Turntable options

[mike_lawyer]

I am almost finished with my layout, and the only thing left is installation of a turntable.  I have tried three different Walthers 130 foot turntables (bought one, Walthers sent me two replacements).  Two of the Walthers would not turn the entire rotation, and one the electronics were DOA out of the box.

Needless to say, I would like an althernative to the Walthers 130 foot turntable.  I want something more robust and more solid electronically.

In doing some research, I see some of the larger scale guys like AAA turntables, but I can't find anything on the web about them.  Are they around?

I see Diamond Scale has turntable kits.  Anyone have experience with them?

Any alternative manufacturers out there for turntables?  Any help would be appreciated!

Mike

[Mark5]

Most of the alternatives are both out of stock and kind of short - what length are you hoping for?

[mike_lawyer]

I'd like something similar to a 130 foot turntable.  That's about the right length that I need.

[NtheBasement]

Not what you are looking for but might give you some ideas:

[keeper]

The Fleischmann turntable would be ok but not long enough.

[Mark5]

Looks like AAA had N scale turntables, but it also seems they are out of business. https://web.archive.org/web/20150816085413/http://www.aaaturntables.com/znho.html

I have a Walthers 130' for my coming layout, but when I was shopping, by "Plan B" was the Diamond 135' kit. http://www.diamond-scale.com/products__turntables.htm

Aside from the old Heljan 120' turntable - all others I looked into were too short (I needed at least 120').

Mark

[mike_lawyer]

Thanks for the links.  I have been disappointed with the problems I have encountered with the Walthers 130 foot turntable.  Beyond electrical and motor problems, the turntable has vertical play such that it makes getting the approach tracks "level" with the turntable platform is extremely difficult.

I am using the newest version of the turntable.

[wm3798]

The old Heljan 120' TT has all the nuts and bolts, and with a little love and a good gearhead motor can be put to good use.  Indexing, of course is manual, but I'm sure there's at least one wizard among us who can fix that.

If you leap ahead to about 5:35 you can see it demonstrated.  @PiperguyUMD has this one now, along with the roundhouse, but I have a second copy and the motor, and I'll be deploying it on my soon to be started new layout.  The plan is to gussy up the turntable with some etched brass doodads and give the pit a decent amount of weathering and weeds.  If you've got a scrap Walthers bridge available you can strip the bridge and railings off of that and make it look toot sweet! 

(if you have more than one Walther's bridge available, I'll take one of your hands for the same purpose!)

Lee

[Rasputen]

Just be careful with a Heljan/Con-Cor turntable as it uses a plastic center shaft.  If something ends up in the pit and the motor is running, the shaft will break.

My friend built an Arduino based speed controller for an HO Walthers turntable to replace the original electronics.  You had to align the rails by sight but it worked quite well.

CMR made an N scale turntable kit, which I bought.  It is really a craftsman kit.  The pit is stacked pieces of acrylic that get glued together.  I think the motor they offered was meant only for the HO model if I remember correctly.

[pdx1955]

I am slowly building my 100 ft Diamond Scale turntable. It's a complex kit and the instructions can be unclear in places, so its one of those to take your time with.

[sswjim]

Our club has both turntables, we put a 12 volt 1 RPM motor with a decoder that works great. On speed step 1 it hardly moves very easy to line up.  We put an auto reverser on the bridge works great.

Jim B. 

[rodsup9000]

 You know that @Sumner did a 3D printed one.
Here's the link on how he did his.

https://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/Turntable/Turntable-Index.html
 

[mike_lawyer]

Question - are there any differences between the versions of the Walthers 130 foot turntable?  I have seen some older versions on Ebay, maybe those are more reliable?  I have only tried the most recent version, and have not been super impressed with reliability.

[Point353]

Needless to say, I would like an althernative to the Walthers 130 foot turntable.  I want something more robust and more solid electronically.

Any alternative manufacturers out there for turntables?  Any help would be appreciated!

Could you use a Kato turntable as the mechanism by mounting it below track level and then installing a new, longer bridge on top of the existing one?
The Kato unit indexes in 10-degree increments.
https://store.katousa.com/product/product-124/

[Maletrain]

Question - are there any differences between the versions of the Walthers 130 foot turntable?  I have seen some older versions on Ebay, maybe those are more reliable?  I have only tried the most recent version, and have not been super impressed with reliability.

My only experience with the Walthers 130 version is at my train club, where it was in non-working condition.  I was able to get it moving properly, but it can't save more than one index point.  As soon as I set a second one, the first is no longer set.  Indexing by eye with the controller is iffy.

My Kato turntable at home works accurately and reliably.  It just doesn't look very realistic.