simple turntable

A place for the discussion of garden railways and any garden style/scale portable and/or indoor layouts
Post Reply
User avatar
daan
Fireman
Fireman
Posts: 266
Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2017 9:25 am

simple turntable

Post by daan » Fri Apr 27, 2018 12:03 pm

Hello everyone,
Since my railway is due to an upgrade soon, in which the station will be changed to an endstation, I thought that the end of the station spurs could be connected with a segmentswitch or turntable. This saves a lot of length, and gives me the oppurtunity to service the locomotives before and after a run from the easiest side.

The turntable is made from junk out of the metalbin, the base is the backplane of a selfretracting firehose, where the big spring used to be in. The axle and bearing come from a vibratormotor and the rest are bits and pieces of stainless steel cut-offs.

The bearing is a big self centering bearing and I hope it will be able to handle offset forces when a locomotive rolls onto the bridge so that I won't need a rail in the floor of the turntable, but if so, it can be added later on.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Detail is a bit on the hefty side, but seen the use and situation it will be in (cats running around, dogs chasing them and grandsons wanting to play trains as well) I guess it is a bit of both worlds. It's not as simple as a flowerpot turntable and not as highly detailled as a scalemodel. I do need to drill a few holes in the base to let rainwater out obviously, otherwise it's going to be a small pond with a bridge in it... :lol:
"En schöne Gruess" from an Alpine railway in Holland.

User avatar
IanC
Trainee Driver
Trainee Driver
Posts: 798
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2016 9:15 am
Location: Nr. Warrington, Cheshire

Re: simple turntable

Post by IanC » Fri Apr 27, 2018 12:17 pm

What an interesting project and great use of materials.

Ian
Ian

User avatar
tom_tom_go
Driver
Driver
Posts: 4824
Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2011 3:08 am
Location: Kent, UK
Contact:

Re: simple turntable

Post by tom_tom_go » Fri Apr 27, 2018 12:50 pm

Once in position Daan the scale won't be an issue outside in the garden.

User avatar
markoteal
Trainee Driver
Trainee Driver
Posts: 763
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2016 6:23 pm
Location: Yorkshire

Re: simple turntable

Post by markoteal » Fri Apr 27, 2018 10:01 pm

Nice engineering there Daan! Not dis-similar to the one Rik saw on the DHR!
Where did I put that uncoupler?

User avatar
daan
Fireman
Fireman
Posts: 266
Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2017 9:25 am

Re: simple turntable

Post by daan » Fri Apr 27, 2018 10:19 pm

The only thing it has in common with Riks turntable is that it's round. :lol: :lol:

The darjeling turntable looks much better with the double rails on the base, but is also much larger. The parts in the metalbin where fitting so nicely together this way, that I just went for the easiest and best working option.
"En schöne Gruess" from an Alpine railway in Holland.

User avatar
ge_rik
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 6497
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 10:20 pm
Location: Cheshire
Contact:

Re: simple turntable

Post by ge_rik » Fri Apr 27, 2018 11:16 pm

Neat looking job, Daan. I like the look of that bearing. Wish I had bits and bobs like that in my bits boxes.

Rik
------------------------
Peckforton Light Railway - Blog Facebook Youtube

User avatar
Dwayne
Trainee Driver
Trainee Driver
Posts: 681
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 12:15 am
Location: Oklahoma City

Re: simple turntable

Post by Dwayne » Sat Apr 28, 2018 12:59 pm

Very robust looking. Are there drain holes?

User avatar
daan
Fireman
Fireman
Posts: 266
Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2017 9:25 am

Re: simple turntable

Post by daan » Sat Apr 28, 2018 3:35 pm

There will be drain holes. There is in fact one just below the bearing, the big axle in the middle has a slot should water get in the bearing. In every quarter there has to be a drain added when the turntable is placed in it's position..
"En schöne Gruess" from an Alpine railway in Holland.

bazzer42
Driver
Driver
Posts: 1215
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2012 1:37 pm
Location: Forest of Dean

Re: simple turntable

Post by bazzer42 » Sun Apr 29, 2018 10:13 am

Tidy work, I would have thought that bearing would be strong enough to take a loco without any give. Plus the circle isn't overly large so there shouldn't be too much stress.

User avatar
daan
Fireman
Fireman
Posts: 266
Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2017 9:25 am

Re: simple turntable

Post by daan » Mon Apr 30, 2018 12:49 am

Thanks, I'm not nervous about the forces on the bearing, but normally these are used in pairs, locking themselves in position. This one is missing it's counterpart and relies on gravitation to stay in place. Therefore, when a locomotive rolls onto the bridge, it could move the bridge down, because of the self levelling characteristic of the bearing. The load is nothing for that bearing, it has been used in a vibratormotor of 4kW with 50kg offset weights.. :lol:

Anyway, if so, I'll make a small block under the bridge in that position to prevent the bridge falling down too far. I've tried a few things and it should work fine later on..
"En schöne Gruess" from an Alpine railway in Holland.

User avatar
FWLR
Driver
Driver
Posts: 4262
Joined: Sat Aug 05, 2017 9:45 am
Location: Preston, Lancashire, UK

Re: simple turntable

Post by FWLR » Thu Oct 04, 2018 8:48 am

Very nice build Daan. :thumbright: :thumbright:

Hope you put some grease of some sort on the bearing, so any moisture won’t in time rust them…

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests