Locomotech Turntable Motor

[Jim de Griz]

I’m considering buying one of these motors for my Peco turntable to replace the Peco motor I currently have. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with them, particularly how strong the motor is and how forgiving it is for tight spots….

https://www.locomotech.com/

Obviously the best plan would be to remove the tight spot….but a younger less skilled modeller than my current self did the original installation and both the well and deck are permanently glued into the layout. Removal would involve chisels and razor saws and likely do far more harm than good.

Previously the Peco motor was coping (abet clockwise only) but the baseboard took a bit of a bash during a house move and now the turntable jams pretty reliably in both directions. I’ve fitted supports under the well to make it rigid, but that actually made the jamming worse! (Though it did cure the vertical deflection of the deck which was causing some derailments, so one step forward, another step back…)

As best I can tell, the deck does not foul the well, so my thought is that I’ve either made a mistake in fitting the split ring bearing the well rotates on, or there is an issue with the spindle running through the centre of the well. Neither is accessible for repair, so I figure I either need a motor
/gear box combination with enough torque to overcome the tightness, or settle for a manual drive.

Fully appreciate that no-one could possibly give a positive ya or nah on that information, but if anyone could comment on the motor’s tolerance to less than perfect assembly that would be very useful to me.

Jim de Griz

[mick b]

Sounds like you are throwing more money at a problem that is probably incureable. If the Turntable is that bad any motor and or gears will soon be wrecked. The only way appears to be a major rebuild.
I suggest contact the Motor supplier, they may be able to offer advice as to what the motor/gears could cope with ?.

[Hatfield Shed]

I agree. The better path is to fix the source of the problem, and one possibility is a new TT kit. (You may only have to build the well, as the existing bridge may be reuseable, and the existing motor will probably drive it.) Assembling the well as a right cylinder and stiffening it sufficiently to resist deformation in use - as you have already discovered is necessary - and undertaking the surgery to remove the existing well and true up the baseboard location will be more of a slog, but has a higher probability of success.

I had to build two, first one was the 'prototype' that taught me what wasn't adequate, second one had the 'corrections': the bridge is fine, but the well above all else needs a stable floor added to mount to the baseboard frame, I used 9mm ply, probably over-engineered but it has remained stable.

Side note: the locomania which dominates RTR production means we are never likely to get a high grade authentic and robust 'ready to plant' model of a motorised UK 70' turntable; DIY it has to be...

[Jim de Griz]

Ahh, I had a feeling that would be the case, but I had hoped otherwise.....

As a stop gap I added yet more supporting planks and attached the motor directly to the supporting woodwork rather than the turntable well.

The well is now completely rigid and the motor turns reliably anti-clockwise, but jams after half a turn clockwise....so the exact opposite of the state of affairs before....

That will do for today, but medium term full replacement of the well will have to be the plan. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the deck is not the problem, though if I'm replacing the well I might as well take the opportunity to do some detailing on the deck.

Jim de Griz