steering wheel hub and horn ring comes to mind as a good source for the contact surfaces
"Jim Trunzo" writes:
>
>>I am building a diamond scale steel truss turntable in HO, and I am
>>looking for opinions on how to best power the turntable rails. I will
>>be using a stepper motor (NYRS)to turn it. It seems to me that using
>>the pit rail and the arch may be a bit "iffy" for reliability. What do >>you think?
>
>>I have been considering drilling the shaft and running wires underneath
>>to a disk that would use brass or graphite shoes. Since the Diamond
>>Scale gear, etc. are not required in my set up, I could mount it in
>>this area. However, this is complex, and probably not without problems. >
>>Any ideas are appreciated.
>
>>Also, I have eliminated all of the wood parts, replacing them with ABS
>>and Styrene for strength and ease of construction. I think it will be a
>>much nicer build.
>
> Something you could look at is, assuming the stepper doesn't drive the
> turntable directly but is geared somehow, extend the main shaft and design
> some sliprings that slide around a wider section of tube and use your idea
> of drilling out the shaft to run wires through the centre of it up to the
> rails. Your idea of using a disc for the slipring surface is a good one > too
> - whichever way you go just depends what materials you have on-hand or can > - obtain.
>
> Regardless of how you do it, you'll always have to keep the sliding > contacts
> clean but if they're under the top of the layout there'll be much less of > a
> dust problem that using the standard method of power routing to the rails. >
> Craig.
> --
> Craig Dewick - Professional Train Manager (RailCorp) + HO Scale Rail > Modeller
>
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