I'm going to install my first turntable (hopefully) this weekend, one of the new Atlas puppies. My question is this - do I need to motorize it right away, or can I do that down the road? When I do motorize it, do I just need one of their motorizing kits, or do I need to get a control panel too (or is that included)???
Turntables
- Thread starter rockislandmike
- Start date
Hi Michael,
You can add a motorising unit later if you feel like it... and you will feel like it after you finish turning around your first loco by hand. It needs an awful lot of turns on that manual handle make it go through 360 degrees.
The first motorising unit I got was the Atlas geared drive... sheeese, the noise it makes!!!!! I think they have replaced it with a very quiet rubber drive (remind me to get one of those)
Wiring is simple for the motorising unit... use a double-pole-double-throw switch wired exactly like the direction switch for your locos and the feed wires to the motor are the same two that would have gone to the track. At present I operate my motorising unit with 3 volts just to keep the noise down.
All in all, the turntable is a work of art for it's price. I have had no operating probs with mine.
Hope this helps you.
Errol
You can add a motorising unit later if you feel like it... and you will feel like it after you finish turning around your first loco by hand. It needs an awful lot of turns on that manual handle make it go through 360 degrees.
The first motorising unit I got was the Atlas geared drive... sheeese, the noise it makes!!!!! I think they have replaced it with a very quiet rubber drive (remind me to get one of those)
Wiring is simple for the motorising unit... use a double-pole-double-throw switch wired exactly like the direction switch for your locos and the feed wires to the motor are the same two that would have gone to the track. At present I operate my motorising unit with 3 volts just to keep the noise down.
All in all, the turntable is a work of art for it's price. I have had no operating probs with mine.
Hope this helps you.
Errol
Errol,
I have a related question... How do you line up the track as it turns? Does it "click" into place or do you just have to eyeball it?
-Rory
I have a related question... How do you line up the track as it turns? Does it "click" into place or do you just have to eyeball it?
-Rory
Rory,
Indexing on the Atlas turntable is automatic... let's see if I can describe the mechanism.
Imagine a gear wheel with only one tooth! driving another gear with a RR track attached to it. Each time the single tooth engages the other gear with the track on it, the track will rotate by a small increment.
The Atlas mech uses such a principle, in UK it is known as a "Maltese Cross Mechanism". It is also used to progress a cinema film one complete frame at a time. The size of the cross and single toothed gear in the Atlas mechanism is such that the track increments one feed track at a time.
That's the best descripion I can give without a diagram.
Errol
Indexing on the Atlas turntable is automatic... let's see if I can describe the mechanism.
Imagine a gear wheel with only one tooth! driving another gear with a RR track attached to it. Each time the single tooth engages the other gear with the track on it, the track will rotate by a small increment.
The Atlas mech uses such a principle, in UK it is known as a "Maltese Cross Mechanism". It is also used to progress a cinema film one complete frame at a time. The size of the cross and single toothed gear in the Atlas mechanism is such that the track increments one feed track at a time.
That's the best descripion I can give without a diagram.
Errol