Controlling train turntables with stepper motors

[MarcD]

Has anyone tried automating a train turntable using a stepper motors?

[doilum]

Oddly enough we have just bought one  to power the swing bridge  on Selby. Any advice on programming would be welcome. First impressions.are strange. It is clearly operating at the lowest part of its speed range and is quite noisy. Musically noisy. The pitch of the noise is proportional to the speed.The noise is from the motor as opposed to the bridge bearings and is still present when the 3.5kg deck is removed. My suspicion is that we haven't got the programming correct yet

 

[Ray H]

Take a look here - dcc controlled Peco turntable project - which uses a stepper motor.

[Harlequin]

There was at least one commercial offering but the manufacturer's customer relations caused a lot of problems.

 

A working example can be seen on @Neal Ball's Henley-on-Thames layout.

 

[newbryford]

Liverpool Lime St uses stepper motors for a traverser and turntables.

Maybe contact them via the LLS layout thread.

 

[Neal Ball]

2 hours ago, Harlequin said:

There was at least one commercial offering but the manufacturer's customer relations caused a lot of problems.

 

A working example can be seen on @Neal Ball's Henley-on-Thames layout.

 

 

I assume the fella is still in business - whilst the product is good (it took a year to get it working), he is awful to deal with.

 

On that basis, I would not recommend the product.

[Neal Ball]

7 hours ago, MarcD said:

Has anyone tried automating a train turntable using a stepper motors?

 

If you are adept with a soldering iron and circuit boards etc. You could try the MERG system. 

 

Sadly though, I bought the motor; controller and parts for the circuit board and still couldn't get it to work.