Turntable drive options

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seanm

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Oct 11, 2004
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I have been working on a Walthers turntable and though the parts look good, the mechanics are not very good.

I have taken a piece of 1/2" by 3/16" steel under the desk and drilled it to accept a 1/4" steel rod which I have run through a bronze bushings in a piece of wood under the pit. I have added a ring of c-55 rail to the pit inside of the fake molded in rail and powered the track with wiper pickups on the bridge touching the rail.... so far so good! It turns flat and fairly free...and has some mass wich the original did not.

Now I need to motorize the bridge. I am wondering what I should use. I would think something like a 1 or 2 RPM geared DC motor. I need to connect to a 1/4" shaft. Anyone have a source on these? I have tried googling a few places and really am bewindered by the options.

I was also wondering if once I find a motor/gearbox should I connect to the spindle with a flexable (rubber?) connection or something hard?

Any ideas?
 
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Russ Bellinis

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Feb 13, 2003
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You might try one of those slow motion machines that are used for display animation. I think they were available as slow motion switch machines at one time. I think they turn something like 17 rpm.
 
ezdays

ezdays

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Feb 3, 2003
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Ray,

Off hand I don't know of a source, but a lot of times surplus companies like All-Electronics have low speed motors. I'm sure someone gave a link to them recently.
 
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Bill Stone

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Apr 20, 2001
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This leans very far toward low tech, but the very best, most reliable turntable mechanism I ever saw wasn't really a mechanism at all. This guy had a large plywood disk mounted on the TT center shaft --- below the layout --- the edge of which slightly protruded into the isle. He turned the TT by rotating the disc by hand, and eyeballed the track alignment. Of course the TT has to be reasonably close to the layout edge. And he had a little clamping thing --- sort of a brake --- on the disc so the TT wouldn't be set spinning if someone bumped the disc.
It sounds too simple to be particularly interesting, but it did really work perfectly.
Bill S
 
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inkaneer

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Jul 7, 2001
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DWP said:
Take a look at this place
http://www.berkshirejunction.com/behind.htm#behind
you could also look in www.mcmaster.com
search under gearmotors or part #6409K12
DP.
Click to expand...


I got the bershire junction motor for my Walther's TT. It is not indexing but I found that to be no problem as it is easy to line up the tracks by eye. Their site includes a small video clip of the TT in motion. I think the cost is in the area of $90.00 USD which is a far cry from some of the other mechanisms with indexing. Mine is used on an Ntrak module which is subject to rough handling during set up and tear down.
 
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