Turntable
Turntable from version 3 of mrwain
The previous version of mrwain was a shelf layout requiring the train to be turned around.
Not wanting to purchase a turntable and having some items from my retired 90 size electric RC helicopter laying around I decided to "think outside the box" and came up with the result shown here. The battery tray from the heli provided the bridge and the rotor blades shaft connected it to the stepper motor beneath the shelf.
A railway turntable is a device for turning locomotives so that they can be moved back in the direction from which they came.
In real life situations railways were reluctant to build turntables because of the cost involved.
They would always build a wye wherever possible.
With MRWAIN I wanted the ability to turnaround a loco, so a turntable was a given.
I built one from bits and pieces laying around.
Now, if I did have a requirement for a second turntable the cost factor would come into consideration because of the turntable controller.
To purchase a model 4 controller from www.nyrs.com would have left me little change from AU$1000.
The railway will run AC6000 loco's among others, so I may have to place a catch net under the turntable because there is not much room on the bridge for error.
Below is the beginng of mrwain version 4 turntable
Programmable Turntable Indexing System
The PTC 3 stepper motor has .025 degree resolution. 14,400 steps in the 360 degrees of rotation.
This makes for very precise indexing when aligning the bridge with the lead/radial tracks.