo Jack. It was also "JB Welded" (Glued) to keep it secure. You can see the spacers that the pit base will be fixed to

You see how this will be buried under the benchwork. I cut away the plywood to give the drive motor clearance
 The motor is simply covered by pink foam




 basic mount of substructure