I have an On3 MM Ltd 65 foot Durango turntable kit and am trying to find a commercially available drive mechanism for it. I've googled with no luck. I have found indexing systems but nothing for actually turning the turntable. Any suggestions out there?
Hi Dan, did you look in the various other gauges? I think such a mechanism is not specific to On3. Though many turntable versions may have their built-in mechanism, especially in the popular scales like HO and N. You might spread your question here on Trainboard as well.
I've seen a few approaches. One is to hide an Atlas HO turntable under your layout and mount the center of your TT on the center of the atlas TT. Another approach is have a bearing under the center of your TT bridge and under the table. Run a metal rod through both bearings. If the rod is a tube, you can run the wires up through it. You could then mount a pulley on it to turn it. Michael
Hi Guys, Thanx for the thoughts. I have looked at what's available in general. I am concerned about having the torque to turn an 8lb die cast loco so in my mind smaller gauge systems are out of the question after reviewing what those systems have. The Atlas turntable suggestion is also not feasible as these turntables have an internal indexing system that stops the turntable every 30 degrees or so which means it isn't prototypical. For cost concerns I may have to resort to a manual pulley system. My google searches have lead me to one O scale manufacturer who sells a system for their massive turntables. However, for the ~$600 price and the amount of rework needed to make it fit to my turntable makes it unappealing to say the least. I may have to ultimately design a system myself. The hard part will be to find reduction gear sets and then figure out how to connect them. I've posted this in the O scale forum as well so hopefully someone will see it and have some other ideas.
What about a simple mechanical system, with a crank??? This was what I had with my old Walthers turntable, H0. It worked not so good because the Walthers 90' turntable was not so good. Now I've the new one. That's good. Wolfgang
Hi Guys, I got a hit from the O Gauge group. It looks promising. http://www.studiozphoto.com/Millhouse.html
Hi Sandro, Welcome to Trainboard! Thanx for the link. Your solution is both practical and novel as it takes advantage of a ready to run HO turntable. However, I wouldn't be satisfied with the appearance of this on my layout.
Hello Sandro and welcome! I gather that you are from the Italian speaking portion of Switzerland? Your solution looks fine. It does have additional limitations for On3 (versus On30), but it is a nice approach I haven't seen before. From your website, I am under the impression that you have quite the stable of locomotives...and so you'll need your turntable for a large engine facility...which is good!. Michael
