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Using a Stepper motor to remotely align a Peco Turntable


Bulleidnutter

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I need help........ Not sure if this belongs in Motors and drives or Electronics non DCC.

 

In the current rebuild of my layout. Due to space restrictions. We have had to have the MPD remote from the main control area.

 

I was wondering how a stepper motor could be used to power and align a peco OO turntable without the need to be standing by the turntable itself and visually align it every time.

 

The table only has to do 180 degree turns with one road on / off.

The layout is DC

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In theory, a stepper motor could be used to drive a turntable but there are inherant problems in using stepper motors. One of the most important things to get right is very accurate indexing on the table so it finds the correct point every time. A stepper motor needs to be told exactly how many steps to make to rotate the turntable the exact amount, so this would probably be best done with a PIC chip microcontroller.

 

But if it fails to make one step for any reason, perhaps due to something fouling the drive, then it will be out of alignment and need to be re-indexed again. It is better to employ a position sensing system to avoid this problem.

 

In my opinion, the best method uses a small DC or stepper motor driving a huge ring gear the same diameter as the turntable with a form of position sensing to find the correct parking spot. The large gear gets close to removing any slop or backlash in the gearing system by only having one gear interface to deal with.

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I need help........ Not sure if this belongs in Motors and drives or Electronics non DCC.

 

In the current rebuild of my layout. Due to space restrictions. We have had to have the MPD remote from the main control area.

 

I was wondering how a stepper motor could be used to power and align a peco OO turntable without the need to be standing by the turntable itself and visually align it every time.

 

The table only has to do 180 degree turns with one road on / off.

The layout is DC

 

It can be done (I've got mine set up that way).

 

I've used a design available to MERG members,details are available in the members forum on their website (http://www.merg.org.uk/).

 

 

Adrian

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