N scale turntable question

Saw in Model Railroader once where they used an audio jack & plug for the turntable pivot and routed the power thru it.

They did this in MR as well. Claimed most people didn't even notice the pit floor turning with the bridge.

FB

I will be trying this later with an Atlas N Scale Turntable myself. A friend of mine did the same thing with his Atlas HO Turntable.

You'd be even less thrilled by the noise of the motor they offer with it. The newer belt driven motor is bad enough; the older gear drive was horrendous.

Putting the turntable into a pit and build a bridge on top is often done with those turntables both in HO and N scale. Wire the track wires up to the bridge rails and you will have a nice turntable when you are done. Best place to do the division between the rotating part and the stationary ground is near the top of the pit where you can have an overhang.

Do I cut the track ring off and mount it on the tabletop, or is that not an option? I haven't really examined the kit that closely yet. None in stock at my local shop. harrym

I have seen it done in HO, where the pit was made, N scale track was used for the bridge to run on, a shaft was attached to the bottom of the bridge and went down through the base of the pit. It was fastened to the Atlas turntable, mounted completely out of sight under the pit. The Atlas unit was wired in electrically and when it turned, so did the bridge. However from above, all you saw was the scratch built pit. It looked very realistic, and with the Atlas hidden, it was still calibrated.

Except for the stuttering rotation, eh?

And who's this gal named Geneva that they named the motion after?

Stuttering rotation? If you mean the fact that the turntable goes to the next track and pauses for a moment, that is what makes the turntable usable. The motorized free turning ones are far to difficult to line up correctly.

Is that a function of scale? I operate on two layouts where the turntable is driven by a simple adjustable-speed motor, and even with my less than optimum eyesight, I have no trouble linig up the tracks in the first go. Of course, that's HO scale, so maybe it's easier to see?

For our group, anyway, there seems to be no need for automatic indexing, provided you can stand where you can see the turntable.

Jeff Sc. Trifocals, Ga.

Don't bother to reply via email...I've been JoeJobbed.

The free turning turntables can be controlled by some electronics to stop the turntable at the right location. A pair of photocells that you have to balance will set the position to better than many do for rail alignment of general trackage. To finish off, a mechanical lock can set the turntable to exactly the right spot.

-- Bob May Losing weight is easy! If you ever want to lose weight, eat and drink less. Works every time it is tried!

I swear it was more recent, but Kalmbach's online index

FB

I used this article as a starting point to build my HO turntable. Other than the racket the Atlas unit makes (I have an ancient on with gears) the thing works great. Because of the housing the noise is diminished a little. I had to do some things differently because I needed a larger pit than the one in article. Using the plastic 35mm film canister for the shaft was brilliant, simple to center, easy to install and adjust and can't be noticed once the bridge is installed. It was easy and cheap to build and also easy to get everything lined up. I have a few pictures I took while I was building it. If they would be of help to anyone I would be glad to email them. Bruce