Scatchbuilt A-Frame Turntable

Started by sdrees, September 10, 2018, 10:47:09 PM

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sdrees

I have switched gear as I await materials for the bridge.  I have been building an A-Frame Turntable base on the articles in the Model Railroad Hobbyist in March and April this year.  I have been using the A-Frame Turntable in El Portal, California for the Yosemite Valley Railroad.

The base of the pit is made from 1/2" birch plywood, the lower portion of the pit is also 1/2" birch plywood and the upper part is from 3/8" plywood and I had it sanded to 5/16" thickness to match the height of 3 layers of railroad ties which line the pit walls. The Code 70 rail around the pit was bent into a circle using a Fast Tracks rail bending tool. 







The pivot is made from a guitar jack socket  and plug. The long threads on the socket allows for accurate vertical adjustment.  The center spindle rail is also Code 70 rail bent to a 2" diameter. To represent the spider I used n scale wheel which I fastened to a strip of styrene and wrapped the styrene around the top plywood disc.

In order to take care of the polarity issue when the table is turned 180 degrees, I am going to install an auto reverser unit

Guitar jack and socket



Top spindle




Socket mounted in base of pit.




The turntable was built from HO scale dimensional lumber
































 
Steve Drees
SP RR

cuse


jerryrbeach

Steve,

You hit a home run with this!  I especially like the beautiful work in coloring and weathering the wood portions of the turntable and pit.  Looking forward to seeing this finished up and installed on your layout. 
Jerry

GPdemayo

Gregory P. DeMayo
General Construction Superintendent Emeritus
St. Louis & Denver Railroad
Longwood, FL

sdrees

Thanks John for your comment!


Also thanks Jerry, I soake the wood in and A/I solution and then painted it box car red.  Then ussed a wire brush to brush off some of the paint and then applied more A/I solution.


And thanks Gregory for your comment.


Steve Drees
SP RR

ReadingBob

That's really neat Steve!   :D  Great job!
Bob Butts
robertbutts1@att.net

There's a fine line between Hobby and Mental Illness.

EricQuebec


sdrees

Thanks Bob and Eric.  I ran out of track so I can't complete the installation yet.  Back to the bridge.
Steve Drees
SP RR

sdrees

Here are a couple of pictures of the turntable during the installation process.  I still have to finish the trackwork in the area.
Steve Drees
SP RR

bparrish

Steve.......

This just gets cooler by the minute.....

Thanx
Bob
Did you ever notice how many towns are named after their water towers ! ?

sdrees

Steve Drees
SP RR

S&S RR

Steve


I just found this thread - I agree with Bob this is very cool. Great modeling. I really like this idea - may have to give it a try.
John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

deemery

Could you remove the bridge and post a photo of what the underside of the bridge (with the guitar plug) looks like?


Thanks in advance!


dave
Modeling the Northeast in the 1890s - because the little voices told me to

sdrees

Steve Drees
SP RR

deemery

Thanks!  I wanted to see how you mounted the plug.  Any tricks for making sure things are correctly centered?


dave
Modeling the Northeast in the 1890s - because the little voices told me to

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