Motorising kit-built turntables

Frazmataz · Post by **Frazmataz** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 4:44 pm

I am considering buying the Dapol turntable in 4mm scale, as it looks nice and compact, suitable for a branch line layout I'm building. Has anyone built and motorised this, or indeed any other kit built turntable such as the Peco one, and can I see pictures of what you did? Photos of a suitable motor setup and how the baseboard was changed to fit the turntable would be much appreciated

Stuart · Post by **Stuart** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:08 am

Hi..

I don't know about a dapol turntable but have built and installed a peco turntable in 4mm and used a Mecamo shart and gears. Worked great

Stuart in OZ

Colombo · Post by **Colombo** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 10:08 am

Struart

We had a long thread on this subject a while ago. See: viewtopic.php?t=581&highlight=

Presumably you are modelling in 4mm scale.

I am not sure that the Dapol turntable is the ideal starting point for a branchline turntable as it is rather large and difficult to motorise. I decided to build one from scratch and I am pleased with the result as it has not let me down yet. There are some photos on the above thread.

For a branchline turntable you may wish to consider the parts offered by SeFinecast. You can access their website via the link in the above thread.

You would not expect to see pacific locos on branchlines and so a 103/4" turntable should be large enough for you as it will turn most 4-6-0s.

Colombo

Frazmataz · Post by **Frazmataz** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 4:15 pm

thanks for the pointer, Colombo.

I was drawn to the Dapol Turntable because the kit's just over £5, and looking at the picture on the Dapol site, it looked pretty short to me.... how big is it exactly?

Colombo · Post by **Colombo** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 4:51 pm

Bass,

The Dapol turntable is 300mm long, a scale 75 feet, which is excessive as the largest BR ones were about 70 feet long to turn a pacific.

Mine is 260mm which is just big enough to squeeze on an LNER pacific or a Brit.

Colombo

Frazmataz · Post by **Frazmataz** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 4:59 pm

That big?!

the pic on the Dapol website must be quite a deception!

Colombo · Post by **Colombo** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 5:39 pm

Bass,

I still have the three sections that make the base of the turntable bridge and I measured them for you. I used the plastic sections of the circular track in the well on my model as well as the girders which I cut down and inverted.
The other components were a 10" record, an HMV record player, deck and friction drive, a Maplins geared motor and a bicycle front wheel hub. Plus various bits of electronics to detect the rotation of the table and reverse the polarity of the track on the bridge, and stop it in the right places.

Colombo

Frazmataz · Post by **Frazmataz** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:18 pm

Is still want to use the Dapol turntable, as I'm on a very tight budget with this Branch layout (meaning I can't resort to that SE Finecast one for over £30), so maybe I could shorten it and scratchbuild a pit of my own...

Do you know what the dept of the Dapol Turntable is?

Colombo · Post by **Colombo** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:59 pm

Bass,

The Dapol TT does not have a turntable pit, it just sits on the baseboard. It is really not intended to work, it is a scenic feature. There is no way of getting the power to the tracks for example. You had better find yourself a second hand Hornby TT.

Colombo

Frazmataz · Post by **Frazmataz** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 8:25 pm

Well, decided to scratch build, but making and installing a ring rail has me well and truly stumped. How did you do it, Colombo?

Colombo · Post by **Colombo** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 10:40 pm

The first turntable that I ever built from scratch had a ring rail made from a piece of rail bent and soldered to screws in the plywood base. Frankly it was a dead loss as a it was not properly centralised. I had to collect the current through springy scrapers: these did not always work so I had to keep cleaning the rail. It also looked pretty awful - I cannot recommend that approach.

This latest one is a bit crafty as far as power pick up is concerned. I used a Dapol ring rail in the pit so it looks good and I painted it rust colour. The bearers are the tiny nylon wheels you find in old fashioned tape cassettes.

So how did I get the power to the track? If you look at the photos on the thread I refered to above, you will see that I have modelled the electric Mundt TT in YorK (North) Yard that had a gallows type power supply for the drive motor over the middle of the table. In the model this brings one polarity to one rail. The other comes up through the bicycle front wheel hub. How I automatically reverse the polarity is described in the thread which also links to an American web site. The York TT is shown in use on a BBC Nation silent film clip.

Colombo